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GROW YOUR MIND AT MINE DAY, PLATTEVILLE'S CLASSIC STEAM FESTIVAL

from "53818 Update" Summer 2023 City of Platteville Newsletter

from "53818 Update" Summer 2023 City of Platteville Newsletter, page 23

Ready to Register?

Festive food and beverages will be served all day at The Friends of The Mining & Rollo Jamison Museums concession stand. Hot, tasty food will be provided in part by Platteville A&W Restaurant, plus cold beer and soft drinks. Custom ice cream flavors featuring Driftless Area ingredients created for the Museum by Pioneer Sweets of the University of Wisconsin-Platteville will be available in the Museum Store.

Free games for kids will include panning for gems and minerals, Tommyknocker Sucker Pull, Plinko, Hard Hat Ball Toss, and more — with prizes that nurture interest in the hobby of rock and mineral collecting. You Dig-It! Treasure Kits will be available in two varieties in the Museum Store ($14.50) for a fabulous hands-on children’s activity at the Mini Mill Treasure Table that features cobbing, sifting and winnowing, and washing just like a real historic mill.

What do you call a summer family festival with bluegrass music all day, delicious concessions, earth science-themed games like panning for gems, underground UV-light prospecting, exciting industrial arts and crafts demonstrations like blacksmithing and pneumatic drilling, and more? At The Mining & Rollo Jamison Museums, we call it Mine Day! Platteville’s classic festival of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math (STEAM) returns on Saturday, August 12, with even more awesome content for fun and learning for all ages.

Folks are invited to bring blankets or lawn chairs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. to enjoy three live bluegrass bands, games, gem-and-mineral displays, and demonstrations — all for free. Advance reservations are suggest- ed for specially priced new UV Light Prospecting Mine Tours at 10 a.m. and 11 a.m., and half-price Museum admission, Guided Mine Tours, and unlimited train rides all day.

Demonstrations include a lead pour and casting, a steam engine running on compressed air, lapidary arts (stone and gem working), pneumatic drilling, plus carbide lamp lighting and other hands-on earth science activities. The Badger Lapidary and Geological Society will be on site with gems and minerals for sale and display. This year we will also host special guest “Driftless Digger” Jim Winter for a demonstration of curious artifacts he has found across the region while he metal detects, bottle digs, creek walks and magnet fishes, all with the goal of preserving our past.

Winners of the Pick & Gad Raffle will be drawn at 3 p.m. This Friends of The Mining & Rollo Jamison Museums benefit raffle offers a $1,000 Grand Prize, a $250 Second Prize, a $100 Third Prize, and eight $40 prizes. Interested in purchasing a raffle ticket? Tickets are $20 and can be purchased at the Museums between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. daily. Proceeds benefit the 2023 Annual Fund and directly support Museum operations and Friends programs like school field trip scholarships.

Follow The Mining & Rollo Jamison Museums on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. To reserve your UV Light Prospecting Mine Tours and half-price Guided Mine Tour and Train Ride, and for more information, visit www.mining.jamison.museum, call (608) 348-3301, or send an email to museums@platteville.org.

NEW DRIFTLESS WALKING TOUR DEBUTS!

Check out a brand new guided tour this summer! "Land, Place, and Life: A Driftless Walking Tour" starts at the Museum and explores portions of the David Canny Rountree Branch Trail in order to the story of our unique place. Delve into the landscape of the Driftless Area and the Upper Mississippi Valley Mining District, including how our unique geology and geography developed into a way of life from prehistory to the establishment of Wisconsin as the Badger State to the development of our contemporary community.

This walk along a scenic trout stream is offered in partnership with the Platteville Community Arboretum and showcases local art installations and a variety of community development and historic preservation projects. The tour will be offered regularly in 2023. Check tour times at www.mining.jamison. museum or call (608) 348-3301.