NEWTON — The MidLakes Rustic Iron Clubwill hold its 12th annualTractor Show and Thresh-eree Sept. 11-12 at NewtonFirefighters Park.

Club President BillPauwels said the club pre-serves farm machinery ofthe past. Club memberswill run the equipmentand demonstrate its useduring the show.

Funds earned at theevent will go toward pur-chasing more equipmentor into club donations. Theclub has donated to the Sa-vannah Foundation, acold-water rescue teamand to Bikers AgainstChild Abuse, which willhave a presence at the

Newton event.Club members also plow

the community gardens

south of Festival Foods inManitowoc.

Pauwels said the clubhas members of manyages. All can recall farmmachines of the past, hesaid.

“Machines that we used50 years ago, it would take14 of them to do what onecan do now,” he said. “Theguys all used to get

together, work together toget each other’s fieldsdone. It was a funtime. We’re not just collect-ing equipment in this club,we’re demonstrating a wayof working together that’sjust not around anymore.”

He added that it is a chal-lenge to find parts for theold equipment because thecompanies that produced

them no longer exist.“We learn to make our

own (parts),” Pauwelssaid.

The club has steam en-gines from 1920 all the wayup to ’60s and ’70s models,which are now becomingantique.

The show will includeexhibits and demonstra-tions of steam engines,farm tractors, horse andmule teams, garden trac-tors, hit-and-miss enginesand more. There will belive field demonstrationsand a blacksmith.

There also is a free

“people hauler” to providerides around the showgrounds. Displays willopen at 9 a.m., and break-fast will be available from8 to 10 a.m. both days.Lunch will be served from11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturdayand from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.Sunday. Cold beer and sodawill be available, as well asa dessert stand.

Admission for those 16and older is $5; children 15and younger get in free.

The Sheboygan Accor-dion Club will play from 1to 5 p.m. Sept. 11.

The Northeast Wiscon-sin Motorsports TruckPull will be part of theshow for the first time thisyear, from 5 to 10 p.m. Sat-urday. Contact RickKrueger at (920) 726-1206for information about thetruck pull.

For the kids, there willbe free tractor-pulled bar-rel rides, battery-poweredcar rides and a new play-ground.

Newton FirefightersPark is 6 miles south ofManitowoc at 6103 NewtonRoad, Newton. Visit www.mid-lakesrusticiron.orgfor more information.

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Modified truck and tractor pulls are part of the festivities at the Newton Firefighters Picnic Friday through Sunday. Submitted

Newton picnic celebrates 63 yearsBY CARLOS MUNOZFor Close-Up

Roaring tractors and roastedchicken plates are on tap for the63rd annual Newton FirefightersPicnic Friday through Sunday atFiremen’s Park.

Jay Boldt, who is organizingthe picnic, said this year’s foodwill be like a “restaurant menu.”

“It’s a fun event and a goodcommunity event,” Boldt said.“It’s the last true firefighter’spicnic around any more. A lot ofthem have died out or there aremultiple organizations in-volved.”

Proceeds go to the Newton’s

firefighters to buy equipment.Newton is anticipating large

crowds with musical appear-ances by local favorite Road Tripat 8:30 p.m. Friday and GrandUnion at 8:30 p.m. Saturday.

There will be kickball and vol-leyball tournaments, with teamsfrom across the state. Call Boldtfor more information on thetournaments at (920) 323-0987.

Boldt, who organizes the vol-leyball tournament, said it is astatewide favorite and includesplayers from as far away asFlorida.

“(For) some people (the volley-ball tournament) is the onlytime they get together. One team

comes from Ohio and Floridajust to get together for the vol-leyball tournament.”

Tractor and truck pulls will befeatured at 7 p.m. Friday and Sat-urday, while a consignment auc-tion is slated for 10 a.m. Satur-day. Sunday will kick off with aparade at 11:30 a.m. — rain orshine — and a farm tractor pullwill be held at 1:30 p.m.

“It’s free admission to all theevents,” Boldt said. “There’s nocost for any of the tractor pullsor bands. We literally get thou-sands of people. It’s a really funfamily event and doesn’t cost alot.”

Fire Chief Tom Hochkammer

said the event will help raisefunds to upgrade old equipmentand to buy new nozzles for thedepartment’s fire hoses.

