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About Breaking News Program Dates Feedback Donate Contact Industry Clusters		Breaking News September 14, 2006 - Rudolph set to celebrate 150 years By: Deb Cleworth, Daily Tribune Staff Rudolph residents will commemorate the past as they celebrate the present during the Fall Kick-off celebration Saturday. The event began through the Community Progress Initiative as a way to raise money, said Christy Steinle, one of the organizers. This year, it also will celebrate Rudolph's 150th birthday. A 12-team kickball tournament gets things rolling at 9 a.m. "This year being Rudolph's 150th anniversary, a suggestion was made to pair (a kickball tournament) with the kick-off and plan one large event," Steinle said. There will be a host of activities until 11 p.m., including games, open houses, historical displays, music, craft raffles, food and fireworks. Nellie Hamm of Rudolph will be featured as the Queen of the Parade at 2 p.m. The parade, with a theme of "Rudolph Families Then and Now," will start at the Rudolph Elementary School, go down Main Street and end in the park. Hamm, 98, is a lifelong resident of Rudolph. "I think she's the oldest (resident)," said Mary Hamm of Wisconsin Rapids, Hamm's daughter-in-law. Nellie Hamm's children, Duane Hamm of Milladore, Beverly (Hamm) Seman of Chincoteague, Va., and Gary Hamm of Wisconsin Rapids will ride in the parade with their mother. "She's thrilled; she's honored," Mary Hamm said. The Rudolph Moravian Church is a personal landmark for Nellie. "I was baptized there, and always affiliated with that church," she said. Almost 50 floats and other units are expected for the parade, said Jim Bushmaker, 69, a lifelong resident of Rudolph. The Wisconsin Rapids Assumption High School marching band and Rudolph Rustlers will provide music. "We're getting a lot of participation," Bushmaker said. "I was in the 100-year (celebration) and now I'm in the 150," Bushmaker said. "There's a lot of people here who probably remember the 100th." "There will be so much information in the book on my family," Nellie Hamm said. "Even my grandparents were both born in this territory. "I really am a Rudolph old-timer," she said. "It's the friendliest place in the world. "'Course, I am prejudiced, you know."
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