Rocks for Fun CafeDon McClellan

About the Artist/Site

While Don McClellan first became known for his delicious pasties, featured at his small café north of Tigerton, Wisconsin, he is now equally renowned for his good humor, magic and science tricks, fun stories, and…his rock creations. McClellan keeps track of the number of pasties he has sold, and, while originally the rocks were only for display, he reluctantly began selling them, and he now similarly keeps track of the number of his rocks who have found new homes. He also tracks those he is in the process of creating (his “to do” list of rock names), and those already completed.

Hundreds of his “Lucky Rocks” are displayed all over the interior walls of the café; most are painted, affixed to a backing plaque, and titled or annotated with humorous phrases. Smaller rocks are embedded underneath the clear surfaces of dining tables, some are shaped into frames, and others are paired with driftwood, fungi, and other found objects in small assemblages. Small “moo-moo” rocks painted in the black-and-white patterns of Wisconsin’s Holstein cows surround a circular plaque with a carafe of “moo-juice;” a giant Hershey’s bar sits on top of a trio of rocks with affixed plastic googly eyes and painted smiles to form “Chocolate Covered Rocks.” There is a “Rocking Stone” – a stone placed upon a doll-house sized rocking chair – and a “Leap Rock,” which features a plastic frog sitting on a flat rock. Each is “one-of-a-kind,” and most he is not interested in selling: he has priced them outrageously ($1563.24 for a “Wild Rock,” $2538.94 for a “Patriotic Rock,”), but to each of these prices must be added the “’breakup [sic] the complete collection fee’ of only $5000.”

The café/pasty stop is open daily from 6 am to 5 pm, and the pasties are said to be delicious.

~Jo Farb Hernández, 2016