Bay Tour 2020

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wisconsin Idea Seminar’s BAY TOUR (May 11-15, 2020) has been cancelled.

In an effort to protect the health and safety of our university members and community in light of the continued spread of COVID-19 worldwide, UW–Madison has canceled all non-essential in-person campus events and meetings through May 15.

This is the first year since its inception in 1985 that the Wisconsin Idea Seminar bus won’t be departing from Madison to meet diverse folks from Wisconsin, to see the Wisconsin Idea expressed in different contexts, and to see the places that many of our UW-Madison students call home.

The BAY TOUR, in many ways, is a meditation on water and our relation to it. It is also a meditation on our relations to land, water, and each other. During this particularly hard time, our connections to each other and our communities are in high relief, presenting complexities, solace, and even some moments of joy.

We plan to follow roughly the same itinerary we had developed for the BAY TOUR in 2021. We hope to partner with many of the same collaborators and hosts who generously agreed to join hands with us this year.

Some of the highlights of the BAY TOUR:

  • A Ho-Chunk cultural landscape tour of  UW-Madison’s Lakeshore Nature Preserve
  • A visit to the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin to learn about food sovereignty programs
  • A tour of NEW Water, a water resource utility serving Northeast Wisconsin, that cleans 38 million gallons of water per day
  • A visit to Brey Cycle Farm outside Sturgeon Bay
  • A visit to Algoma School District
  • A traditional fish boil at the White Gull Inn, Fish Creek
  • A discussion on restorative justice The Retreat on Milwaukee’s north side
  • A mural tour on Milwaukee’s south side.

Stay tuned for more updates and information about the 2020 Bay Tour!

At the water's edge in Fish Creek, Wisconsin. (Photo by Catherine Reiland / UW-Madison)