Pints & Polka w/Anna Cain & Bekki Scheel

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Fuzz Martin: Well, hello friends.




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I hope you didn't fry your eyeballs out
staring at the eclipse earlier this week.




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It was actually pretty fun though.




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I felt like a kid again, not just
for me standing outside, drooling on




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myself, staring at the sky, but it
was really cool to see a bunch of.




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Adults excited to go outside and put
on funky glasses and stare up at the




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sky It was pretty cool, and it doesn't
happen all the time So though I have to




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say we are a funny species all going
out there with the paper glasses on




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and just looking up there in amazement.




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But again It was fun.




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It was charming.




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It was a, it was a nice way to
see people come together and not,




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you know, have the pressures of
the world on them for a moment.




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Hey, speaking of getting outside today,
we're going to talk about parks, Anna




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Cain and Bekki Scheel of the newly formed
Kewaskum Friends of the Parks join me




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to talk about their upcoming Pints and
Polka celebration to raise funds for a new




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beer garden in Kiwanis Park in Kewaskum.




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Pints and Polka takes place on
Saturday, May 18th, and it's going




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to be an awesome time with that.




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Here are 15 minutes on Pints and Polka
from Kewaskum Friends of the Parks




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with Bekki Scheel and Anna Cain, right
here on Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz.




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Alright, so what inspired the founding
of Kewaskum Friends of Parks group




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and what is the mission of the group?




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Anna Cain: So, basically, it
kind of came up very randomly.




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We saw the whole rendering of the
park, the new Kewaskum Park, and




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Adam Gitter is actually my brother.




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And before I saw the rendering,
personally, I was messaging him




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saying Kewaskum needs to do something.




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I travel 20, 30 minutes to take
my kids to these amazing parks.




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We need to do something here.




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so once we saw the new rendering for
Kiwanis Park, it kind of inspired us to,




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Get this group together to get it done.




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Fuzz Martin: Sure.




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And, for those listening wondering who
Adam Gitter is, Adam Gitter is the Village




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Administrator in the village of Kewaskum.




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So, what kind of challenges
do Kewaskum parks have?




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Or, or maybe what are you
seeing at some other parks that




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you'd like to see in Kewaskum?




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Anna Cain: Some of these parks
are all accessible parks, so




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it is very neat to see kids of
all kind of disabilities, ages.




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It's fun to see all of that together,
and it's just a cool place to visit.




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Fuzz Martin: And Kewaskum has
nice, uh Old, like, really, you




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know, nice land for their parks.




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They're in like nice areas, big
trees and those kind of things, but




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Anna Cain: It's a beautiful area.




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It's the Kettle Moraine.




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We need to utilize the
area, bring more people in.




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Just like we travel.




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Fuzz Martin: Absolutely.




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What are some of the specific
improvements, we talked about that plan,




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but what are, and you mentioned the
all accessible, all abilities kind of




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playground, but what are some of the
other kind of specifics that you'd like to




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see improved at the parks in the future?




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Anna Cain: So, our big thing is, which
we will get to, is the beer garden.




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Okay.




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That is our initial plan, so.




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We have the renderings for that as well
that we want to show the community and




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basically the beer garden is to host
events such as like birthday parties




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and showers and have some bands.




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And.




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Be able to raise more money in
the future for all the parks.




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Fuzz Martin: Mm hmm.




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And maybe a place where other
organizations that want to raise money




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could either rent out and, and have
their events there as well and kind




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of make that the place to go, right?




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Bekki Scheel: Exactly.




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I think another part of it
is there's a lot of changes




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happening in Kewaskum right now.




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The Annex building was a space that
was utilized for a lot of community




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events and that is no longer going to
be accessible to be used in those ways.




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A beer garden that also functions as
a community space and is able to be




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rented out for some of those indoor
and outdoor occasions is a big push.




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And also I think the Friends of Parks
has a lot of other visions that are




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not just solely focused on Kiwanis.




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You know, the way that we worded it,
Friends of Parks means all Kewaskum parks.




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And I think that there's a lot of
other really cool spaces that are in




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Kewaskum that at some point we can turn
focus to some of those areas as well.




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And, and really seek some, some cool
improvements for some of those areas.




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Fuzz Martin: Yeah, certainly.




