Stout Island to be focus of Thursdays at the U talk

They will present “Stout Island: Then & Now” from 12:30-1:30 p.m. in the Blue Hills Lecture Hall in Ritzinger Hall. The presentation also will be livestreamed at ricelaketv.com.

Stout Island, named during the Knapp Stout lumber era, is an integral part of the history of northwest Wisconsin. McRaith and DeGidio will share information about the island, with stories of the past and present. 

As Birchwood-area residents, they appreciate and love the beauty of the island and Stout’s Island Lodge. They have a shared history with the lodge, originally called the Island of Happy Days, that began when they worked as caretakers and part of the management team in the late 1990s. That connection continues today.

McRaith, who earned a bachelor’s degree from UW-La Crosse and master’s degree from UW-Eau Claire, is dean of academic programming at Northwood Technical College. He has close ties to the Ice Age Trail and other area activities. He appreciates the island’s history and shares firsthand knowledge with others through history tours and by speaking to interested community groups.

DeGidio, who earned a bachelor’s degree from UW-Eau Claire and a master’s degree from UW-Superior, works as an instructor in the hospitality foundations program at Northwood Technical College. She makes art and continues to work as part of the management team at Stout’s Island Lodge. She enjoys sharing her story with guests and locals, and holds fiber art workshops in her favorite room, Mrs. Stout’s Room, during the fall.

The Thursdays at the U weekly series is free and open to the public thanks to support from the UW-Eau Claire – Barron County Foundation. Neither seating reservations nor parking permits are needed for in-person attendees.

Although in-person attendance is encouraged, most talks in the series are livestreamed. They also are archived and can be watched later on the Thursdays at the U webpage.

The next lecture in the series will be Sept. 26, with Warren Porter presenting “Climate Change Impacts on Wild and Domestic Animals.”

For more information, contact Laura Holden at 715-788-6207 or holdenlk@uwec.edu.