“It’s a great thing,” Hochkam-mer said. “We’re looking at pur-chasing a new truck and we’ll dosome upgrades. We will continuekeeping up to date on the newequipment that’s out there.”

Boldt said the picnic will alsofeature the return of roastedchicken plates as Sunday’s spe-cialty.

“Quite a few years we got awayfrom that, but we’ll return tothat for a Sunday special,” Boldtsaid.Carlos Munoz: cmunoz.sports@gmail.com

PICNIC SCHEDULEFriday

æ 5 p.m. — Perch platesæ 7 p.m. — Modified truck and tractor

pulls and wheel-standing semi-tractorsæ 8:30 p.m. — Music by Road Trip

Saturdayæ 10:30 a.m. — Consignment auction

featuring farm machineryæ 7 p.m. — Modified truck and tractor

pulls and wheel-standing semi-tractorsæ 8:30 p.m. — Music by Grand Union

Sundayæ 11:30 a.m. — Parade (rain or shine)æ 1:30 p.m. — Farm tractor pull

Antique tractor show set for Sept. 11-12

Members of the Mid Lakes Rustic Iron Club demonstrate threshing during one of their previousshows. The group’s 12th annual Tractor Show and Thresheree will be Sept. 11-12 at NewtonFirefighters Park. Submitted photo

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The village is home to anew wetland preserve,thanks to the generosity ofEdward and the late Car-ole Holsen.

Last March, the Holsensdonated their 35-acre par-cel of wetlands on the eastside of Christel Drive tothe Glacial Lakes Conser-vancy, which will care forit and preserve it for fu-ture generations.

The land has beennamed the William F.Christel Memorial Woodsand Wetland Preserve, inhonor of the Valders patri-arch who originally ownedthe property. Throughtime, it was owned by hisson, Norbert Christel; thelate Eugene Schuh andNorbert’s daughter, CaroleHolsen, who died in June,

and her husband, Edward.Glacial Lakes Conser-

vancy will care for the pre-

serve and introduce itsunique characteristicsthrough occasional walksand tours. School outingsmay also allow studentsand science teachers to ex-plore the diverse land,which rises from aswampy area on the west-ern side to an upland for-est on the east.

Count deerinstead of sheep

Operation Deer Watch ison. Through Sept. 30, theDepartment of NaturalResources wants people tocount every deer they seeand report sightings onthe agency’s website.

The DNR will use thecivilian count in its effortsto correctly estimate thedeer population in ad-vance of the fall huntingseasons.

Baseball field progress

Workers are crackingaway at the baseball fieldat Memorial Park, tearingup sod in the infield andrefreshing the sand.They’ll improve the slopeand add drain tiles to keepthe outfield drier and fin-ish the whole project witha new fence.

The price tag, expectedto run more than $50,000,is being met with nearly$43,000 in contributionsfrom community mem-bers and some proceedsfrom the William F. Chris-tel Ford Centennial Cele-bration, which was July 31and Aug. 1.

If all goes well, the workwill be finished by the endof August, allowing grassplanting so the field willbe ready for the springbaseball season.

In 1926, people living inand near the village ofWhitelaw gathered enoughmoney to purchase theirfirst fire truck, thus form-ing the Whitelaw VolunteerFire Department.

The current fire stationwas constructed in 1959. Inthe 1980s, the departmentbecame fully funded bytaxes from the village of

Whitelaw, along with sec-tions of the towns ofFranklin and Cato.

In 1994, new restroomsand an addition to the build-ing were constructed, andfive new fire trucks werepurchased. Central air wasadded to the office and meet-ing rooms in 2008.

Construction is nowunder way to enlarge the

building to gain storageroom for the department’sequipment, such as a largegenerator (which can runthe whole station in case itbecomes an emergency shel-ter for the village) and a 30-foot portable light tower(which is taken to accidentscenes when needed andcan light up a very largearea).

Planning for this expan-sion has moved right along.After needs were identified,the department’s buildingcommittee received bids forthe construction. Bill Lorri-gan of Reedsville won thebid as the main contractor,while Tom Kiel gained theblock work. The total cost ofthe building is $102,000 andcame in very close to budg-et, officials said.