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Kiwanis being that, like,
kind of, Keystone Park that




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we, that we have in Kewaskum.




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But there's also Reigel Park, which
is new and, you know, has some




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things that need to be improved.




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But there's also some other groups
that work, in that area with




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the KYSO and some other pieces.




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We have, Riverside, River
Hill, River Hill Park.




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And then a few other smaller parks.




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So, let's talk about your upcoming event.




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So you've got an event coming
up in May to raise funds for,




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specifically for the beer garden.




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Is that right?




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And it's called Pints and Polka.




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So, kind of ties that all together, right?




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Yeah, it does.




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So tell us about the event.




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What can people expect?




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Bekki Scheel: Yeah, so we're going
to be hosting Pints and Polka as a




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big kickoff event for the community.




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So we are going to be hosting it on May
18th at Kiwanis Park, which is going to




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be the home of the future beer garden.




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What a better venue for,
for making the announcement.




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And I think the big mission
of the day is number one, to




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introduce ourselves as a group.




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And a committee and to get the word out
there that we want to be raising money




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and funds for all parks improvements in
the future, but then secondly, to bring




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awareness to the beer garden and have
people see the the Abilities of what this




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can become and see the vision of what
we're, we're kind of expecting with it,




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and kind of kick that off and just get
some excitement going about some of the




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really cool changes in the parks that
have already also been, been, happening.




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So, it sounds like the Department of
Public Works has been making a lot of,




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of things move up at Kiwanis to kind of
start this process and I think kicking




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that off and showing the community.




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And I think it's going to be pretty
cool to have people see some of




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the new improvements that have
already started to, to take shape.




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Fuzz Martin: So I've been involved with
a number of nonprofits in my, we talked




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before we started recording that I say
yes to too many things, I'm involved




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with a lot of things, but seeing how
quickly That those plans came out and




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then you guys came up with Friends of
Parks and you got that all rolling and




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I know that takes, it's a process to get
a non profit actually off the ground,




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but then to have an event already up in
May, it's a kudos to you and the full




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group because you guys have been amazing.




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Killing it.




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There's signs everywhere and




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Bekki Scheel: Yeah, we sat down with
Adam in, I don't know, maybe October




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or November and I think probably one
of the first things out of my mouth




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was we all sat up at Kiwanis last year
for you know multiple days every week




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for our kids practices or watching
our cousins play baseball or whatever




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And you just, you just stared at this
eyesore of a pond that was fenced in and




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bright orange and under construction.




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And I said, if, if there's not
going to be changes that happen to




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this park in the next 12 months,
you're going to have a lot of.




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Of people that are saying what's
happening, a lot of questions




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being fielded, and if you have the
plans, you need to move on this.




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So, I think that our, our, group
was really timely in pushing




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for a lot of these improvements,
which it, it came together nicely.




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Fuzz Martin: Great.




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So, Pints and Polkas, Saturday, May 18th.




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You got it.




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And I saw you have, some Polka Fusion.




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So, tell us what Polka Fusion is.




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Anna Cain: That's a good question.




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Actually, somebody on our, in
our group has recommended them,




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so you're going to expect polka.




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Fuzz Martin: It's like polka.




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Are they playing like songs we
may recognize, but polka style?




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Is that kind of what fusion is?




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Yeah, okay.




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Bekki Scheel: We're not even sure.




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Fuzz Martin: All right.




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Bekki Scheel: We also
have an accordion player.




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Anna Cain: Okay.




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Apparently is.




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Highly recommended.




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So




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Fuzz Martin: excellent.




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And, uh, you'll have
food there for purchase




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Bekki Scheel: food vendors, uh, local
food vendors are coming together.




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Some of them are food trucks and
some of them are just food tents.




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, but we have some really great
recognizable community names.




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That are coming in to
bring us some great food.




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Fuzz Martin: Great.




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And then beer, I assume, as well?




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Bekki Scheel: Wouldn't be
a beer garden without it.




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Fuzz Martin: Perfect.




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And so that starts at 2
o'clock and goes till 8, right?




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Bekki Scheel: Correct.




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Fuzz Martin: And that's all
at Kiwanis Park, obviously.




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And the, what does it take to
put something like this together?




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I mean, you guys, I assume, you know,
have Lives outside of planning this and




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there's a lot of stuff to put together.




