Hey, what's happening? I'm Fuzz Martin, and this is Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz, a show about the things happening in our community. That are good. Each week I feature a local organization or event that is doing something positive in Washington County, Wisconsin. And if you ever have an idea for a guest for the show that fits those criteria, don't hesitate to reach out. You can email me fuzz at fuzzmartin. com. That is fuzz at fuzzmartin. com. And by the way, FuzzMartin. com is where you can find all of the episodes of this show, along with links to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Though the show is on pretty much any platform you would ever like to listen on. And, if you're listening on the day that this episode was released, it is exactly one week until Christmas Eve. Noelle Braun of the Downtown West Bend Association is joining me this week to talk all about the festive winter happenings in Downtown West Bend. Not just this week. Christmas happenings. We're going to talk about things happening after the holidays as well, and how you can have a great time even during the coldest winter months. And with that, here are 15 minutes on Downtown West Bend events with Noelle Braun on 15 Minutes with Fuzz. Noelle, as the executive director of the Downtown West Bend Association, can you give us a quick overview of what the Downtown West Bend Association does to support So, we're going to go ahead and enhance the downtown community.

Absolutely. So, the Downtown West Bend Association, it's been around for decades and it's really become known as an organization, we're a non profit now, an organization that creates some really wonderful events that bring visitors near and far to our beautiful downtown. And, Everything that we do, we want to do it in mind with the local businesses, too, because we know when we have like a thriving downtown community that contributes to the economy, the well being of our wonderful city. So we do plan some really great events that, are for everyone. They're very family friendly events, and just highlight what's great about West Bend.

Sure, and it's, it's the big ones that everyone knows too, right? The, Farmers Market, the Music on Main, those kind of things, and then a whole bunch of other like, one day events.

Absolutely, absolutely. It's, it is never a dull moment. There is always something going on. something happening. Yes, we have some really big events throughout the year. But we also again support the small businesses and like different shopping events. But the ones you mentioned for sure, the farmer's market, music on main, those are the top two that people think of, when they think of downtown West Bend.

Perfect. So can you, speaking of downtown, as we will do often on this episode, how It's obviously, it's very charming, during the holiday season especially, you know, they've got the tree and all of the decorations and such. Can you paint a picture for our listeners of what makes downtown great this time of year?

Absolutely. The beautiful lights, the beautiful tree at Old Settlers Park, that is such an attraction. It reminds a lot of people of being transported into a Hallmark Christmas movie. You know, you're walking through and, it's a gorgeous glittering tree. And we love that it's right in our downtown, in our community. I enjoy being so close to it every day to see. It makes everything feel so festive down there.

It definitely does feel like a Hallmark Christmas movie or Christmas card scene as well. You know, this holiday season, every holiday season, is such an important time for businesses where a lot of them Make their year, they're able to, become, you know, profitable at this time and really pay that off. So how does the Downtown West Bend Association, help that and encourage residents and visitors to shop, dine, visit downtown?

Absolutely. We work very closely with a lot of the shops throughout the year. And you're right, this is a crucial time of year for these small business owners. We have so many storefronts that are full, that are vibrant, Small shops with such a variety too, that's what I really love about them as well, is that people can walk from shop to shop and see different things in each one. We've been helping the small shops promote the holidays and the holiday shopping season, whether that was through their holiday open houses back in November, Small Business Saturday. There's something that we do. I've learned about called Pink Friday, which is always the Friday before Thanksgiving. That's more for like boutiques, um, promoting that. Then getting into December, we, um, did our second annual Midnight on Main on December 6th, which was really fun. And just encouraging people to, dress up in their Christmas pajamas if they'd like to do that. Add to the festival. West Bend, Kewaskum, Slinger, West Bend, Kewaskum, Slinger, West Bend, Kewaskum, Slinger, West One of them thought, hey, how about we do like a late night shopping, like shops open until 8pm on Thursdays until Christmas, like the first three Thursdays of December. And so we ended up calling it Merry and Bright Shopping Nights. And so each night too has a little different theme. So this is the first year. So we're, you know, getting the word out. We had like free Christmas gift wrapping, yesterday and then coming up like December 19th, Santa's going to be downtown in our office for kids to take pictures with while people are out shopping too.

