The Backstory

Burning Troll was an idea that came up among friends in Mount Horeb. We dreamed of an event that would be fun, playful, creative, and free spirited. We wanted music, dance, food, drink, and more. We really wanted to celebrate the quirkiness that is our little town in Southwest, Wisconsin, and we wanted to do it in a way that captured peoples’ imaginations and inspired a spirited, open, good-natured, and just slightly mischievous sense of community.

For those who don’t know, Mount Horeb is considered the troll capital of the world, and you’ll see troll themes all over town from little troll statues and troll-based business names to troll figurines for sale at several shops and a troll mascot with the Chamber of Commerce. We took some inspiration from a much bigger event that many have heard of (Burning Man) and put our little, tongue-in-cheek, Mount Horeb twist on it.

We should note that we’re not officially affiliated with Burning Man in any way, and this is not a sanctioned “burner” event. We’re a little family farm, not a nudist colony, so state laws about indecent exposure do apply. You’ll have to keep that thing in your pants. Sorry! You can still have fun though. Dress up, wear a costume, express yourself!

We’re running the event through our small business, Brix Cider, which is located in downtown Mount Horeb. Brix Cider makes small batch, craft hard ciders using all natural and entirely locally grown ingredients. We also make farm-to-table food that we pair with our ciders at the tasting room and restaurant in Mount Horeb.

Burning Troll is taking place at our farm located a few minutes South of Mount Horeb. The farm, known as the Donald Farm, goes back to the 1850s and has a cute farm house, some lovely old barns, a few animals, and about 25 acres that’s a mix of woods, pasture, prairie, and some very young fruit trees. The farm used to be much larger, but most of the land was donated by heirs of the founders to become the adjacent Donald Park with its impressive mix of ecosystems and great network of hiking trails that connect right to the old farm.

We hosted the event for the first time in 2023, and we had a blast! We decided to do it again in 2024. Hopefully the weather gods smile upon us again :)