Wisconsin native and son of Norwegian immigrants, William Evjue, founder of the Capital Times, delivered his famous weekly radio address, “Hello, Wisconsin,” broadcasted every Sunday across the state, throughout the 1940s and 1950s. Evjue would discuss the “political, social, and economic programs facing the citizens of Wisconsin,” covering topics like state industries, highway debt, war profits to Wisconsin, and hundreds more. Through his radio addresses, Evjue, a champion of the Wisconsin Idea, connected his Wisconsin listening public to a diversity of perspectives on news that mattered to them.
It is in that same spirit of public service and the desire to understand the realities of Wisconsin that the Wisconsin Idea Seminar bus leaves Madison on a winding five-day journey through the state to meet farmers, business owners, environmental stewards, health practitioners, artists, teachers, and many others who generously share the stories of successes and challenges in their communities. Like the “Hello, Wisconsin” broadcasts, the Seminar creates spaces where ideas come together, assumptions are challenged, and where participants learn from and are inspired by the people and places of Wisconsin.
The Evjue Foundation is the charitable arm of the Capital Times and long-time underwriter of the Wisconsin Idea Seminar since 1985.
The Hello, Wisconsin! sign accompanies the Wisconsin Idea Seminar’s 500-mile journey each spring. Here, participants of the 2017 RIVER journey gathered for a photo with the sign before departing on a trip including stops at the International Crane Foundation, the La Farge Medical Clinic, Ho-Chunk Nation historical sites in the Kickapoo Valley Reserve, the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Milwaukee’s Vincent High School and many points in between.
The 2025 FOREST + RIVER cohort waves farewell with the Hello, Wisconsin! sign on the last day of their journey in front of the Washington Park lagoon at Milwaukee’s Urban Ecology Center following a performance by the Amazing Grace Chorus. The chorus, a program of UW-Madison’s Wisconsin Alzheimer's Institute, is made up of people living with dementia and their caregivers to improve the quality of life through socialization and music.
Hello, Wisconsin! labels spool out of a press machine at Algoma’s middle and high school campus during a printing demonstration in May, 2022. Algoma high school students had the opportunity to work alongside Zug Zastrow, an employee of MCC Label, on a full-size press located in the school. The partnership with MCC Label is one of many that Algoma Schools has cultivated to foster collaboration with the community to solve problems and bring multiple generations together.