Warrior Hikers pass through Washington County

Some excitement on the Ice Age Trail in Washington County for Warrior Hikers Miles Vining and Michael Marziaka as they rescued a Cooper’s Hawk on Thursday afternoon while walking a segment at 4 p.m. at Ridge Run Park.

“It was trying to fly but it couldn’t,” said Maziarka. “And then Miles caught it with his hands; he picked it up like a chicken.”

The pair said they stopped to take a picture of the bird and when it tried to fly it just tumbled to the ground.

While Vining cradled the bird Maziarka worked his phone and called the Washington County Sheriff, who guided them to the Humane Society and that led them to Marty Thompson with Wanakia Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Center in Richfield.

“We pulled our buddy 2-miles out of Ridge Run Park,” said Maziarka. “We met Thompson at Culvers.”

The pair were told to cover the eyes of the hawk so they put a hat over its head. “He was about the size of a loaf of bread and he was pretty wiggly but he calmed down with the hat,” Maziarka said.

Bronzed by Mother Nature’s sun, Maziarka speaks with enthusiasm and as he and Vining, 24, have been on the road (or the Ice Age Trail) since starting out up north on May 20.

“It’s going pretty good,” said Vining. “We’ve had some rain but I love the heat; bring it.”

The pair camp out a majority of the time and are hiking to raise awareness for Warrior Hike. “Since I’ve been in the service and going to college this tour allows me to slow down for a while,” said Vining. “I’ve been writing a lot of things down and reprocessing a lot and that helps.”

Maziarka echoed Vining’s thoughts. “I’ve always aspired to doing a thru hike,” he said. “I’m accomplishing a couple things including slowing down my life and doing something I’ve always wanted to do.”

Another thing Maziarka has realized during the hike is what’s important. “When you slow down this much, a lot of things you thought that mattered really don’t,” he said.  “So instead I’m going to be able to focus more on what does matter – things like my wife or going out with friends for a beer.”“This helps makes me rearrange my priorities,” Vining said.

The pair will finish the trek on August 6 in Sturgeon Bay.

The Warrior Hike is a program designed to help combat veterans transition from their military service. The pair agreed, finding the hawk has been one of the coolest things that has happened so far on the trip.

Large turnout to sign banner supporting law enforcement

There was a large turnout Friday night to support area police and the work they do to keep us safe. “I can’t believe this huge event and it was all started by a couple little girls,” said West Bend police officer Bobby Schotzko.

Violet Pahl, 8, and her sister Cece, 4, organized the banner signing and they created a special ice cream for the event, Mint Explosion. Hundreds of people lined up for a scoop at Toucan Custard.

The evening was topped off by the Pledge of Allegiance, speeches by Karen Pahl thanking everyone for coming out and notes of thanks to Toucan Custard for donating a portion of its proceeds to Shop with a Cop in Washington County.

Public hearing Aug. 9 for zoning change on Valley Ave.

Neighbors on Valley Avenue and Erin Court received notice about a public hearing Aug. 9 before the West Bend Plan Commission regarding a request to rezone about 6.5 acres of land to multifamily housing. The parcel is to the back (south) of 15 acres that’s currently zoned B4 for business.

 

A history check shows that parcel used to be multifamily housing about 12 years ago. Property owner Steve Kearns said he is just looking to return that segment to its original zoning.

 

Several weeks ago Kearns sold a portion of the property on W. Washington Street to Russ Darrow. He also sold a corner lot on Valley Avenue to Heiser.  The Plan Commission meeting begins at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, August 9 in the council chambers at City Hall, 1115 S. Main St.

 

Former Walgreens on Decorah for sale

Watch for signs for Anderson Commercial Group to go up next week as the former Walgreens has been listed by Adam Williquette, Senior Vice President of Anderson Commercial Group.

Continental Properties owns the property which no longer has a lease with Walgreens. The past few years the owners have just been looking for new tenants and Williquette said now they’ve decided to market the property for sale as well.

The asking price is $1.6 million for sale and a lease rate of $15/ square foot triple net.

Walgreens closed its location at Decorah Road and Main Street in West Bend in 2010 after it completed construction of new stores on S. Main Street near Paradise Drive and on W. Washington Street. Williquette said he is “already talking with several prospects.” Expect signage for Anderson Commercial Group to go up in the next two weeks.

