July 2023

CROSS PLAINS–This fall, the Ice Age Trail Alliance (IATA)will turn a $100,000 donation into three new miles of trail at the National Park Service site near Cross Plains State Park.

The Department of Natural Resources Board last week (June 28) acknowledged the IATA’s generosity in donating a project valued in six-figures.

Having one anonymous individual put up the funding is uncommon, said Melissa Pierick, IATA marketing and community relations director. The project will reflect the donor’s interest in public outreach and accessibility, Pierick said.

“We’ve had many, many donors, and a few fortunate to have supported us in large ways. This donation will help get kids out onto the trail and increase its accessibility to others,” Pierick said.

MIDDLETON–Shelby Olstad dreamed of owning her own bakery since she was a kid, and at only 26 years old she has made that dream a reality. Miggy’s Bakes moved from a shared space in Madison at Marigold Kitchen to now having its own storefront in the Middleton Hills shopping area on Frank Lloyd Wright Avenue. The shop opened June 26 and Olstad says the welcome from the community has been overwhelming. 

“Ever since I was little, I pictured myself having a bakery, but I always thought it would happen when I was older, once I'm established and have kids and money to do that, but I just kept going, kept getting bigger and bigger,” Ostad says. “So now I did it.”

She taught herself to bake at an early age driven by an acute sweet tooth. 

MIDDLETON–Holy Wisdom Monastery will celebrate its 70^th anniversary with an event planned on July 9.

The monastery has seen some changes over the years and its prioress of 43 years, Sister Mary David Walgenbach, gave some history of the space last week. 

The monastery began as a Catholic high school when the original building was constructed in 1956.

“It used to be farmland,” said Walgenbach, who came to the monastery in 1959 and has been there ever since.

Bishop William P. O’Conner, who lived across the road from where the property sits on CTH M. brought in three Sisters of St. Benedict from Sioux City, IA to help start the school.

“It was a school for girls, a grade was added every year until 1959,” said Walgenbach.

The school was only in existence for seven years and closed in 1966.

It was a tumultuous year inside Middleton’s athletic department.

There was a bullying scandal in the football program. The legendary Dave Miller, an assistant wrestling coach, and tennis coach Henry Johnson were fired by athletic director Jamie Sims in a pair of head scratching moves.

Along the way, Sims, superintendent Dana Monogue and principal Peg Shoemaker drew the ire of many in the community for the multiple firings and their lack of transparency. The once-proud football program also had multiple candidates turn down the vacant coaching position after Jason Pertzborn resigned in January.

Amazingly, all this drama did nothing to slow the Cardinal Train. Instead, Middleton did what it typically does — win and win big.

The Cardinals enjoyed success from August to June, capturing conference titles, sectional crowns and state championships along the way.

Each year, the Times-Tribune picks the best of the best.