President's Message

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Dear Friends and Members of WAHS,

The 2026 Syttende Mai week was very busy! The Westby Elementary School Librarian, Ms. Peterson, and 4th-grade teacher, Mr. Henchen, at the Coon Valley Elementary School once again helped us with our Grandparent of the Year nominations. Merna Fremstad, chosen from a nomination written by her grandson Case, was this year's well-deserved Grandmother of the Year. Fourth graders study the history of Wisconsin, and we presented programs about the immigration of Norwegians to our area that fit beautifully with their classes. The Thoreson House Museum and Genealogy Center was open on Syttende Mai Saturday, and we sold lefse/pølse at our usual corner on Saturday and Sunday, May 16th and 17th. We had a great time celebrating our heritage during Syttende Mai week!

We welcomed TV celebrity DENNIS GAGE from My Classic Car! to our 11th annual event on Saturday, July 25, 2026. It was our best and biggest event yet! We had more than 300 cars and sold out of more than 730 pieces of pie with ice cream! Counting the pies we raffled and the pie Dennis got (his favorite – strawberry rhubarb), we had more than 130 pies and still ran out at 1:20 p.m. We expect next year's 12th annual event on Saturday, July 31, 2027, will build on that success and bring us even more cars!

We have continued our summer Party on the Porch on the second Tuesday of the month with August and September yet to come. We have Summer Open House hours on Sunday, August 9 and 23, from 11 am - 2 pm. We have also scheduled our Fall Cemetery Stone Cleaning Workshop for 10 am on Saturday, September 26 at the Coon Prairie Cemetery.

Last year, we had a VERY successful Homecoming Open House with past coaches on Homecoming Friday. We will be doing that again this year with the addition of a tailgate party of hot dogs and snacks. Check our Facebook page for the specific time we will be open on Friday, September 25, so you can stop by and say "Hi" to some of the great past coaches!

WAHS is planning many events and activities to celebrate in the rest of 2026, so we hope you will check our Facebook page and read our newsletter for updates! To make things easier, we have added a dropdown to our ABOUT US tab above. If you click on it, you will see a menu item that will take you to an archive of several years of our newsletters.  You can see what we have done, what we are doing, and what is coming up – all in one place!

Thank you for your continued support of the Westby Area Historical Society. If you would like a tour of the museum or need help with your genealogy research, please contact us. We have so much to offer to our friends and members! 2025 was a wonderful year for WAHS, and we hope you can join us for one of our remaining 2026 meetings and activities!

Blaine Hedberg

WAHS President