BarginMart moving to new location

BargainMart has found a new location and will be moving to 822 S. Main St, formerly the location of Lots for Tots in the West Bend Plaza. Adam Williquette, Senior Vice President of Anderson Commercial Group handled the transaction. “The new location will provide better parking and a large open floor plan,” said Williquette. Lots for Tots closed in June. BargainMart listed its location on Chestnut Street in June.

Green Dog Market to open in downtown West Bend

The sign for downtown West Bend’s newest grocery is now in place as Green Dog Market is getting closer to opening. Stefanie Ulma, owner of Grasshopper Restaurant, 241 N. Main St., is planning on opening the store in the building next door to Laurel’s Camera & Gifts at 237 N. Main St.

The store will feature house-made products from the Grasshopper including dressings, burgers, organic grass-fed meats along with cheese, wine, beer and necessities. “The store fits the restaurant,” said Ulma. “People keep asking us to sell our dressings or can we buy the mushroom burgers, and now they can.”

The store will also offer free delivery to neighbors in West Bend with an added plan similar to meals on wheels for the elderly. “My mom used to do that and I thought it was cool,” Ulma said. “With our delivery, we can do two checks a week on the elderly; bring a hot meal from the restaurant and groceries. This way families would know their loved one is getting food and they’re being checked on.”

Part of Ulma’s larger plan also includes a rooftop garden that will provide produce for the grocery and benefit the restaurant.

In order to get the grocery off the ground, Ulma had to make some difficult decisions. The toughest was closing the restaurant Friday nights. “To get the grocery store to the point where I needed to get it I’m changing the hours of the restaurant,” she said. “This is going to make a giant difference so I can meet with contractors and get the store open.”

“I’m excited to do something else for West Bend that’s different than just this restaurant,” said Ulma. “One thing that will stay the same will be delivering to the customer the best of the best. It’s never been about the money it’s been about giving a great product to the people.”

 Mexican restaurant opening in Slinger                                    Story courtesy Ruth Marks

Changes are coming to Dove Plaza on Highway 60 in Slinger. Progress is being made on the new building for O’Reilly Auto Parts and a new restaurant, Polanco Mexican Restaurant and Cantina, will be moving into the space formerly occupied by Sophia’s Pub & Eatery.

 

Mary Hafeman presented 2016 National PGA Player Development Award 

PGA Professional Mary Hafeman of West Bend has been honored with the 2016 PGA Player Development Award for her commitment to implementing dynamic programming for golfers of all ages and skill levels. The PGA Player Development Award bestows special recognition on a PGA Golf Professional who has displayed extraordinary and exemplary contribution and achievement in the area of player development. This recognition comes on the heels of receiving the Player Development Award for the North Florida PGA Section in 2014 and 2016.

Hafeman, a dual member of both the North Florida and Wisconsin PGA Sections, is President and Owner of Fore in One Golf Services, and is a highly regarded and accomplished player, instructor and operations specialist within the golf industry.  A Golf Range Association Top 50 Growing the Game Teacher, Hafeman is extremely active in hosting programs, such as Get Golf Ready, PGA Junior League and LPGA Girls Golf, among others

Updates & tidbits

–Café Soeurette is bringing a new event DISH Downtown to West Bend’s historic Main Street on Sunday, July 31. The 3-course menu features assorted in-house butters and jams and meats from the local Farmers’ Market. The second course will feature a chilled zucchini cucumber soup with a corn relish. The main course is a ginger chicken skewer with a carrot slaw and an apricot and beet pickle relish. The last course will be compote of crumbled shortbread, an espresso chocolate crème and sugar cherries.  Dish Downtown includes live music and 10% of proceeds will be donated to the West Bend Downtown Association! Reservations required, CALL 262-338-2233.

-Sculpture Feast is August 6 at Regner Park. It will feature food tasting from three local restaurants including Café Soeurette, West Bend Tap & Tavern and The Norbert. There will be a live sculpture pour demonstration, sculpture tours and live music. Tickets are available by calling Shawn at 262-644-9600.

-Final numbers are in and there were 1,435 participants in this year’s Dirty Ninja Mud Run for Kids, held July 16 at Regner Park.

-T4 Insurance Solutions LLC is a new business that opened in Jackson at N168 W20900 Main Street. Owner Tracy Oestreich has been in the insurance business for years. Call for more information at 262-423-4949

-Crossroads Music Fest is Sept. 10 from Noon – 7 p.m. Live bands include Amy Jackson at noon, 1 p.m. – Justin St. Thomas and the Funky Fresh Fellowship, 2 p.m. – At The Wayside, 3 p.m. – Harley Rev Band, 4 p.m. – We are Leo, 5 p.m. – 7 p.m. – Danen Kane. The Christian music festival will be at St. Luke Lutheran Church, 4860 Arthur Road in Slinger. There will be a silent auction, bake sale, concessions, kids area and some proceeds will be donated to Raivu an St. Luke Youth Mission trip.

– Neighbors in West Bend have noticed the huge trees that have been taken down on West Washington Street, just to the east of Valley Avenue. Steve Kearns recently sold that property to Russ Darrow and said he took down the trees as Darrow is going to be expanding his car lot.

-There’s a new sign for Heavy Duty Ramps on Highway 45 just to the north of Highway D. Last May, Larry Marmon, CEO of Discount Ramps purchased Heavy Duty Ramps. Marmon recently replaced the old Ke-West signs that were along the highway. Do you remember Ke-West Sports Complex? It was a paintball and indoor mini-golf sports complex owned by Richard Bertram. After opening his new venture in 2006, Bertram closed the business in July 2008. First National Bank of Hartford then held title to the property. In August 2010 Richard Beilstein, owner of Heavy Duty Ramps LLC of West Bend, closed on the purchase of the 62,000-square-foot site.

– West Bend Friends of Park and Rec are hailing Regner Fest and the Dirty Ninja Mud Run for Kids a “HUGE success.” There were around 1,500 children in the park for the Dirty Ninja Mud Run, 1,200 hot dog lunches were served along with 800 hamburgers, 300 brats, 200 walking tacos, 300 large hot dogs, and 30 large Domino’s pizzas and the bar sold 22 half barrels, (14 last year) tons of hard lemonade and huge amounts of Black Cherry. So we were a whole lot of busy.  So thank you!!

-The dates for Regner Fest and German Night are changing next year and Regner Fest ~ will be Saturday, July 15 and German Night ~ Wednesday, July 19. The same music lineup will be held at Regner Fest with Andrea and the Mods, Dirty Boogie and Rebel Grace.

-Laurel’s Camera and Gift is on the move. On Sept. 1 the locally-owned camera shop and jewelry shop M.F. Diamonds will move from 239 N. Main Street down a block to 152 N. Main Street, formerly home to My Personal Trainor fitness studio, and prior to that Settler’s Park Market.“We’re just going down the street a bit,” said Pat Fehring from Laurel’s Camera. “We were just looking for a little bigger space so we’ll have a backdrop and we can do studio photography as well.” The Fehrings will be sharing the space with their son’s jewelry shop, M.F. Diamonds.

– Tammy Anderson has been appointed the new Washington County Director of the Aging and Disability Resource Center. Anderson has been serving as the Social Services Supervisor at Samaritan the last three years.

-The new West Bend Biergarten will be held Wednesday, August 10 – Sunday, August 14. It will be held at the Centennial Shelter at Regner Park from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. There will be craft beer, domestic beer, wine, gourmet popcorn and peanuts and entertainment each night.

-Renaming the Washington County Courthouse should be completed this week as it transforms into the Herbert J. Tennies Government Center.  The sign at 432 E. Washington Street went up this past week. The sign over the entrance to the building should be finished this week.

Washington Co. Fair starts Tuesday, July 26

-Fireworks on Tuesday, July 26 at Dusk

-Senior/Military Day on Wednesday, July 27

-Old Fashioned Horse Pull on Wednesday, July 27 at 7 p.m.

-Hunter Hayes on Thursday, July 28 (opening of the Silver Lining Amphitheater)

-38 Special on Friday, July 29

-Lee Brice on Saturday, July 30

-Vintage Tractor/Smoke & Noise Pull on Sunday, July 31

-4H Exhibits

History photo

The new “Fairest of the Fair” 1975 was Dawn Bastian of Richfield. She was given her trophy Friday night by Joyce Albrecht, county UW Extension home economist. Cindy Mergener, center, last year’s winner was there for the presentation. Both young women work at The Peking Villa Restaurant in Richfield. Photo courtesy Wm. Stonecipher and the Washington County Fair