Yay! We came on a good weekend! It happened to be the Mount Horeb's Fall Festival which also celebrated their largely Norweigian heritage.
Main Street (or the "Trollway" as townspeople call it) is only a few blocks long.
After walking past the red truck, there was a row of antique tractors. Check out the name of this thing...
Sounds painful!
Well, here it is folks. The Mount Horeb Mustard Museum. I'm so glad we went here because this is exactly the shit I live for! Thanks again for the tip Wandering Chopsticks!
See their official site http://www.mustardmuseum.com/. Below is the entrance to the store. To your left is the actual musuem, which is FREE! Another plus in my book!
Ketchup is not appreciated here.
I'm so juvenile - I was making the mustard effigy grab it's own mustard crotch.
Antique mustard tins (when mustard used to be sold in powdered form):
More mustard tins:
Mustard used to be a main condiment - here are some antique mustard containers which also included salt and pepper shakers. Look at the pig one!
Antique mustard jars:
Mustard, mustard everywhere!
Some more antique mustard tins:
aaaaaand....more jarred mustard! These were foreign mustards I believe.
Check out this huuuuge wall of mustard jars. They are arranged alphabetically by state. Wisconsin mustards have their own separate display and are not included on this wall.
A few of the varieties on that wall...
Warning!
The mustard squeeze bottle held liquid soap:
More mustards from foreign countries:
Here are some t-shirt designs:
Mustards that you can sample...Actually you can sample any jar in the store.
Mustard references in literature:
They are dead serious about mustard here!
Russian mustard:
You can kind of see it, but all along the tops of each wall were more jars of mustard. The selection was quite vast and to be frank, mind boggling. I don't even like mustard, but will tolerate it once in a while as long as the flavor is sweet and hidden in the food and not a prominent flavor.
A mustard vending machine. Yes, it's real and it works.
The mustard sampling area in the back. Hot Doug's also has the Lichenstein'ish poster at their restaurant.
All right! Candy from the Baraboo Candy Company! They are famour for their Cow Pie! I ended up getting all three varieties of their candy.
I thought this shirt was amusing...
I have to say, that was such a cool museum! I loved it! I'm so glad we went here and on a festival day too!
Here I am on Main Street. We were going to have a little snack before heading out to Madison. Plus, I was going back to the jewelry vendor I met earlier. She was making a bracelet for me that matched these earrings with beautiful lampworked glass beads.
Bert on Main Street. You can see a funnel cakes vendor in the background.
Bert bought a brat from the Mt. Horeb Boy Scout booth.
TC got a hot chocolate from the booth next to the Boy Scouts.
Here's that brat with mustard, onions and sauerkraut. The hot chocolate was perfect for this coldass day.
Cross section of the brat:
There were horse drawn carriage rides...llamas rides and local business people hawking their wares and services. TC was especially enamored of the horses but felt kind of sad when she saw the horses' split hooves.
OMG - A Viking Ship float!!! I wish it had the very hotAlexander Skarsgard on it!
Imagine a hot Viking like this (Alex Skarsgard in full on Viking gear for a flashback episode in True Blood Season 2, Episode 5). Technically, Skarsgard is not Norweigian; he's Swedish. But WTF, he's Scandinavian and they were Vikings too!
Here's the Viking flashback scene here...(starts at 0:26)Okay, he doesn't look so good all bloody but damn! Fur, leather and armor! I love these water towers!
TC bought a trio of mini pumpkins for $1.00.
The gentleman at the booth was so kind and even gave her an extra mini yellowish green gourd, which was all bumpy and warty looking. Kind of like a squash with a raging case of venereal disease. Same colors too.
Velkommen! ("Welcome" in Norweigian)
Festival Poster in their visitor's center:
They are really into trolls here.
The people here were so very nice and friendly. When they saw me taking a photo of TC and Bert, one lady offered to take photos of all three of us in front of their Chamber of Commerce and the town sign. She also gave us a few recommendations for our drive to Madison.
Here's some candy I bought at the store - note: they are from the Baraboo Candy Company. The "Badger" is the mascot of the University of Wisconsin; his name is Bucky! Go Badgers!
A pair of mustard jars (plastic, thank goodness, not glass) we bought as edible souvenirs.
We had such a fun time here. I wished we could have stayed longer but we had to take off for lunch in Madison, which was 45 minutes away! Onwards the state capitol!
