Downtown hopping with multiple events

Hundreds take part in variety of Saturday events

By Charlie Mathews, Herald Times Reporter

MANITOWOC — It was a busy downtown Saturday with events like Oktoberfest, farmers market, Volkswalk, CROP Walk, Art in the Park, a Friends of the Manitowoc Public Library book sale and more drawing hundreds of people.

And while the weather was mostly cool, gray and a bit blustery, Manitowoc's Terry Wolff went home with a rolling crate full of just what she wanted — more than $40 worth of her favorite produce.

"The kohlrabi is just wonderful in soup and I'll be splitting this watermelon with my son," said Wolff, who said she comes to the farmers market every Saturday.

She also had carrots, broccoli, plums, leeks, onions, a dozen ears of corn and a jug of apple juice.

Corn from Wilfert Farms will be available only through Tuesday's market as cool weather has stifled maturation of the current crop.

But Maryann Hahn's honey crisp apples from her Elkhart Lake orchard are in high season and priced at $1.35 a pound. "They're very popular along with Macs (McIntosh)," said the apple grower.

A few yards away, in the foyer of the library, Joe Dushan of Fayetteville, Ark., said he got a bargain as he purchased six books at 50 cents apiece. Hundreds of others were priced at just a quarter.

"All of them are pre- and post-World War II historical novels set in Germany, by Hans Helmut Kirst," the visitor explained.

"You might find some gardening books if you look hard enough," a Friends volunteer, Tricia Zimmerman, called out to a friend. "The children's books are almost gone … sales have been brisk."

Brisk weather likely reduced the number of spectators watching a variety of performances at the Franklin Street stage that was part of Oktoberfest, including violinist Ryan Kraemer, Celtic harpist Claire Krueger, the
Red Hatters, and Edelweiss German Dancers, among others.

"I don't have any arthritis," declared Marilyn Walters, 77, leader of the dozen women in the E-Z Does It Line Dancers, who were the first act Saturday morning. They rehearse at the Manitowoc Senior Center and perform at nursing homes and other venues.

Walters and her boot-scootin' boogie friends credit dancing to the beat — of country songs like Dwight Yoakam's "Blame the Vain" and Shania Twain's "Man, I Feel Like a Woman" — for keeping their joints feeling as if they were still in their 50s.

Pink butterflies and spiders

The Sunrise Optimist Club of Manitowoc sponsored Art in the Park on Saturday, with a half-dozen tables focused on projects including masks, fall rain sticks, lunch bag puppets and pumpkins.

Members of Lincoln High School's Key Club were volunteer face painters with pink butterflies for girls and dog and spider designs popular with young boys at the Washington Park event.

Zana Schade, 12, a Washington Junior High seventh-grader, was making a papier-mache mask. "You splatter on the sparkle … I think I'll hang it on my bedroom door," she said, also applying feathers, beads and different colors of metallic ribbon.

A Roncalli High School art teacher, Tim Woodcock, was helping boys and girls transfer designs to a thin metal sheet, about 3- by 5-inches, and using its adhesive backing, sticking it on small cedar board rectangles. Their foil creation took advantage of leftover wood pieces Woodcock had from a home deck project. "Always good to recycle," he said.

Ninth-grader Cyndi Brenner was a volunteer with a glue gun helping Hayley Kurth, 9, complete her pumpkin decoration, affixing "H" and "K" foam letters along with heart-shaped foam pieces for a mouth, nose and eyes.

Volkswalk

Six miles — with nine stops — was the route for Saturday's 24th edition of the Manitowalker-Volkswalk.

Ninety-seven people completed the course, getting their cards punched at Subway, Persimmons, Westlake Golf, Lincoln Park Zoo, Alpert & Fellows, Dairy Queen Mobil, Kathie's Stage Door Pub, Heart & Homestead, and the library, where they finished and picked up a medal depicting the U.S.S. Cobia submarine and the Wisconsin Maritime Museum.

Patty Marquardt and Becky Gilbert registered the walkers and noted several made the drive to Manitowoc from the state capitol as members of the Madison Area Volkssport Club and its affiliated Dairyland Walkers.

A shorter trek of about 2½ miles downtown was part of the annual CROP Walk to fight hunger in the Lakeshore area and worldwide.

About 75 walkers began and ended at the St. Francis of Assisi Faith Formation Center. "We had enthusiastic participation by more than 75 members of eight churches and Roncalli High," reported organizer the Rev. Dick Runge of First Reformed United Church of Christ in Manitowoc.

Other Saturday events included a blessing of the animals at Kathie's Stage Door Pub, an evening street dance sponsored by St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Parish, a light show sponsored by the Capitol Civic Centre and the opening weekend of the House of Bathory Haunted House.

Francis Fest activities concluded with a 10 a.m. Festival Mass in Roncalli's gymnasium and an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast beginning at 11 a.m. in the school cafeteria.

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