Aryn Henning Nichols

You can’t have your cake and eat it too. 

Or so goes the old saying. Still, Wendy Stevens sure does try. The Decorah resident and retired Luther College biology professor has hosted a huge annual birthday party for 37 years and counting, baking as many as 30 cakes for 200 people a year.

Each year, guests marvel at the cake party magic. Candles tucked into jars line the walking path. Lofty maple trees circle the event site. Trestle tables await the parade of cakes – annual favorites like chocolate torte, fresh peach cake, and carrot cake, to name just a few – carefully carried by partygoers, one-by-one, to the forest clearing. 

The ingredients

Wendy and her husband, Jim, moved to rural Decorah in the early 1970s. The couple raised two sons in a wooded valley with a stream and an old limekiln. Trails, grass, and gardens surround a late-1800s log house that Jim relocated and reconstructed for the family.

In 1987, friends helped the couple pour the concrete foundation for a summer kitchen. It was a drizzly day. Wendy, who started her baking hobby while in graduate school, baked a carrot cake in celebration of the slab being poured – and to celebrate her 40th birthday. As the group stood in the mist, snacking on cake, Wendy remembered some advice from her good friend, Bernice Feltis, a retired Winneshiek County schoolteacher who has since passed away.

“Bernice told me, ‘If you don’t want to be disappointed, you plan your own party,’” Wendy says. “I thought that was really good advice.” 

Bernice used to mark her birthday with a grand potluck. From that drizzly afternoon on, Wendy decided to always plan her own party, as well.

A year later, she baked seven cakes and welcomed 20 families for the first cake gathering. Though the date now varies slightly each year, there is always plenty to celebrate. Wendy and Jim both have early August birthdays, and their anniversary also falls in August. 

They’ve hosted guests annually since 1988, except for 2020 when COVID-19 risk ran high. That year, Wendy baked a white bundt cake with almond extract. Jim set out lawn chairs and built a fire, and the two of them ate their cake with black raspberry sauce and vanilla ice cream while watching low clouds backlit by the moon.

The recipe

Today, with nearly four decades of parties behind them, Wendy and Jim have developed efficient planning, baking, and setup routines. Early on, Wendy marks her calendar with tasks like defrosting the freezer and cleaning the root cellar. She also tracks ingredients on spreadsheets. For example, to bake 24 cakes in 2016, Wendy used 98 eggs, 127 tablespoons of butter, 26.5 tablespoons of cocoa, and 44 cups of sugar, including granulated, powdered, and brown sugars. Other elements on that year’s shopping list included eight toffee bars, seven cups of strawberries, four cups of walnuts, and two lemons.

Wendy typically starts baking cakes three weeks before the party. Things like cream puffs and meringues are best when made the morning of the event, but she finishes and freezes most other cakes ahead of time. The inaugural party taught her to stretch out her schedule.

“That first year, I only had two nine-inch round pans. It didn’t even occur to me that when the cake comes out, you have to let it cool. Then you have to wash the pan. And I only had a regular-size oven. I could only get a maximum of three pans in the oven at one time,” she says.

Wendy works from a binder of printed recipes framed by notes she’s scribbled over the years. While a few cakes build on boxed mixes, she makes the majority from scratch.

“It’s mostly the same cakes every year. I try to have one or two new ones, but when you make a new cake, it doesn’t always work out like you think it’s going to,” she says.

Other surprises sometimes derail Wendy’s careful plans. One year, she started over after leaving sugar out of the cupcake batter. Another time, a carrot cake layer slid from the cooling racks and hit the floor. An angel food cake once emerged from the freezer with a wide dent, and another once went missing. (Wendy later found it in a box at the bottom of the freezer.) 

Last summer, as she was baking 28 cakes, the oven stopped working. Jim was in La Crosse buying beer for the party, so a friend helped Wendy shuttle ingredients and an oven thermometer to a neighbor’s house. Wendy thanked the neighbor with a party invitation. 

“I’ll invite him again this year. There’s no doubt about that,” she says.

