Key Sources Primary Source Material Hutchison, Tom. The Land of
Milk and Money. Green Bay, WI: HVS Advertising Marketing 2009.
Hutchison, Tom. Manawa Advocate. January 1, July 23, 1959. Knudson,
Don. Interview with the author. Manawa, WI. June 16, 2008. Spooner
Rodeo. Heart of the North, Spooner Rodeo Homepage. Spooner Rodeo.
www.spoonerrodeo.com (accessed December 2, 2011).
www.spoonerrodeo.com U.S. Census Records 1850-1930. Walker,
Glendora. Interview with the author. Manawa, WI. June 16, 2008.
Wegener, Evelyn M., ed. The Pioneers of Little Wolf Township
1848-1973, Manawa, WI: 1973. Wisconsin Legislative Reference
Library. Wisconsin Blue Book. Madison, WI: State of Wisconsin,
1960. Secondary Source Material Bodnar, John. Remaking America:
Public Memory, Commemoration and Patriotism in the Twentieth
Century. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992. Christensen,
Bonnie. Red Lodge and the Mythic West: Coal Miners to Cowboys.
Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2002. Hart, John Fraser.
Rural and Farm no Longer Mean the Same The Changing American
Countryside: Rural People and Places ed. Emery N. Castle. Lawrence,
KS : University Press of Kansas, 1995. Introduction During the
early spring of 1959, the local chapter of the Lions Club in the
small community of Manawa, WI (located 55 miles west of Green Bay)
was scouting for a new fundraiser. With this in mind, Carl Dretzkea
farmer, turned inventor, turned businessmanspotted a billboard in
northern Wisconsin. He came back home with a vision for an event
that would become an annual tradition and would eventually redefine
his community. He pitched his idea to the Lions Club; they would
put on a rodeo. There was one minor problem with that idea. While
there was a small number of people in and around Manawa who were
the involved in horse culture, none of the members of the Lions
Club had ever been to a rodeo. However, as Western motifs were
firmly entrenched in the media and pop culture of the time, the
first rodeo was a sell-out. The rodeo continues to be an important
community event. In the summer of 2012, the Manawa Lions Club will
host its 54 th annual rodeo. Key Questions As the Western was in
its hey day in the 1950s and early 1960s, its easy to see why a
rodeo fundraiser was adopted by the Manawa Lions Club; but why/how
did rodeo persist in a community where it was a foreign concept?
What does this communitys celebrations, fundraisers and boosterism
say about it? How has Manawas community identity evolved over time?
Ultimately, what purpose does community identity serve in the
Manawa area? Can Manawa serve as a case study for changes in
community identity in rural Wisconsin and the rural Midwest?
Project Conclusions Findings from primary source material indicate
that from the late 1950s to today, key cultural, social and
economic traditions have significantly declined or disappeared
altogether. These traditions and institutions had once forged
community networks, bonds and solidarity. These networks included:
The use of the German language Regular attendance and involvement
in com- munity churches A system of rural neighborhood schools The
number of family dairy farms in operation The Manawa Mid-Western
Rodeo, and events like it, have filled part of the void in
community building and identity left by the loss of these practices
and institutions. The rodeo brings community members together to
put on the event. In the end, the story of this community is the
story of the rural Midwest itself. As social, cultural and economic
institutionschiefly the family farm have declined, communities like
Manawa have been forced to adapt. Methodology Research for this
project was conducted using a variety of available primary sources
including: newspaper accounts, the written memoirs of a past
community member, community histories, archival material from the
Manawa Mid-Western Rodeo office (which has never before been made
available for scholarly research) and oral history interviews
conducted for this project. 2012 Manawa Mid-Western Rodeo poster,
image courtesy of the Manawa Lions Club and Manawa Mid-Western
Rodeo. Barrel racer at the Manawa Mid-Western Rodeo, early 1960s.
Photo by George Sroda. Courtesy of the Manawa Lions Club and the
Manawa Mid-Western Rodeo, George Sroda Photo Collection. Birdseye
view of the first Manawa Mid-Western Rodeo, 1959. Courtesy of the
Manawa Lions Club and Manawa Midwestern Rodeo, Lyle Spiegelberg
Collection. Manawa Mid-Western Rodeo, early 1960s. Photo by George
Sroda. Courtesy of the Manawa Lions Club and the Manawa Mid-Western
Rodeo, George Sroda Photo Collection. Rodeo clown, Manawa
Mid-Western Rodeo, early 1960s. Photo by George Sroda. Courtesy of
the Manawa Lions Club and the Manawa Mid-Western Rodeo, George
Sroda Photo Collection.
