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Readers share their memories of summers past
Big Sky Drive-In, 1974
Memories that never fade
Madison was a magical town in the summer growing up on Windigo Trail in the 1950s and ‘60s. I remember learning to swim at Ridgewood Pool, riding my bike to the Red Owl for treats, visiting Peppermint Park and going to the Big Sky Drive-In at night. And building forts in Mr. Brigg’s apple orchard.
I have never forgotten the sundae cup at Lake Wingra Beach that you ate with a wooden spoon. There was fudge at the bottom. My teenage years had me hanging out at Larry’s Pharmacy and Larson’s Beach in McFarland in the summer.
Those are memories that never fade for me. I love being back in Madison again.
— Paula McAllister, Fitchburg
Sue Leamy Kies with fish
Fun, the mother of invention
Every July we packed up our Chevy and headed to the same rented cabin on Diamond Lake near Cable to fish for bluegills, roast hot dogs on the beach, swat mosquitoes and hang out together.
One summer Dad, who believed fun, not necessity, was the mother of invention, got his hands on a used surfboard. It was tan and red, bigger and thicker than today’s sleek models. What does one do with a surfboard on a lake in northern Wisconsin in 1959? Well, you pull it behind a fishing boat equipped with a Johnson outboard motor and tool around the lake with the riders laughing, trying not to topple off.
(continued...)
— Sue Leamy Kies, Platteville
Sue Leamy Kies with dad
Eventually, we got a camper, and one chilly June weekend in 1966, we met three families of aunts, uncles and cousins at a Two Rivers campground on the sand dune shores of Lake Michigan. My dad and uncles rigged up a tripod with chains and hung a big bucket over the fire in order to make soup.
The vegetables and chicken simmered all afternoon. Noodles and seasonings were added, and that evening we ladled up cupsful around the fire as the whitecaps rolled in. Soup never tasted so good!
— Sue Leamy Kies, Platteville
Crim Family at Dane Dances
Weekly bike rides
I am excited to share two of our favorite summer pastimes. Our family is among the staples every Friday night in August for Dane Dances on the Monona Terrace rooftop. The bands playing high-energy music with the Capitol in the background makes one of the best summer nights in Madison.
Secondly, we love biking on the many paths in and around the Madison area. I especially love biking along paths alongside water or the many ducks, geese and cranes that often line the path in the early mornings.
Our plan for making 2021 the best summer ever is to resume attending live music and theater including Dane Dances, Concerts on the Square (this year at Breese Stevens Field), American Players Theatre, the Madison Jazz Festival and a road trip to the state fair and Summerfest.
Getting in multiple bike rides each week will help make 2021 the best summer ever!
— Dawn Crim, Madison
Meryl Mixtacki's grandchildren with Bucky statue
Finding Bucky
I remember as a child on Sundays my mother would pack a lunch and off we would go to the Madison zoo. My father played the trombone with Elmer Ziegler’s band, which performed on Sundays at the zoo.
It was a lovely memory of times past, with friends and family sitting on blankets enjoying the music and the beautiful surroundings.
One of my more recent memorable summers was exploring with our two grandchildren to find where the next Bucky was!
They loved each and every one, hugging them and marking in their little book which ones they saw. The summer was filled with excitement and they couldn’t wait to find the next one. The grandchildren, McKenzie and Mitchell Statz, saw them all, and were photographed by each one.
— Meryl Mixtacki, 71, Town of Middleton, remembering Bucky on Parade, a public art event with 85 Bucky statues that took place in 2018
Riding ponies on July 4 in Westmoreland Park in the 1960s
Adventures in Westmoreland
Oh, to be a kid in the Westmoreland neighborhood of Madison in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The neighborhood was full of kids and some of us older ones would put on a play or two each summer for the other kids.
We’d play badminton in the street, we’d skateboard for hours down a not very steep sidewalk, or we’d hop on our bikes and take off, never telling Mom where we were going.
Biking led to adventures in the woods at Westmoreland Park, exploring adventures at “The Glen” park, and sometimes even the trek to Vilas Beach to swim.
Summer nights were spent with the neighbor kids congregating in front of our house, which often led to games of kick the can until 10 p.m., when the parents were headed off to bed and called us in. Such a fun childhood!
— Jane Qualle, 70, Madison
(Reader Jane Qualle sent this photo of three of her seven siblings, John, Bob and Kay Schumann, on a pony ride during a Fourth of July celebration in Westmoreland Park in the 1960s.)
Westmoreland neighborhood youth participating in a play
Jane Qualle sent this photo of some of her Westmoreland neighbors in the 1960s who regularly put on plays for the younger children in the neighborhood in the summer.
Summer dreaming
Door County
Reunion in Door County
My favorite summertime memory is when my family had a reunion at Rowley’s Resort in Door County in 2018. Children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren came from many places — Washington, Colorado, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Florida, Wisconsin and even Southeast Asia. What fun it was getting together to enjoy each other’s company.
