[00:00:00] Fuzz Martin: Hello again, and thank you for listening to Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz. It is the start of another cold, cold Wisconsin week.
And despite it feeling like we’re in the doldrums of winter, we’re not. There are tons of great things going on in Washington County. And this week, Jess Wildes, West Bend’s Communications and Economic Development Director, joins me to talk about West Bend Winter Warm Up, which takes place in downtown West Bend this Saturday and Sunday, January 22nd and 23rd.
Speaking of Washington County, I want to thank the Washington County Board of Supervisors and County Executive Showman for welcoming me, Gordon Haberman and Justin Reichert from the West Bend, or excuse me, from the Wisconsin 9 11 Memorial. to this past week’s county board meeting as they introduced the new Forever Brave Fund scholarship, which will help those and their families with ties to the police, fire, EMS, and the military.
Very much appreciated. And now here’s 15 minutes on the West Bend winter warmup with Jess Wildes on 15 Minutes with Fuzz.
Hey, Jess. Thanks for joining me today. Um, before we get going into some of the other details about what’s going on, what is your role with the city of West Bend?
[00:01:35] Jess Wildes: Well, thanks Fuzz. Thanks for having me today. My role at the City of West Bend is Communications and Economic Development Director, so that means my department is responsible for all economic development activities like business recruitment and retention, tourism promotion and development.
We do all the social media and organization wide communications for the city like public relations and also community television.
[00:01:59] Fuzz Martin: Very good. And how long have you been with the city now? In your role, you probably get to meet a whole bunch of different people and see a lot of cool things going on in West Bend.
[00:02:08] Jess Wildes: Yeah, absolutely. It’s, it’s been an awesome role. I actually came here from the museum before, so I was there for a few years first and got to know people in the community. So it was an awesome transition to come into this role. Dive right in and be a part of the community, especially in the downtown area.
[00:02:25] Fuzz Martin: You’re also involved with the downtown area in a, um, another role, correct?
[00:02:30] Jess Wildes: I am. Um, and it’s awesome. We have an amazing downtown and I love being a part of it. I serve as the downtown business improvement district. Board executive director, so the bid board director. So I serve the board and help sort of facilitate their initiatives, such as the Christmas decorations, roof line lights that are above the buildings, help kind of make that happen.
The landscaping and flowers throughout the year and new this year, I’m helping facilitate a new facade grant program for business owners and.
[00:03:02] Fuzz Martin: Great. Yeah. And lots of things. I mean, West Bend’s always had a really, uh, beautiful and unique downtown, but just over the years and seeing, seeing it evolve and, uh, become even more vibrant.
And it’s a wonderful walkable downtown. That’s a lot of fun. So, well, that’s awesome. So speaking of having a lot of fun, West Bend has a fun event coming up on the weekend of January 22nd. It’s called West Bend Winter Warm Up. What can you tell us about that? What can we expect from the West Bend winter warm up?
[00:03:31] Jess Wildes: You can expect an awesome weekend outside downtown and also in Regner Park and Lac La Ronde Conservancy. This event started a few years back in 2019 but ice sculptures started in 2020 and there were nine and they were placed in the downtown area and they’re sponsored by many businesses throughout the city.
And this year, the event has just grown significantly. I mean, it grew a lot last year. We had 20 ice sculptures and this year there’s 50.
[00:03:58] Fuzz Martin: Wow. 50. That’s cool.
[00:03:59] Jess Wildes: Yeah. It’s awesome. They’re going to be throughout the downtown and then there’s going to be one at Lac Laurent that will kind of help tie together the events going on out there in the downtown.
[00:04:08] Fuzz Martin: Great. Our agency, Epic Creative, sponsored one. And. Sponsoring a sculpture wasn’t a hard decision. The hardest decision was choosing which of the sculptures to pick. Cause we were sent a, a list and I was expecting to see like 20 different things, but you have, I’m scrolling here. 231 different, uh, designs that we could have chosen from.
So, uh, we, we needed to find something that fit Epic and, uh, and hopefully it turned out. We’ve got a lot of pet lovers, so I believe we picked a pet theme. Yeah,
[00:04:40] Jess Wildes: I think you’ll be in good shape. There are a lot of really cool ones that are planned. I’m, I’m pretty excited. So this year there are a few, uh, supporting sponsors of the event.