And your office is in the, is it the Centrum Building? It is in the Centrum Building,

120 North Main Street, Suite 120, facing right out there in the Main Street. Our neighbors across the street are the Bend Theater.

And

who's ourself? Yeah, we're right in the thick of it.

Very easy to find. Yes. And so Santa will be there on Thursday the 19th. This comes out on Tuesday the 17th. So, you know, if you're listening today or tomorrow or even Thursday morning, make sure you get there on Thursday the 19th. And if you're listening after that. You missed out, but it was great, and everybody had a great time.

Next year will be even bigger. Yes, exactly,

exactly. Let's talk about some of the holiday season events that you have going on. So, there's the Downtown Polar Express, which sounds like a fun time for adults, right? So, can you tell us about the Polar Express, what that is, what businesses are participating? You don't have to, obviously, Remember them all, and, and who it benefits.

Absolutely. There's a lot of businesses participating. We love that. We love the collaboration downtown. So, I believe this is the third year that the Downtown West Bend Association is doing the Downtown Polar Express. Definitely more geared for adults. Instead, the Downtown Polar Express is like a winter cocktail. Fundraiser, that the, there are 16 local bars and restaurants downtown that are participating this year. Each of them comes up with their own version of a Polar Express. Like a fun wintry themed cocktail. And, In years past, it was only about a month that we would do this. We are extending it this year. So it started on December 1st. We're having that train just chug along all the way into the new year and we're going to be ending it, the weekend of winter warmup, which I know we'll be talking about soon, but the last day will be Sunday. January 19th. So there's a lot of opportunities. So at all these different bars and restaurants, again, they have these cocktails. Two dollars from each of the cocktails will be going towards the Full Shelf Food Pantry, which is the largest food pantry in Washington County, serving a lot of families and individuals. So it's just a fun way to give back and Make an impact, too. I know the food pantry, I'm sure, gets inundated around the holidays. So we're hoping like, okay, a little after the holidays, that donation can be really impactful for getting a variety of food over there. So yes, we have All of the bars and restaurants listed on our website, so downtownwestbend. com, there's a tab called events, you just click on it, see all of our events at the bottom, it's in chronological order. You can click on Downtown Polar Express and check them all out. We're also featuring specific bars and restaurants, social media on our Facebook page, periodically and highlighting their drinks too.

Excellent. And speaking of your website, it's great when you click on events because, you know, you It's a very long menu that you have. It is.

It's been growing in the short time that I've been downtown. Yes, yes, it

has. One of those events, other events on there is Chocolate Around the Bend. Actually, let me skip forward because I skipped the big one. One of those events on there is the West Bend Winter Warm Up, which is Coming up, of course, and as we're recording this, I think it's like negative three degrees outside. Hopefully it's warmer when you're listening, but what's the story behind winter warm up? What can people expect there? Anything new this year? And, and really, how does it encourage people to come downtown?