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So what, what, what's kind of going on
behind the scenes to make this all happen?




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Anna Cain: I'll let Bekki take
control of that question because




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she is in charge of it actually.




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Bekki Scheel: So we have a great
little group of, you know, four or




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five of us that have come together to
form an events committee underneath




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the Friends of Parks umbrella.




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And it's been a really great
team effort, so I think nailing




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down a spot was the biggest one.




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We threw around a couple of different
locations, amidst other Kewaskum parks,




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but I think the natural fit was to
host it up at Kiwanis, so that, that




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was a big step, but then just Kind of
figuring out what the vision of the day




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was going to be and trying to figure
out how we can best spread the message




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and reach the greatest amount of people.




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I think that something like this
is super attractive before summer




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starts and people get really busy.




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So we're kind of geared it up towards a
May date and have had a really good team




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effort trying to pull all the pieces
together by making contacts with different




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food vendors and beverage vendors.




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And then planning some fun, you
know, 50 50 raffles and other,




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like, small events to take place.




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And then securing the, the music,
I think that the polka and the beer




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garden go seamlessly hand in hand.




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Fuzz Martin: Very Wisconsin y.




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Yeah.




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How can local businesses, organizations,
other community members partner with




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Friends of Parks to help you guys fulfill
your mission and to help raise funds?




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Anna Cain: One of the big things
that we're going to be looking




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for is donations, obviously of
any kind, whether that be time,




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monetary, anything like that.




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Once we get kind of the final plans
at the beer garden, we'll, we're




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going to take that head on and
hope to see some donations come in.




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Fuzz Martin: Do you know about how
much the beer garden is going to cost




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to construct and get off the ground?




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Anna Cain: Not quite yet.




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We are still waiting.




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We're working with Drexel Building Supply.




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We have our, floor plan already and
we are working on the 3D renderings




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that hopefully will be finished by
the time we have Pints and Polka to




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show everybody and Have a big sign for
the future home of the beer garden.




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Fuzz Martin: Yeah, show them
what, what to expect, right?




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Bekki Scheel: And I think the big
thing too that, maybe some people are




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getting confused on is like, we're
not making the final decisions on




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what this money all gets used for.




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Like, these are things that we're raising
money towards and that's hopefully to




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help keep the costs to the general public
through taxpayer dollars and so on, you




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know, at a much more reasonable cost.




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So our mission is certainly to raise
funds to help supplement all of that.




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And we can certainly give our
input and work with some of these




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people to try to, you know, come
up with some creative ideas.




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But, you know, that all goes through
the village and, and they'll help




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us kind of make the final decisions
and how much money we have to spend




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and all that kind of stuff too.




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Fuzz Martin: Certainly.




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Well, we appreciate you on
behalf of the Village doing that.




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It's great to see.




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Community members coming together
to try to make it happen, be kind




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of the catalyst to get this spark
rolling and make sure that we have




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great parks 50 years from now, right?




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If the community wants to get involved
with Friends of Parks, if maybe somebody




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wants to join the board or, just follow
along with what you're doing, do you guys




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have a, website, social media, where,
where can people follow that and where can




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they message if they want to get in touch?




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Bekki Scheel: Yep.




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Right now we are on social media.




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We don't have an active website
as of yet, but all of this is




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very much in the early stages.




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So, yeah, check us out on Facebook and on
Instagram for Kewaskum Friends of Parks.




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Fuzz Martin: Perfect.




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Well, you both came in here, you
heard about this interview at, I




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think 11 o'clock today and it's two
o'clock as we're recording this.




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I just want to say thank you both
for coming in and thanks to everybody




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that's involved with Friends of
Parks for doing what they do.




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So thank you so much.




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Bekki Scheel: Thank you.




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Yeah.




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Thanks for inviting us.




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Fuzz Martin: Thank you again to Anna Cain
and Bekki Scheel from Kewaskum Friends of




00:12:43

the Parks for joining me on this week's
episode of Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz.




00:12:46

Great to have them in the studio
and great to see all of you.




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That entire group organizing and
making things happen for the community.




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Very cool.




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00:13:01

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00:13:05

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00:13:08

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00:13:12

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00:13:21

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00:13:29

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00:13:35

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00:13:36

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00:13:38

Right here on Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz.