During this year’s July 4th celebration the Garnavillo Historical Society entertained two special guests at the Garnavillo Museum who in turn entertained Garnavillo Museum visitors. Olivia and Nadia Yarrington, of Hudson, Wisconsin, twin granddaughters of Ted Berns, Garnavillo, re-designed Parker Brothers’ famous Monopoly board game into “Garnavillopoly” and had the game on display in the Garnavillo Museum’s basement.
Olivia and Nadia, who are 13 years old, decided to design “Garnavillopoly” after Parker Brothers came out with a
special edition of the game for Hudson. The girls, who visit their grandfather in Garnavillo often, spent 8 months taking photos of Garnavillo properties and landmarks, designing the board, and creating the “Chance Cards” and “Big Fun (Community Chest) Cards.”
The photos on the board are organized into groups such as cemeteries, July 4th, the museum complex, and Garnavillo shopping, instead of the usual color coded street names of Monopoly. A childhood photo of their mother Sarah is on the “In Jail” space which they call “Most Wanted”. Photos of the four churches replace the four railroads. The “Income Tax” and “Luxury Tax” spaces are “Education Tax” and “Water/Sewage Tax”. A photo of their grandfather Ted’s house has replaced the most expensive “Boardwalk” property space. The two utilities are the the south water tower which they named “Big Blue” and the older water tower on the east side of town named “Little Red” because of its red top. In the middle of the board they have photos of the very first July 4th button and the button from last year’s 50th July 4th celebration. Olivia and Nadia made very clever “Chance” and “Big Fun” (Community Chest) cards. Some of the “Chance Cards” are: “Collect $50 from each player for garbage pickup”, “Eat too much at Thoma’s—lose one turn”, and “Raise the flags—collect $25”. Some of the “Big Fun Cards” are: “Gnats Attack —lose a turn”, “Smell the pigs—go to jail” and “Advance to Teddy Bear Parade”.
The Historical Society had good visitor turnout at all 3 Garnavillo historical buildings – Museum, Lodge Hall, and Cabin -during the festivities on July 3rd and 4th. On the 4th, the Society also sponsored a Kid’s Scavanger Hunt involving the 3 buildings for which they were able to pick out a prize once completed. Garnavillo Historical Calendars, past, present and future (2025) were also on sale in the park. It was a beautiful day to celebrate Independence Day! Thank you to everyone who took the time to visit our museums!