Monday Morning

There were 19 members at our Monday meeting plus one guest. Our guest speaker was Tracy McDermott.  Happy bucks came from no one. Everyone was unhappy.  Special thanks to our greeters, Marlin and Chris. Dan handled the invocation and our guest speaker, Tracy did the humor. For the second week in a row, we have a Dr. Waffle Award winner. John was the ticket winner. He drew the eight of clubs for no money. Next Monday’s 50/50 Raffle will have 42 cards in the game including the six pay cards with a pot of about $105.

Tracy McDermott, Gottfried Prairie & Arboretum

Tracy is the executive director of Gottfried Prairie and Arboretum. It is a non-profit entity with no funding from either UW Campus or Fond du Lac County. The project began in 1990 when a group of student and staff approached Dean Bradley Gottfried with an idea to establish a prairie on campus. The majority of land surrounding the campus was open lawn. In 1992, the first 20 acres of native grasses and wildflowers were planted by volunteers. Since then, the prairie has grown to an additional 22 acres. It includes a formal arboretum; interpretive hiking trails a bike trail, a shelter, two native display gardens and a wildlife pool. All projects have been funded with private donations and grants. They have added 4.5 acres representing eight types of Wisconsin forest communities. At one time, most of Fond du Lac County was covered by prairie – native grasslands that were home to bison, prairie chickens, bobolinks and other wildlife. Arboretum is named for Bradley Gottfried, former dean of UW Fond du Lac and a major force behind the project. The arboretum is a public park that is open to the public. The luminary holiday walk is Sunday December 13 from 4:30 to7:30 pm. The annual snowshoe hike is the 3rd week of January. For more information go to their web page.