Affable cheesemonger Sarah Clemens was the perfect guide-deeply knowledgeable about dairy and eager to introduce us to new products. Then there was-heaven help us-the cheese section: a sea of coolers brimming with Dairyland cheesemakers, their smiling pictures and bios posted alongside their award-winning wheels and wedges. We spent an hour combing the aisles, marveling at Wisconsin-made offerings: locally grown shiitakes and giant bulbs of black garlic, seedy artisan crackers from Potter’s in Madison, lefse and elderberry jelly from Austin’s Rush Creek Farm in Ferryville, wild bergamot mead from Kickapoo Meadery in Blue River, and organic grapefruit soda from Wisco Pop!, fizzed up locally. Already, this town of 4,377 felt a bit different-more interesting-than neighboring Coon Valley, where we had mostly seen dive bars, antique shops, and ATVers roaring over dirt tracks.įor a small town, Viroqua has a wealth of farm-to-table businesses to explore-and where better to start than at the 26-year-old Viroqua Food Co-op? The grocery store sold a vast array of Organic Valley milk, cheese, and butter, but the locavore pride didn’t stop there. When we arrived in town, the first thing we noticed was the vintage marquee on the Historic Temple Theatre of Viroqua, built in 1922, followed by the large-scale murals painted on the sides of downtown buildings. It was the stuff of Norman Rockwell paintings, minus the billboards advertising firearms and pawn shops. Weathered barns dotted the hillsides and deer flitted across the pavement just meters from our bumper. After stopping for a quick photo op with the World’s Largest Six-Pack in La Crosse, we continued south toward Viroqua.ĭesolate roads looped through rolling hills, their shoulders staked with caution signs warning of slow-moving Amish buggies. For us earlier this year, that meant Hanisch Bakery in Red Wing for old-fashioned donuts, scenic Roschen Park in Lake City to watch the geese ice skate, and the Minnesota Marine Art Museum in Winona. Driving to Viroqua is a terrific excuse to pick a 90-mile leg of the Great River Road, stopping at whatever piques your interest along the Mississippi.
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