The summer of 2025 is shaping up to be epic in Superior, Wisconsin! Here at the Bong Center, we have great plans, we are biased we know but with a team this epic we keep expanding what our community can enjoy. We are closed for one private event on Sunday, June 8th, sorry about that BUT before more summer slips away (see these first events are already behind us!), let’s get into what you can enjoy!
Remember: We are proud to be a Blue Star Museum, offering active-duty military personnel and their families free admission from Flag Day to Labor Day!
Wisconsin Remembers: A Face for Every Name. The special exhibit was arranged in collaboration with the VSSO. The traveling exhibit by the Wisconsin Veterans Museum ran May 21-28. The powerful traveling exhibit features a photo for each of the 1,161 Wisconsinites officially listed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Memorial Day weekend launched Saturday with our Family Fun Day, complete with the unveiling of our new Students in Aviation Flight Simulator, a chalk art contest for all ages, music by Dance Attic (sponsored by Siggy’s Musical Garden), K-9 demonstrations, the Douglas County Humane Society, Meet the Aviation Program by Lake Superior College, Municipal Vehicle Display, the Border Town Betties with facepainting and games and a DADs Bounce house! Balance that with the Tom’s Taste of Chicago food trucks and it was something not to be missed.
Memorial Day itself was marked in the community with an honor guard at Greenwood Cemetery and included presentation of wreaths; the museum marked the day with a flag-raising ceremony at noon by our amazing American Legion Post 435.
On July 1st, a veteran-owned food truck, Room at the Table, will be on-site. Additionally, Havana’s truck, a Superior favorite, will be serving as well. A concert by Fair Wind, a professional Naval woodwind quintet from the Naval Band of the Great Lakes, will take place at 1 PM.
4th of July will feature our volunteers in vintage military costumes marching in our Superior 4th of July Parade. The afternoon of July 4th will feature special activities with our naval guests onsite as well as a beautiful day on the shores of Lake Superior. (Pick the perfect spot on our lawn for the fireworks at 10 PM!)
This only gets us part of the way through summer!
On July 17th, we have a special summer edition of our Speaker Series! (Speaker Series are always free, and always at 6:30 on Thursday night.) Mark Van Ells will join us to talk about his research and book Red Arrow across the Pacific: The Thirty-Second Infantry Division during World War II,
Red Arrow across the Pacific reveals the long-overdue story of the Thirty-Second “Red Arrow” Infantry Division and the crucial role it played for the Allied Forces in World War II. Discover how this National Guard unit with roots in the American Midwest became one the most effective—and most battle-tested—combat units in the Pacific, eventually logging more combat hours than any other US Army division during the war.
Mark D. Van Ells is a professor of history at Queensborough Community College of the City University of New York and the author of the previous books To Hear Only Thunder Again: America’s World War II Veterans Come Home and America and World War I: A Traveler’s Guide. His travel articles on historic sites have appeared in numerous periodicals, among them America in WWII, Military History, Naval History, Stars & Stripes, and World War II.
WHEW! This brings you up to August gentle reader. We will save that for another post!