2026 SPECIAL EVENTS

For the latest news on museum events, check out Castlerock Museum on Facebook!

Upcoming Major Events:

Fire in the Shire
Saturday, June 6th from 10am - 4pm

Castlerock Museum’s annual Fire in the Shire event, a citywide celebration of all things medieval. Check out the museum’s Facebook page for the latest event info.

Schedule of Events

10:00am Museum Opens
10:00am Kazimir the Hungry - Fire Breathing & Sword Swallowing
10:30am Wisconsin Historical Fencing Association - Longsword
11:10am Armor through the Ages
11:40am Wisconsin Historical Fencing Association – Rapier & Dagger
12:20pm Asfolk Viking Martial Arts – Sword, Shield, and Spear
12:50pm Kazimir the Hungry - Fire Breathing & Sword Swallowing
1:20pm Wisconsin Historical Fencing Association - Quarterstaff and Poleaxe
2:00pm Asfolk Viking Martial Arts - Sword, Shield, and Spear
2:30pm Wisconsin Historical Fencing Association - Messer/ Sword and Buckler
3:10pm Kazimir the Hungry - Fire Breathing & Sword Swallowing
3:40pm Holy Grail Drawing & Presentation
4:00pm Museum Closes

Medieval Music by Bardmageddon at 12:30pm and 2:30pm in the museum theater.

Ongoing: A Life Medieval, Clann Tartan, Hangin’ with the Bard, and ornamental metalworking techniques on cold steel by Thomas Latane in the museum courtyard. Clann Tartan will have a Pike Demo at 11:30am and a non-firing Matchlock Musket demo at 1:30pm.

Concessions: One Eye Dave’s Hotdogs

Admission wristbands are $8 for adults and $5 for students. Visitors in ancient, medieval, or renaissance era dress get $2 off and children four and under are free.

Other Happenings in the Shire: The Midwest Renaissance Actors Guild will be performing on Main Street. Big River Theatre will be playing the following cartoons: Robin Hood at 10:30am, Shrek at 12:30pm, and Brave at 2:30pm. They will also have Kray Van Kirk (Folk Americana /Celtic Music) performing at 7pm.

Visitors interested in searching for the fabled “Holy Grail” in the shops of the shire can enter a drawing to win the treasured artifact along with $100 Alma Dollars. The drawing will be held at 3:40pm at the Castle. Participating businesses include Alma Public Library, Fire & Ice, Alma Leather, W Whiffs, Water Lily Gifts, Wings Over Alma, Happy Hub, Alma Bakery, Stump Town Gallery, Big River Theatre, Riverside Bait & Liquor, Alma Chiropractic & Wellness, Unparalleled Farms, and Garden Gate.

Lectures & Programs:
Most lectures and programs are held in the museum's theater area. Seating is limited. Contact the museum at 608-685-4231 or info@castlerockmuseum.com for reservations. Admission is $8 for adults and $5 for students, unless otherwise noted. Museum members receive discounts on most events.


Meet the Vikings
Saturday, April 11th from 10am-4pm
Join us for a daylong celebration of all things “Viking.” Reenactors will be on hand to answer questions about Viking history, culture, technology, clothing, and weapons. There will be programs in the museum theater on Greenland in the Viking Age at 11am, Viking Clothing at 1pm, and Viking Weapons, Armor, and Tactics at 2pm. The latter will be followed by a shield wall demonstration, weather permitting. Ongoing demonstrations include flax weaving and woodworking. Visitors can also see several actual Viking era artifacts on display including a spangenhelm, chieftain’s sword, and Danish axe.


Medicine in Western Wisconsin during the Frontier Days
Saturday, May 16th at 2pm
Join Sara Thielen for a look at Frontier Medicine in Western Wisconsin. The frontier days were dangerous times. Injuries from hunting and farming happened without cell phones to call for an ambulance. Without a pharmacy, there was no way to purchase medicine to bring down a child’s fever or soothe a cough. Doctors were in very short supply, if they existed at all in the area. So, what did the people who lived in the communities along the Mississippi River and the surrounding rural communities do when their lives were in danger?

Sara Thielen is the Public Health nurse with Buffalo County Public Health. In her spare time, she reads and studies history. She has combined her love of nursing, history, and Western Wisconsin in this presentation. She will explore the different diseases and common medical treatments of the past. It might not be a surprise that it wasn’t much different than today. Seating is limited and reservations can be made by contacting the museum.


Dungeons & Dragons Game Night
Friday, July 17th at 6pm
Join museum volunteers for a special Dungeons & Dragons game night at the castle. Visitors will learn about the popular role-playing game and play a short adventure with pregenerated characters. This is a great opportunity for both first time and more experienced players and the museum, with its unique collection of medieval arms and armor, is the perfect setting. The museum will open at 5pm, so visitors can look around beforehand. Seating is limited, so reservations are encouraged.


Civil War Encampment
Saturday, Sept 12th at 10am-4pm
Join us for a special program with reenactors from the 2nd Minnesota Battery of Light Artillery. The highlight of the day’s events will be non-firing cannon drills with a full-size replica of a Model 1861 ten-pounder Parrott Rifle at 10am and 2:05pm. Talks in the museum theater will cover Civil War Era Firearms at 1:20pm and The Soldier’s Life and Uniform at 2:45pm. Programs in the museum courtyard include Ammunition and Flags at 10:45am, Period Music at 11:30am, Period Quilts at 12:15pm, and Period Games at 3:30pm. There will be a display of quilts made by the women of the Second Battery using period patterns and reproduction fabrics in the courtyard as well.

From Forest to Furniture
Saturday, September 26th and 27th from 10am-4pm
Join Tom Dengler, Todd Fleming, Tim Hartzell, Tom Latane, Paul Nyborg, Derek Olson, and Will Reser as they demonstrate woodworking techniques used since the days when woodworkers walked into the woods for their material and began their work on the forest floor. Spectators will be able to visit with the woodworkers as the chips fly.

Todd Fleming, a carpenter and traditional woodworker from Middleton, Wisconsin, will be turning balusters and chair parts on the spring pole lathe. He will be demonstrating turning techniques of turning beads and coves with the skew chisel and turning gouges. Tim Hartzell, a woodcarver from Minnetonka, Minnesota, will demonstrate how to make a pedestal candle stand with a tapered, hand-planed hexagonal shaft, three carved feet, and a thirteen-inch diameter top. Tom Latane, a blacksmith and woodworker with a shop in Pepin, Wisconsin, will continue work on a 13th Century style clamp front chest. The pre frame and panel construction involves mortise and tenon joinery as well as parts fitting into grooves, but no floating panels. The top of the arc style lid will start with a piece of riven oak.

Paul Nyborg, an experienced blacksmith and woodworker from Fairchild, Wisconsin, will demo riving boards from logs with wedges and a froe on Saturday. Derek Olson, an award-winning woodworker from La Crosse, Wisconsin, will demonstrate box building with traditional hand cut joinery. Finally, Will Reser, a blacksmith and woodworker from Minneapolis, will be hewing white pine logs into timbers for a small timber frame bent for a shed.


The Medieval Origins of Halloween Monsterse
Saturday, October 24th at 2pm
Join museum volunteer Luke Kramer as he explores the Medieval origins of classic movie monsters including vampires, werewolves, witches, and more. With Halloween around the corner, it’s a great opportunity to learn more about some of the holiday’s most iconic monsters.

The presentation will examine the folklore surrounding each of these monsters, how it grew and changed over time, and how it was ultimately manifested in modern pop culture. Luke Kramer is a museum volunteer and member of Driftless HEMA. He has had a lifelong interest in ancient and medieval history.