Open house

You can check out thenew expansion by comingto a picnic scheduled from10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sept. 18 atthe station. Entertainmentwill be provided by theBobby Darren Band. Brats,burgers, firemen’s steaksand homemade cakes willbe available. A sawdust pitwill be provided for thechildren. Raffle tickets arebeing offered by area fire-fighters. The grand prizethis year is $800. Come outand support your localfirefighters and thankthem for providing such avaluable service to ourcommunity.

Roll call

Current Whitelaw fire-fighters include: PresidentJohn Brodtke, Vice Presi-dent Bob Ebert, SecretaryRandy Wagner and Trea-surer Tom Carron. Thecurrent firefighters on the

board of directors areGary Schuh, John Hansonand Jeff Oswald. Other vol-unteer firefighters servingthe community are GeneSchneider, Leon Braun,Jerome Vogel, Bob Hastre-iter, Bob Sitman, JimSauer, Jeff Stueber, GeneMeidl, Steve Brunner,Jason Grall, Eric Braun,Jim Dvorak, BobHardrath, Scott Pritzl,Nick Holschbach, DougStrauss, Kyle Chris-tiansen, Jeff Behnke, MattSchuh, Justin Bastian,John Johanek, John Nei,Travis Ryder and MikeHastreiter.

Want to join?

Interested in becoming aWhitelaw firefighter? CallGene Schneider to set upan interview and to sched-ule classes at the area tech-

nical college. After thatyou will be included in thetraining sessions that areoffered at the station oncea month, usually the thirdTuesday or Saturday ofthe month. ContactSchneider at (920) 732-3318.

Did you know?

æ The Whitelaw watertower holds about 57,000gallons of water.

æ The original fire de-partment was funded witha stock purchase and wasunder stockholder controluntil the 1980s, when taxestook over funding of thedepartment.

æ New equipment isbought on a rotation sothat the old equipment isupdated and the equip-ment that is being re-placed still has good resalevalue.

æ In July the depart-ment received a $25,000grant from the Depart-ment of Homeland Securi-ty to replace all of itsbreathing equipment.

Leanne Booher: (920) 732-3888

Page B-2 & Tuesday, August 10, 2010 Close Up www.hrtnews.com & HERALD TIMES REPORTER

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Whitelaw Fire Department expanding

Valders Fire Chief Gene Schneider shows the portable lights that will be stored in the new additionto the village’s fire station. The lights are used primarily at accident scenes. Leanne Booher/CloseUp

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Heart & Sole

As 167 sets of legs pumped fora good cause, the fifth annualHeart & Sole 5K Race helpedpush donations to Children’sHospital of Wisconsin to morethan $20,000 since the charityevent began in 2006.

For five years running,Michael Bubolz broke the finishtape first on July 10. TheReedsville man, who competedin cross country during his col-lege years, sped over the 3.1-mile course in 15 minutes, 46seconds. He bested his 2009 timeby 8 seconds to set a new courserecord.

The first female across theline was Shannon Nemtz ofGreen Bay, who also set a newcourse record of 20 minutes, 18seconds.

It’s not too soon to pull out therunning or walking shoes andstart training. The sixth annualHeart & Sole 5K Charity Race ison the calendar for July 9, 2011.

Soukup wins scholarship

A dedication to dairy hasplaced Erika Soukup on theleader board as a winner ofthe annual Bill Walters Mani-towoc Milk Producers Cooper-ative Scholarship.

The daughter of Barry andGwen Soukup began showingcattle when she was 4 years old,and has built her personal herdto 11 registered dairy cattle.She was an active member ofthe Valders High School FFAchapter, serving as president,vice president and treasurer.

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PreserveFrom Page B-2St. Augustine going on second 100 years

It’s easy to see why GailFritsch loves St. AugustineChurch in Reifs Mills. It ispostcard perfect and couldbe mistaken for a chapel inthe mountains of Europe.It is nestled in a serene set-ting where the blue of thesky and the green of thefields fills you with peace-ful thoughts. It has been ahouse of worship forneighboring families forfive generations.

It is this fact that en-dears St. Augustine’s toFritsch.

“I know where my great-grandparents, my grand-parents and my parentsare buried,” she says. “Myroots are here.”

