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“Getting Away” in style is our very
own 2009 Parade Marshal George Kontos. Kontos rode in a neat,
classic car generously provided by a gentleman who responded to The
Winneconne News request for classic cars for Saturday’s parade.
The Sovereign State Parade of Thunder Poker Run
rumbles through Winneconne. -News photo
The Roger Giddings Gang escorts John Dillinger during
the bank robbery. -News photo
The Beja Shrine's "Krazy Kops Korp" dealt with many
"criminals" during the parade. All in fun of course!
  
Antique cars and bicycles roamed the parade route. |
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Over 10,000 People “Got-Away”
During
Sovereign State!
Considering the weekend in
its entirety, two words sprang to mind for John “Dilligent” Bartow,
our Sovereign State Days vice president... “HUGE SUCCESS.” Though
the weekend brought record ‘low’ high temperatures for Saturday’s
festivities – we were lucky if we topped out at 68 degrees – no one
seemed to miss the sweat trickling down their backs and everyone
decided to have a blast anyway.
Bartow reported parade
crowds were once again at capacity. “There is no way to track that
without lots of work,” he said, “but I would guess we saw 10,000
people in attendance. Folks responded to the committee’s request for
classic cars providing some neat vehicles to view and among the 75
units that streamed down Main Street, there were definitely a few
worth remembering. Taking first in the float contest was 1st
National Bank, followed by 2nd place St. Paul’s Nursery School and
3rd place Winneconne Christian Fellowship. Most people enjoyed the
staged bank robbery courtesy of Roger Giddings and Co. and Dillinger
himself – Austin Verwiel – who put on a great show.
Ron Rozek’s annual Poker Run
pulled in 48 bikes and 61 total riders and provided the SS Committee
with a substantial $1,300 donation. “That’s just incredible,” said
Bartow.
Marble Park’s activities did
equally well. The Winneconne Civic League was at capacity for the
annual flea market and if you took the time to browse a while, there
really was something for everyone. The Historical Society Museum
Complex had approximately 350 visitors for the weekend, though
donations were still slow to come. Lyle Zabel, tractor pull
organizer, said they had enough participants in the pull to provide
a show straight through 6 p.m., and the crowds were in the hundreds
for viewing. The pull also shares a portion of its profits with the
SS Committee to pay for this year’s and next year’s fun. The
softball games continued to be a popular way to while away the hours
and Saturday’s Hunt for Dillinger had better than 50 kids
participating. “We may have made the clues a bit too easy,” said
Holly Selwitschka, library director, “because the kids found
Dillinger pretty quickly, but they seemed to have fun.” The first
place team – also the biggest – collected some neat water guns and
Building the WAY lanyards as a remembrance.
As for the concerts in
Waterfront Park, the cooler evenings may have put a bit of a damper
on the numbers typically seen. Friday night’s Boogie and the YOYOZ
sold 1,700 wristbands – very good for Friday – but Saturday night’s
Bluz Brothers only saw approximately 1,500 sold. “We like to double
that for Saturday,” said Bartow. “It should be our bigger night, but
it was cool and no doubt, though the band was fantastic, you had to
really want to stand out there and listen, to put up with the
temps.” Bartow figures wrist band sales probably covered the cost of
the bands, but they like to make enough at the concerts to defray
other SS Day costs at the park. That probably didn’t happen this
year. Nonetheless, the SS Day Committee hopes that among the dozen
or more vendors working the weekend, their profit sharing will help
make the weekend financially viable. Final numbers won’t be known
for at least a few months.
That said, Bartow looked
happy and relaxed on Monday as the weekend was officially a wrap.
“When you consider over 10,000 people taking in an enormous array of
activities – from concerts, to tractor pulls, to poker runs, to
fishing contests – and not a single police related incident the
entire weekend, that’s really fantastic,” Bartow said.
If you’d like to share your
comments with the committee or begin the hard job of brain storming
next year’s theme, please shoot an email to Bartow and the gang at
committee@sovereignstateofwinneconne.com . They can’t wait to
hear from you!
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The gangsters came in all sizes!
Throughout the weekend community members, like Paula
Schmitz shown above, dressed in
20's-30's style clothes. many of the local businesses had their
staff do the same. -News photo
The Sovereign State Committee wound up the parade
riding in Randy Streblow's 1958 Caddy and Fountain Valley's horse
drawn carriage. They were escorted on foot by "John Dilligent" and
his "flapper girl".
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