Bits and Pieces for Sept. 12 Sept. 12, 2009 A group of us have inadvertently set up a traditional route for our Labor Day Sunday activities.
The first stop is at Reif’s, where he hosts friends and customers, which I suggest are about the same, for a picnic. It is an opportunity to see some folks you haven’t seen for a spell, meet up with a few new ones and visit a bit.
And then we took off for the Rolling Stone Lake Rehabilitation and Improvement District picnic.
During the afternoon hours of this shindig, a band from Three Lakes and Eagle River featuring the legendary showman, Skip Wagner, performs.
Decades ago Wagner’s floor show at the Black Forest, a tavern, supper club and bowling alley at Three Lakes, was hot. During summers thousands of people packed into that building to hear Skip and his band perform musically, and see the hilarious skits by Wagner and his troupe.
He shifted his summer show to the larger quarters at Oneida Village, also in Three Lakes, and performed during the winter months in Milwaukee and elsewhere.
On his way south from Three Lakes to the big city, there was usually a few days of shows at Chet and Emil’s in Birnamwood. I saw him in all three venues.
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At Rolling Stone and at a few New Year’s dance dates at the Antigo Elks Lodge, there were no Wagner floor shows and comedy, just music. But I assure you, Skip is still an artist.
He still plays two trumpets at once, and in harmony.
Wagner started playing for polka bands when he was 16, moved on to play in the 392nd U.S. Army Band at Fort Lee, Va., was a high school band director and member of the Frankie Yankovic Polka Band.
He performed in Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe and could have stayed in Nevada — but wanted to return to Wisconsin for family reasons.
He retired from the floor show gig over a decade ago but that hasn’t stopped the music.
Skip proved it again at Rolling Stone Lake.
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The next time you roll through Three Lakes on Highway 45, you will pass Oneida Village.
Take a glance, there is a statue of Wagner in the center of two benches in front of the hotel complex.
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Another of those items on the late summer or early fall schedule is the Fall Festival at St. John Catholic Church.
I can’t recall what we were up to a few weeks ago, but arrived on the scene a little late.
We were told that we had missed a highlight. Terry Kretz had bought a messy blueberry cream pie and offered it for resale — this time at a higher price — and the winning bidder could launch it into the face of Pastor Charles Hoffmann.
The clergyman’s brother, Tom, was the winning bidder and Father Charlie was draped in a protective smock.
What a mess it was.
Kretz tried to find a picture for me without much luck until he came across Sharon Marshall, who had snapped a few on her cell phone camera.
She made copies for me and I’m sharing them with you.
The top one shows Tom about to apply the pie to his brother’s face — and a scared-appearing face it is.
The second shows when the damage was done.
It seems there are two points here — Rev. Hoffmann will do just about anything to raise funds for St. John Catholic Church.
And perhaps we need to keep a careful eye on our siblings.
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There are a few more things popping around in Antigo this week.
I’m told by fairly reliable sources that there are people looking at the former Hardee’s location in the 700 block of Superior Street.
Hardee’s locked up the site one morning very late in 2008, surprising the employees and the rest of us.
That’s old news — the new stuff is that there are people lurking around.
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As long as we’re discussing buildings, I gave the issue a little thought during the past week.
Bits & Pieces has reviewed buildings that need fixing and some that are beyond fixing and would be better off — for all of us — gone.
Little attention has been paid to the things that are getting better, quietly.
One of those places that has been improved is Beer 30, a bar just north of Fifth Avenue on Dorr Street.
The place never really looked bad, but I have noticed that the porch and railings were a tad frail. In fact, they were more than a tad frail.
Nikki Skinner and her partner in this enterprise did a fix-up, put an attractive porch on and are placing an addition to the rear of the building. And it does look nice, and reflects the kind of confidence and investment that I should watch a little more closely.
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I’ve got a few items that have to do with the newspaper business.
The first is a tip about placing want-ads and how to get the biggest bang for your buck.
On all non-holiday weeks we pick up the Thursday want-ad page to go in the paper for our market circulation product, the Journal Express.
That gives advertisers a big coverage and readership blast into the Lakewood, Townsend, Mountain and many other areas — at no cost.
The second newspaper topic is the work now taking place on the fall recreation guide.
This year’s edition includes a new map that features a number of different activities in Langlade County and is a resource that can be used year around.
The guide is one of those things that is a keeper. It has stories, illustrations and maps for a wide range of outdoor fun, and perhaps learning, in our neck of the woods.
It will be circulated with the Daily Journal and the Journal Express on Sept. 21. Watch for it.
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I charged out early Thursday morning to snap a picture of one of those electronic price signs at one of our local convenience stores.
A friend who was out walking her dogs at about 5 a.m. called with the news.
When the person opened the doors and turned on the pumps that morning, he or she missed a button on the sign and instead of a gallon of regular costing $2.589, it read $9.589.
Now, that would really shake things up, wouldn’t it?
It would have made a great Bits & Pieces flick, but I was a few minutes late.
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Get out for a little fresh air, the weather looks like it will be beautiful.
If you park just north of the North Elementary School and either walk or bike to the east, you run into the Rendezvous crew and get a glimpse of the new trail system being built here.
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