The official kick-off to the cranberry harvesting season was celebrated on Saturday, October 1st. People who participated in the all-day event were able to take a tour of a local cranberry marsh in the morning in order to see the ripe berries up close. A special treat for tour participants included demonstrations of the traditional hand raking method of harvesting which was used exclusively until more modern, machine-driven harvesting methods were developed.
After seeing the berries in their natural element, many visitors came to the Wisconsin Cranberry Discovery Center to continue the festivities. With the 2011 Cranberry Queen and Princesses on-site, guests enjoyed our cranberry museum, where they learned all about the history of cranberries, and were treated to free samples of gourmet cranberry foods and wines. Families were able to create some cranberry crafts together and then children and adults alike treated themselves to one (or more!) of our famous cranberry bakery and ice cream shop treats.
Many of our Harvest Day guests also took advantage of our fabulous cranberry gift shop in order to get a head-start on their holiday shopping. After sampling the gourmet cranberry items we have to offer, no one wanted to walk out of the gift shop empty-handed! Hot holiday-gift-basket-ready items included our cranberry wines and salsas and our line of cranberry soaps and oils.
If you didn’t make it to this year’s Harvest Day, don’t worry – we’ll do it again next year and you can see some pictures of the event on our Facebook page. In the meantime, you can stop in for a visit seven days a week between 9 am – 5 pm and you can shop our online store 24/7!
NRCS State Conservationist Pat Murphy, WSCGA President Mike Moss, DATCP Secretary Ben Brancel and CMI President Vicky Nemitz
The Wisconsin Cranberry Discovery Center held a special ribbon cutting ceremony for their enhanced “Frost Watch and Irrigation” exhibit located in the Center’s Cranberry Museum. The exhibit features the special equipment necessary to protect Wisconsin’s cranberry crop from its natural enemy, frost, and information about how the irrigation systems used by growers work in unison to ensure productive growing seasons while at the same time using natural resources wisely.
“This exhibit will help the Wisconsin Cranberry Discovery Center further its mission of educating visitors about Wisconsin’s number one fruit crop, the cranberry,” said WCDC Executive Director Barbara Hendricks. “It also highlights how cranberry growers in Wisconsin are leading the way in responsible resource management, showing the public how they work with state agencies and university researchers to ensure they’re using science-based best practices to produce cranberries in the most efficient, responsible way possible.”
Donations from several families and organizations made this exhibit possible. Robert, Vicki, Amy and Adam Nemitz in memory of Junior and Alice Nemitz, DATCP, NRCS, the Hatch family of Cranberry Creek Cranberry, Paul Roberts of Roberts Irrigation, WSCGA, Gary and Rhonda Jensen of Jensen Cranberry Bogs, Inc., Stuart, Faye and Kim Pedersen, the Tomah Convention and Visitors Bureau, Bob Williams and Jayne Sojka of Lady Bug IPM all made generous donations to help further educate WCDC visitors through the addition of this exhibit.
Testimonials
"Such a fun place to spend the day! We explored the shop, toured the museum, and snacked on cranberry ice cream and cranberry coffee. LOVE IT!"
The official kick-off to the cranberry harvesting season was celebrated on Saturday, October 1st. People who participated in the all-day event were able to take a tour of a local cranberry marsh in the morning in order to see the ripe berries up close. A special treat for tour participants included demonstrations of the traditional hand raking method of harvesting which was used exclusively until more modern, machine-driven harvesting methods were developed.