It’s a monumental anniversary for Wisconsin State Parks, for well over a century since the first park was founded. Throughout the next few months, there will be different events at several state parks around the Wisconsin.

Just south from the City of Superior is Pattison State Park, which has the Wisconsin’s largest waterfall: Big Manitou Falls. Gervase Thompson, the property manager of Pattison with the Wisconsin DNR says despite popular belief, all of their state parks are open year-round.

“Here at Pattison, we routinely see between 130,000 and 150,000 people that go visit the park each year,” Thompson said. “The first park was dedicated in 1900 and that’s Interstate State Park, which is just a couple hours south of us in St. Croix falls. So as for part of that, all Wisconsin state parks are kind of celebrating this year and so a lot of parks are going to have events throughout the year.”

The natural vistas seen throughout all the state parks parks is open to families, people who love nature, and tourists alike. Thompson says there’s a unique history with the parks, thanks to the Civilian Conservation Corps. He says they were a critical component to creating more ways for people to access the great outdoors.

“It’s pretty neat to see that kind of work and craftsmanship last throughout the years. With the CCC camp, they did so much work. Back in those early days with the infrastructure of state parks, there were camps in many state parks. Here they kind of developed, laid out the first campground,” Thompson said. “They did a lot of the original water and sewer lines. They did cutting trees, making roads, hiking trails, the walking bridges. So they just did a tremendous amount of work while they were here. And then, of course, over the test of time, we’ve made some improvements as well.”

Some of those improvements include expanding the hiking trail system and creating cross-country ski access, along with maintaining the beach and swimming area. But it takes a lot of work to continue providing these outdoor spaces.

“So we’re actually Wisconsin’s sixth state park, which is pretty special. Our park is over 1,000 acres. Amnicon Falls is just under 900 acres. So there’s lots of property that needs to be maintained, and I think with a good team, we can kind of keep up with a lot of those duties just for the upkeep of the park during the good season.”

Families and friends are already enjoying the summer weather. Thompson says people can make lasting memories by taking in unbelievable views of Wisconsin’s largest waterfall.

“I think the more that people are out in nature and saying, ‘Hey, what’s in the area? What can we do?’ I think that that’s drawing people more towards these state parks, Wisconsin State Forest, those natural areas. There’s just a lot of outdoor recreational opportunities that we have to offer in our little northwest corner of the state.”

Throughout the summer, all Wisconsin state parks will host the summit players for Shakespeare’s love’s Labour’s Lost. Tomorrow Friday, June 27th they will perform at Amnicon Falls park. There will be a workshop at 5:30pm and show starting at 7pm.