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Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz

A podcast about positive things happening in and around Washington County, Wisconsin
Season 1•Episode 0044•May 30, 2022

Kewaskum’s 125th Founders Day Celebration with Aaron Laatsch and Kristy Vogt

The image is a historical black-and-white photograph featuring a group of men and women dressed in early 20th-century attire. The individuals are wearing wide-brimmed hats, sashes, and holding American flags, giving the scene a patriotic and celebratory atmosphere. Some of the sashes read “Kewaskum,” indicating the location or event they are celebrating. One woman is holding a lantern, while another holds a watering can. The group is smiling and appears to be enjoying the occasion. In the foreground, the text “15 minutes with Fuzz” is prominently displayed in a bold font.

Kewaskum’s 125th Founders Day Celebration is 127 years in the making (thanks, COVID). Aaron Laatsch of the Kewaskum Historical Society and Geidel’s Piggly Wiggly, and Kristy Vogt of the Kewaskum Chamber of Commerce and Westbury Bank, join me to talk about all of the fun and historical events taking place at Kewaskum’s River Hill Park June 10th through the 12th.

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  • Transcript
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    Fuzz Martin 0:05
    Hello fine friends. I’m Fuzz Martin and this is 15 Minutes with Fuzz. I hope you had an enjoyable Memorial Day weekend, and took some time to reflect on those who gave their lives in service to our country. Today Aaron Laatsch of Geidel’s Piggly Wiggly and the Kewaskum Historical Society, and Kristy Vogt from Westbury Bank and the Kewaskum Chamber of Commerce Joining me to talk about Kewaskum 125th Anniversary Founders Day Celebration, which is put on by the Kewaskum Historical Society. The pandemic delayed the 125th, a couple of years, but with the added time they’ve made the event even better, and we’re all looking forward to it. And with that, and here are 15 Minutes on Kewaskum’s 125th Founders Day Celebration with Aaron Laatsch and Kristy Vogt on Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz.

    Fuzz Martin 1:07
    Kristy and Aaron, thank you for coming in and joining me today we’re heading into the 125th Founders Day celebration. And I know that both of you have been working very hard to make this happen. How are preparations coming along?

    Aaron Laatsch 1:18
    They are coming along really great. The community’s really come together, we’ve had businesses contact us we’ve had families contact us volunteers, nonprofit groups, and it’s really been great so far.

    Fuzz Martin 1:30
    Excellent. So there are a ton of great events coming up on Friday, June 10, through Sunday, the 12th in Kewaskum. And while this is officially the 125th anniversary of the founding of Kewaskum, it’s actually been 127 years since its founding. So walk us through the challenges that the Kewaskum Historical Society has had and getting us here.

    Aaron Laatsch 1:48
    You know, the only challenge has been actually waiting for the event, I’m going to spin it positive and say that if anything, it gave us extra time to perfect the event. We’ve gained extra sponsors, we’ve came up with extra events. We originally started planning this in 2016. A while in anticipation of the 2020 events. So yeah, it’s been a good six years of planning.

    Fuzz Martin 2:13
    Well, I think to keep going with the positive spin on this is the I think the awareness of the event is gone up dramatically, because we all know that it’s been coming for the last two years. And we all want to get there. And also, by the way, just from a guy who does marketing for a living your website looks great. Thank you. Very welcome. I see a ton of posts on social media. And I’ve had a lot of conversations about the event with people in town and such lots of different things going on over the course of three days. Let’s walk through the schedule. We’ll start with Friday, and you’re gonna kick that off in the most Wisconsin way possible, right?

    Kristy Vogt 2:48
    Yes, we are going to kick off with a fish fry that is going to be put on by the Kewaskum Fire Department. Right? There’s limited tickets for sale. The number is Aaron about 250 to 300. Okay, so those tickets are pre sale tickets that can be purchased at Westbury, bank, Geidel’s Piggly Wiggly or with the firemen.

    Fuzz Martin 3:06
    And how much are the tickets? $15 $15. And then the meal itself will be at the fire department. Is that right?

    Kristy Vogt 3:12
    No, it’ll be actually right at River Hill Park. Our festivities are going to happen.

