I stopped in Neillsville on my way back from British Columbia, in November.  It was the start of hunting season, and the town was getting ready for Christmas. I was running behind schedule, so didn’t have much time to spend there.

I had a nice visit at the farm.  Dan showed me around, including all the improvements he had made.  One building had collapsed on is own, and others had been removed.  But barn was still there, and the house, the forests and the fields, and the lovely grove of large pines out front. I wished I had more time to visit.

I looked around town–it had changed so much.  The Arbutus cafe was gone, with only a bandstand where it had once stood.  The old five and dime store was no more.  Very few shops were left on Main Street – WalMart had moved into a neighboring town, and there was a Pamida on the outskirts of Neillsville. In their place were a few restaurants, resale shops, and social services offices.

The tourist attractions were still there, although a bit less shiny than I remembered.  The Pavilion from the 1964 World’s fair was still there, in its modern glory, and Belle, the talking cow still stood next to it.  Sadly, Bullet, her calf, had been destroyed in a schoolboy prank several years earlier. The reproduction of the world's largest cheese was still there.  The complex, though, had once been in an open area; now it was hemmed in by an industrial park.

The A&W was still there, thankfully, and now served deep-fried cheese curds.  Ahhhh, Wisconsin!