September 1, 2014 at 12:09 p.m.
Rainy weather can't stop the fun at PotatoFest
Rainy weather can't stop the fun at PotatoFest
Despite an ominous weather forecast and the occasional light shower, spud fans from all over enjoyed the expanded and improved PotatoFest.
"Overall it went very, very well. Wisconsin people, Midwest people, they know what it's all about. We deal with crazy weather all year - winter, summer, fall, spring, all of it - and they still come out to enjoy themselves," said Maggie Steffen, executive director of DRI.
"It was a great turnout considering the weather, a whole lot more than I thought after first seeing the forecast. Just during the mashed potato eating contest alone, we counted over 400 people. It's amazing."
After the success of the inaugural PotatoFest last year, Steffen said organizers put their heads together to figure out how to make the event bigger and better. The fruits of that labor were evident on Saturday.
"We have expanded, widening everything out and going down Brown Street a little bit more. We wanted to make this year bigger and better than the first," she said.
"I think we can safely say that we had (at least the same number of people) that we had last year. With a bigger event this year, we wanted to increase that, but with the weather, we're quite happy. We're really, really happy."
"We've grown a lot. We grew by having more partners. We had the Rhinelander Basketball Association do a 3-on-3 tournament. We had the Duck Regatta with the Oneida County Tavern League with help from the Tri-County Council (on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault). We got the Wisconsin Potato Growers in on it with the Spudmobile," she added.
"The more partners we can add on, the better the event, and that's what we're always looking for."
One of those partnerships is with the YMCA of the Northwoods, which runs the Couch Potato Race down Brown Street. Although only two teams participated this year, both were returning competitors from last year.
Because last year's winning team did not return to defend its title, it was guaranteed that a new champion would be crowned. A team called Warm Hugs, inspired by the movie "Frozen," barely bested 65-Plus.
The win was a huge moment, according to team captain Krista Raske.
"We were Team Snoopy versus the Red Baron last year ... and we did not win and that's kind of a sore spot," she said. "It feels pretty great (to win this year). We had some tough competition and it was all in good fun, but it does feel nice to be vindicated."
Raske said her crew will be back next year to defend their title.
"Of course we'll be back," she said. "That's a given."
With another successful year under their belt, Steffen said DRI and Lily's House are well on their way toward turning PotatoFest into a can't-miss event.
"Our hope is that, come Labor Day, you have to go to Rhinelander for PotatoFest. That's our goal," she said. "We want people to make a weekend out of it, start staying overnight to really put Rhinelander on the map. That will help downtown for sure, but it will also help the entire city, all the businesses. That's our hope, include everyone to create something even more fun next year."
A lot of hard work was put in by a lot of people to get PotatoFest up and running. Steffen said she couldn't have done it without the help of her team and thanked everyone for coming out despite the rain.
"It just proves how hearty Wisconsin people are. We realize that we have to do things when they're scheduled. You can't wait for the nice weather, but even at the end of the day, it was still warm, it wasn't downpours. We got through it and worked around the rain and people really seemed to enjoy themselves," she said.
"Of course we want sunny weather every year, but even if that doesn't happen, PotatoFest goes on."
That should make those that attended the event quite pleased.
"This is Wisconsin. The weather changes every five seconds. That's not going to stop us from coming out and having a good time," said second-year attendee Phil Jablonski.
"A little rain never hurt anything. We were here last year and it was really nice, sure, but it's still great this year. In fact, the kids love it even more because it gives them a chance to get even dirtier on Potato Mountain."
First-time attendees also went home with smiles on their faces.
"We didn't get to make it last year. We had to be out of town, but we heard so much about how much fun it was, so we knew we had to come and see what it's all about," Mary Stinger said.
"The kids have had a blast, from the sack races to the search for the potatoes to all the food to watching the eating contests. It's great. We'll definitely be back next year and we'd tell anyone who hasn't made it out here to come as well."
Marcus Nesemann may be reached at [email protected].
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