MARSHFIELD, WIS. — At 7:42 a.m. Tuesday, Lorraine Vetch located the last twelve-pack of Ticonderoga No. 2 pencils in Wood, Marathon, and Clark counties, wedged behind a sun-faded display of off-brand glue sticks at the Walgreens on South Central. As of Wednesday evening she had not disclosed the location of the rest of her cache.
Vetch’s son Brendan begins fourth grade at Madison Elementary on Sept. 2, and the school’s supply list — distributed July 14 — specifies Ticonderoga No. 2 (NOT generic) in bold capitals under a section labeled “non-negotiables.” Substitutions, the list adds, will be “discussed.”
That instruction is the work of Doreen DeFranco, who has taught fourth grade in Marshfield for thirty-one years and who, parents say, can identify a Bic Xtra-Fun by the sound it makes against a desk. “She sent one home with a note in 2023,” said Holly Renstrom, a mother of two. “The note was three paragraphs.”
A regional shortage of the cedar-sleeved pencil — attributed by Walgreens shift manager Curt Ohms to “back-to-school, basically, and one lady from Stratford” — has emptied shelves from Stevens Point to Eau Claire. The Office Depot in Wausau has been out since Aug. 8. The Target in Rib Mountain is rationing two packs per household, enforced by a clipboard at the endcap. A private Facebook group called Ticonderoga Watch — Central WI added its 2,400th member Tuesday afternoon.
Vetch declined to say how many packs she had secured before Tuesday’s find, citing what she described only as “the situation.” She was, however, willing to entertain offers. A Mosinee woman has reportedly proposed a trade involving Crayola Twistables and a half-used roll of laminating film. Vetch said she was thinking about it.
At the Pine Cone Diner on Veterans Parkway, where the coffee is bottomless and the conversation rarely is, the shortage has displaced sweet corn as the dominant subject of concern. “I told her to just buy them online,” said Marv Esselman, gesturing at no one in particular. “She said it’s not the same. I don’t know what that means.” His coffee was refilled without comment.
Mrs. DeFranco, reached by phone Wednesday, said she was aware of the shortage and unmoved by it. “The pencils are not the point,” she said. “The list is the point.” She declined to clarify what she meant by this and hung up to take another call.
Brendan Vetch, asked Wednesday afternoon whether he was looking forward to the new school year, said he was looking forward to recess.