Bits and Pieces for Oct. 17 Oct. 17, 2009 There will be an unusual sale late Monday afternoon and into the evening hours at the Antigo High School commons.
AHS is cleaning out its collection of trophies, well over 100 of them, that have been collecting in closets and storerooms for decades.
Don’t fear, those big classics will still be in the display cases, but in 40 years the different activities at the school drew plenty of trophies for everything from debate to dance, and more.
The cleanout program is offering the trophies for $5 each with all of the income going to the Athletic Department.
A list of the trophies and the year they were awarded is on the school’s Website, www.antigo.k12.wi.us.
I checked the list and there are plenty of trophies for finishing high in tournaments, many of them invitational events.
There is an Art Club trophy for winning homecoming float competition and a good number of debate, drama and forensics awards.
Back in 1985, we won the Mayville State Shooting title, and there is a 1985 football award for Gordon Schofield. Some are total mystery trophes: no one really knows anything about them.
One of those is for Lincoln First Place Potpourri. That baby dates to 1977.
So if you were a wrestler, participated in track and field, played football or competed in debate and forensics, check out the list.
Maybe you can pick up a little memory, and it will only cost $5.
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My prediction a few weeks ago that something was in the wind with the Hardee’s building seems to be a bit wrong or at least premature.
But there are people working at the site of the former KFC structure. I suspect construction is about to get started on a new Kentucky Fried Chicken and Taco Bell complex at North Avenue and Neva Road.
Workmen have been at the site with transits and other survey machinery and now they are starting to mark what I suspect will be the outline of the new building.
It would seem natural that this would be a spring opening.
I’m delighted a new business will fill a corner that has spent about a year looking idle and fairly desperate.
I think having much of the former Kmart complex idle and weedy for a number of years was hard on the community. But once those guys from North Town Centre got going, things changed and the corner of highways 45 and 64 is a busy and vital part of our city.
The same will occur when the new restaurant is built, opened and the lights are turned on.
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I had the opportunity to attend a birthday party in the Appleton area two weeks ago, and it seems when we guys are in mixed company, a stop at the Fox River Mall is mandatory.
On the way into the maze of Macy’s, Younkers, Target and Sears, I spotted a seasonal Halloween outlet. So after cruising the mall, we stopped at the scary store.
It was located in a huge building that once contained a department store — or something. It was apparently a victim of the modern economy.
The Halloween store was true fun and it was a busy spot.
There were girls in their younger teens eyeballing the vampire accessories. There was a section offering rather complex masks, home decorations, fog machines, eerie lighting and costumes — hundreds and hundreds of them.
You could be a witch, a doctor, a soldier or just about anything you can imagine.
There was a special section of a racy line of costumes for the young ladies, with shorter skirts and smaller tops. Business was brisk in that area, too.
While the younger teens were considering vampire teeth, some a few years older were looking in the short and plunging department.
There was also a department for “adult costumes.” Indeed, they were a bit naughty and when six Antigonians are out of town, you can just imagine what fun we had checking out the assortment.
Sorry, I can’t explain what we saw. The Journal censor wouldn’t pass Bits & Pieces this week if I did.
It has been a number of years since we’ve gotten dressed for the spooky weekend, but seeing that it is on Saturday and there will be parties here, there and everywhere, this might just be it.
If I go, a camera will come along.
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Friends who have a real affinity for Lake Superior were on the road a few weeks ago, too.
They loaded their camper and took a week to travel across Upper Michigan and northern Wisconsin along the lake and came home with stories and a ton of great experiences.
I loaned them my copy of Lake Superior Magazine from the month of July. It is a fascinating publication and available at Book World here in Antigo.
Earlier this summer I wrote a Bits piece about the making of “Anatomy of A Murder” in Upper Michigan, and my pals went to the sites that were featured in the column, and the magazine.
They were in Big Bay, Marquette and Ishpeming where the cadre of stars stayed, musicians played and a movie dating back just more than 50 years ago was made.
In fact, since their return, the Antigo Public Library has turned up a copy of the original “Anatomy of A Murder” book, dating back more than 50 years ago, and a videotape of the movie. I must read and view them in the coming weeks.
Jimmy Stewart, Lee Remick, George C. Scott, Eve Arden and Ben Gazzara joined director Otto Preminger to shoot almost all of the classic film in those three Michigan cities.
And the stars, including Duke Ellington, who worked on the musical score, were in the restaurants and bars. Ellington even worked on that project at the piano in the lounge at Ishpeming’s Mather Inn.
My friends even visited the Lumberjack Tavern in Big Bay, where the murder occurred. They eyed the bar’s scrapbooks, had lunch and a great time with the bartender — who has been on the job for decades.
I think it sounds like great fun.
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The trouble with having a magazine like Lake Superior around is that ideas keep popping up.
There was an ad printed by the Duluth Seaway Port Authority advising that a new era in Great Lakes cruises had been launched.
The ship that makes the trip from Duluth to Toronto is known as the Clelia II, and is the first cruise service on a regular basis in Duluth for years.
I’ve always wanted to make an outing on the Great Lakes, so I cruised into the Clelia II’s website.
The cruise would start in Duluth and go to Toronto, one of my favorite cities, lasts eight days, and makes a number of stops including Mackinac Island, Niagara Falls, Houghton and more.
The outing includes lectures on history of the lakes, cities and the culture — right up my alley.
But, of course, there are complications.
First, there would be the matter of getting a car to Duluth and getting it back to Antigo. And then there would be the matter of a flight from Toronto to Green Bay — all managable, I guess.
The bargain rates for booking early for the 2010 season range from a low of $5,700 to a high, in the penthouse suites, at $11,000 per person.
I'm not sure that's manageable.
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After a fire about fiveyearsa ago, the Melody Mill is making a comeback with the Karz crew still at the helm.
They are doing all sorts of work at the site and predict that the new Mill will be opening in later November or December.
And the trademark chicken, for years an area favorite, will be back on the menu.
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