What is it with the Chamber of Commerce here? They seem to deny commerce instead of encourage it. We've cancelled Winter Fest. There was no "Christmas in Green Lake".
They have had a contest for businesses in town for the one with the best decorations every year. Fine idea but there are about 3 businesses in town. Why not try this instead? Have a contest for the best decorated house in town. Give a nice large prize. Like $250. Something. People would would want to win so they would decorate. Other people in the surrounding area would come to see the decorations. They might spend money at local watering holes. As more and more people decorated the houses maybe more people would come. The Chamber seems to have the idea that they need to please the local businesses without encouraging local business. They have more committees than they can count which micro-manage the director. I think they should just cancel the fire works now for the 4th of July because they aren't going to make any money on it. We should just all go to Heidel House. Just cancel everything.
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3 months ago
26 comments:
Winterfest wasn’t bad, but it was the same activities every year. The event used to have dogsled races in the 1960s. What happened to that? On the other hand, Christmas in Green Lake was absolutely lame. You could walk around town without the slightest idea a “festival” was going on. I applaud the chamber for cutting it.
Green Lake needs to stop thinking it’s so special. There are over 14,000 lakes in this state. Just because Green Lake has a dam downtown, some dinky parks, a smelly beach, a handful of cutesy shops and an algae-infested lake doesn’t mean tourists are going to flock. Green Lake is a dwindling Midwestern city with waterfront access, just like thousands of others. You’re not unique, so it’s really no surprise that tourists have lost interest.
I imagine other bloggers will characterize me as crabby or cynical. No, just telling it like it is. Green Lake has nothing people can't find elsewhere or closer to home.
Green Lake’s heyday has long passed. Get over yourselves.
I thought Dusty did a good job of organizing community events and a poor job of promoting businesses. Now there seems to be nothing going on. I guess if you don't do anything there's less chance of you screwing it up ?
From the local news wire:
GREEN LAKE — The Green Lake community will host “Festival-Fest” this weekend in downtown Green Lake. The unprecedented three-day event will celebrate the history and success of the city’s 264 other annual festivals.
Events will include reminiscing about past events and planning new events. Chamber of Commerce officials will hold a contest to see who can come up with the stupidest new festival, and the winning event will become yet another mainstay in Green Lake.
In related news, 263 of the community’s 264 other festivals have now been cancelled due to lack of attendance. Only Golden Days remains. Due to its singular success, it has been expanded to last 362 consecutive days, leaving only room for “Festival-Fest” to occur this weekend.
In response to the comment that Green Lake has nothing people can't find elsewhere or closer to home: Green Lake is special because we not only have a lake, but we have the BEST lake. Green Lake is unique and beautiful. Though the kind of tourists that would be attracted to Green Lake has evolved from a young families crowd to an older adults crowd, it is a wonderful area for people to visit and get away from all the craziness of everyday life. We need to accept that we aren't what we once were because our audience has changed and the competitive landscape has changed, but that change doesn't mean we are no longer a destination that people want to come to - it's just a different set of people that we need to focus on attracting.
To the person above, who wrote: “Green Lake is special because we not only have a lake, but we have the BEST lake. Green Lake is unique and beautiful.”
This is exactly my beef with Green Lake people. You think your lake is so damn special. It’s not. It’s one of 14,000 lakes in this state alone.
If this city and lake were really so unique and special, why can’t many stores or restaurants make it here? And why are locals always ragging that tourism is down? And why are annual festivals being cancelled due to sparse attendance? If Green Lake were truly special and unique, we wouldn’t have these problems because tourists would actually AGREE that we’re special and unique.
They don’t. Hence, tourism is dwindling.
It’s not special or unique to live in a small town with a lake nearby and a handful of tourists that show up on July 4th. There are many, many communities that offer exactly that. Green Lake is not alone, and it needs to stop thinking it’s elevated. Such arrogance is not helping. We need to be realistic and work to improve the situation.
When asked why Green Lake is special, a common response is, “It’s the deepest lake in the state.” That’s true. But who cares? Being deep also means it’s usually cold to swim in. Also it has a serious algae problem. Ever swim in Green Lake lately? Yuck.
Instead of walking around with our noses in the air and pretending our lake is so important (and then complaining about the lack of new visitors), let’s work to truly become a special, unique place to visit. We can’t do that by offering a silly lake alone. We have to offer what few or no one else already has.
It’s time for the city to start considering some new ideas. What’s the city doing with the Ad Hoc Committee’s recent report on the future of the community? Hours and hours went into that report. It was chock full of ideas. Let’s crack it open.
