Brooklyn
Welcome to Brooklyn, a small town with friendly residents that invite you to spend a fun filled weekend. Come aboard for our 13th annual spring heritage celebration. Brooklyn is 20 miles south of Madison just off U.S. Hwy 14 on State Hwy 92.
Our charming rural community of 1,200 welcomes spring with activities for all ages. We have railroading history, models, rides and outdoor places to visit. Collect the Art of Depot Days and enjoy the local flavors of our food concessions.
The whole downtown bustles with our “Speeder Car” rides on the hour. For just $6 adults and $3 children you can experience a ride in the rural countryside aboard one of the working cars of the railroad. Hold on as our volunteer drivers show off their hobbies. You travel about 30 miles an hour on an old Chicago & North Western rail bed. Rides last about 30 minutes and leave on the hour starting at 10am. You can purchase advance tickets at the site during the festival. Have patience with us if a particular departure is sold out, we have a lot of people who come back each year. We'll see you at the tracks downtown!
Our main site is the community building at 102 N. Rutland just 1/2 block off Hwy 92. Stop in to buy a raffle ticket, collector buttons, and more. The Methodist Church will have a concession stand and bake sale to satisfy your hunger pains. We'll be filled with model railroads, bring your cameras. View Rusty Rails and Sandhouse Crew clubs' layouts and learn more about a great family hobby. New this year we have two wooden train sets for the kids get to play with one on a panoramic train tableand another on a floor city mat. Pick up your Nature Passport and learn about Brooklyn's wildlife areas. It includes a birding checklist of common birds that will be migrating and maps to get you to the sites.
Again this year is “Collect the Art of Depot Days“ at the Andrew House downtown next to the tracks. We have postcards for sale of Johnathan Wilde's art and past Brooklyn Depot Days artists. Also meet and greet our local artists displaying their art also on sale. See pictures below of their works:
* Marci Waelti finds stippling drawing both relaxes and stimulates her creative side.
* Jeremy Nacewicz, handmade lampwork art glass including; pendants, necklaces and earring sets, beads, key chain ornaments, marbles, sculptures and vessels.
* Sue Roberts, hand stichery and florals inspired by my 150 year old stone house.
* Author Sharon George with historical information of Brooklyn and history book "Brooklyn's Beginnings"
* Author David Fellows display of color photos of Rock County's rail facilities and his book "The Cut-Off and Fellows Station"
Back for a Second Year
Join us to search for our game pieces in our - GPS Geo"caching" on the Rails. This is a GPS based game and a GPS device is needed to play. This can be a cell phone, IPod, Blackberry or in/out of car GPS. Get your coordinates at our main site in the community building at 102 N. Rutland, just a block off downtown. Collect your 5 sealed envelopes with playing cards and the best poker "Showdown" hand on Saturday wins. Bring all caches to the main site and we will open and post the results. The best hand will be determined after all are turned in for the day, deadline is 1/2 hour prior to festival end for the day. After finding the first 5, there is also a bonus cache and if you find it you will receive a raffle ticket for this year's model train set. See if you can find your way around Brooklyn ! |