By Jan Axelson
Northside News
The Cherokee Country Club is progressing with plans to modernize the Cherokee Golf Course while also improving water quality and wildlife habitat on the site. In March, Dave Olescuk, vice president of operations at Cherokee Country Club, coordinated a public meeting to share the plans. Members of the project team were present to provide details and answer questions.
By Anita Weier
Northside News
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit last year, Tom and Jeni Hanser tried to think of a way to brighten their neighbors’ days. The answer they came up with was to post a daily Dad Joke of the Day in front of their home on Comanche Way in the Cherokee Park neighborhood.
By Beth Sluys
Northside News
When Andrea Meade and the board members of the Lerdahl Park Neighborhood Association (LPNA) decided to host a fundraiser for The River Food Pantry, the event in the local park took on a new meaning. Light Up Lerdahl Park with Love, a luminary lighted walk through the park, would be an event to foster the coming together of neighbors to spend time in nature as well as addressing a real community need.
Compiled by Rita Lord & Anita Weier
Northside News
We asked some Northside friends and neighbors what they missed most during the pandemic. The responses show Northsiders were active and involved before the pandemic and are anxious to get back to those activities.
Mary Braskamp: live entertainment, whether it be theater or music, on a grand scale (symphony/Broadway) or local (neighborhood festivals/community plays)
Janet Battista: shopping
Carol Mintz: volunteering at Oakwood Village
Jenni Wolfe: Madison Threshold Singer in-person rehearsals and Dairyland Line Dancing on Mondays
Lesleigh Luttrell: dropping into the Warner Park Center and having a friendly chat with staff at the front desk and the volunteer greeting folks in the NewBridge office. Of course, I miss all the in-person events that happened there, but the friendly, unplanned social interactions are what I miss the most.
Rita Lord: lunches with friends
Bob Lord: seeing my grandkids
Steve Smith: not being able to dine in our new-found Northside and downtown Madison restaurants
Kim Smith: not really being able to gather with our new neighbors
Linda Bergren: hugging grandkids, friends and family; there is something about a great hug
David York: the opportunity to explore
Kris Thommesen: dining out at one of our favorite Madison restaurants with our family or friends
Tom Stevens: getting together with kids and grandkids
Amelia Stevens: spending time with friends and family without having to socially distance and wear a mask
Jennifer McDowell: teaching third grade face-to-face; but we enjoyed spending more time with our teenagers
Brad McDowell: being in class with my college students and participating in the Birkebeiner
Anita Weier: family dinners at Café la Bellitalia
Lynette Jandl: getting together with neighbors at our neighborhood association meetings
Susan Stein: seeing friends’ faces (and even Northside strangers) and not having to wonder if they are smiling or scowling or just giving me a blank stare
Virginia Davis: having lunch with my friends
Barbara J. Arnold: Warner Park Center. I liked to go to the NewBridge office, to meetings in the public rooms, to activities like farmer’s market. I loved visiting the Wild Warner’s display to see what was new or add something of my own to share. I miss enjoying the artwork from the Artfully Gaining class artists. I miss being able to sit in the lobby using the Wi-Fi. I saw neighborhood friends that way. Plus, I just love the environmental space of the lobby.
Email submissions@northsidenews.org with what you’ve missed most during the pandemic to see it shared in a future issue.
By Beth Sluys
Northside News
On Feb. 26 Madison City Parks sponsored an event at Warner Park featuring the traditional Ho-Chunk winter game called snow snake, which can be played in teams or as individuals.
As we walked up to a long narrow span of a snowbank, the bright red numbers painted on the side stood out against the white snow. A bunch of long sticks poked out of a nearby snow pile, awaiting their fate. Masked people were gathered, standing by a fire pit to keep warm or standing in line to register to play the snow snake game.
At the start of the event, Bill Quackenbush, tribal historic preservation officer for the Ho-Chunk Nation, explained that the game includes a long run built from snow with a narrow channel running down the center. Long sticks are tossed into the channel.
In a recent WORT radio station interview, Quackenbush explained that the game “goes back many generations” and has been “adapted and changed over time … likely originating from a spear tossing game.”
We watched as each participant chose a stick that was tossed into the channel, and the distance the “snake” traveled was measured and recorded. Each participant got two tries; the second toss often better than the first as people got the feel of how their stick moved through the snow channel. Once the final distances were determined, each of the age-group winners could pick out a prize provided by Madison Parks.
It was a great way to get outdoors and enjoy learning about Ho-Chunk culture.