What do you call a sad cranberry? A blue berry! OK, so my joke isn't very good. But we use it when telling elementary students about Wisconsin's cranberry growing heritage. Wisconsin is the No. 1 producer of cranberries, growing more than half of the U.S. cranberry crop. Visitors to our facility learn all about Wisconsin's state fruit, from the days when Native Americans gathered fruit in the wild to today's unique growing and harvesting methods.
The Wisconsin Cranberry Discovery was founded in 1989 as Cranberry Expo. The museum's founders - the Ellen & Clinton Potter family - gifted the museum's contents to the Wisconsin State Cranberry Growers Association in 2001. In September 2004, the museum moved into downtown Warrens into a historic cranberry sorting warehouse built in 1900.
The center's Exhibit Hall features a 150-year-old dugout canoe, a log cabin used by a local carpenter to make cranberry hand rakes, one of the first mechanical cranberry harvesting machines and more.
The center is in the process of organizing a collection of journals, books and other printed materials. We hope to have our library open by 2009.
We offer guided tours for motor coach groups and school classes. For students, we also conduct several hands-on activities. Our regular admission rates apply.
501(c)(3) non-profit organization governed by a 15-member board of directors.
Access: General Public, Students, Scholars, Members
Appointment required: False