Stovewood Daze to take place in Jennings Aug. 2

The Mecikalski Stovewood Building and Museum in Jennings has a long history as a staple for what was once a thriving logging town. The building gets its name for the stovewood construction method used to build the building. The building was built around 1899 by Polish immigrant John Mecikalski. The construction method utilized logs comparable to those typically used as firewood or stove wood. The logs are stacked like a wood pile and held together with mortar. The building has served several purposes over its history.

The Stovewood Building is listed on the national registry of historic places, which drew the attention of the Kohler Foundation in 1984. It was painstakingly restored and subsequently returned to the town of Schoepke in 1987. It is now known to be the oldest commercial building of its time in the country.

This restoration brings visitors back to the early 1900s, when Jennings was a bustling logging town. It consisted of a small sawmill, an ice house, a blacksmith shop, hay barn, and several saloons. Mecikalski’s brother built a saloon and lumberman’s boarding house next door to the Stovewood Building. That building is now used as the visitor’s center for the museum itself.

On the first Saturday of every August, since 1990, the town celebrates its history and Polish heritage with Stovewood Daze. According to Nancy Bauknecht the event, which started as hot dogs and a few dishes to pass, now draws over 300 people every year. The festivities kick off at 10 a.m. and continue until 3 p.m.

Stovewood Daze includes not only tours of the museum but free music, old-fashioned pulled pork sandwiches and a variety of Polish foods. There will be exhibitors and vendors and even a chainsaw demonstration. This is one event that has given Jennings the title of “hidden gem,” Bauknecht said. 

To get to Jennings, travelers can take Highway B only five miles from Pelican Lake. From Crandon, take County B and travelers will come right into Jennings to Stovewood Daze.

Beckie Gaskill may be reached via email at [email protected].