A Joint Initiative Between     Heart of Wisconsin     Business & Economic Alliance and     Community Foundation of     South Wood County

Home About Us B2B Club Breaking News Contact Donate Events / Programs Feedback Ideas Incubator Industry Clusters Links / Resources Progess Funds Progress Teams Public Art / Murals Publications		Breaking News December 15, 2005 - 'Cool' show coming to downtown By Phil Hartley, for Daily Tribune Editor's note: The Daily Tribune will regularly run columns updating Community Progress Initiative activities and the work of its groups in local communities. Come one, come all to The Greatest Show on Snow, the first Wisconsin Rapids Snow Sculpture Spectacular! This "cool" event will happen Feb. 4 at Veterans Park in beautiful downtown Wisconsin Rapids. The competition will begin at 9 a.m. Saturday. We are asking for families, friends, organizations and businesses to sign up for some fun competition. Contestants have artistic freedom to build a snow sculpture out of the "plop" of snow allocated for each team. Snow will be provided by God and the city of Wisconsin Rapids. Special thanks go to Dave Hoks and the city crew, who will be bringing the snow from all over the city ("let it snow, let it snow, let it snow"). The competition will end at 3 p.m., with judging and the prize ceremony to take place shortly afterward. Registration forms can be picked up at the Heart of Wisconsin Business & Economic Alliance or at From the Ground Up. Sign up now as there will be a set amount of teams allowed. As part of the event, the Wisconsin USA Snow Sculpture Team will put up a snow sculpture to inspire us all (They are not in our "amateur" competition). They will begin their sculpture Feb. 1, finishing during the competition Saturday. This team has competed all over the world, including the 1998 Olympics in Japan, where they won a bronze medal. As part of getting them to come to this event, we were treated to a slide show of many of their sculptures; they are amazing. Even if you do not enter the competition, make sure to come down to Veterans Park to see this team at work. We will have a warming tent at the event filled with warm drinks and hot food from several local eateries including From the Ground Up, Baker Street Grill and Great Expectations. It will be a "Taste of Wisconsin Rapids," winter style. Also as part of the day's festivities, three new historic murals will be unveiled at a downtown location. We want to thank Wood County National Bank, Bull's Eye Credit Union, Glacier Lake Cranberries and the Hotel Mead for helping to sponsor this event. We are still looking for more sponsors. Think of the press you could get for sponsoring the USA Olympic Snow Sculpture Team (they can build anything, maybe even your logo). Speaking of the press, we want to thank The Buyers Guide, Charter Cable, the Daily Tribune, WFHR and Stensberg Printing for all helping to get the word out over the next few months. As a sponsor, your name will be included in all of the media for the event. This project is a labor of love that comes from the Heart of Wisconsin Leadership Program. Our team decided to come up with a project that could involve the whole community, young and old, in our downtown area, at a time of year when everyone could use some fun. The Snow Sculpture leadership team includes Angie Paulsen, Carol Olson, Denise Orr, Terry Whitmore and Phil Hartley. We also want to thank Cheryl Posner and Susan Manock for their help. Please feel free to call me at 423-0453 or Terry Whitmore at 886-5526 for more information. Come join us Feb. 4 for The Greatest Show On Snow, the first Wisconsin Rapids Snow Sculpture Spectacular! Phil Hartley is a member of Snow Sculpture Spectacular Leadership Team.
		Copyright © 2005, Community Progress Initiative, South Wood County & Town of Rome