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Good morning and welcome to In Our Range.
My guest this morning is Deb Vomhoff with Friends of Copper Falls State Park.
Copper Falls State Park is located about two miles northeast of Malin in Ashland County.
The State Park was created in 1929 and much of the development work was done by Depression-era government agencies like the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Works Progress Administration.
Copper Falls is about two miles northeast of Malin in Ashland County.
The main entrance is off State Highway 169.
Beautiful hemlock, sugar maple, white pine, and yellow birch forests may be seen there.
Second growth forests with red oak, ironwood, paper birch, aspen, basswood, red pine, and other trees blanket many parts of the park.
The gorges are bordered by white cedar trees.
Hundreds of species of plants are available for study, observation, and photography.
Deb Vomhoff is president of the Friends of the Copper Falls State Park.
She's been a member of the Friends since moving to the Clam Lake Mellon area in 2019.
She grew up in Exonia, Wisconsin, and spent family vacations at the family cabin in the Clam Lake area where she fell in love with the Northwoods and learned to cross country ski, trail run, and bike.
Deb thoroughly enjoys being a part of Copper Falls State Park, assisting the park staff in whatever way she can.
She loves to be a part of raising funds, spending time maintaining trails, serving pancakes and ice cream, meeting visitors interacting with and supporting the best staff in the most beautiful park in the state park system.
And we're happy to have her on this morning.
Good morning, Deb, and welcome to In Our Range.
Well, good morning, Mike.
It's a pleasure.
Yeah, thanks for taking time to speak with us today.
I imagine it's a really busy time of the year for State Parks, I'm sure.
The park is open year-round, but summertime is quite busy and there are a lot of events held throughout the summer, including a big one tonight that I believe is an annual event.
Can you tell us more about events happening in the park this summer?
Sure.
So starting with this evening, we have the Summit Players Theater visiting us.
Like you said, they come annually and perform a wonderful Shakespeare play for us.
And tonight it's Hamlet.
Of course, it's not a full-length play.
They shorten it quite a bit and make it, I mean, especially entertaining.
They start with a workshop at 5.30.
It's a workshop for kids.
Oh, wonderful.
And they do a little bit on performance and then also give a brief summary of the play that they're going to present later on.
The official performance starts at 7 o'clock.
Excellent.
You said this is the summit players?
Yes.
It's a traveling troupe.
They travel throughout different Wisconsin state parks each year.
Oh, I bet that's a wonderful experience.
And so they get the kids involved around five o'clock out there tonight, give them kind of Cliff Snowts version of Hamlet and then do an abridged play.
Is there a
call?
Oh,
sorry, go ahead.
The children's program starts at 5.30.
So and that runs for about half an hour, 45 minutes.
and then the troop goes off and gets themselves ready for the performance at and they'll they reconvene at seven o'clock for the performance and it's all outdoors we do have a sheltered pavilion in case of rain so it's rain or shine down in the area of the park so if you come in drive all the way down it's a mile windy road all the way down to the bottom and you'll find us
in the main picnic area at the bottom of the park near the gift shop concession stand.
Oh, that sounds like a lovely experience.
Is there a cost for the event or is it just the fee to get into the park for the day?
Correct.
It's just the fee to get into the park.
Just your park parking sticker.
And then one thing to keep in mind, what a tradition that we have had in the past is after most performances, our evening performances in the park, we sell what we call Pinocchi sundaes.
So our little fundraiser for the trails in the park.
But we just, we asked for cash for those, but they're wonderful local tetanus ice cream with maple syrup topping, local maple syrup.
and local blueberry sauce.
That's what makes it Pinocchi
Sundays.
That sounds delicious.
So you got an opportunity for a sweet treat after the performance and
All the funds will go towards helping out friends of the Copper State Falls Park, bring more events like this to the park for us.
That's great.
Friends of the Copper Falls State Park, this is an organization that's designed to bring special events and provide support to the park.
It's a nonprofit.
When did this organization get started?
This started about 14 years ago.
So it's really not all that old, but we are one of the most
prolific friends groups in the state actually.
We take pride in that.
Our gift shop run by friends and 100% of the profits from that gift shop and actually all of our fundraisers goes back into the park to support our staff and provide funds
to make sure our staff has the equipment that they need to be one of the best maintained parks in the state.
Yeah, so that would include making sure the trails are clear and taken care of and maybe even looking out for invasive species removal and all kinds of stuff like that, making sure that the state park has the resources to keep it beautiful.
Absolutely, and we've been especially
focusing on making more of our trails and parts of the park handicap accessible.
That's been a really big focus the last few years.
Okay.
What kind of projects have the friends done to help that along?
Right.
We have a handicap accessible fishing pier.
We have a disabilities accessible two person kayak available at our beach.
We have done improvements on our little cabin that's ADA accessible.
We're in the process of finishing up a boardwalk overlook that looks over the main attraction of the park, which is Brownstone Falls and Copper Falls.
We're also this summer going to complete a paved trail at the entrance.
along the river.
It must feel really satisfying and exciting to see people who wouldn't normally be able to access these kinds of activities really enjoy the beautiful nature of the north woods there at the park.
Correct and you know back when the the park was first developed by the CCC fellows many of the trails and such were built with the beautiful granite in the area were built with granite steps.
And we have found over time that the wheels on those types of things just don't roll over the granite labs as well as maybe asphalt or small cinder gravel.