The church was startedin 1862 as a mission of St.Joseph’s Church in Kell-nersville. It is mentioned,though not by name, in a1904 history written byRalph Plumb. One-hun-dred Bohemian familiesmoved to the area aroundReifs Mills in the 1800s. Amajor employer was theReif Brothers Saw Mill,where coffins and broomswere made. Some peoplesettled in the valley andsurrounding area, but thefour-acre site at the peak ofthe hill was chosen for thechurch, school and ceme-tery.

The first church ledgersdate back to 1873 and arewritten in Bohemian.They detail the names ofthe families and how muchpew rent they had to pay.Easier to decipher are theledgers that begin in 1895and are written in English.They show that the firstpriest was the Rev. Adel-bert Cipin. The churchcharged $5 per year forseats anywhere in thechurch, but “$5.75 per year

to someone who wanted toclaim the two front pewson either side of the aisle.”

Fetch a preacher

Being a mission church,St. Augustine never had apriest-in-residence. Some-one always had to go andpick up the priest for serv-ices. The 1895 ledger statesthat a person who provid-ed this “livery service”would be paid seventy-fivecents on a Sunday and $1on workdays.

In 1902, St. AugustineSchool ran for five or sixmonths per year andcharged 50 cents for tu-ition. The school was onthe east side of the churchbuilding. In 1923, a note inthe ledger states that a votehad been taken to sell theschool building. Theschool was never replaced.

Upkeep on the buildingwas continuous. Everyonewas expected to put in a

share of money and sweatequity. In 1910, a five-strand barbed-wire fencewas put around the proper-ty to keep the cows out ofthe cemetery and off thefront lawn. It was decidedthat each member of thecongregation should helpwith fence building.

“Members who failed toappear to help were to befined $1,” the ledger indi-cates. There is no follow-upreport, though, on howmany fines were collected.

In the 1940s, Swoboda In-dustries in Kewauneemade 22 elm pews for thechurch at a total cost of$873. The seven stainedglass windows, represent-ing the seven sacraments,also were installed duringthat decade.

Sometime in the 1950s,world famous crooner andArthur Godfrey sidekick,Julius LaRosa, married alocal girl, Rosemary Meyer,in Francis Creek at St.

Anne’s Church. The con-gregation of St. Anne’sChurch voted to repainttheir church and St. Au-gustine, their missionchurch. The paint and goldleaf that were applied atthat time has been re-touched, but still is in verygood shape.

Still no water

Through the years, theusual church activities oc-curred. Weddings and fu-nerals were held at thechurch. If anyone thoughtthey would have an espe-cially large turnout, theevent would be moved toKellnersville or FrancisCreek. Since they neverhad water hooked up,there were never any bap-tisms at the church.

“We still have outhous-es,” Fritsch laughs. “Wehave our services at 8 a.m.every Sunday and very fewpeople ever need them.”

The fact that their littlechurch is still havingweekly services is a mira-cle to Fritsch, who washappy to pick up thechurch’s history.

“We have been blessedby several retired priestswho have agreed to say ourSunday Mass for us,” shesaid. “We were supposed toclose our doors in 1993. Wewrote letters and peti-tioned the Bishop to let usstay open. Monsignor Al-fred Schneider said hewould help us out. He wasin his upper 80s, then.

“First he would drivehimself, then he askedpeople to pick him up forservices. While he washere, the steeple wasstruck by lightning andburned. The neighborlady saw the strike andcalled the fire departmentright away. That kept therest of the church fromburning down. For severalyears, there was nosteeple and many of usthought that the churchlooked like a barn. Finally,in 2003, we got a newsteeple. The money wasdonated by the congrega-tion, and someone evendrove down to Iowa topick it up.”

The weekly services con-tinue because of the gen-erosity of the Rev.Lawrence Gerend, wholives in Kaukauna and getspicked up every Sundaymorning by parishioners.

“We don’t know howlong we will continue tohave services here,”Fritsch said. “Every Sun-day is a blessing. For meand my family and all the50 other people who meethere on Sundays, we don’treally know why ourchurch is still open, whileso many others haveclosed. We just thank Godfor His gift to all of us.”

Chris Meulemans: (920) 242-2700;mullybunch@tm.net

Gail Fritsch stands outside St. Augustine Church in Reifs Mills,which began as a mission in 1862. Chris Meulemans/CloseUp

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