Yeah, so Winter Warm Up has been going on downtown West Bend since, I believe, 2019. So it just continues to gain in popularity, more and more people wanting to come downtown for that fun winter weekend. So this coming year, it'll be January 17th, 18th, and 19th. And it is our, a fun event where The biggest highlight is the ice sculptures. So we have such a variety of businesses that partner and say, Hey, I want to sponsor an ice sculpture. They get some recognition. They also add to the beauty of the event. We have an ice sculpture artist that has so many different sculptures to choose from. So they're going to be lined on Main Street. Summon 6th Avenue and then the Riverwalk too, highlighting their beautiful Riverwalk. So they'll be delivered that Friday and then a lot of activities, the first day on Friday, January 17th, we'll have some more evening activities. There's always going to be fire pits at Old Settlers Park, being tended. This year we are going to add, some marshmallows, like every day, actually. So if people want to roast a marshmallow, they can do that around the fire pits. Old Settlers Park is also where we have the ice sculpture demonstration, like the live demo. So Max from Art Below Zero will be there on Saturday, January 18th at Old Settlers Park at 11 a. m. And we'll be carving something really beautiful. We think Delta Defense, they are the the top, called the iceberg sponsor this year, but yeah, they're helping with the ice demo. We have so many wonderful sponsors though that are going to be recognized throughout the event and before. Then we are going to also be selling hot cocoa. That's a little new this year. There's gonna be warming stations up and down Main Street that whole weekend, but we decided we're gonna have an area near Old Settlers Park where people can stop, get some hot cocoa, some hot apple cider. walk around and look at all the beauty. So on that Saturday from between 10 a. m. to 4 p. m. is when a lot of the activities are going to be going on. The Bend Theater is going to be doing some free showings of Ice Age, the first one at 11 a. m. and 1 p. m. on that Saturday. And then that Saturday evening, there's going to be the Luminary Walk at Lac Lawrann Conservancy. That's really beautiful. If people haven't done that, I recommend it. Even if you aren't a wintry, wintry person, like I For sure, winter is beautiful, but it is my least favorite season, but I am, I'm out there. And if you bundle up enough, if you wear enough layers, like you can handle it. And the luminary walk is really beautiful, especially when there is snow on the ground. So we'll see what January brings us. But they light up the path, of course, with those lanterns, those illuminated lanterns. And so that's open to the public, that's free. And then the next day on Sunday, January 19th, we are going to have the sled dogs return. So those are always a great hit. They, it's through a nonprofit called H2M2 and they rescue huskies and malamutes and they also do adoptions and they're out there. They got these cute little stuffed animals. They got, dogs, super friendly dogs for like photo ops and pet them a little bit. The Bend Theater will be doing Ice Age 2, The Meltdown, free showings on Sunday. 11 a. m. and 1 p. m. And yeah, it's just a really fun event to bring people out, especially, you know, it is winter. It's, it's good to have those activities to, to draw people out of their homes.

Yes, absolutely. And the Huskies bring us back every year. I mean, we come every year because we, I love the sculptures. Our kids love the sculptures, you know, those kind of things. But. The Huskies are the big hit, in our family, so we, we always come on, on Sunday when they're there. Also, it's always a tradition here at Epic Creative where we have a committee that picks the, four different, or four or five different sculptures that we, because that list that you talked about is super long. It was like 400 different things. It was

over 400 sculptures that you can choose from.

And so we, we narrow it down to like four or five. And then we let the employees vote on 'em. And I forget what we voted or what we ended up with this year, but, uh, I

should have come prepared with that. Yeah, I, uh, I remember what you did last year. You did a T-Rex last year? Yeah, we

did a T-Rex. We've done a unicorn in the past. Yeah. Uh, let's see, winter warmup, uh, see if it comes up. Definitely think about the

creative for your continued support. Yes.

So this year we, uh. We had the Cladagh Ring, the, the Lab, a Dragon, a Honeybee, or Rosie the Riveter. And I think Rosie the Riveter is the winner. Yes.

Right when you said it, I'm like, that's the one. I'm excited to see what that one looks like. Yeah, me too. Yeah. Yeah. It's always awesome, like, just seeing, you see the name, and then that weekend you actually, you know, you see it come to life in ice form, and you're like, oh, that's really great.

Exactly. And Dragon was second place, so that was,

Next

time. That was, yes, but it wasn't even close. So, Rosie won. Yes. Let's talk about Chocolate Around the Bend. That's coming up in February. What can you share about Chocolate Around the Bend? How does it bring life to downtown during like the dead of winter?