We attened Winterfest last year and had a wonderful time! It was fun to ride in the Hovercraft!!!!!The food was good and folks were enjoying the day.
We have enjoyed Green Lake for many years and do beieve it is SPECIAL to us. In recent years there have been disappointing changes (zebra muscles,ABA strangeness,taxes sky high, stores closing,etc.), but we still treasure it. The economy is bad everywhere these days, let's hope for better days.
I thought the Chiefs' idea of a Christmas decorating contest for area houses actually has merit.
It's something people in the community could have fun with, the papers could promote it, it could bring some more people to town to visit, and it could be something to be proud of as it grows and gets a reputation for.
Also good points about committees micromanaging the chamber Director.
I didn't know that was happening, but hopefully the Director and the board can come together on getting rid of that roadblock.
The director should have only one person to report to and that should be the Chamber board president. The Board President takes direction from the board as a whole and works with the director to make sure the priorities of the board are clear, and then the board and committees should support the efforts of the director since the efforts should be the result of board planning, and help carry out the mission and plan.
It is unbelieveable to read some of these comments and realize how out of touch some people in the community really are! Haven't you read the local newspaper at all?
There is a Christmas decorating contest and there is Christmas in Green Lake. What is up? Is the Chamber the Scapegoat here - or are you just looking for someone to blame? The economy - let's blame "Bush", the businesses - how about poor management (or do they have no culpability)?
Have you ever been to some of these other 14,000 lakes - most are covered with green slime most of the summer. Green Lake is so clean you can see the bottom in deep water most of the summer... unless of course you are critiquing it when the lake turns over... or don't you know or care about nature and the natural cycle??? It's a lake for God's sake, not a swimming pool laced with chemicals.
I am so sick of hearing all this complaining about this and that and blaming on this blog about the state of Green Lake... Yuch! Maybe if you really had a clue as to what was going on and actually were getting involved in making things better or changing things that you think are wrong instead of sitting at your keyboard bitching about things - maybe you might actually make a difference.
Really, your comments on this blog are obviously just a venting session to make yourselves feel better I guess... get things off your chest... Yeah, let's blame the Ad Hoc committee or someone else.. give me a break - change starts at the grass roots and not with blaming others. Get out of your chairs and do something if you really want to make a difference!
For those of you who really enjoyed Winterfest and the 'hovercraft' etc... how long were you there..did you stand around in the cold weather the remainder of the day to cater to all the 'tourist's' or whatever that day just to make a dollar? I bet if you were, you'd have a different perspective on things.
Really, you should have a clue before espousing opinions about things you know nothing about. Just because you read something here on this blog - doesn't make it true. The Christmas Decorating contest was in the paper, it was promoted... yet, some of you obviously never even read about it - so how to satisfy you... Hummmmmm???? Ignorance is bliss I guess! Just keep bitching and complaining - yeah, that ought to do it!
Oh my post toastie gets exited!
I been comin to the lake for 12 years and all i can say is its turned into a real crock. 'Let it snow' keeps goin on about the lake not being special and how many other fricken lakes there are....well it wasn't just the lake that brought people to GL it was the community as a whole....the downtown, the golf, the heidel house, nice retail shopping, a little cafe, the ice cream parlor, art shops, even the purple palace...it was the whole fricken deal including the lake! Coming to green lake made people feel all warm inside and safe and nostalgic and and and.
I'll tell you right now what the problem is (drumroll....)
GREEN LAKE LACKS PROFESSIONAL PEOPLE..
There, I said it.
Look at half the Chamber board including and most obviously the past president bill muncie and the director....what a couple of nut jobs, I wouldn't trust them to change a wheel. The drivin force at the chamber for many years was the other nutjob from the antique place, everyone was shit scared of her. Then the woman from the purple palace, everyone was shit scared of her too. Between the two malicious mares and bill muncie, the town went back 10 years.
Then the rest of the board and the city were made up of property developers and realtors....do you think those guys want a bunch of rednecks racing round the lake every weekend on skidoo's?....course not. How can you sell a 4 million home to some sucker from IL when there's gunshots and cussing going on in the background.....those realtors and property developers are running the town and they want it quiet!!
Then look at who we elected as mayor....both past and present. The most non-mayoral person I've ever clapped eyes on...Chuck might be a great guy, a real pillar of the community, but what's he doing for ya'll....come on wake up! - he even came out and said that basketball coaching is priority over mayoring....at least he's honest about it!!
Now to prove my point, look at what other tourist communities have done to keep themselves afloat.....the dells, lake geneva, door county.....they went out and hired professional people, who consulted with professional PR people who got together and employed professional managers...who stopped the towns from disappearing into the abyss by identifying the strengths of the area and marketing the hell out of them.
