At the end of the 19^th century, thousands of Walloon peasants migrated to the United States, taking with them their culture and traditions. In the dairy land of Wisconsin, near Green Bay, there is the Walloon Historical District, something close to a Belgian enclave in northern America. What still bonds the American Walloons together are the kermesses, the bars and churches. Because in Wisconsin, unlike Wallonia, religion is still the go-to place to socialise. It is even more so for this Belgian community since one of the early migrants, Adèle Brise, allegedly saw the Virgin Mary who talked to her in Walloon. It is the only Vatican-recognised Marian apparition in the U.S. The language is surviving only among the elders these days, as the community gently melts into the American model.

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