While she bakes most cakes herself, a friend typically provides extra support a day or two before the party. Others help weed the gardens and write up cake descriptions. On party day, Wendy’s sister and family bring lunch for the friends and relatives who assist with prep. Wendy whips the cream and makes each frosting from scratch and then entrusts others to top cakes with chopped fruit, flowers, and carefully swirled frosting. 

Meanwhile, Jim positions long tables in the lawn and places candles along the path between the parking area and the party site. He and Wendy also solicit help stacking wood for a towering, post-dinner bonfire. Inspired by Wendy’s years as a Girl Scout, it’s a shoulder-height structure that resembles a log cabin, topped with tall sticks arranged in a tent shape.

Partygoers start arriving around 6:30 pm, and everyone brings a snack to share – “everything from a bag of chips to little open-face sandwiches to salads to fruit to meatballs,” Wendy says. “It’s all sorts of things, so most people don’t eat dinner before they come.” 

Shortly before 8 pm, Wendy invites attendees to carry cakes from the house to the party grounds. 

Occasionally, someone suggests carrying two cakes at once. 

“I have a rule, and that’s one cake per person,” Wendy says. “Number one, people don’t realize how heavy the cakes get. Number two, I just say, ‘If you should happen to fall, then we lose two cakes. This way, it’s just one cake and it’s not that big of a deal.’”

Next, Wendy gives her guests an official welcome, thanks those who helped with party prep, and makes one gentle request.

“I love making the cakes, but it’s hard for me to see cake thrown away if people have taken some and not eaten it. So, I ask that people please take what they’re going to eat and then come back for as much cake as they want later,” Wendy says. “It works. People come up later and say, ‘I ate all my cake.’”

She personally greets each guest who comes through the cake line. People enjoy their slices, chat with other partygoers, and circle near the fire that gets lit around 9 pm. When guests leave for home, they follow the candlelit path back to their cars.  

“At the end, it is so magical, silently putting out the lanterns. We put them out starting at the parking area. When we get to the cake area, all that’s left are the glowing coals from the fire, and then all these candles around and on the table,” Wendy says. “It’s like a fairytale, or another Brigadoon. We’re done with another year, and everything reverts back to normal.”

The icing on the cake

In the musical “Brigadoon,” two American travelers happen upon an enchanting Scottish village that appears for just one day every 100 years. But Wendy and Jim have cultivated a more permanent village for themselves: a community of treasured friends and family who look forward to this party every year. Guests have traveled from as far as New Mexico and Hawaii to attend, but most are local friends, relatives, coworkers, and colleagues from volunteer activities.

“This is one way that I can thank these people for being in our lives,” Wendy says.

Back in the party’s 15th year, some friends surprised Wendy and Jim with a custom-made tablecloth that guests got to sign. It still graces a table each year. In 2023, as partygoers celebrated Wendy and Jim’s 50th wedding anniversary and Jim’s 80th birthday, some of those same attendees crafted a three-tiered cardboard cake to hold cards for the couple.

Though hosting the party takes a lot of planning and preparation, marking milestones with friends makes it all worthwhile.

“There’s always a day when I’m thinking, ‘What on earth are you doing? Why are you doing this?’” Wendy says. “But as soon as people start to arrive, I’m done. I can’t do anything more. All I need to do is enjoy these people.”

A (cake) walk down memory lane 

When Wendy Stevens bakes for her annual birthday party, she chooses cakes that her guests love. While her own favorites include Viennese torte and a devil’s food coconut creme, she enjoys most all flavors on the menu. 

“I like just about all of my cakes really well, because you never know what’s going to be left over,” says Wendy, who also serves cake for breakfast the morning after the party.

Here’s what guests have to say about the annual event.

Nancy Bolson

The cake party date is one of the first things Nancy writes on her calendar each year. “It’s just such a big summer event. It’s right up there with Christmas,” she says.

Favorite cake: “I just take little, tiny bits of lots of them, and usually by the time the fork hits the plate, it’s dark. It’s a mingling of these wonderful, whipped cream-chocolate-fruit bites,” Nancy says.

Melissa Brown

Melissa marvels at thoughtful party decorations like wildflowers on the mailbox, candles in jars, and cakes topped with carrot-shaped icing or sweet Johhny Jump Up blossoms.  «I love to watch the parade of cakes as partygoers each carry a cake to the tables for cutting,” she says.