    Fuzz Martin 3:16
    Cool. Okay, excellent. So then let’s walk through some of the other events going on Friday through Sunday, there’s a lot of stuff going on.

    Kristy Vogt 3:22
    There are so during the fish fry, we’re also going to have the Kewaskum Big Band which will perform big band and swing tunes during that dinner, and then from 7:30 to 11. We are going to have a band called The Dwellers performing party hits of yesterday and today.

    Fuzz Martin 3:37
    Okay. Is that on the which side of the river? Is that one on?

    Kristy Vogt 3:41
    That’s going to be on the east side of the river

    Fuzz Martin 3:42
    On the east side. Okay, so talk about the about the venue just so everybody knows that?

    Aaron Laatsch 3:47
    Yes. So we’ll be at River Hill, Park River Hill Park has a blessing and that is very large. And challenge is that is very large. So we have an east and west side that can be moved between whether going over the dam, we have a bridge over the dam, or we have transportation and shuttle buses will be running to both sides of the river. And so we’ll have events music going on on both sides, including food and beverage. Right. And then the you also have an encampment, right, correct. Correct. Yeah. And that’ll actually run along the river. If those of you that remember Kettle Country Colors, we’re going to have about 30 to 35 camps. We’re going after an 1895 Town, which is our founding obviously. And then they’re going to be doing entertainment. They’re going to be doing little skits education, so it’s really gonna be a great thing. They’re very excited about it.

    Fuzz Martin 4:36
    And they’re there all three days, right?

    Aaron Laatsch 4:37
    Correct. They start arriving on Thursday, Friday, they will be ready after noon for visitors and then they’ll pick up on Sunday. Great. So let’s talk about the events going on on Saturday. So Saturday we have a pretty great lineup starting off in the morning. We have a craft and vendor show going on the east side of the river. We have some music going on. We have a couple of local restaurants that are bringing out breakfast foods or outdoor supper club. The Kiwanis Club will be there. And of course the Kewaskum fireman will be there. Jumping back to the west side, we have the encampment, we have Good Time Dutchman from St. Michael’s area. We have the Woodland Sky Native American Dancers, which will be a great thing going on at the base of the hill. Man, we’re rounding out the weekend or the evening, I should say on Saturday with the Whiskeybelles and Rebel Grace. Is there a cover charge for any of those? Nothing, so the entire event is free. Right? And then

    Fuzz Martin 5:34
    it just keeps going on Sunday. You get a lot of cool things going on Sunday as well.

    Kristy Vogt 5:38
    Yeah, Sunday we start with the historic hustle. It’s a 5k run walk that is gonna go the length of the ice and Bong. And then we are going to have the parade at noon. It’s advertised as a mammoth parade,

    Fuzz Martin 5:49
    A mammoth parade. Excellent. That means I can run in it. And then there’s also something happening at the high school, right? Yes.

    Aaron Laatsch 5:59
    So on Sunday after the parade, immediately following the parade, the 9/11 Memorial group is actually doing broad fry down at the site there at the end of the parade. But then after that, starting in the Kewaskum Theatre, we are doing a presentation of a Native American family that has what we think are some roots in the Wisconsin area. The granddaughters of Maggie Kewaskum are going to be coming out they’re traveling to Kewaskum from their homes out east. And they’re going to share some Potawatomi culture and a little stories about their family.

    Fuzz Martin 6:31
    So I know Anne Trautner was very excited when she found this information. And they found that family so that’s very interesting. So I know there’s been a lot in getting this organized since 2016, which I didn’t even realize which is great. So who’s has all been involved in getting this together?

    Aaron Laatsch 6:49
    You know, when I originally presented the idea to the Kewaskum Historical Society, you know, I was sitting there with our small group. And the one thing I stress is that this is the villages birthday, not just the Historical Society. So we’ve gotten all the nonprofits involved. We’ve had numerous businesses involved. The amount of phone calls, letters, emails, texts that I’ve received to be a part of it people wanting to help without ask is just been amazing. So that’s, that’s really been the great. There’s just so many people that have been involved.

    Fuzz Martin 7:21
    Do you need volunteers yet for any of the events or the 5k, or anything like that?

