Excursion Journals: Tuesday June 29^th, 2004

After a short night’s sleep in Wyalusing State Park, WI, we set out to find the days Grand Excursion events. Our first stop was to the south in Cassville, WI (population approximately 1200) where we found much of the town down in the city park along the river waiting to see the riverboats go by. Food vendors, radio announcers, and county tourism officials were there to service the event. We made the most of our brief stop by distributing about 75 Monitors to interested people. After leaving Cassville, we headed for Prairie Du Chien where we expected to find a major celebration happening. Although there were lots of vehicles parked in the vast riverfront park in Prairie Du Chien, the people that must have arrived in them were not apparent. After meeting with Brian Aldrich of the Fish and Wildlife Service and talking to a representative of the National Park Service, we decided to go to McGregor, IA where we had heard the Delta Queen was docked. We crossed the bridge from Prairie Du Chien and turned south for the 2 mile journey to McGregor. Before long we knew that we were headed the right direction because of the traffic backed up along the highway where the Delta Queen was docked in someone’s backyard on the outskirts of McGregor. After finding a place to park the camper, we set out on the town to find what action we could. McGregor’s Beer and Bratz Garden was doing booming business (the brats were good too). After lunch we walked the waterfront along the levee where artists were showing their wares and a band was playing. A constant trickle of people was moving from the Delta Queen to and from the town. We handed out Monitors to many of them on our way up to the Delta Queen. We wanted to get a good photo of the riverboat, so we went into a neighbor’s backyard where they were out enjoying the beautiful day and the excitement over a cold beverage. The property owners were nice enough to let us use their deck as a viewing platform in exchange for copies of the Monitor. They even offered us a cold beer after we took their picture in front of the Delta Queen.

Delta Queen in McGregor: Local McGregor residents offered us a cold beer and let us take a picture of the Delta Queen from their back yard in exchange for copies of the Monitor.

We then strolled back into town to work the crowds gathered to hear the folk music band in the shade of the large Maple trees in the city park. The atmosphere was very pleasant as a small fountain tucked among flowers and ferns sweetened the air with the scent of cool clean water while the played. Dick even got in on some dancing as one of the band members called for several people to do some folk dancing on the lawn. We also met up with Reggie McCloud of Big River magazine as he was signing his book Big River Reader at the Paper Moon bookstore. The fun continued until 4:00pm when the town put on a reenactment of the Hole in the Sock Gang’s robbery of the local bank. The good guys saved the day and then the crowds thinned out. We stopped for an ice cream cone at the Old Tyme Shoppe before heading north to Winona for the night.

Dancing in the Park: Dick dances to local folk music in the McGregor City Park. A fair crowd gathered to enjoy the cool shade and lively music during the Grand Excursion celebration.