Write to Doyle and complain.
Your taxes are being wasted on bums. Green Lake needs a shake up from the top down. Let's get some pro's in the chamber and in the city...they'll bring success for green lake and we can all share in it.
Get rid of the bums!
Oh, and before you chastise me for naming names...when you take on a public role you need to be held accountable for your actions or inactions.
Wow. Very interesting stuff. I can agree with many parts of most of the above blogs. The lake is special to us, but yes, it is just a lake after all. A very deep, pretty lake. The lake is not the problem.
The one thing that attracted us to moving to Green Lake was the fact that it was 20 years behind most other little cities in Wisconsin. And the fact that Wisconsin is 10 years behind most other states really puts us retro. Green Lake would be ruined with fast food eateries and crappy strip malls. But it seems those are the things that we lack in becoming a true, viable tourist trap.
Ironic, isn't it that the Green Lake chamber hired some overpriced PR firm from Chicago and they totally botched up our entire image. I HATE the new logo they came up, a kindergartner could have come up with a better design that that simple pleasures ticket. What a waste of money that was. The sailboat logo was far better. But even that stupid logo is not responsible for the downfall of tourism in Green Lake.
Most of the festivals that Green Lake puts on are obvious attempts to draw people here to pick their pockets. It is really sad. The chamber has become like an over-aged hooker. But the festivals are not really the problem. Fourth of July and Harvest Fest are worth keeping.
So what is the problem? I would have to put the blame on the downtown shopping "district". Downtown needs cute shops and a trendy coffeshop/cafe where you can get lunch for under $6.00. Downtown is geared to old people and not to people of all ages. Where can a visiting youth buy a colorful summer outfit or some trendy sandals or a new cover for their Ipod? Do you realize how much money young people put into the economy? Where can a young mother but some cute toys for her uppercrust Chicago baby? The Knowledge emporium is geared towards grandmothers. Downtown needs a drastic face lift. The once beautiful old buildings have tacky false fronts and hideous signage. Thank God the area around the ball park is going to get a makeover. Downtown sucks. It's going to take money, creativity and a lot of work to turn Green Lake into tourist heaven. Or maybe we are just destined to stay a nice, quiet little city that happens to be on a lake.
I totally agree with the last two posts. "get rid of the bums" hit the nail on the head, WE are the problem, no one else. Lets stop blaming the Mayors, the Chamber, People from IL. and Everyone else we can think of. Why don't we all stop bitching, get a life, and get involved. If you don't like whats going on, get involved. Run for city council, run for Mayor, run for the County Board, just do something!! Make a diiference, or at least try. We need to stop looking everywhere else except in the mirror. WE ARE THE PROBLEM. These are the facts whether you want to admit it or not, denial is not the answer;
Green Lake LACKS TRUE LEADERSHIP and VISION from the county, township, city, chamber and school district. Most elected people try hard,are nice people and the heart is in the right place however they are not effective. Whether we believe it or not Green Lake is dying, maybe even dead for good. It may already be too late to revive her. We all want to hate the tourists and people from IL. however they are paying the freight in this area. Why would they want to continue coming here? What is here to keep young families coming back time & time again? Everytime a new idea is floated about what do we do? Shoot it down! "We don't want to change", "We hate change", "We don't want to become Lake Geneva", "That idea won't work", "We've tried that before", "What if", "What if"!!! We want a strong downtown again, but we didn't support what was here then or now. How do we expect any business to make here? We bitch about little things like Little Corporal and how overpriced some businesses are, however we don't support them the way we should. Several groups volunteered hundreds of hours putting together reports and ideas for helping downtown, what did WE do? Totally blew it off hoping the problem would solve itself. As previously listed Green Lake needs PROFESSIONAL PEOPLE to Run and Help our community. We need a Mayor that knows SUCCESSFUL business models and begin to run this city like a business. We need a Chamber director that has past/strong MARKETING experience. We need leaders that are not afraid to make positive changes that affect the ENTIRE community. Not leaders that shoot things down because a select few do not want change. Face it people, CHANGE is a fact of life, CHANGE if done correctly is good. If we do not change we will not survive. Green Lake may never recover to where we were 20 years ago. We are a small town that can't get out of our own way. We deserve better than this. Throw the bums out and lets get moving! There are alot of talented people here that have great ideas and love this town as much as we do. Lets listen to them, act on some of their ideas and see what happens. What have we got to lose?
