My name is Katie Schumacher and I am the Special Events and Programs Coordinator at the Wisconsin Historical Museum. I am responsible for many of the lectures, dinners, exhibit openings, educational workshops, demonstrations, musical and stage performances, receptions, third party rentals, hands-on craft activities and the museum's participation in community events.

Outside of my work at the museum, I enjoy reading, playing soccer, and practicing my rusty French skills.

 
What do you like best about your job?

Days are never boring and are never the same! In planning programs and lectures, I get to meet experts from across the state, and every event is a new opportunity to learn something about Wisconsin that I didn't know before. I also get to interact with guests and create lasting relationships with visitors. Knowing that a guest had a wonderful time and was able to take something away from a program that I planned is extremely rewarding.

In January, the museum held a series of four Saturday drop-in activities titled "Cure Cabin Fever: The Lumberjack Life." Each Saturday looked at a different aspect of the lumberjack experience and provided a new thing for kids to do - from creating a Paul Bunyan beard out of felt to eating a flapjack in a lumber camp mess hall to creating a musical instrument to play during a toe-tapping fiddle and drum performance.

One of my favorite programs that I've been a part of at the museum was a Taste Traditions of Wisconsin on the history of Great Lakes surfing. Taste Traditions is a dinner and lecture series that combines history with a delicious themed meal. For this program, there was surf and turf menu paired with an entertaining presentation by Lee and Larry Williams, twin brothers who started the world's largest gathering freshwater surfers, the Dairyland Surf Classic of Sheboygan. It was easy to see why people consider Sheboygan the "Malibu of the Midwest" after this program!