How do we “get to know” a community? Over the past month, the Community Powered Project Coordinators have been reflecting on this question and charting a plan of action to learn more about their respective communities. Though they used varying approaches, at the core, they all involved walking and talking. 

Emily, the CPPC in Spooner, read “Outside Lies Magic” by Stilgoe, which urges readers to become explorers in their own communities, to go out and see the magic in the seemingly mundane. Walking through the community helped her to see slivers of the past, that might go unnoticed without careful attention. Her walk prompted questions- like why is this building much older than the one next to it? But it was only through talking with local community members, librarians, and historians that she could find the answer she was seeking.

Through talking to Tim Belter, the President of the Railroad Memories Museum, she learned that the historic brick buildings in downtown Spooner were a reflection of the fires that destroyed the wooden buildings between them long ago. Walking and talking have the power to unearth the stories hidden just outside our attention as we navigate to work, to the grocery store, and back home. Tim Belter and Spooner’s railroad heritage was later featured in a Love Wisconsin story.

On September 10th, Emily hosted “Help Spooner Grow” at the Spooner Farmers Market along with a community volunteer. They spent hours chatting with folks in passing about what they felt were the strengths of their community and what needed help to grow in the community. Some would stop by and immediately start to share their thoughts aloud and through the tree. Which then provided opportunities for more hesitant folks to stop by and reflect on their reaction to ideas that previous folks had written. This format created an opportunity for people to be in conversation with those that they hadn’t ever met, and to share their support and objections to the perspectives of other community members without direct confrontation.

Emily and Dawn Dodge ask folks important questions about the strengths, needs, and resources in the Spooner community.

Last month, in Racine, our CPPC Anthony took a spookier path to learning about the community. They worked with Racine Public Library history librarian, Rebecca Leannah, to research ghost stories and hauntings present in downtown Racine in order to create a Racine Ghost Tour. They started in the archive, pulling whatever history they could find about haunted downtown buildings. Then, they reached out to the current occupants and owners of the buildings to hear any stories or fun facts about their location. With a list of Racine haunts in hand, Anthony then contacted the South East Wisconsin Paranormal Investigation Team (SEWPIT) and invited them to help devise a walking tour that would tell the stories of haunted Racine.

The Racine Ghost Tour, held on August 17th, introduced over 100 participants to haunted buildings around downtown Racine, highlighting Racine’s history and changing the way people saw buildings they pass every day. The tour ended with a gathering at Social on 6th, where the community gathered to share their own ghost stories as well.

Walking and talking are essential ways to learn more about the communities around us. Becoming explorers in our own backyards, city streets, and local parks helps us to see our community in a new way and prompts questions that may have never occurred to us before. Talking is the way that we come to find answers to our questions, to learn about the stories hidden beneath the surface of our cities.