 Photo Credit: Andrea Paulseth. The Wisconsin Canoe Heritage Museum (WCHM) in Spooner, Wisconsin, has announced the hiring of a new Executive Director. Alexis Linder, of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, has accepted the position which started January 1. The museum organization is optimistic with the new Director’s enthusiasm to work towards serving the Board and members to grow with the museum and the Spooner area. “I am so excited to start working with the Wisconsin Canoe Heritage Museum,” says, the new Executive Director, “I’m looking forward to serving the organization, sharing my passion of history with the members, and using my skills and knowledge towards the museum and guests.”
A recent graduate from the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire for her Master’s in public history, Linder is also an alumni from the University of Minnesota – Duluth for a Bachelor’s in history and a Certificate in museum studies. During her education, she has worked for several historic sites and museums such as the St. Louis Historical Society, Split Rock Lighthouse, and Irvine Park in Chippewa Falls, WI. Linder says she looks forward to bringing her love for the outdoors and passion for history together within her new position at the museum. The Wisconsin Canoe Heritage Museum is located at 312 Front St in Spooner, Wisconsin. It was incorporated as a non-profit in 2008. This volunteer led organization is devoted to the preservation and interpretation of the cultural heritage of canoes and canoeing in North America. The exhibit hall opened to the public in 2010 and is a seasonal operation. Typical open times are 10AM to 4PM Wednesday through Saturdays and Sundays 11AM to 3PM between Memorial Day weekend and Labor Day weekend, and also weekends in September. Other days and times can be arranged by appointment. In addition to the exhibit hall, the WCHM has a 2,500 square foot canoe shop designed to celebrate the rich legacy of canoe craft while inspiring and educating a new generation of builders. An annual event, Wisconsin Canoe Heritage Day, is produced by the WCHM on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend and includes a canoe and wooden boat show, museum tours and open house in the museum exhibit hall, the unveiling of a new annual display, ongoing activities in the canoe workshop, and food and beverage in the beer garden. For more information about the WCHM email [email protected] or visit www.WisconsinCanoeHeritageMuseum.org.  “The WCHM Exhibit Hall is now closed for the season,” so reported Executive Director Jed Malischke during the after dinner program at the 2024 Canoe & Brew. For the last five years the event has been held on the last Sunday of September, the museum’s last regular open day of the year (visitation can still be made by appointment). Along with that pronouncement Malischke included a few facts on the year’s success. The museum exhibit hall was open 98 days in 2024. During the year eighteen different “Keymasters” filled 171 shifts at the museum, some doing as many as 25 and others just one or two, but all contributing to the overall success.
Those same Keymasters recorded 630 visitors, an average of about 6.5 per day. Visitations, admission fees, and store sales were all up about 5% over the previous year, which will help the bottom line when things are tallied up for the year. The WCHM Exhibit Hall will open again for the traditional spring season opening event “Canoe Heritage Day” on May 24, 2025.  The Wisconsin Canoe Heritage Museum invites the community to join them for their annual end-of-the-season celebration. Their 5th annual “Canoe & Brew” will be from 3:00 to 6:00 pm on Sunday September 29, 2024, at Red Schoolhouse Wines in Stone Lake, Wisconsin (5768N 4th St S). Les Fils du Voyageur will be providing musical entertainment for the event. The popular singing group brings the fur trade era to life through songs of the voyageurs. Performed a capella and in five part harmony, and portrayed in authentic period costume, Les Fils du Voyageur present an extensive collection of paddling, working and playing songs that paint an exciting historical overview of the life and times of a voyageur.
Canoe & Brew attendees will enjoy a social hour of beer tasting from Round Man Brewing followed by a traditional shrimp boil dinner from Red Schoolhouse Wines. There will also be a Meet & Greet with Kim Ammann of the Winged Freedom Raptor Hospital and Marissa Ginger of Hunt Hill Nature Center. New canoe acquisitions and previously unseen museum collection pieces will be on display, and there will be door prize drawings and the annual canoe raffle drawing. This is an exclusive event, and Red Schoolhouse will be closed to the general public. Attendance is limited, and reservations are required. Reservations are $25 per person and can be made by visiting www.WisconsinCanoe HeritageMuseum.org.  The Wisconsin Canoe Heritage Museum (WCHM) in Spooner (WI) is looking for candidates to fill the position of Executive Director. WCHM was founded in 2009 as a 501c3 non-profit institution devoted to the acquisition, preservation, and dissemination of materials and information relating to the history and heritage of canoe building, canoes, and canoeing in North America. The organization currently operates a seasonal exhibit hall, a year round workshop, several annual events and programs, and maintains a membership of approximately 300 and Collections of nearly 200 objects.