Favorite cake: Flourless dark chocolate cake with raspberries, white cake with lemon filling, and better than sex chocolate cake 

David Cavagnaro

One year, David and a friend vowed to taste every cake at the party. His friend filled a plate with samples of all the chocolaty cakes, David filled his plate with cakes featuring fruit, and they later traded. They couldn’t pick a favorite, and David says it took about a week of fasting to recover. 

Favorite cake: “Well, of course, that is an entirely impossible question!” David says. 

Betsy Hayes

Wendy’s sister Besty attends with her husband, Roland, and their daughter and her family. She calls the party a joyful event with sometimes unpredictable weather. “‘Is it on?? Is it off??’ and ‘Everybody, cover the tables!! Everybody uncover the tables!!’ It’s very exciting,” Betsy says. 

Favorite cake: Chocolate eclair cake and the layer cake with peach slices and whipping cream

Dale and Frances Garst-Kittleson

“When we got our first invitation, we asked someone about it. I remember their eyes just lighting up. We were told, ‘This party is not to be missed,’” Dale says. “They were right. It is the one not to be missed. It’s beautiful.”

Frances helped make both the guest-signed tablecloth and the cardboard cake that held cards for Wendy and Jim. She appreciates the couple’s graciousness as hosts, and the community they’ve built. “At the end, you make the long walk back to the cars and there are little tiki torches and candles,” Frances says. “It’s always really late, and you’re just walking away very happy and satisfied and full of cake.”

Favorite cake: Cheesecake and the cake with fresh peaches and whipped cream (Frances), plus all the chocolate ones (Dale)

Tips for throwing your own cake party

1. Start small. “People come to this and say, ‘I could never do it.’ At the beginning, maybe seven cakes and 20 families is too many for you. But just start small, and decide how to build from there,” Wendy says.

2. Be flexible if it rains. “The thing that ages me the most is the weather,” Wendy says. “I’ve learned to be real gutsy about doing this…One year we all had to be inside, and that’s the year everybody remembers.”

3. Have fun. “I will always go with Bernice Feltis’ advice: plan your own party. That’s it. If it’s an annual thing, make sure it’s something that you look forward to doing,” Wendy says.

Carrot Cake Recipe by Wendy Stevens

Print a pdf here

3 eggs, beaten
½ cup canola oil 
1 cup buttermilk 
1 ½ cups sugar 
2 teaspoons vanilla extract 
2 cups flour 
1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon 
1 teaspoon baking soda 
1 teaspoon baking powder 
¼ teaspoon salt 
1 can (8 ounces) crushed pineapple, undrained 
2 cups grated carrots 
1 cup chopped walnuts 
1 cup flaked coconut 

Frosting 
½ cup + 1Tbsp butter, softened 
1 package (8 ounces) regular cream cheese 
2 teaspoons vanilla extract 
4 ¾ cups powdered sugar 
1 tsp. cream or milk if needed to make the frosting spreadable

Preheat oven to 350°

In a mixing bowl, combine eggs, oil, buttermilk, sugar and vanilla. Mix well. Combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt in another bowl, and whisk flour mixture into egg mixture. Stir in pineapple, carrots, nuts and coconut. Line three 9-inch round pans with parchment paper. Put 2 1/3 cups batter into each pan. Bake at 350° for 30-35 minutes. Remove the cakes from the pans after 10 minutes of cooling. Cool cake layers completely before frosting. 

To make frosting, combine butter, cream cheese and vanilla. Beat until smooth or blend in a food processor. Add powdered sugar and beat until creamy. Add a little cream or milk if the frosting is too stiff. Spread on cooled cake layers, assemble cake and frost the outside of the cake.

While the discovery that Decorah sits atop an ancient impact crater and was once home to the world’s oldest-recorded sea scorpion, Pentecopterus decorahensis, may seem like old news (literally!), the excitement surrounding this fascinating history is alive and well.

