BOSCOBEL - If you’re ready for some delicious food and tasty beverages, then the Taste of Boscobel, coming up on Saturday, Sept. 7, is the event for you. The event will take place at Double K’s in Boscobel, and various other locations down town. Sampling will run from 12-6 p.m.

The event will feature bands at Double K’s, The Pour House, Tri-Cor Insurance, Timber Lane Coffee House, Tall Tails Liquor and the Boscobel Hotel. Local foods and beverages will be available for sampling inside at Double K’s and in the parking lot next door. The Boscobel Family Martial Arts & Wellness Center will provide a martial arts demonstration at 1 p.m. The first 500 participants will get a complimentary ‘Wisconsin River Trails Organization’ (WRTO) cup for sampling and to take home.

Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door. Tickets can be purchased  at Double K’s, Community First Bank, or from WRTO board members: Denise Fisher, 507-269-2606; Tonia Vial, 608-391-0113; Jo Summers, 608-485-1546; or Wendi Stitzer, 608-485-1202.

Local food and drink

Inside at Double Ks, the following vendors will be sampling food and drink:

 •Spurgeon Vineyard

• Narrow Creek

• Yahara Bay Distillery

• Whispering Winds

• Whispering Bluffs Winery

Outside at Double K’s, the following vendors will be sampling food and drink:

• WRTO- food and beer

• Casey's Pizza

• Potosi Brewing Company - Beer

• Frank’s Distributing – miscellaneous beers

• WI Brewing Company

• Pampered Chef

• Udder Brothers

At other locations in the downtown, there will be sampling and entertainment:

• Tall Tails Liquor- Beer and Karoke

• Boscobel Hotel - Music, Food and Beer

• The Pour House - Beer and Music

• Timber Lane Coffee House - Iced Coffee and Music

• Tri-Cor Insurance- Music

• Boscobel Library - Classic Re-runs

Music line up

The music schedule at Double K’s will be:

12-2 p.m. – Adam Bartels (rock-n-roll)

2-3 p.m. – Tom and Boston Jones (country)

3-5 p.m. – Hard Times Band (rock-n-roll)

5-7 p.m. – Abby Lane (rock and pop)

7-8 p.m. – Mark Glasbrenner

At the Pour House:

12:30-2:30 p.m. – Nate Gallagher (acoustic)

At Tri-Cor Insurance:

1:30-3:30 p.m. – Tom Black

At Timber Lane Coffee House:

12:30-2:30 p.m. – Lori Roth

At the Boscobel Hotel:

12:30-2:30 p.m. – Ann Cristoffeer (folk music)

2-4 p.m. – Greg Patchak (acoustic)

At Tall Tails Liquor Store:

12-5 p.m. – DJ Marsha (karaoke)

For the most up-to-date listing of food/beverage vendors, and musical entertainment, go to the Wisconsin River Trails Organization page on Facebook.

Fundraiser for trail

The organization putting on the Taste of Boscobel is the Wisconsin River Trail Organization (WRTO). Proceeds from the event will help the group reach their ambitious $50,000 per year fundraising goal to help pay for creation of a 26-mile trail that will connect Boscobel, Woodman and Wauzeka. The goal is to stimulate eco-tourism in the area and inject new energy into the area’s economy.

“Our goal is to re-invent our area as an outdoor recreational area,” WRTO board member Denise Fisher said. “Outdoor enthusiasts coming to the area will be able to bike, walk and canoe, and also enjoy the 389-acre hiking preserve just outside of Boscobel.”

Through their fundraising efforts, which included securing of a grant from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the group has already constructed a trail connecting downtown Boscobel to the boat landing on the Wisconsin River. Recently the group added a flag pole at the boat landing, paid for through selling memorial bricks used to construct the pole area.

Currently, the group is working on a trail that will run from Gordon Road, near the Dairy Queen, out to the trailer park near Woodman. The trail is a joint project of WRTO, construction workers, the City of Boscobel, and the Towns of Marion and Woodman.

“The three-and-one-half-mile trail will connect the trailer park to the city, and give kids and adults a safe way to walk or ride their bikes,” Fisher said. “We hope to begin work on the trail yet this fall.”

Fisher reports that the group is also applying for a Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WDOT) TAPS grant, for which the group will apply by the end of 2019. If approved, the grant would pay to fund addition of a bike lane alongside Highway 60 between Wauzeka and the Wisconsin River bridge. The WDOT is scheduled to re-do that section of road in 2022-23.

“Our pitch to the WDOT is that if our group paid for an expansion of the road in that stretch, then they would allow us to put in eight-foot bike lanes,” Fisher said. The WDOT has agreed in principle with our plans, and if approved, the TAPS grant would pay for $45,000 of the total $80,000 price tag.”

Fisher said the group’s grand goal is to create a big circle that connects Boscobel, Woodman and Wauzeka. To do this, the group is also exploring taking over the Woodman-to-Wauzeka railroad crossing. The railroad has plans to abandon the bridge and build a new one.

Other events

The group also has a line up of other exciting fundraising and community outreach events throughout the year;

Nov. 9, 2019: The Hike/Bike Banquet is the group’s biggest fundraiser of the year. In 2018, the event yielded $24,000 for the group. The banquet features a meal for 200 ($25 a plate), silent and live auctions, a 50/50 raffle, a table raffle with high end prizes such as a kayak and more, and chinese raffles.

Feb. 2020: Sleigh Rides in the Park, a community outreach event, features free sleigh rides in Kronshage Park in Boscobel.

May 2020: Trek-the-Trail is a spring time event timed to coincide with the opening of the Boscobel Farmer’s Market.

July 3, 2020: Chicken Barbecue at Kroshage Park