TREASURES OF OZ
2013 TOUR

Read Update - Treasure is in sight!

TREASURES OF OZ 2013 TOUR Treasures of Oz invites you to fall in love with Ozaukee County as you visit up to 8 natural treasure sites on June 15th. Download an event passport and start exploring. Docents and guides will greet you at each site and share their expertise to make your visit unforgettable.

This year's event focuses on places totally surprising, newly unveiled, or rarely available to the public.

End your day of adventuring at Celebration Headquarters, Forest Beach Migratory Preserve, just a few minutes north of Port Washington, where good food, down-home music, interesting exhibits, and an exciting silent auction that includes fine art and crafts from local artists await you. Turn in your passport for free raffle tickets to win further adventures in local dining, entertainment, or other surprises.

This event is free and open to the public. 2013 Event Passport1.03 MB

The sites for the 2013 Tour:

1. Forest Beach Migratory Preserve - home base for the Celebration as well as a treasures site for tours. The preserve continues to change as it matures. This is an Ozaukee Washington Land Trust (OWLT) site.

2. The Port Washington Coal Dock - new to Ozaukee. Port Washington has turned the old coal dock into a bird sanctuary. Awesome views of the coastline abound. The Grand Opening is a week after Treasures, so this is a first peek for the public.

3. Cedarburg Bog Boardwalk - The UWM Field Station is opening their amazing boardwalk for Treasures this year. It goes out into the bog, over some islands and into the area of the string bog. This is only open to classes and organized trips - but on June 15th, the public can experience it.

4. Blue Heron Wildlife Preserve - This beautiful private preserve is open to the public, but few people know about it. It runs along the Milwaukee River, right near Tendick Park.

5. Quarry Lake - The Friends of Harrington Beach State Park will lead this site with an emphasis on the history of the stone quarry. Quarry Lake has the most enchanting trail around it. Harrington Beach will offer free admission to the park on the day of our event.

6. Armin Schwengel Waterfowl Production Area. Armin was a student of Aldo Leopold and was responsible for many of the wetland restorations in Ozaukee County, such as this. This natural breeding area for waterfowl was named in his memory. We will highlight the Aldo Leopold Land Ethic as visitors explore this site.

7. Kurtz Woods - this is a "down-the-rabbit-hole" experience as visitors enter a path between 2 suburban homes, on a typical suburban street and find themselves lost in a Kettle Moraine setting filled with huge trees, rocky paths and very interesting topography. This is an OWLT preserve.

8. Shady Lane - a Wisconsin natural area site that has never been open to the public before. It is now part of Hawthorne Hills County Park (behind the golf course.) It has quite a story leading to its acquisition by Ozaukee County with the very happy ending that this beautiful wild place will be preserved for generations to come and is open to the public.

Event Planning Update

By early April, graphic design, site plans, volunteer sign-up, web page information and sponsorships are all completed. Silent Auction planning is well underway.

Sponsorships are wonderful.  WeEnergies, Port Washington State Bank, Junior Woman’s Club of Mequon-Thiensville and WUWM continue to sponsor us. New support is on deck with Transition Ozaukee’s Local Living publication offering free advertising and Natural Awakenings Magazine offering us matching funding for advertising.

Birds here, Banks there on the 2013 Tour

Port Washington’s newest park will be highlighted of this year’s Treasures of Oz Tour. Buried under tons of coal for many years, Port’s Coal Dock is being transformed into a beautiful bird sanctuary, a key stop along the Lake Michigan Migratory Flyway as well as a summer home for Ozaukee shorebirds.

Charlie Imig, Director of Port Washington Parks and Recreation plans to be on hand to talk to visitors about this almost magical change, the end product of years of debate and planning, that offers open space and habitat to our shorebirds in summer and migrants in Spring and Autumn.

Along with Charlie, will be Tom Kroeger, DNR park manager for Lakeshore State Park. Tom is an expert on Lake Michigan and a hydrogeologist, with much to say about Ozaukee’s beautiful Clay Banks. From the Coal Dock, the view to the south is a view of those banks, a unique feature on the Great Lakes and a precious landmark.

The banks, often cutting up to ninety feet above the shoreline, provide a cut-away view of the shorelands of Ozaukee County. The banks differ widely in patterns of clay and sand seams and each year their changing form alters the coastline and adds incredible varieties of rocks to the shore. Radically different than the white stone beaches of Door County, Ozaukee shores are “the beaches of a geologist’s dream,” every rock, every size, every color, constantly shifting.

 Treasures of Oz 2013 update
Treasure is in sight!

We have strong and creative site teams in place with just a few spots left if someone missed the earlier calls to volunteer.  Training dates are either set, or will be set this week.  Volunteers will receive an email with the dates and times of all trainings so they can join in on any they choose - its a great way to visit all the sites they are missing on the day of the event.  The training at Cedarburg Bog will be a 3 hour on-site seminar - awesome opportunity!

We have about 30 exhibitors and tables expected, more than ever at Forest Beach.  Randyman Hetzel is new on the scene, with his collection of turtles, snakes and other critters.  He engages everyone with his crew,  especially children.  Jeanne Lord is coming again with the raptors of Pine View.  Jeanne is both an amazing teacher and an inspiration, coupling raptor education with care of the planet.

The Silent Auction and Raffle team have gathered another wonderful array of treasures to bid on and adventures to win.  Visitors will be able to earn one free raffle ticket for each passport stamp they have.  Hints as to some of these items can be found on this site under 2013 Donors.

Food and music are ready to go!  Smokin’ Joe’s/ Chuck’s of Thiensville will be sure we are well and happily fed.  We are again looking forward to String-Along being back with their upbeat style of bluegrass and old time rock ‘n roll.

Listen for information about our event on WUWM and on Morning Blend June 10th  Watch for us in Natural Awakenings magazine, PATCH, and all in the local newspapers.  You will find our calendar listings everywhere, from Travel Wisconsin and Midwest Living to Third Coast Digest and Explore Ozaukee.  If we have missed your favorite place to check events, please let us know.