In fact, Decorah even has its very own crater “taskforce” – a small, informal group of local scientists and crater enthusiasts. Dedicated to public education and outreach, taskforce members recognize how important and unique it is for residents and visitors of Decorah to be aware of the area’s history and timeline, and to understand how a connected, invested community made it happen. 

“From the beginning to where we are now, these incredible discoveries required collaboration among people of all different backgrounds and from all walks of life,” says Birgitta Meade, a local Winneshiek County Instructor in Environmental Education.

The whole story from initial hunch to published scientific findings unfolded in about 20 years – warp-speed in the world of science. In 2004, amateur geologist and long-time Decorah resident Jean Young was working with the Iowa Geological Survey to analyze stratigraphic data (rock layers) of well-drilling cores as a way of mapping local geography and helping to predict the best locations for constructing wells. In the Driftless area, the various layers of rock underneath the ground’s surface typically follow an established, predictable sequence. But Jean began to notice something odd – all of the samples within a 3.5-kilometer diameter circle contained mysterious layers of shale (a fine-grained rock primarily composed of clay and silt particles especially conducive to preserving fossils) that wasn’t present in any of the samples outside of that area. 

Jean wasn’t the first person to notice this unexpected anomaly, but when everyone else brushed it off and moved on, she honored her hunch that the shale was pointing her towards a bigger discovery and began to investigate. 

“That was the start of every crater-related discovery that has been made in Decorah,” says Laura Peterson, Professor of Environmental Studies at Luther College and a member of Decorah’s informal crater enthusiasts group. “We only know everything we do now because Jean paid attention to something that was unusual and didn’t match the expected pattern, and trusted herself enough to pursue that.” 

Eventually, Jean and her collaborators at the Iowa Geological Survey discovered copious amounts of breccia – a conglomerate rock made of fragments of many other rocks and minerals  – underneath the shale. Not only is breccia a problem for the construction of deep geothermal wells, as it can interfere with water movement and the way heat is transferred, it is also a strong indicator of impact events. It was one of the major pieces of evidence that led to the discovery of Decorah’s impact crater, which is estimated to be around 465 million years old. Jean passed away in 2007, but the impact, pun intended, of her dedication should be recognized in the Decorah community for, well, the rest of time.

The presence of the crater, which is buried around 100 feet below the surface of Decorah, is likely the reason that the layer of Winneshiek Shale, and all of the fossils encased within it, has been preserved in this area, even though it eroded away everywhere else. Currently, the area inside the impact crater is the only known location of Winneshiek Shale in the world. For the most part, the shale is deep enough underground that it can only be reached by taking core samples, meaning that only very small fossil fragments are able to be excavated. But Jean and her team were lucky enough to discover one area where the shale rose to surface level – the fact that it was underwater was not enough to deter them. They were able to dam the flow of water, allowing access to large portions of shale. This excavation led to the discovery of a wide variety of ancient creatures and organisms, many of which had never been documented before.

One such find, of course, was that of the Pentecopterus decorahensis, a giant six-foot long eurypterid (yew-RIP-ter-id) – the scientific name for a group of extinct marine arthropods that feature segmented bodies, jointed limbs, and a flexible organic exoskeleton. Pentecopterus decorahensis is the largest organism that has been found in Winneshiek Shale, and the second-largest eurypterid that scientists have discovered in the world so far. But that’s not all – one of the greatest contributions that Pentecopterus decorahensis has made to the discipline of paleontology is related to its extremely old age. As the oldest known eurypterid by nearly nine million years, this fossil confirmed suspicions that eurypterids evolved a lot sooner than had been previously estimated and documented.

Pentecopterus decorahensis is something of a celebrity in the Decorah area, especially since the arrival of a life-sized model, affectionately known as Scorpy, that now resides at Luther College. Decorah’s crater taskforce was thrilled when the model was able to permanently return to Decorah, providing a fantastic tangible resource to help locals and tourists learn more about the crater and its creatures. 

But why stop there? Steve St. Clair, a Decorah resident and member of the taskforce, had a vision for another Pentecopterus decorahensis model – one that would be able to withstand traveling and being touched. So, he reached out to the original Scorpy artist, Dennis Wilson of Pangaea Designs, and the new, more durable Scorpy will arrive in Decorah soon, with the intention of making appearances at various public events such as parades, school visits, and local festivals. 

