COMMENTARY: My Impressions Of Caledonia's Homecoming

I wanted to take the time to point out how nice the Caledonia Homecoming was last weekend. Sure the rain made things a little interesting, but eventually the sun came out and people flocked to an event that offered up some of Caledonia’s seemingly absent sense of community.

Let me qualify that statement. Caledonia seems like they are absent of a sense of community because we don’t have a downtown and we have a fragmented patchwork quilt of neighborhoods and farms. So we work, we go home, we sleep, and then repeat. If we go out to dinner, we might occasionally eat at a local joint, but not often. If we shop, we might hit up a local joint, but not often. But if you have a kid playing soccer or riding a horse, we have you covered.

So we don't really hang out together.

My point is, that we don’t hangout together as a community much. Sure, we might share an occasional softball game, or hang out with friends at a local tavern – but we don’t have that thing we all collectively look forward to happen every year.

When I covered West Allis, they have State Fair. When I covered South Milwaukee, it was the Lions Club Fest. When I covered Kenosha, it was the tall ships. And when I covered Union Grove, it was Super Saturday, the Ice Cream Social, the Lions Club Chicken Dinner, and the Racine County Fair.

So to have an event like the Caledonia Homecoming, which was put on by the Caledonia Historical Society, was really nice and I hope they have it again. What I thought was unique was that when you went to the Caledonia Homecoming you left there learning something about history – about French fur trading, the Wisconsin Territory, the Civil War. So they gave something to you. And I liked it a lot.

You also got some insight into the Caledonia Historical Society’s vision for Linwood Park, which is becoming a very special place with the restoration of the train depot and the caboose. You could tell this group cares about details, but they also care about sharing their knowledge about what it was like to be living in the Wisconsin Territory or during the Civil War. Both were exciting times.

But this too seems like an exciting time for Caledonia, even amidst our struggles. We are deciding our future, but also understanding our present while also honoring our past.

I want to thank the Caledonia Historical Society for having that event Saturday. It was a lot of fun and I’m grateful that Caledonia Patch was able to be part of that.

One final thought, perhaps Linwood Park is our new community center, at least in a historical sense.