Fun times!

This is Wo-Zha-Wa Weekend in the Dells, that being a Ho-Chunk phrase meaning [more or less] "Good Times." Sort of a Native American equivalent to Laissez les bons temps rouler -- Cajun French for "Let the good times roll." Needless to say, in the Waterpark Capital of the World, the good times roll a bit more sedately than at Mardi Gras in New Orleans.

This is one of the biggest festivals in Wisconsin, with a parade, Wisconsin's oldest long-distance race, antiques and arts and craft vendors, carnival rides, sidewalk sales, food tents -- speaking of New Orleans, you can have alligator-on-a-stick! -- and so on, including the library's largest book sale of the year. I will be helping them set that up Thursday morning and Tom will help with the final set-up early Friday morning. We will let the ladies who belong the the Friends of the Kilbourn Public Library handle the actual sales duties on Friday and Saturday.

This is a big deal that marks the end of the summer tourist season, although the tourist season never really ends any more around here, what with indoor water parks, skiing and all-inclusive resorts. There is another much smaller Harvest Fest in October. Wo-Zha-Wa is, for those of us who live in the area, a good time to go somewhere else if we don't have to work at a booth.

The weather is not looking too promising at the moment, certainly not as nice as in the above photos from 2012. The festival begins on Friday, September 12, and we expect a high of only 52 and a low of 38 that night. Saturday will climb up to 60, then drop to 40, and Sunday will hit 65 and drop only to 49. There is a chance of rain Friday morning but the rest of the weekend should be dry.