To Post Toasties. Don't you get it? Yes, there is a Christmas decorating contest. FOR & OF the few businesses in town who are already paying for membership in the Chamber. If you involved the WHOLE town instead of only the businesses other people in the area would come to see all the decorated houses & then, just possibly spend some money at the local eating establishments(which seem to be the few viable businesses). Why should the businesses compete against each other have and support the chamber with money. No one visiting cares that much about the how the business is decorated. Are you actually reading these postings or just POSTING off the top of your head without reading.
Chief Ball Knocker - kudos to you and all of you who aren't into the blame game that is getting Green Lake nowhere! Sounds like there are some good ideas out there from a few optimistic people - Yeah!
To the last Anonymous poster - not sure where you're coming from - if you read the paper you'd know there was a residential Christmas decorating contest as well as the business one! Where's your head? And, I'm guessing you weren't at the Christmas tree lighting ceremony where the winners were to be announced either? Waaaahhh waaahhhh, no body ever does anything... but when something positive is done - where's the support and kudos? Nope, nope, I don't hear anything.... is anything ever good enough?
Personally, I am thankful for where I live and thankful for all of you that haven't given up!
Merry Christmas!
I guess that nothing is quite good enough, especially considering how poorly things are done around here. Did you see how the tree was decorated for the tree lighting ceremony? The lights are hanging from the thing as if no care whatsoever was put into it. Doesn't the city have a truck that extends a ladder like the tree trimmers use? Couldn't these lights have been fastened to the tree? They look like they are falling off. There is some garland type stuff hung from a few lower branches. I know the school kids and a few teachers did that because I saw them. Nice of them to try, but it really does not look good. This tree is supposed to represent our community. I guess it does a pretty fair job of that.
The Chiefs original post about the Christmas decorating suggested a large cash prize for the residential winner. The point wasn't if we had a Christmas decorating contest, the point was if there was a decent prize perhaps more people would participate and the city would then look all Christmassy. But the prize was probably much less than $250. And it was probably in the form of a Chamber gift certificate.
I tried using a Chamber gift certificate one time, and the business I was trying to use it at refused to give me change for the difference. They said I had to come back and spend the remaining balance at their place of business. I then cancelled the transaction. Like it would have killed them to give me a few bucks in change? Great business principles at work there.
Winterfest was really fun and interesting when it was held on the ice by Hatie Sherwood. There was broom ball, beer tent, antique snow mobiles and racing. I think the firefighters had something to do with this event (at least broomball).
The fisheree should be held (by someone). IF DONE RIGHT a fisheree on Big Green would easily bring out nearly 300 anglers and 300 visitors into the area.
Winter Fest would be successful if it were held for only a few hours Sat. and Sun. That way the tent would be packed.
The fisheree should run Sat and Sun and end at 3:00 Sun. A drawing at 3:30 should bring most fishermen in for drawing.
It will be a long quiet winter if locals don't do something. The real problem is that organizers try to plan a tourist gettin' good time or a money maker. When it should be locals getting together for a good time, then others will come and join.
I thought that the current Chamber of Commerce director was hired because she had professional marketing experience. At least she has taken the initiative to (finally) make some changes in Green Lakes pathetic repertoire of events. Even if everyone did not approve of these changes, it is a beginning. New events should be tried. They don't always have to be festivals. A fisheree is a great idea. Something of that magnitude has to be planned a good deal in advance and promoted over a very broad area to bring in the best anglers from the state. It's probably too late for this winter, but not too early to start planning for the next winter season.
I feel a bit sorry for the new Chamber director. She's barely had time to get her bearings and has taken a lot of heat from the community. Lets give her a bit more time to show us what she can do before we tar and feather her in the town square.
She does not have the credentials to run a Chamber of Commerce, even in a little place like GL. She was hired because she is a nice person, got on well with the selection committee, pledged her undying love to green lake....a careful look at her resume (which I've seen) and following up on some references, along with some pertinant questioning, and she wouldn't have been hired.....ask yourself this....would she make head honcho at the Chamber in Lake geneva?....would Chuck have made Mayor of the Dells?
I'm not knocking these characters as people, it's not their fault....we elected them. It's our fault, now it's time to learn from our mistakes as a town and do something about it.
Chief Ballknocker makes good points above. People are in fear of change. They "don't want to become like lake geneva"...that's fine, no one does.
Here's the irony behind that statement - Green Lake needed to change just to stay the same! WTF I hear you say!!
Wind the clock back 15 years to when GL was prospering....that's how we wanted it to stay. No bigger, no better, NOT like the Dells or Geneva, just how it was back then with perhaps a little more commerce and non-retail employment thrown into the mix. For any business to stay the same it needs to grow its revenue by at least 5% a year....just to stay where it is. Green Lake didn't do that, it's revenue contracted and while that was happening we all stood around and watched. Now to get us back to where we were 15 years ago is going to need a lot more CHANGE and hard work than would have been needed had we just watched the books and maintained our position through moderate development and growth and the types of strategic initiatives that our competitors for the tourist dollar have been making while we sat back and watched(dells/door).