And one of them is Delta Defense and they are going to have like this really large snowman in Old Settlers Park. Oh, cool. It’s like seven feet tall. So. That, I, I’m looking forward to that and then I also learned about one, uh, that’s like angel wings. Okay. Uh, where you kind of stand in front of it and it looks like you’re an angel and get a, a photo.
Oh, awesome. You know, it’s a really family friendly event, so there’s a lot of like photo opportunities. Sometimes the ice sculptures, you even like engage with them, there’s a checkerboard, things like that.
[00:05:15] Fuzz Martin: Sure.
[00:05:15] Jess Wildes: And then the one I walk around is going to be an owl, so I just think that’ll look really cool.
Yeah,
[00:05:18] Fuzz Martin: that’s awesome. So can people watch the ice sculpture carving?
[00:05:22] Jess Wildes: Yeah, they can. So on Saturday, you know, the event really kicks off on Saturday. in the morning and at 11 o’clock there’s some brief remarks from the mayor that will take place and then the ice sculpture carving demonstration will begin and it does take some time but it’s really fun to stop by and and see them carving the ice.
From any point throughout the process and then, you know, get your picture taken with it or grab a slice of pizza or something after.
[00:05:47] Fuzz Martin: Yeah, absolutely. That sounds great. Is the, are the remarks going to take place at Old Settler’s Park then? Or where does that take place?
[00:05:54] Jess Wildes: That’s right. Old Settler’s Park for both the remarks and the.
[00:06:00] Fuzz Martin: And then how long will the sculpture stay up in downtown?
[00:06:03] Jess Wildes: Well, it’s our hope, um, that they stay up through maybe early February. I mean, we really, uh, put everything into it for this one weekend and are there making sure everything’s looking good. And you know, the, the sculptures are lit as well. So at night they just look amazing.
They kind of come alive. So I definitely recommend that, but we really hope that they stay up for a few weeks after. It really depends on the weather or if there’s a big wind storm and they fall over, then And that’s it.
[00:06:30] Fuzz Martin: So, ephemeral
[00:06:30] Jess Wildes: artwork at its best.
[00:06:32] Fuzz Martin: Yes, so the, uh, every day is a bonus after, after the weekend of the 22nd.
[00:06:37] Jess Wildes: Absolutely. We hope to, you know, live it up for as long as we can. Yeah,
[00:06:41] Fuzz Martin: yeah, that’s good. What was the idea that got the West Bend warm up started? How did that all come about?
[00:06:46] Jess Wildes: I know this idea came up, uh, several years back just to have something, uh, take place in our community during the winter months, sort of at a time where tourism was a little slower.
So it really came, probably, that was probably back in 2017 or 18, and the community came together between the City of West Bend, the Downtown Association, the shops, individuals just interested in participating. And really making it happen. And so it still continues to be like that today. West Bend Winter Warmup is really, um, organized, uh, as the primary organizer of it this year is now the Downtown West Bend Association with Gina Burtzer.
She’s just taken an awesome, or she’s done an awesome job taking the reins, um, and has a committee with several of us from the city, Jackie Maynard, Nicole Bell, myself, and, and other members of, you know, the, the shops groups, downtown. Elle Young from Dunn Brothers. I mean, there’s a lot of people involved.
The Bend is really involved this year too. Sure. They’re really like a full community effort that makes this a success. To
[00:07:47] Fuzz Martin: grow from nine sculptures to 50 is, uh, amazing. And that’s great to see the participation.
[00:07:53] Jess Wildes: It was so fun to see the growth cause it was nine to 20. And so, I mean, that was over double.
I thought, wow, 20 is a lot. And then 15 happened.
[00:08:03] Fuzz Martin: Yeah, and a hundred next year, so that’s going to be a lot of work. So talking about those downtown businesses, there’s a lot of stuff going on outside of just the sculptures, right? What else can people expect?
[00:08:16] Jess Wildes: Yeah, there’s a lot of things going on. I mean, the shops and the restaurants are really involved in this event.
