Rising Star Mill

09/03/2026

Don't miss out on the LAST Music at the Mill concert of the season! Tickets are selling fast, so head to pchswi.org to reserve your spot today.

08/24/2026

This week's historic photos show the Portage County Board Supervisors touring agri-businesses across the county in 1966.

First up is a photo of the Supervisors in the James Burns and Sons potato warehouse in Almond, where the spuds are transferred to a waiting truck for grading, packing, and shipping.

Next, the Supervisors visited the Christmas tree farm, owned by Robert Berard in Belmont.

Finally, a photo of the Supervisors visiting a cattle farm in Almond, also owned by James Burns and Sons. The farm was capable of holding 1,500 head of cattle!

08/17/2026

For this week's blast from the past, we have an unidentified photo and recommendations for your personal collections.

This photo was likely taken during a local high school's theater performance in Portage County. However, since it does not have any identification, finding the year it was taken, the school, or the students involved is quite difficult! Our first recommendation for anyone who keeps photos is to write down what you remember.

Making it even more difficult to identify this photo are the ghostly lines that you can see in this image. This photo has vinegar syndrome; a photo "disease" where the film layers separate from each other. Once it starts it cannot be fixed, and it can actually spread to other images, too! If you have film negatives, we recommend packing them with barriers between the photos, and keeping them in a cool, dry location. This helps to prevent and slow the spread of vinegar syndrome.

If you recognize any part of this photo, please send us a message.

08/10/2026

Did you ever attend the Feel Good Festival at the Amherst Fairgrounds?

These photos show two music groups that played at the festival in August of 2007. First is Shawn Wolfe and his acoustic guitar, and the second image shows Julie Patchouli and Bruce Hecksel.

This is the last summer to see the Portage County Historical Society's featured exhibit, Rhythm of the River; The History of Music in Portage County. Visit Heritage Park in Plover during weekly open hours to tour the exhibit.

08/05/2026

Learn about the history of jazz in Portage County with this new blog post from the Portage County Historical Society!

Don't forget, this is your last summer to visit the Rhythms of the River feature exhibit at Heritage Park. Be sure to swing by during open hours!

07/23/2026

What a historic night of music it was last night at the Rising Star Mill with the legendary Charlie Parr! Charlie had the sold out crowd tapping their feet along with his fast finger picking. More photos at pchswi.org/eventphotos. Photos taken by Jen Brilowski.

Up next in our Music at the Mill concert series is Rucksack Revolution on August 19. Less than 5 tickets remain! Get 'em while you can at the link in the comments.

07/20/2026

We're excited to welcome Charlie Parr to the Mill for a sold out show on Wednesday night! Don't be on the outside looking in for Rucksack Revolution on August 19 either. Less than 20 tickets remain!

Buy yours now: https://secure.qgiv.com/for/musicatthemill2025/event/rucksackrevolution/

Rucksack Revolution is releasing our 2nd album, “Polish Flats and Watercress”, later this summer on Friday, August 21st! Our first single just dropped today called “Innerstate”. We’ve got an album release tour planned for this fall and winter and it includes some rooms that are really special to us! It would mean a lot if you check out the tune and try to make it to a show. ❤️ Tickets are going fast and some are already sold out. Thanks for the support, friends!

Info and vinyl & CD pre-order at rucksack-revolution.com

8/18- Bayfield, WI | Concerts by the Lake
8/19- Nelsonville, WI | Music at the Mill
8/20- Greenleaf, WI | Ledgestone Vineyards
8/21- Spring Green, WI | Sh*tty Barn *SOLD OUT*
9/19- Paoli, WI | Seven Acre Dairy
9/20- Decorah, IA | Luna Valley Farm
10/3- Eau Claire, WI | The Hunky Dory
10/15- Green Bay, WI | Gather on Broadway
10/16- Green Lake, WI | Thrasher Opera House
11/7- Delano, MN | Rieder Homestead Concerts
11/11- Wisconsin Dells, WI | Showboat Saloon
11/20- Wausau, WI | Grand Theater *SOLD OUT*
12/4- Mineral Point, WI | Mineral Point Opera House
12/5- Viroqua, WI | Temple Theatre
12/18- Milwaukee, WI | Anodyne Coffee
12/19- Stevens Point, WI | Great Northern Distilling Co.
1/22- Portland, OR | Bernese Mountain Series
1/23- Bend, OR | Hosmer House Concerts
2/5- Minocqua, WI | To Be Announced
2/6- Stoughton, WI | Stoughton Opera House

07/20/2026

Happy Monday! We hope you've had lots of opportunities this summer to try out new recipes. If you feel inspired, you could always try the recipes in this photo!

Caption from 12/10/1948. Fresh coffee Kuchen. Right out of the over is this coffee kuchen, or German sweet bread, made by Mrs. Ward Newby of Bancroft. A member of the Keene Homemakers group, Mrs. Newby bakes bread and usually makes coffee kuchen along with it. Another of her specialities is shown at the left, a dish of German Christmas cookies, pfeffer nuesse [sic] (pepper nuts).

07/13/2026

Take a peek at some of the Plainfield high school faculty with this week's throwback photo!

Stevens Point Journal caption from 5/6/1936. Plainfield faculty to give play. “Go ahead,” a comedy in three acts will be given by the faculty of the Plainfield High School at the Strand Theater at Plainfield Thursday evening as a benefit for the debating team. The complete cast, shown above, consists of John Gundlach, Miss Roberta Roberts, Ronald Laschkewitsch, Miss Evelyn Hogan, Miss Freda Zuehkle, Principal G.E. Jones, Miss Florence Harris, Miss Amanda Margii, Maurice Buskey, and Miss Betty K***z. The High school faculty has presented plays every year or two for the benefit of various high school activities for many years, among the past successes being “Gay”, “The Whole Town's Talking”, “Applesauce”, “Rustic Romeo”, “Savage Land,” and “Her Honor The Mayor”. “Go Ahead”, the present production, was written by Louis Nertz and Armand Freidmund and was translated from the Viennese by Nathaniel Edward Reeid[sic].

07/06/2026

This week, let's peek at some historic construction in Amherst!

Stevens Point Journal caption from 8/19/1949: Municipal sewage disposal plant at Amherst is shown in this general view of construction which was started on July 18. The work, which was delayed for a considerable period of time because of underground springs in the area, is expected to be completed in December. The disposal plant will be essentially the same as the plant in Stevens Point, an activated sludge type. The Amherst plant will be capable of handling sewage for a community of 1,300 persons. Footings for the various tanks and transmission pipes to carry the sewage already have been laid. The original contract was led to the Olson Construction company, Sturgeon Bay for $49,750, but the underground springs are expected to increase the cost somewhat.