Jane Palmisano from San Antonio (TX) is the lucky winner of the 2018 WCHM canoe raffle. Her winning ticket, which she purchased while on a visit to the museum this past summer, was drawn by WCHM Board member Lynn Herman during a ceremony at the museum on Sunday September 30th at 3:00 PM.

It was the last regular season open day for the museum, and the ceremony was held during a small party celebrating the conclusion of the season as well as the arrival of a new canoe donated to the museum. Former WCHM President Mike Johnson presented the museum with a donation of a restored 1947 16 foot Muller canoe (#24773). The Muller Boatworks has been making boats in Minnesota since 1872. The same family still owns and operates Taylors Falls Canoe & Kayak Rental to this day.

Jane now has her choice of one of two canoes or $1,000 cash. The first canoe is a 15 foot cedar canvas tandem canoe built in the WCHM shop in 2017 on a MacKenzie-Yost MyPal form. The second canoe is a solo rigged 14 foot cedar canvas canoe built on a form designed by Jerry Karbon. Jane plans to visit the museum soon to make her choice and expects to depart with one of the two canoes in tow.

The new WCHM display celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Wild & Scenic Rivers Act has turned out to be quite popular with museum visitors. Entitled “Wisconsin’s Moving National Park,” the display focuses on the Namekagon River in Wisconsin, which together with the St. Croix River forms the St Croix National Scenic Riverway. “Everybody that visits the museum loves the new display, especially the wall size map of the Riverway,” claims WCHM Executive Director Jed Malischke, “They all want to look up where they have been on the river, or where they are planning to go.”

​Robert Morris from the Brewery Creek Small Boat Shop in Vancouver, British Columbia, and author of the illustrated instructional book "Building Skin-on-Frame Boats", will present “Caribou Kayak: Building Boats to Survive” at the Wisconsin Canoe Heritage Museum in Spooner, Wisconsin, on Wednesday August 1st. It will be an evening of high arctic video, photographs, and storytelling. The presentation begins at 7:30 pm and is free and open to the public.

The Netsilingmeot kayak is primarily a caribou hunting boat. Survival in the high arctic was measured not just with food, but in the number of caribou hides a man could supply his family for clothing. Hip-wide and nearly twenty feet long, every aspect of the Netsilingmeot kayak’s design was optimized for lancing and killing caribou as they crossed rivers. In the age of aircraft, skidoos and ATVs, caribou no longer need to be chased down and lanced from a kayak. Why then were Morris and shop mate Mark Reuten invited to work with elders in the community of Kugaaruk to reestablish local kayak building traditions?

​On Saturday May 26, from 10:00 AM until 4:00 PM, the Wisconsin Canoe Heritage Museum (WCHM) in Spooner (WI) will be celebrating Wisconsin Canoe Heritage Day.  This free annual event marks the season opening of the museum and the unveiling of a new annual exhibit. The main attraction of the day will be the Canoe & Wooden Boat Show. A wide array of antique canoes, boats, and canoe related materials will be on display, with collectors, builders, and canoeing enthusiasts in general bringing their gems to display, trade, sell, or just simply talk about.

​Due to a cancellation, one opening has become available for the spring paddle making class at the Wisconsin Canoe Heritage Museum on May 11-12, 2018. The class is limited to eight participants, and all the available spots filled rapidly when the class was first announced two months ago. But a last-minute opening for one person had now become available for this real hands-on experience, so quick registration is recommended. For more information or to register call 715-635-2479 or email to [email protected].

In this two-day class participants will actually make a canoe paddle in a design of their own choosing, using traditional and modern tools and techniques.