We spent four days and four nights exploring the many activities of Door County. What we enjoyed the most was going to the beach and watching the little ones (there were five under four) having a great time playing together.
Other activities in which we participated were hiking at Cave Point and Peninsula State Park, miniature golf, dining out, and playing games at night while the wee ones were asleep. One morning the dads took care of them while the ladies went to check out the Ridges and have coffee. That afternoon it was the ladies’ turn to babysit while the guys went canoeing.
Food was scrumptious with a fish boil at Rowley’s, cookout at a local beach area and dining at various spots. The reunion is a special memory for which I am so grateful — a wonderful time spent with my family.
— Doris Marten, 92, Madison
Watch a video from the Marten family's reunion by clicking here.
The city as a playground
The city as a playground
Growing up in the middle of the Isthmus in Madison during the 1940s and ‘50s was much different than the experience would be today. As part of a family that included six kids, there was always something going on.
We did not have video games, cellphones or any of today’s electronic gadgets. What we had was the city as a playground, and two lakes within walking distance for our enjoyment.
Our dad had a good friend in Alex Jordan, the architect and creator of The House on The Rock, who also owned property at the foot of Henry Street. Daddy was allowed to build a pier there for us to swim from.
During the summer months, we could be found jumping or diving off that pier, then making our way toward the many UW piers where the students would sit, swim and study. They often got a bit upset with us, climbing up onto the piers, then pushing off again in a race to the next one down the line.
Countless hours were spent in that pursuit, but when that got old, we would walk to Brittingham Park on Lake Monona and swim at the beach there. All in all, I suppose we must have been waterlogged with all the time spent in one of the two lakes.
There were other activities also: playing “kick the can,” “red light, green light,” and other neighborhood games in the middle of the streets; walking up to the corner of State Street and Henry Street to get ice cream cones for the family, hoping to get them back home before they melted! I well remember neighbors across the street who had their windows open and we heard the sounds of the country music they enjoyed.
We rode our bikes, and as we got old enough, attended Girl Scout camp at Camp Maria Olbrich. There were walks to Picnic Point, and across the Capitol Square to the Majestic Theatre for Saturday matinees.
We would cut right through the Capitol building, often playing hide-and-seek. We had firsthand knowledge of where every bathroom was on the ground-floor level!
On the 4th of July, the family would have a reunion picnic at Vilas Park and stay for the fireworks display, “oohing and aahing” while lying on our backs in the grass to watch.
Looking back after all these years, I realize more and more just how lucky we were to have grown up when we did. Life was so much more simple, and we appreciated every single minute of every summer!
— Janet “JB” Grosse, 82
Brittingham Park today
Brittingham Park today.
BB Bob and Jos by Carolyn Dargevics
Summertime artwork and art fairs
For the past 18 years, summer has been fraught with traveling to and setting up at art fairs. My husband is an abstract artist and I’m a sculptor of paper clay.
However, with COVID last summer and my husband’s terminal illness, we had to make several major changes, including selling our home and trying to find an affordable 55-plus condo with a basement for creating and storing our art.
We are still on the hunt for that condo, but due to my husband’s decreased strength and his inability to tolerate summer weather, we sold our outdoor art-fair setup, which limits us to indoor fairs, occurring most often in the fall.
To keep myself active and upbeat, I continue to create fun fantasy sculptures that bring smiles, not only to us, but also to my friends and online customers. Some are being sold in a locally owned coffee shop in Pardeeville — a small business supporting a smaller business. Delivering them provides us with the pleasant diversion of a road trip, great coffee and bakery, and an enjoyable visit.
— Carolyn Dargevics, Milton
Memories of Tenney Park
Paper routes and jamborees
My father Don Tiedeman was a child in the 1930s. His summer memories include spending time at Tenney Park, fishing and swimming during the summer and skating in the winter. He caught many perch.
He belonged to the Boy Scouts and during the war years (the 1940s) they collected the newspapers. The scouts had jamborees. He delivered the Wisconsin State Journal on his bike for five years! Now he gets it delivered.
— Heather Barrett
Marnie Schulenburg with great-nephews
Stories around the fire pit
I remember a July night in 2013, sitting on the big rocks and on camp chairs around our backyard fire pit. I made up the beginning of a story and we agreed to pass it on, the next person following a narrative path or veering off entirely. No rules.
The heart-squeeze memory is of two of my grandnephews. The littlest one, 4 years old, trotted rapturously from person to person. Who hasn’t turned a page, lost in a book, to find out what happens next?
When the story came around to me a second time, Max planted himself square, placed his warm little hands on my knees and waited, firelight dancing in his big eyes. His older brother was all nonchalant but it delights me no end to remember him creeping from his seat around the circle and squeezing between two adults because he could not wait for his turn.
This ancient alchemy of fire, family and friends, and story. Repeat, repeat, repeat.
— Marnie Schulenburg, 73, Madison
(Above: Marnie Schulenburg stands with her two nephews and their sons who shared stories with her on a memorable summer evening.)