So we're trying to improve those, those things, but then also without taking away from the beautiful historical significance from the pads that the CCCs have laid down.
Yeah, so while there's an incredible amount of history and craftsmanship put into those trails, it can make it difficult for everybody to be able to access them.
So you walk a line between maintaining the beautiful history and honoring the work done by the CCC and the WPA while also including and adding more so that everyone can enjoy it.
Correct.
So Shakespeare in the Park happens tonight.
The workshop will happen at 5.30 and that's directed towards kids and then there will be an abridged performance of Hamlet afterwards and then there will be the Pinocchi Sundays for sale.
What are some other events happening this summer at the Copper Falls State Park?
Let's see.
Looking at my calendar here, July 18th, which is a Saturday and in the morning 9 to 10 a.m.
We have a free yoga in the park.
We have a certified yoga instructor for just some gentle stretching right at the Loom Lake Beach.
And that is also free.
Oh, that
sounds lovely.
Other places
have
goat yoga, but we have mosquito yoga up here.
It's very
nice.
Correct.
I can imagine it's beautiful right
there that by the park it can be tranquil and a lot of yoga can be done very gently and easily and it can be very good for you for centering and feeling good in your body.
It is.
We get a nice breeze from the south and the west blowing across Loon Lake.
and that helps keep the mosquitoes away.
Well,
that's
good to hear.
So I didn't mean to scare anyone away there, me just trying to make a joke.
But that sounds lovely to have that breeze coming across the lake right there.
Sounds like a wonderful experience.
So that's happening on the 18th.
The following day on Sunday morning from 8.30 to noon, we serve pancakes in the park.
Oh yeah, this is an
event that happened a couple weeks back as well, right?
Yes, correct.
During the summer, we have one a month, a third Sunday of the month, June, July, August, and sometimes over Labor Day weekend.
That's always to be determined.
Made from scratch, pancakes with, again, local maple syrup, local blueberry, locally made blueberry sauce, fresh fruit juice, whatever, family friendly.
It's made outdoors, served outdoors.
And that has really been a popular event.
This will be our third season of doing that.
And the money raised for that all goes to the trail maintenance of the park.
It's just a super fun family.
Sunday morning.
Yeah, have a nice social breakfast with folks in a beautiful area and know that the money you put towards a meal will go towards keeping those park trails maintained.
So that's incredible.
Absolutely.
It's fun all around.
Yeah, and so that's on the 19th.
Anything else scheduled for July?
So
on July 25th, we have the Tamarind Dance Troupe up from Milwaukee and they do
It's a very ornate, based Middle Eastern dance, and I hate, I don't want to say belly dancers, but that's what they are, but they're very tastefully done, beautiful costumes, and they do a lot of explanation as to their dance routines, and they've been together for a long time.
In fact, kind of a multi-generational.
And this is our third year of having them.
Wonderful.
And again, Ice Cream Sunday served after.
Always.
Always.
Exactly.
And that's 8 p.m.
Okay, that's at 8 p.m.
on the 25th?
Yeah, from 6 to 8 p.m.
on the 25th.
Wonderful.
So the Tamarind dance troupe out of Milwaukee will be showing up and they'll be doing some different dances, maybe some belly dance styles.
And you get to experience a different culture, learn about this type of dancing and all the, cause there's so, it gets so intricate with the movements there.
It's pretty amazing.
And then finish it up with more
delicious
Sundays.
All right.
And I think you said you had one other event coming
up.
Backing up a little bit again July 18th.
This is in the evening at 7 p.m.
We're going to it's our one of our dark sky program we are applying for the international designation of a dark sky area so in this
been in the process for about two or three years, what we're trying to do is have as many dark sky evening programs to encourage folks to enjoy and make people aware of the importance of dark sky.
The flying creatures, the mammals, why those evening beings need dark skies.
So, in part of an awareness, we're having a program called Creatures of the Night, and it begins at 7 p.m.
We'll be talking about insects, we'll be emphasizing insects that evening, and the effects of artificial light on animals, and we'll be checking for insects attracted to light.
Yeah,
that's a
really important topic that more people could be educated on.
I think it's something that we take for granted.
Also, when you get to mid to late July, the skies couldn't be more beautiful than where we live here.
The Milky Way comes out, that big dipper is sitting right above the horizon, looking to the north.
It's just a gorgeous time of year.
Correct.
And this, as most of our events are held, rain or shine, but you could always check
the Friends of Copper Falls website and their calendar for changes to any of these events.
Yeah, and I believe that you guys also have a presence on Facebook as well.
So if people are looking for information, they can check you out on there.
Correct.
Well, Deb, thanks again for joining us this morning.
I hope you have a wonderful weekend.
Thank you, Mike.
Thank you very much for taking the time to help us out promoting the park.
Yes, ma'am.
You're welcome.
My pleasure.
My guest this morning was Deb Baumhoff, president of Friends of the Copper Falls State Park.
Copper Falls State Park is located just northeast of Mellon on Highway 169.
It is open year round.
They have so many events happening throughout the summer, including tonight's event, Shakespeare in the Park, put on by the Summit Players.
They'll be performing Hamlet.
There'll be a workshop aimed towards kids and fun folks at 5.30pm with the show starting at 7pm.
They're all presented free of charge.
The event is held in the picnic area with limited picnic tables so please bring your own lawn chair.
Wisconsin to the State Park admission is required.
Thanks for joining us this morning on In Our Range and we'll be back next week.
