About

Nes­tled in a scenic val­ley in the cor­ners of Dane, Green, Iowa and Lafayette coun­ties, the Vil­lage of Blan­chardville offers small town liv­ing within com­mut­ing dis­tance from Madi­son. Along Blanchardville’s Main Street you’ll find stores offer­ing cheese, gifts, fine art, cot­tage indus­try crafts, antiques, and hard­ware. Enjoy home­style cook­ing at the Viking Cafe or a bev­er­age and food at one of the three pub and grills.Situated along the banks of the Peca­ton­ica River is beaut­ful McKel­lar Park, fea­tur­ing 9 full-service camp­sites, pic­nic area and shel­ter, play­ground swim­ming pool, and ball dia­monds. In coop­er­a­tion with the DNR and FEMA, a wet­lands area is being devel­oped. If you are canoe­ing the Peca­ton­ica, Blan­chardville is an ideal launch or take out site. If ATV fun is more your style, the Lafayette Tri County ATV Trail from Fayette ends at Hwy 78 in the village.

Right next to the bridge over the Peca­ton­ica is the Blan­chardville His­tor­i­cal Soci­ety, a museum of arti­facts detail­ing the his­tory of Blan­chardville and offer­e­ing a self-guided tour of the his­tor­i­cal build­ings. The vil­lage was estab­lished in 1844 by a small group of Mor­mons lead by Samuel Horner, who named it Zara­hemla. Horner built a water-powered grist­mill which was bought by Alvin Blan­chard in 1855. After the Mor­mon colony dis­ap­peared around 1857, the com­mu­nity became Blanchardville.

Events in Blan­chardville include the Father’s Day Chicken Bar­beque, Cruis’n Wis­con­sin Car, Truck and Cycle Show on the sec­ond Sun­day in July, a sum­mer gar­den tour and art exhibit in July, Pec Jamm 2-day music fes­ti­val and Peca­ton­ica River Art Con­flu­ence in August, and in late Sep­tem­ber or early Octo­ber a uniquely “Blan­chardville” tra­di­tion of a whole com­mu­nity true Home­com­ing cel­e­bra­tion involv­ing the school, alumni from across the coun­try, and com­mu­nity in a Fri­day night tourchlight-parade, and bon­fire. A fun, slightly wacky Sat­ur­day home­com­ing parade, and a foot­ball game, with packed tav­erns on Fri­day and Sat­ur­day nights, often pro­vid­ing live music.

  • Beau­ti­ful Bicy­cling and Canoeing
  • Quaint Main Street
  • Pub­lic Camp­ing in town on the Peca­ton­ica River
  • Pub­lic Pool & Play­ground in McKel­lar Park
  • Only eight miles from Yel­low­stone Lake

In Blan­chardville, we work hard to develop and pro­mote local business. To have your orga­ni­za­tion added to our site, please sub­mit this form.