They’ll be open. The shops are offering, uh, you know, a lot of different deals. Many of them put out spreads of treats and goodies in their shops. The restaurants, uh, the same. They’re offering festive food and cocktails. Just really getting into the spirit of the event. There is a gift basket raffle that’s taking place during, so if patrons step into participating shops and restaurants, they can get a raffle ticket and win a pretty giant prize when it’s all said and done.
[00:08:50] Fuzz Martin: Any word on what the prize is, or is that a, is that a secret?
[00:08:53] Jess Wildes: Well, well, I don’t know all the items, but I know that many shops and restaurants have donated gift cards and goodies to it, so it’s a Pretty substantial.
[00:09:04] Fuzz Martin: Excellent. All right. Very good. On Saturday, there are a couple other events going on in conjunction that are part of this.
So there’s the HUE, I’m going to say this appropriately for our PG audience. It is the HUE, HUE Jackman, HUE JAS, like JAS with an A, Fat Tire Bike Race. The HUE JAS Fat Tire Bike Race happening on Saturday. What are the details of the race?
[00:09:29] Jess Wildes: Yes, uh, so the race starts off in the morning. It is a register in advance event, so it’s, if you’re interested or have a fat tire bike, you want to take part, I recommend that registration take place at hughjass.
bike. It’s h u g h j a s s dot bike. And all the details are in there. It takes place at Wrigner Park. It’s a really fun event. It’s a really fun game. That does the, the race. Um, we also have a video of it from last year. That’s up on our Facebook page. So it’s kind of cool to check it out and, you know, hang out by the bonfire, things like that.
[00:10:03] Fuzz Martin: What time does the race take place?
[00:10:05] Jess Wildes: Takes place at 11.
[00:10:06] Fuzz Martin: 11. Okay. Very good. And then, uh, that evening there’s an event at the Lac La Ronne Conservancy, right?
[00:10:13] Jess Wildes: So this is the winter luminary walk. Uh, Lac La Ronne has a couple of these throughout the year. And this one is really cool with the candlelit trails and the snow.
It’s free as well to anyone, so it’s from 5 to 7 p. m. on Saturday, January 22nd. And, um, it’s just a really fun event.
[00:10:30] Fuzz Martin: Excellent. Well, the West Bend winter warmup looks like it’s going to be awesome all around. And, um, I am, uh, I’m looking forward to going, we’re going to take the kids and go walk around and see the stuff.
And I’m sure that they’ll, uh, They’ll love all the sculptures, and I tried, I tried to pull for the unicorn sculpture for Epic, and actually, it was, we had a three way tie, uh, for the, there was a unicorn, a dog print, and I think a wolf, and I think the dog print one, because we’re a dog friendly, friendly company, but I was, I was pulling for the unicorn.
Details on the events are at downtownwestbend. com, correct?
[00:11:05] Jess Wildes: So all the information is at DowntownWestBend. com, the Downtown West Bend Association website. It’s also on Facebook, so I recommend, you know, checking it out there. And saving it to Facebook calendars like that, because there’s also information about the Luminary Walk and the bike race.
Then the Bend, the Bend has a pretty huge lineup of live entertainment, a free movie for kids, and just a magician, a ton of stuff going on on that weekend. And they’re also a warming location as well, which is new this year.
[00:11:35] Fuzz Martin: Oh, very good. Very good. So when you’re down there, take photos, put them on Facebook and Instagram, use hashtag winter warmup and visit downtown West Bend on.
Saturday and Sunday, January 22nd and 23rd. Jess, this sounds like a lot of fun. Uh, you get to have a fun job of doing all this stuff and we appreciate you coming on today. so
[00:11:55] Jess Wildes: much. That’ll do it
[00:12:00] Fuzz Martin: for the 24th installment of Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz. If you ever have an idea for the show. Hit me up. I’m sorry.
That was dorky. Uh, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. My handle is 15withfuzz. You can also leave a message at 15withfuzz. com. You can email me, 15withfuzz, at gmail. com. New episodes every Monday, except for Mondays where I’m in a hospital due to a severe and unknown allergy to an over the counter heartburn medication.
Have a good week. We’ll talk to you next time, right here, on Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz.