The position of WCHM Executive Director will collaborate with the Board of Directors to develop and implement future growth of WCHM through practical and achievable steps that will lead to organizational sustainability and growth. The executive director will be the lead contact for WCHM and will actively cultivate members and relationships with volunteers, donors, granting organizations, governmental bodies, local officials, business leaders, educational presenters, and shop users. Primary Responsibilities:
Preferred Qualifications:
Salary and Benefits: The WCHM Executive Director is a three-quarter time salaried position with an annual salary range of $20,000 to $25,000. This position will have flexible hours, may require work on weekends and evenings, and may require travel for events and activities. WCHM is based in Spooner, Wisconsin, but has no on-site administrative office. This is a position where one can work remotely for most of their time but also requires frequent on-site visits for program supervision, collections and exhibit maintenance, and other tasks that require an on-site presence. For more information or to request a full job posting and description visit www.WisconsinCanoeHeritageMuseum.org. To apply please send a cover letter, resume, and references to [email protected]. A copy of a recent annual program plan and budget for the organization, and/or a meeting with the current ED can also be requested. Applications will be considered as they are received, starting September 1st. The position is open until filled.  Mike Elliott, author of This Fancy Old Canoe: A Comprehensive Guide To Restoring Antique Canoes, is coming to the Wisconsin Canoe Heritage Museum (WCHM) in Spooner, Wisconsin, for a presentation and book signing on Thursday July 25th beginning at 7:30 PM. In his presentation, Elliott, who has restored over 240 canoes since 2003, will let us in on the trade secrets of how to successfully return a canoe to its former glory. He’ll be talking about treasured antique canoes and their connections to individuals, families, and communities.
Elliott will also be signing copies of his new book, which will be available for purchase. The book picks up where his earlier This Old Canoe: How To Restore Your Wood-Canvas Canoe left off. Whether you are an avid collector of antique canoes or you have limited woodworking experience and just want to get your family's heirloom canoe back on the water, the two books work together to provide the techniques necessary to achieve success in your canoe-restoration adventure. Elliott began restoring canoes as a hobby in 1995. That hobby bloomed into a full time career in 2003 when he opened Kettle River Canoes in Grand Forks, British Columbia, where he's been restoring wood canvas canoes ever since. His books are designed to simplify the many challenging tasks of restoring fancy antique canoes. Mike Elliott will be at the Wisconsin Canoe Heritage Museum in Spooner (312 N Front St) on Thursday July 25th. The presentation begins at 7:30 PM and is free and open to the public. The museum will be open starting at 6:30 pm for a pre-presentation reception and exhibit hall tours. For more information visit www.WisconsinCanoeHeritageMuseum.org.  The Wisconsin Canoe Heritage Museum will celebrate Wisconsin Canoe Heritage Day on the Saturday May 25th from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. This free event marks the season opening of the museum and will include open house in the museum exhibit hall, ongoing activities in the canoe workshop, live music and food and beverage outdoors in the beer garden, a silent auction and canoe raffle, and of course the Canoe & Wooden Boat Show.
The 15th annual boat show is the highlight of the day, with over 25 exhibitors expected to display wooden boats of all shapes, sizes, and designs, both classic and modern, as well as all kinds of classic and vintage water and paddling related items. Already registered to display is Thomas Knuteson from Waukesha. He will be showing a 1948 Shell Lake Snipe and a 1948 Martin 45 Outboard. Mark Storrs of Pompano, Florida, plans to show off his very rare 1915 BN Morris canoe. Justin Leonard of Spooner will be displaying a wooden racing boat. Megan Johnson from Pine City (MN) will have her handmade Megastar Paddles on sale. Alex Comb of Stewart River Boatworks in Knife River (MN) is bringing two 15 foot Ami wood and canvas canoes he has for sale. Greg Eide is coming from Decorah, Iowa, to sell his 12 foot Vermont Packboat built by the Adirondack Guide Boat Company. These are just a few examples of the exhibitors that will be in attendance. Many other old and new watercraft are on the way, and there is always room for more. Booth space is free, and reserving a space is easy if you use the online registration form.  Brigid Geroux of Eau Claire (WI) recently donated a 1927 Old Town Yankee with serial number 94922 to the Wisconsin Canoe Heritage Museum. The original Old Town build slip shows it was built to order for the Cranbrook Schools in Bloomfield Michigan. While teaching at the complex of schools in 1990, Brigid and her late husband Charles came upon the canoe stored under a porch. After purchasing it from the school, they went about researching and meticulously restoring the canoe, going so far as to travel to the Old Town factory in Maine to purchase new gunwales. They used the canoe every summer for the next thirty years, until Charles passed away in 2023. It now resides in perpetuity as part of the WCHM Collections.
 The Wisconsin Canoe Heritage Museum (WCHM) in Spooner is once again making plans to celebrate Wisconsin Canoe Heritage Day in 2024 on Saturday May 25 from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. This free event will mark the opening of the fifteenth season for the museum, and will include open house in the museum exhibit hall, ongoing activities in the canoe workshop, live music and food and beverage outdoors in the beer garden, a silent auction and canoe raffle, and of course the Canoe & Wooden Boat Show.
The 15th annual Canoe & Wooden Boat will be the highlight of the day. Over twenty exhibitors are expected to display wooden boats of all shapes, sizes, and designs --classic and modern-- as well as all kinds of classic and vintage water and paddling related items. It's not too early to register for booth space. Now is the time to make plans to be an exhibitor and display your canoe, wooden boat, or other canoe related items of interest. Booth space is free, and reserving a space is easy with the online registration form. Or you can request a reservation form by emailing to [email protected] or calling 715-635-2479. For more information visit www.wisconsincanoeheritagemuseum.org/boat-show.Wisconsin Canoe Heritage Day is produced by the WCHM each year on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend.  The WCHM Board of Directors has announced results of its recent election. Ballots were mailed to all WCHM members along with the Summer 2023 newsletter in early August. There were four candidates listed on the ballot as well as one space for write-ins. Members were asked to vote for up to four candidates. A return envelope accompanied each ballot.
Fifty-five ballots were returned with new candidate Mike Knuth receiving 52 votes and incumbents Dan Miller, Benson Gray and Jamie Dunn each with 50 votes. Outgoing board member Elizabeth Vollmer-Buhl was honored at a recent board meeting with a proclamation thanking her for her service.  Blu Kanu, the two sibling troubadours Artie Anderson and Rhoda Anderson Habedank, were so popular on the “Back Porch Stage” on Canoe Heritage Day 2023 that they have been asked to return next year. “You can’t beat sibling harmony,” says Artie, one half of the award winning brother and sister singer/songwriter and singalong duo Blu Kanu. The opening day event at the Wisconsin Canoe Heritage Museum is scheduled for May 25th, 2024, the Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend. It’s not too early to start planning for the 2024 Canoe & Wooden Boat Show.
 WCHM held its annual canoe raffle drawing on September 24th during its Canoe & Brew event. Guest of honor Peter Marshall assisted his young son in pulling the winning ticket out of the raffle drum. And the winner is....Peder Yurista from Duluth, Minnesota. Peder came to the museum a week later to claim his prize from newly elected board member Mike Knuth, who had sold the winning ticket to Yurista when he had visited the museum earlier in the summer. Mike had sold him the ticket during one of his many stints this summer as “Keymaster” at the museum. Peder selected the 16’ cedar canvas “Duet” canoe that was built in WCHM Canoe Shop in 2023 on the MacKenzie-Yost Duet form.
 Natalie Warren, paddling adventurer and author of Hudson Bay Bound, has offered her 17.4 foot Langford Prospector, in which she and Ann Raiho became the first two women to make the 2,000-mile journey by paddle from Minneapolis to Hudson Bay and also split the continent in half by completing the entire length of the Mississippi, to the Wisconsin Canoe Heritage Museum as a collection piece. Her speaking tour landed her at WCHM in April of 2022 and resulted in more than a standing room crowd on a snowy weekday evening.
 WCHM invites participants for its 13th annual Canoe & Wooden Boat Show, to be held in conjunction with Wisconsin Canoe Heritage Day on May 27, 2023. This one day free event will also include museum tours and open house, the unveiling of new displays, ongoing activities in the canoe workshop, and live music and food and beverage in the beer garden. Now is the time to make plans to be an exhibitor and display your canoe, wooden boat, or other canoe related items of interest. Wooden boats of all shapes, sizes, and designs are welcome, both classic and modern, as well as all kinds of classic and vintage water and paddling related items. Whether you have items to sell, or you just have something to show off, there will be many interested folks attending this free event. Exhibitors can include individuals, commercial entities, non-profits, authors, government agencies, educators, crafters, and businesses whose products or services are relevant to boaters and wooden boats and canoes. Booth space is free, and reserving a space is easy. You’ll find a link to an online reservation form at www.wisconsincanoeheritagemuseum.org/boat-show. Or you can request a reservation form by emailing to [email protected] or calling 715-635-2479. Wisconsin Canoe Heritage Day is produced by the WCHM each year on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend.  Interested in making your own tools for wild ricing? The Wisconsin Canoe Heritage Museum and Hunt Hill Audubon Sanctuary are teaming up to sponsor a Wild Rice Push Pole & Knocking Stick Workshop on March 28-30, 2023. From 6-9 pm daily in this three-evening class in the museum workshop, your instructor Gary Dunsmoor will help you make a tamarack and maple push pole and a set of white cedar knocking sticks to use for wild ricing using traditional hand tools and techniques.
Tools and materials will be provided, but feel free to bring your own hand tools (such as: a draw knife, wood plane, and wood rasp) and personal protective equipment (safety glasses and gloves). You may work individually or bring a partner for the same price. Registration required by March 27; Limit: 8 individuals or couples (If you sign up as a couple, you only need to register and pay for one of the two people). The program fee is $50/pair of knocking sticks & push pole. To register go to https://hunthill.org/event/wild-rice-push-pole-knocking-stick-workshop or call Hunt Hill at 715-635-6543.  For many a young person throughout the 1960s and 70s, making your own recreational equipment was the mantra of the day. Lacking the financial means to purchase finished equipment, they made their own from kits that were available from popular brands of the day, like Heathkit radios, Frostline clothing and camping gear, and in the case of Tim Miller and his brother Steve of Florence, Wisconsin, Trailcraft Canoes.
Tim has now donated his square stern “Trailblazer Canoe” to the Wisconsin Canoe Heritage Museum, along with the original purchase documents, including twenty-five pages or assembly instructions and a “Canoeing Basics” pamphlet. Tim built the canoe in 1966 along with his brother Steve from a kit they purchased from Trailcraft of Glasco, Kansas, for $58.88. “I would like to take a camping trip with you and dad, up into Canada with the station wagon, tent, and boat in tow. We could have a real cool time just fishing and hiking for a week or so,” Steve wrote his brother to entice him to join in building a canoe with him for a “summer project.” The canoe was used twice and then stored in a garage for the next 56 years. In September 2022 Tim met with WCHM Executive Director Jed Malischke to transfer the canoe to the museum as a representation of the canoe kits that opened the door to many a young person’s adventurism.  Just as the aluminum canoe replaced the wooden canoe at the end of the Second World War, in the 1970s plastics technology transformed the canoe industry and made the aluminum canoe obsolete. Uniroyal had devised a vulcanized sheet laminate at their R&D facility in Stoughton, Wisconsin, which they envisioned for use in the automotive industry. But it was never applied there, and eventually became Royalex, of which tens of thousands of canoes were fabricated by myriad American manufacturers until the mid-2000s.
 Jeff Mueller from Edgerton, Wisconsin, is the lucky winner of the 2022 WCHM canoe raffle. Jeff was a very early ticket buyer, making his annual contribution during Canoecopia in Madison back in late February. “Canoecopia is a big event in my household,” explained Jeff when he arrived at the museum to pick up his new canoe, “and getting a few raffle tickets at the WCHM booth is always on my list of things to do while there.”
 The Wisconsin Canoe Heritage Museum (WCHM) will host its “Canoe & Brew” dinner event from 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm on Sunday September 25th, but at a new venue this year. The Hunt Hill Audubon Sanctuary will be the site for this third annual celebration in 2022. Despite the new venue, many features of the event will be similar to previous years. Prior to the dinner, guests can enjoy a brew or two from Round Man Brewing and discuss their beer sampling with the brew masters. Or maybe you will prefer a wine sample or two from Clarity Wine Shop. There will also be a meet and greet, live music, displays of some of the museum’s new collections pieces, and a chance to win some of the extra raffle prizes we’ll have for the day. It all leads up to a country style dinner catered by The Roost, followed by a short post-dinner program and the annual canoe raffle drawing.
 WCHM has been working with Full Tilt Marketing to increase the number of visitors through the exhibit hall, and so far the 2022 numbers look promising. At the Fourth of July break the exhibit hall had recorded 200 visitors for the year so far, a 42% increase over the 141 recorded at the same time last year. Averaging about seven visitors a day, near the end of July the tally was still 4% above the previous year, 289 visitors in 2022 vs 278 in 2021 (these numbers do not include the hundreds of uncountable visitors during the opening day open house).
The Wisconsin Canoe Heritage Museum is once again making plans to celebrate Wisconsin Canoe Heritage Day on the Saturday of Memorial weekend from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. This free event marks the season opening of the museum and will include open house in the museum exhibit hall, ongoing activities in the canoe workshop, live music and food and beverage outdoors in the beer garden, a silent auction and canoe raffle, and of course the Canoe & Wooden Boat Show. Complicating the boat show this year will be the major road construction that is taking place in Spooner this summer.
 Opening day of fishing season in Wisconsin is a big deal, and for over 50 years has been marked by the Wisconsin Governor’s Fishing Opener in Northwest Wisconsin. The 56th annual event will be held in 2022 on May 6th and 7th on Shell Lake in Washburn County. The Wisconsin Canoe Heritage Museum has been invited to participate in the event and provide a booth display at several scheduled activities, including the VIP Banquet on Friday and the Family Fishing Day at Shell Lake Memorial Park on Saturday. In addition, the museum exhibit hall and workshop will be featured as part of a tour of area attractions by travel writers and media that will be attending the opener. More information about Family Fishing Day and the Governor's Fishing Opener can be found at https://fb.me/e/1RDSF8i3m.
 The remarkable 85 day journey of the first two women to canoe the 2,000 mile route from Minneapolis to Hudson Bay will be the subject of a presentation and book signing by author Natalie Warren at the Wisconsin Canoe Heritage Museum in Spooner (312 N Front St) on Thursday, April 7, 2022. The talk and signing begins at 7:00 pm and is free and open to the public. The museum will be open starting at 6:00 pm for a pre-presentation reception and exhibit hall tours.
Spring is on the way and it’s time to get ready for Canoe Heritage Day and the 12th annual Canoe & Wooden Boat Show on Saturday May 28, 2022, at the Wisconsin Canoe Heritage Museum in Spooner WI. Now is the time to make plans to be an exhibitor and display your canoe, wooden boat, or other canoe related items of interest. WCHM invites participants for this one day free event that will also include museum tours and open house, the unveiling of new displays, ongoing activities in the canoe workshop, and live music and food and beverage in the beer garden.
 A recent fundraising campaign for the WCHM Perpetuity Endowment Fund was completed on January 31st, and all indications are that the results have far exceeded all expectations. The campaign began on December 1st with a goal of raising $30,000. $10,000 has already been pledged by a generous donor as a match, and another $10,000 committed by the WCHM Board from the WCHM general funds, if the first $10,000 could be raised from the WCHM membership.
 The WCHM canoe trailer recently traveled to Sturtevant WI to pick up two Joseph Lucius canoes from Kathy Strasser at School Days Mall Antiques. Kathy inherited these wonderful examples of Lucius work from the estate of Henry Lamont, and is now donating them to the WCHM Collections. The two canoes are 15 foot and 12 foot representations of Lucius’ iconic Brule River Guide boats. Lamont acquired the canoes from his uncle, Wilmer Baker of Gordon WI who purchased them in the 1950s from Lucius. They have been stored indoors for many years, are in wonderful condition, and come with original paddles, poles, purchase receipts and hand written letters from Joe. WCHM member Marty Aitken came from Racine to help get the canoes down from the third floor of an old school building. The canoes are now back in Spooner in WCHM storage.
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