Concerts precede Arts on the Square
By Angie Landsverk
This year’s 10th annual Arts on the Square will bring back aspects of past festivals and also include a week of activities leading up to the event.
Those who attend the Saturday, Aug. 20 event will get a chance to ride the Pedal Cloud again and to etch a design into a ceramic tile with the return of the portable foundry.
There will be entertainment, poetry, art, workshops and food.
See the full schedule in the Aug. 18 issue of the Waupaca County Post.
The week of events taking place before the festival is being billed as ARTicipation Week, with many of the activities being sponsored by retailers and restaurants.
“It’s just been so much fun to see it grow from a Friday night, Saturday event to a whole week. There will be live music every night of the week leading up to it,” Marci Reynolds, president of the Waupaca Community Arts Board, said during the Aug. 2 meeting of the Waupaca Common Council.
Reynolds handed out copies of this year’s program to members of the council and expressed her appreciation for the city’s and community’s support of the annual arts festival.
The arts board organizes Arts on the Square (AOTS).
This year’s funding is from Community First Credit Union, Waupaca Foundry, city of Waupaca motel tax dollars, arts board sponsored events and individual donations.
An anonymous donation is again covering the cost of the band for the free Friday, Aug. 19 street dance.
This year’s street dance will feature WiFEE and the HUZz BAND.
The regional band plays original music.
“They’re going to be very engaging,” she said.
The 10-piece band is based out of Sturgeon Bay and pulls from its combined influences of rock and roll, jazz, Americana, rhythm and blues, rockabilly and soul.
It includes Ruby James on lead vocals, guitar and percussion; Stephen Cooper on lead vocals and tenor saxophone; Greg Roteik on bass; Barrett Tasky on keyboards and backing vocals; Zach Vogel on guitar and backing vocals; Chris Scheer and Michael Underwood on drums; Kurt Shipe, Greg Garcia and Quentin Volk on trumpet; Tom VandenAvond and Tyler Jennings Henderson on trombone; and Julio Reyes and Jerod Kaszynski on baritone saxophone.
WiFEE and the HuZz BAND will play from 7-10:30 p.m. under the tent on Fulton Street.
Food and beverages will be available, and there will be firespinning with Broegy Pease and friends during the band’s break.
Leading up to AOTS
Before Arts on the Square kicks off on Friday, Aug. 19, there will be chalking throughout the community, music and a bike parade.
Chalk O’ The Town, which is sponsored by the Waupaca, King & In Between retailers group, will begin on Sunday, Aug. 14.
Businesses will decorate sidewalks or windows, with three winners awarded “Best in Show” on Thursday, Aug. 18.
On Monday, Aug. 15, there will ben an Open Mic Jam from 7-10 p.m., at the Art Emporium on Union Street.
Admission is free, and youth are invited to share songs.
On Tuesday, Aug. 16, the Tom McComb Quartet will play from 6:30-8:30 p.m., at Little Fat Gretchen’s Café on Main Street.
There will be a $5 cover charge.
Tom and Jenny McComb are a guitar and vocal duo who have been performing together for about 20 years.
Sitting in with them will be Waupaca drummer Kevin Knopp and Stevens Point stand-up bassist Dave Story.
The arts board’s Summer Nights Concert Series will conclude on Wednesday, Aug. 17 when Tony Wagner’s MoeJoe and Flipside plays from 7-9:30 p.m. at Waupaca’s South Park.
The concert is free, and those who attend are encouraged to bring non-perishable food items to donate to the Waupaca Area Food Pantry.
People are also encouraged to bring lawn chairs.
Food and beverages will be available. Carry-ins are not allowed.
Thursday, Aug. 18 will include Adopt a Square on the Square.
From 2-5 p.m., Waupaca King and In Between businesses will sponsor youth artists to chalk the squares around the city square.
Youth of all ages will be assigned a square and will receive a free box of chalk.
The best squares will win prizes.
Children and their families are also invited to meet at Waupaca’s South Park at 4 p.m. that day to decorate their bicycles for the Children’s ARTBike Parade.
They will then join a parade to Waupaca’s downtown, just in time for a 6 p.m. concert by the Waupaca Middle School on the historic bandstand and announcement of the chalking awards.
Bike parade participants must have bicycle helmets.
Refreshments will be served downtown on the square.
There will also be music with the Desperate Otto’s from 7-11 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 18 on the deck, at Simpson’s Restaurant.
Formed by Del Weed and Jeff Cutts in 2003, the band plays classic country and originals.
“It will be a huge week for the restaurants with events all week,” Reynolds said.