High Tea Event Kicks Off Pine River Heritage Days

Preparations for the 2019 Pine River Heritage Days are underway, and the historic 1830s encampment is one of the highlights of the weekend along with a fan-favorite dish.

“Every year, the Pine River State Bank donates hobo stew and it’s free to the public until it’s all served and gone,” said Heritage Group North Vice President Bev Kramp.

However, Heritage Days actually started earlier today with high tea at the Pine River Railroad Depot.

“This year’s theme was baubles, bangles, and beads; we have a different theme every year and we encourage women to come in if they’d like to bring the period clothing,” said Heritage Group North Secretary Pat Johnson.

The tea at the station event has been going on for seven years and takes place in an effort to sustain the historic Pine River Depot.

“This depot was built in 1895 and actually, the town of Pine River was built around the depot,” said Heritage Group North Board of Directors Member Alan Johnson.

“It’s important for us to remember in this community the heritage – this depot saw a lot of traffic through here, men were going to World War 1 they were going to World War 2 via the train,” said Pat Johnson.

The Heritage Group North has been impressed with attendance in recent years at the Pine River Heritage Days, but they would like to see higher numbers from the youth.

“We are trying to encourage young people to learn a little bit about the local history of the community, there’s very little taught in school and I don’t blame them, they have their history curriculum, but we like to teach that to the young people,” said Pat Johnson.

At my age, so many of my classmates left the area, so many of them are coming back because they feel this is really home when they retire,” said Alan Johnson.