July 12, 2021 at 2:08 p.m.
Hodag fans glad to be back after 2020 hiatus
Hodag fans glad to be back after 2020 hiatus
With the COVID-19 pandemic shuttering last year's festival, a number fans the River News spoke with over the course of the week said they were relieved to be back among friends and ready to enjoy live music once again.
Randy Burkart was spotted Wednesday morning trying to get a small fire going at his campsite for some warmth. He and his wife Brenda had set up camp on July 3 as they have for many years.
"I've been coming for 34 years, he's been coming since 2006," Brenda said, referring to Randy.
"A long time," Randy added.
When asked what they did instead of attending the Hodag last year, Brenda said their camping friends still got together.
"We had a Nodag Party at our house," she said. "We are on this whole block here, we have 12 (camp) sites. We have a good size group, there's about 20 of us."
"Not being here last year, it was weird," Brenda said. "But everything was weird. We still got together and we're looking forward to this year."
It was cold and drizzly on Wednesday, but the Burkarts took it in stride.
"It was really bad there for a couple days," Randy noted, referring to the hot weather than preceded the cold snap.
"I'd rather put on a sweatshirt than be sitting here in almost nothing still sweating," Brenda added.
Kelly Wranosky of Three Lakes worked the pedestrian gate from overflow for 10 straight years before last year when COVID-19 broke the string for her.
"I missed seeing all the people and all the fun things that they wear," Wranosky said. "Like crocheted underwear and things like that. And just seeing a lot of friends that I have made over the years come back every year and we see them and they see us. So, it was a hard week not to be here last year."
Wranosky said she didn't substitute anything last year "because nobody was going anywhere."
"We just sat at home and played country music," she said.
Dan Bianco of Iron Mountain, Mich. attended an impressive 31 Hodags before the pandemic-induced hiatus last year.
"I really missed hanging out with my friends, catching up with them," Bianco said. "A lot of good laughs were missed out on last year, that's for sure."
He threw a party at his place he called the Bodag, playing on his last name.
"We did a three-day festival at my house," Bianco said. "My three kids came home and my buddies came up and their buddies came up and it damn near caused a divorce, but we're still together after 29 years."
Pat Ogle of Marquette Mich., who has attended the festival 29 times before, has what he considers a prime campsite next to the gate from overflow.
"We used to be over there," Ogle said gesturing toward a campsite about 30 feet away. ""But we got out-tarped when they used to put the tarps out."
He explained under the old system, guests waited outside the gates for a chance to stake out a campsite.
"At 6 a.m. on Saturday morning, they'd open the gates and everyone would come in and they would put their tarps out," Ogle said. "That was before they had reserved camping."
Despite the almost constant foot traffic past his campsite, he said he wouldn't change it for anything.
"This is the best spot people watching spot, for sure," Ogle said. "And every bus that comes in, this is where they enter the grounds."
He said what he missed about not the Hodag not being held last year was "a very cheap vacation."
"You go out and hit the road somewhere, it's $200 a night everywhere you go," he lamented.
"In addition to the camping and people watching, there's the musical acts onstage," he added.
The party continued into the weekend with large crowds enjoying country stars like Trace Adkins, Darius Rucker and others return to the Hodag stage.
Jamie Taylor may be reached via email at [email protected].
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