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Come hell or high water the Coon Creek Festival event committees decided to forge forward with the annual event scheduled for June 20-22. Committee members met on Wednesday, June 11 to determine the status of the festival, due to severe flooding in the park as a result of an intense weather system which devastated many communities in Vernon County on June 7 and 8.

‘We have too much invested in this to stop now,” Sandy Rundahl, Coon Creek Festival chairwoman said after the meeting.

The Coon Creek Festival will kickoff on Friday, June 20 with a rendezvous in the park. The second annual rendezvous brought dozens of tents to the banks of the Coon Creek in 2007, with more expected in 2008. Due to the recent flooding, which deposited mounds of silt and debris along the river banks, the rendezvous will be relocated to the back side of the park for 2008. The rendezvous campers began setting up in the park earlier this week in preparation for a number of scheduled public educational events over the weekend.

On Friday, June 20, summer school children from Coon Valley Elementary will visit the rendezvous for a one-on-one demonstration of life during an earlier era. The same evening a musical concert will be held by “Blackhawk of Wisconsin”, who presents traditional rendezvous campsite music.

On Saturday a rendezvous black powder shoot is scheduled for 1 p.m. at the Coon Valley Conservation Club, followed by a knife and hawk throwing session, a bow shoot, fire starting demonstration, pie baking contest, candy cannon, kids games and more back in the Coon Valley park.

“Rendezvous members are dedicated to teaching people about primitive life. They dress in native clothing and present a simplistic form of life. I hope the community appreciates what they can learn by visiting the rendezvous camp this weekend,” said Verlin Buros, rendezvous chairman.

Coon Valley will once again host a horse pull during the community festivities. The third annual event was the brain child of Rundahl, who with the help of a handful of volunteers is busy preparing for Saturday’s pull.

The horse pull is jumping the creek in 2008, due to the relocation of the rendezvous. The event will be held on the north side of the park on land owned by the village. The horse pull will feature light- and middle-weight divisions and begins at 1 p.m. on June 21.

“Where there’s a will there’s a way. That’s how I look at it. We’re determined to make this happen, so we will,” Rundahl said.

Another popular event, “The Great Coon Creek Duck Race”, is scheduled to return to the 2008 festival. Organized by the Coon Valley Area Youth Association the duck race offers an afternoon of family fun for a small investment in a plastic duck. The ducks are dropped into the creek and collected downstream. The fastest floating quacker will award one lucky duck holder $1,000, along with vacation get-away prizes for 2nd, 3rd and 4th place.

The duck race will be relocated further upstream, due to the condition of the current creek bank and flood-damaged walking path. Prior to the race kids can enjoy a sawdust pile, face painting and carnival games near the shelter house parking lot. Ducks can be purchased in advance from members of the youth association or in the park prior to the race.

Coon Valley Fire and Rescue is also fired up and ready to celebrate one century of service to the village of Coon Valley and surrounding areas. They’ll get into the swing of things by challenging local law enforcement to a baseball game in the park. The organization will also be providing Jaws of Life extrication demonstrations and MedLink helicopter rescue is scheduled to land in the park.

A colorful evening event was added to the 2008 Coon Creek Festival. At dusk on Saturday the valley will be bursting with color during a fireworks display. A rain date of Sunday, June 22, at dusk, is planned if Mother Nature has other plans and Saturday’s weather doesn’t cooperate.

The village of Coon Valley will also have rummage sale lovers scurrying from street to street in search of bargains during the villagewide sales on Friday, June 20 and Saturday, June 21. Food will be available throughout the weekend in the park including at the baseball concession stand, rendezvous food stands and Eklor's famous steak sandwiches.

The ball diamond will be bouncing with games all weekend long when the 2007 state champion CCV Blues host the NBC district tournament.

“We’re going to do this come hell or high water. The community needs a fun-filled weekend to relieve some of the stress from the recent flooding. The park board gave us their blessing to hold the event so we’re going to provide anyone and everyone who attends this weekend’s Coon Creek festival with a good time,” Rundahl said.