Wisconsin Life

Parents will go to great lengths to make sure their kids have the perfect Christmas. Parents like Jan Larson of Eau Claire, who tells us about the quest she went on to find a particular bear for her son.

There’s a teenager in Oshkosh who’s had a lifelong love of Christmas lights. Brody Enli has taken that passion to new heights with a choreographed light display that’s raised thousands of dollars for charity. WPR’s Joe Schulz has more on how Enli uses his hobby to support the community.

Paul Bunyan stories are plentiful. He cleared forests with one swing of his ax. He and his trusty bovine, Babe the Blue Ox, dug the Great Lakes to quench the thirst of his fellow loggers. He created the Mississippi River by simply dragging his ax behind him. But why? That’s what Ryan Urban of Rice Lake wanted to know, so he reached out to Wisconsin Public Radio’s WHYsconsin.

Food can conjure up vivid memories of childhood. The tastes and smells can send us to another place, while creating new memories in the moment. Writer Nancy Jorgensen has been thinking a lot about her German heritage and being “raised on raw” foods.

On the main drag of downtown Wisconsin Dells lies a mysterious world called Wizard Quest. Here, visitors are immersed in a fantasy world and embark on an adventure to complete a number of quests. They answer questions about the environment, decipher riddles and investigate hidden passageways. WPR’s Trina La Susa visited Wizard Quest to learn more about the family behind this unique tourist attraction that she’s enjoyed since childhood.

Imagine making it as a musician not only once, but at two distinct moments in your life. That’s what happened to jazz saxophonist Frank Morgan of Milwaukee. Author Dean Robbins brings us the story on the musician’s rebirth and stardom.

Where we live and the relationships we nurture have a big impact on our lives. Writer Araceli Esparza of Madison shares a poem about the adventures and connections made in your neighborhood.

Jesse Brookstein takes snacking seriously. The New York native has fond memories of his uncle sharing unique, flattened meat snacks with the whole family during the Upstate summer vacations of his childhood. When Brookstein relocated to Wisconsin a few years ago, he noticed those same meat snacks from his childhood on display all over the place in area taverns, gas stations and grocery stores. The self-described “all-around meat geek” got curious about it, started doing some research, and eventually wrote the book, “A Perfect Pair: The History of Landjaeger in Green County, Wisconsin.”

For many Wisconsin families, hunting is an annual tradition rooted in customs and love. But what happens when those traditions are disrupted, when members of that deer camp are no longer with us? Ron Weber shares his experience with this in “A Hunt to Remember.”

In a particular neighborhood in Madison, there are birds you don’t need binoculars to see. They tower three feet tall and stand completely still. WPR’s Jenny Peek introduces us to Madison-based artist Jo Jensen, who started crafting the giant wooden birds for her neighbors during the pandemic.