The new Scorpy is just one step towards engaging the community in our area’s incredible history, and teaching future generations about all of the possibilities within the field of science. Hopefully, Scorpy’s story will inspire the development of future scientists who will carry on Decorah’s wonderful tradition of groundbreaking discoveries!

Check out the info & illustration by Clara Wodny below to learn even more fun facts and deep time history of Decorah’s impact crater and Pentecopterus decorahensis, aka Scorpy!

Fun Facts about Decorah’s Crater & Scorpy!

• Decorah’s ancient impact crater, one of fewer than 200 impact structures on the entire planet, sits about 100 feet below the earth’s surface. This means that the crater itself is not visible or present in Decorah’s current topology. Instead, the city’s bowl shape is a result of many years of erosion, rather than the meteor strike.

• While it is true that there are a lot of cool, ancient fossils found inside the impact crater, the impact itself is not what killed or preserved them. Instead, they probably lived many thousands of years after the impact and are preserved in a mysterious layer of shale that includes rocks, sediments, and fossils from many different time periods, all combined into one. Because the shale was deposited in deep, oxygen-free waters, it provided unique conditions that allowed for the preservation of very fine fossil features.

• Pentecopterus decorahensis might be the most famous organism extracted from Winneshiek Shale, but it is far from the only one. Conodonts are a fully extinct group of jawless marine vertebrates. Because the only portion of Conodonts that become fossilized are their teeth, scientists must study and compare these fragments to modern creatures that have similar features and body types and produce a series of reconstructions before landing on the best estimation of what the creatures may have looked like.

• The term “Sea-Scorpion” is simply a nickname for the Pentecopterus decorahensis, because it looks relatively similar to modern-day scorpions. In reality, it does not share a close genetic relationship with them. It is actually an Eurypterid (yew-RIP-ter-id) – the scientific name for a group of extinct marine arthropods that feature segmented bodies, jointed limbs, and a flexible organic exoskeleton.  Pentecopterus decorahensis belongs to the same category as creatures like insects, shrimp, and lobsters, and is probably most genetically similar to a horseshoe crab.

• The crater is often estimated to be around 465 million years old, but this is just a rough guess. Calculating a more exact age of the crater would require a dating process that involves analyzing little bits of sand called zircons– molecules that essentially had their atomic clocks reset by the impact.

STAND ON THE ‘POINT OF IMPACT‘

In Van Peenen Park in Decorah, there is now a large bronze medallion, set into a concrete base, that marks the scientific ‘point of impact’ from the meteor strike 465 million years ago. The Decorah Impact Crater sits many layers far below the current ground level (about 300 feet below the marker – one of the highest points in the crater circle, in fact!). It’s a short, pretty hike to the spot.

Here’s how to get there: 

• Park at the main entrance to Van Peenen Park off of Quarry Hill Road in Decorah• From the park informational kiosk, take the Higinn Trail loop (a 1.7 mile round-trip trek) to pass right by the impact marker. This off-road trail includes slight elevation changes. 

• Dress for the weather and conditions, avoiding times of mud if possible.

VISIT SCORPY!

The current Pentecopterus decorahensis model lives in Valders Hall of Science at Luther College, and you can check it out and learn more about Scorpy! Here’s how:

• Go to Luther College’s main entrance / 700 College Drive, Decorah

• Stay left for Upper Campus.

• Park in a visitor spot near the first building on the left, Sampson Hoffland Laboratories. 

 •  Enter SHL.

• In the lobby of SHL, stay right to enter Valders Hall of Science.

• See “Scorpy” on display in the hallway!

Go to visitdecorah.com/decorah-impact-crater for more Impact Crater activities!

Listen to a great Rhymes With Decorah Podcast interview with Birgitta Meade by Inspire(d)’s Benji Nichols at benjinichols.podbean.com/e/jyoungcrater

Summer Learning is Cool!

Did you love learning about Scorpy? Well, get excited, ‘cause there’s always more to learn more about the natural world! Here’s a short list of some of our favorite educational places to visit in the Driftless – add them to your “to-explore” for this summer season!

The Driftless Region is home to many great things – one being the only National Monument in the entire state of Iowa. Effigy Mounds National Monument, located on Hwy 76 north of Marquette, is the site of 200 plus American Indian effigy mounds, built between 800 and 2500 years ago. Effigy Mounds is open every day in the summer, 9 am to 4:30 pm, with daily guided tours and programs. Learn more and plan your visit at nps.gov/efmo

Driftless Area Education & Visitor Center is well-worth a trip. Located on the banks of the Mississippi near Lansing, Iowa, the 10,000-square-foot center includes super cool cultural, recreational, natural, and historical exhibits. Check allamakeecountyconservation.org for workshops, special hikes, backwater paddling trips, and more! Open Monday-Friday, 8 am to 4:30 pm, Sat-Sun. 12-4 pm. More info at facebook.com/AllamakeeCountyConservation or
563-538-0400.

Clayton County’s Osborne Nature Center features a native wildlife exhibit, walking trails, open shelters, a welcome center, and more. Located five miles south of Elkader, Iowa, on Hwy 13,  folks can check out the outdoor nature playground, hike the trails, and fish along the Volga River as well. Clayton County Conservation also hosts fun Trail Runs, day camps, Heritage Days, and more. Summer hours: Mon-Sat 8 am-4 pm and Sun 12-4 pm. Learn more at claytoncountyconservation.org or 563-245-1516

Driftless Area Wetland Centre’s mission is to connect people of all ages to the natural world and empower them to positively impact their local environments. We love that! The visitor center features wetlands, prairie, wildlife displays, and more. Located near Marquette, Iowa, it is open Tues-Sat, 11 am – 4 pm. Learn more (and check out the kids’ day camps!) at driftlessareawetlandcentre.com or by calling 563-873-3537.

International Owl Center in Houston, Minnesota, works to make the world a better place for owls, and you can learn how to help at this neat education center! We suggest you visit for one of the three daily owl programs. There are usually live birds present each day, as well as fascinating owl displays. Summer hours: Friday – Monday, 10 am – 5 pm, with educational programs at 11 am, 1 pm, and 3 pm daily. Learn more (and see the 24/7 live owl cam) at internationalowlcenter.org or by calling 507-896-6957.

If you’re ever heading down a road in Vernon County, Wisconsin, you might see a large, red and white van, emblazoned with the words “Building Community Through Literacy”– that’s RedLou Library, Viroqua’s very own mobile library. In the driver’s seat, you’ll likely find Mary Mulvaney-Kemp, founder and president of RedLou Inc., on her way to distribute a variety of books to interested folks, both young and old.

“We work to reach those that are underserved or have difficulty getting to brick-and-mortar libraries,” explains Mary. 

RedLou serves the elderly population living in area facilities, many of whom have limited mobility and barriers to transportation. They help get books into the hands of the workforce at Vernon Area Rehabilitation Center (VARC), which supports individuals with disabilities in achieving their fullest potential and enhancing their quality of life. And, of course, they serve kids and parents living and working in Vernon County.

“A two-year-old can’t get to the library on their own. Parents are super busy,” Mary says. “We can make their life a little less hectic by providing books at their child’s daycare. Hopefully this can free up a few extra minutes in their week to read to their child.” 

This can be especially important during summer break. Mary, who worked as a reading specialist for Viroqua Area Schools and later as the youth services director at McIntosh Memorial Library in Viroqua, often observed that children would return to school in the fall with declined reading skills – something so common, it even has a name: the summer slide.   

“I wanted to limit this by providing literacy opportunities for children in various places throughout the district in the summer,” she says. While this idea never got off the ground during her career working with kids, Mary knew it was never too late. “20 years later I started my dream.”

RedLou Library – named to honor Mary’s parents (Virgil “Red” and Louise Mulvaney) –became operational in late 2021. The RedLou seed money came from a sum left for Mary by her mother, who passed away in 2019. After Mary retired from the library in 2020, she started creating plans to make her mobile library a reality. 

The first step was securing an extended length transit van with a high roof – which turned out to be a difficult endeavor in early 2021 during the pandemic. But eventually, with the help of local dealership Sleepy Hollow Ford, a suitable vehicle was found, and the van began its transformation into a mobile library. 

Mary worked with Abrahamson Body and Equipment Service in Manaway, Wisconsin, to upfit the cargo area into a space for the library, including adjustable shelves (installed at an angle to prevent books from falling), rolling carts that are secured with retention straps while on the move, a circulation desk, swiveling driver’s seat, and an electric lift for easy cart loading and unloading. 

Acquiring books and funding were next on RedLou’s starting journey, as the mobile library is a 501(c)(3) and is funded entirely through donations and grants. 

“Many individuals, local businesses, the Bigley Foundation, and Viroqua Area Foundation provided donations of time, money, or other forms of assistance,” says Mary. “Step by step, everything fell into place.”   

That first year, RedLou Library used paper check-out cards with a stamped due date in a card pocket in the back of the books, with additional record keeping happening when Mary got home. It was an arduous, time-consuming process. For RedLou Library’s second year, a license to use an online library program was purchased. 

“The program provides several features, including: an automated process to check books in/out, a database that patrons can browse and put books on hold, and a means to automatically notify patrons of important information,” explains Mary. “Most significantly, I had more time to serve more people.”

Mary serves as president of the RedLou non-profit board, along with her husband / vice-president/secretary, Chuck Mulvaney-Kemp, and finance officer Mike Brendel. But there are many others who keep the mobile library rolling as well. 

“We have boots on the ground volunteers who help at the various sites we serve,” explains Mary. “Other volunteers help with processing books, assisting with fundraisers, providing ideas, and the list goes on. Several high school students volunteer during the summer. Support has been fantastic, nearly overwhelming, at times. All our volunteers are invaluable.” 

At the start of 2022, RedLou Library was serving sites in Viroqua only, but it expanded into the neighboring communities of Westby and La Farge by the end of that year. In 2023, RedLou Library served 13 sites year-round and 17 sites throughout the summer. In 2024, there were 15 sites year-round and 22 through summer. The number of items circulated through RedLou Library continues to increase each year, too – starting with 10,989 items in 2022, growing to 19,051 in 2023, and 24,041 in 2024. Plus, there are no late fees or fines for wear and tear to their materials. 

“Things happen,” says Mary. “That’s okay; we want our books in the hands and homes of our patrons, not on our shelves.” 

One of RedLou’s most recent endeavors has been establishing branch libraries at daycare centers in western and northwestern Vernon County, serviced every 4-6 weeks, depending on need.

“We talk with the staff to learn how we can best serve their children and then proceed to implement a plan,” explains Mary. “We purchase the books, bins, and shelving and provide training for using the circulation software as needed. Books are rotated on a scheduled basis.”

These additional branch library sites have helped RedLou reach even more Vernon County children in 2025.

“Recently, I received a message from a teacher at one of our new service locations,” says Mary. “It stated, ‘The kids are really enjoying your library. Do you know the joy RedLou is bringing to this crazy world? I hope you do.’”

Though it is not affiliated with any public library or school, Mary notes that RedLou Library aims to provide services that expand on already existing literary opportunities. 

“We are not trying to replace public libraries or school libraries. Those libraries do an excellent job,” says Mary. “When we don’t have a book someone wants, I usually respond by saying, ‘The public library will be able to get it for you. Can I help you sign up for a card?’”

No matter the road needed to get there, RedLou Library is proud to help provide folks with literacy services that might otherwise be out of reach. 

“It is especially important to help young children perceive themselves as readers when they are very young and certainly before they are school age,” says Mary. “Toddlers can interpret pictures, which is the first step toward reading words. We believe that if children enter school with a love of books, they will be eager to learn to be a word reader. Being a strong reader helps ensure school success. This can change the trajectory of a child’s life.”

Community events and weekly evening service sites are also added to RedLou’s summer schedule. A calendar of planned stops for RedLou Library, a fundraising and events list, and information about how you can get involved can be found at redlou.org or by contacting Mary Mulvaney-Kemp at redlouinc@gmail.com.