    Aaron Laatsch 7:26
    We’re always looking for volunteers. We’ve had a really, really good response. We’ve actually started sorting through them this morning. But if anyone’s interested, they can of course, reach out to us on social media,

    Fuzz Martin 7:36
    There’s been a lot of interaction on the different, like Kewaskum Chatter and some of those kinds of groups or where people are talking about this. Aaron, you’ve been posting it every so often people can see that. So reach out to Aaron Laatsch and get involved that way in Arizona, the Kewaskum Historical Society page, I believe, right, Aaron, correct. Yeah. There are some sponsors that are making this happen. Who, who’s making this work?

    Aaron Laatsch 7:57
    Yeah, so what’s been great as we’ve reached out to a few of the larger businesses and Kewaskum and they’ve come forward to help us really put on a good show Kewaskum Area Chamber of Commerce who Kristy Vogt represents. She is the current president, Drexel Building Supply, Regal Ware of Kewaskum, Westbury Bank, Geidel’s Piggly Wiggly, the Village of Kewaskum, and the Historical Society.

    Fuzz Martin 8:21
    If people want to see the map and the full schedule of events, where can they go

    Aaron Laatsch 8:26
    So they can go to kewaskumhistoricalsociety.org, we’re going to be uploading a map of the grounds we’re also going to have a food map. So if you’re interested in a Philly cheesesteak on the east side, you can head there and then if you want to go get a corn dog on the other side, you can head over there.

    Fuzz Martin 8:41
    So that’s the good part about the park being so big is the walk off some of the calories. Exactly. You get to the different places. Kristy, what’s what part of this are you most excited for?

    Kristy Vogt 8:51
    I’m most excited just to get everybody together? You know, we’ve had some trying, trying years these last couple years. And you know, everybody’s really excited just to get out and be able to celebrate and see each other and just enjoy such a wonderful event.

    Fuzz Martin 9:04
    Aaron, from the organization of this in the coordination what has been the biggest challenge in getting this much stuff together.

    Aaron Laatsch 9:12
    I think the biggest challenge so far has just been containing all the excitement, everyone wants to be a part of it and everyone’s got an idea. We just got to roll it all into one big event one when I started pitching this to some of the nonprofit groups for support. I tried to talk about people trying to remember crazy days and Kewaskum party on the pavement Kewaskum Firemen’s picnic which ended in the late 90s, Kettle Country Colors, July 4 celebration all rolled into one wild event and that’s what we’ve put together here

    Fuzz Martin 9:42
    Did I see you guys are gonna have fireworks on day two.

    Aaron Laatsch 9:45
    We are so Saturday night during the break when rebel grace is playing. We’re going to do a small firework show now I should note the fireworks will be launched from honey core. So anyone wanting to view the fireworks should be up in the main park on the east side. Do not sit on the Hill facing the West, you probably will miss them.

    Fuzz Martin 10:03
    Alright, they’ll be behind you. Yes. All right. Very good. Well, good luck with the rest of your preparations for this. I’m looking forward to it. I know my family is looking forward to it as well. And we are on the Wisconsin 9/11 Memorial board as well. So, good luck with the Kewaskum 125th Founders Day. Thank you for putting this all together. Because I know it’s been a labor of love. And I’m glad to see that you guys are so into our community to put your time into making this happen.

    Aaron Laatsch 10:29
    Wow. Thank you very much for the support. We do appreciate it.

    Kristy Vogt 10:31
    Thank you much.

    Fuzz Martin 10:37
    Thank you again to Kristy Vogt and Aaron Laatsch for joining me on this week’s episode of Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz. Be sure to join the 125th Founders Day celebration June 10th, 11th and 12th at River Hill Park in Kewaskum. All brought to you by the Kewaskum Historical Society. And thank you to you for listening to the show. Your support is always appreciated. Thank you. You can follow the show on Instagram and Twitter @fifteenwithfuzz that’s @fifteenwithfuzz (it’s actually Instagram, Facebook and Twitter). You can also go to fifteenwithfuzz.com and find all those links. So you don’t have to type anything in. Have a wonderful week and we will talk to you again next Monday. Right here on Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz. Enjoy your week.

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