There's one thing for certain, if people don't wake up to these issues, recognize what we're doing wrong, and make changes to address the imbalance, then you can strike this place off the map and just detour everyone to Wisconsin Dells.
Get Rid of the bums.
This has nothing to do with the topic at hand but I thought some of you might want to hear this. It concerns the stray cat problem we have here in Green Lake.
Several of my neighbors feed the stray cats in our neighborhood. The cats then breed and reproduce and then there are even more stray cats and the problem does not go away. One of these neighbors has also set up some boxes as shelter for the cats.
The other night, one of our cat feeding neighbors heard a horrible noise outside and looked the window to discover a coyote with one of the cats in its mouth. They scared the coyote away, but the cat was dead.
So, the City of Green Lake now has coyotes because of the empethetic cat feeders. This angers me. We have dogs and we let them outside frequently to do their business. Now we have to worry about a coyote killing our family pets. This coyote who killed the cat was literally a block away from our house.
I was informed by the humane society years ago when I asked about the stray cats in town that IF YOU FEED A STRAY CAT, YOU ARE LEGALLY THE OWNER OF THAT CAT. If that cat bites someone and infects them, you are legally responsible.
The city needs to address this issue and do something about it. Having coyotes in the city should be a huge wake up call to city officials that the stray cat problem has gone on for far too long. I am now requesting that something be done to solve this problem.
If you have a concern for the City, you need to make an appearance before the council and let them know your issue.
We've had Coyotes in town for 10 years open a window in summer you'll hear them. And I don't mean literally living into town they come in after dark. We do live in a rural area, Hello. Stray cat problem solved. Now I suppose everyone will start feeding them. The cat population was way down until people started feeding them again. I if you don't want the cats figure out a way to get rid of them and stop trespassing in your neighbors yard.
There have been some good ideas shared here but what are you all prepared to do about it. For the past ten years All I have heard about was we like Green Lake the way it was. So did I. The town is slowly dieing and it is because of the lack of inspiration. I do like the decorating idea. I look around and see only 1 or two homes on each street decorated.
I used to hear that the City Council would never allow Green Lake to become Lake Geneva or a Wisconsin Dells.
Well someone better start thinking about it. You don't see small businesses closing down there do you? And as for the uniqueness of the Lake itself seriously that has was lost as soon as the houses closed in on the lake and they just got bigger and bigger til you cannot see a beautiful shoreline. What you see is one monstrous house monstrous house that stands empty 230 days a year.
The downtown is almost dead. The reality companies own most of the buildings including the post office, and charge unrealistic rents. I just spent a few day driving around in Door County. talk about small towns we are a metropolis compared to some but downtown has no quaint shops, most look like you would need a tetanus shot if you went inside. And the ones that are nice have no tenants or are only open from 10 to 12 on mon, wed, fri and 11 to 4 on sat. It's not the business's fault most have no customers. The reality companies own the building maybe they should be compelled to fix them up instead of just being landlords.
Maybe we should start thinking about becoming aonther Wisconsin Dells or Lake Geneva, Lord knows we could use the tourists.
Most people in this town are regular hard working folks, who let a few well to do families guide this community. I don't mean that they actually run for office or join anything they just block any change that would upset the way Green Lake used to be( Linden Wood? Big Lawyer Battle ring a bell, for or against money drove both side and we were stuck in the middle.). We have a committee for everything including a tree board to recommend what trees we should plant. Come on think bigger. Like we needed a spa in this town. We needed a hotel with a indoor water park so young families could come and enjoy the area and have fun. I don't see much business at the spa year round. I could also see the current jail being torn down parking being available on a town square with the old courthouse as a community center or a wellness center inside. Sorry for going on it just seems that this town could be so much better than it is I do love this town it's home but we need to remodel a little not watch it crumble.
The city's tree does look a little shoty, but at least we still have a tree that is lit. Watch out or someone will take that away because of the colored lights looking Christmasy. And, No,the City does not have a boom truck but the Mayor has one. Hint maybe if someone ( say a councilperson )would ask nicely without any sarcasm he'd donate a little time next year. Or the people who complain the loudest could donate a little money toward a rental from Modern Rentals and help put the lights up we could make it a volunteer event to decorate the tree.
Perhaps there is some kind of curse going on, have you had any unsavory goings on? Green Lake has run some really good people and businesses out of town in the recent past. What goes around comes around.
Good luck with the 'recession'.
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