Lorge donates prize money to Clintonville

By Bert Lehman

Clintonville Police Chief Terry Lorge wasn’t expecting to win a photo contest when he snapped several photos at the Spring Cruise Car Show in May.

But that’s exactly what happened.

Lorge said sometime after taking the photos, Clintonville City Clerk Treasurer Peggy Johnson told him about a photo contest the League of Wisconsin Municipalities was conducting, and urged Lorge to enter one of the photos he took.

According to the League of Wisconsin Municipalities website, the purpose of the contest was to “capture the uniqueness, spirit and energy of your community.”

The Spring Cruise Car Show photo fit the criteria perfectly.

“We had just finished parking all the cars and I was down at 12th Street, at the end of the street, and I looked up the street and it was just a neat view. I had a pocket camera, just a little digital camera, and I held it up in the air and I snapped a bunch of pictures.”

Upon hearing about the contest, Lorge chose the photo that turned out the best and entered the contest.

“We were picked the top one,” Lorge said.

He added, “Peggy Johnson deserves the credit for steering me onto this.”

Lorge received a check for $100 for having the winning photo. The photo is also on the League of Wisconsin Municipalities website.

“I was pretty surprised because I figured Milwaukee and Madison would submit some pretty neat stuff,” Lorge said. “They picked two winners, but ours was the first, so I was pretty pleased.”

More than 40 photos were submitted for the contest.

The letter Lorge received from the Wisconsin League of Municipalities announcing his photo had won, contained a handwritten note that said, “At the League, we loved your photo. It was exactly what we are looking for. The annual Spring Cruise Car Show sounds like great fun.”

Lorge donated the prize money to the city of Clintonville to be used for a cookout for city employees.

“I wanted to donate this back to the city to have something to boost the morale for the city employees. It’s been a tough couple of years,” Lorge said.

Even though it was a Spring Cruise photo that won the contest, Lorge said there are several events in Clintonville that could have provided a winning photo.

“We have a lot of things in this town to be proud of,” Lorge said.