Right. So, it is a great event. It's been going on for some years now, 2025 is going to bring some changes to the event. In the past, it has been a free event, which it's always great when things are free. I get that for sure. But this is also hand in hand meant to bring people downtown to just enjoy something to do in the dead of winter. But we're also focusing a lot on our shops. Bringing some people into those shops, seeing what they have to offer. Mm-hmm Hopefully, you know, they get some sales through this too, and supporting our local economy. So what we have determined, after speaking with the shops is we are going to elevate this experience. So it's still gonna be a shopping event, still gonna be, anyone is welcome to come out. It's gonna actually be a little different timing this year. Okay. It's gonna start on a Friday evening. or Friday, like afternoon into the evening, like from 2 to 8 p. m. on Friday, February 7th. And then Saturday, February 8th, it'll be from 10 a. m. to 4 p. m. So people can do both days. They could do one day. You know, our goal is we would love for people to come and do both days and experience it. Turn it into a date night or a date weekend if they wanted to. But we are ticketing the event this year. So, elevating the experience., similar to some of the other events we've done too for the shopping events, but, it's also going to bring in some higher quality chocolates too, which we're excited about., We've been working closely with Candy Man on Main, they're so great. And so at the 20 ticket, there's going to be between 17 to 20 stops. We're determining right now, just finalizing the list of all the shops that are going to participate. But at each of those stops, if you get your 20 ticket, you're going to get a box, like a chocolate box, and the Candyman is sponsoring those. And then people are going to be able, of course, to walk around each of the locations, get, you know, their locations checked off, and they'll get a unique gourmet high end piece of chocolate that they can eat right away, or it's a lot of chocolate, so you can like put them in the box and save them for a little later, gift it to someone if you wanted to. So really looking forward to that. We're going to be talking to the bars and restaurants, of course, see if any of them last year, this past year, they had like 10 of them, or it's like, yeah, I'll do a chocolate themed drink. Oh, yeah. dessert and appetizer, something like that. Sure. That people can go and, you know, take advantage of that. And on the Saturday, there is going to be like a pop up, like, vendor market in 6 Ave Bar and Grills event space. Okay. We did that for a couple years now. Some of them are like chocolate vendors and, you know, or just a variety of great, things. Small businesses or makers, you know, just for something else, you know, for people to do during Chocolate Around the Bend. Yeah, but we're really looking forward to it. And then if people do visit all of the locations, they can return, their punch card and then they'll be in the, the drawing then to win a great prize. So tickets are available right now. We did just recently create the Facebook event, and then we're gonna be updating our website. And you can get tickets soon with all of the details as well. Okay. Where people can just click on it and get their tickets.

On DowntownWestBend. com? DowntownWestBendAssociation? Actually,

it's just DowntownWestBend. com.

DowntownWestBend. com. Perfect. And then, yeah, so that'll be up soon for people to get tickets.

Absolutely. By the time people are listening to this, for sure. Yep, the link will be out there.

And speaking of all that, it obviously takes a lot of effort to make all of these things happen. And, Everything that you've said to me, you're doing this without notes, which is mind blowing to me, remembering dates and all the different places and things. But there's a lot of details that you put into it. What goes into getting all these events together? How do you do it?

Oh, wow, yes. We are a small but mighty team. We do have committees, you know, we, we meet regularly with the shops. bars and restaurants to get things on people's radar. Sending out the calendars, like here's all the events coming up. We have our 2025 pretty much planned out. Yes, it is right up there. The calendar is in my head. But it is a lot. It's a lot of follow up, right? It's, but ensuring, you know, that we have a high quality, Quality event that we want as many collaborators as possible, to make it a great experience for those that are visiting and participating. So yes, it's just, yep. Emails, text messages, phone calls, mm-hmm Just, again, the follow ups and the communication is so key when you're putting events like this together, to make sure that it's just a seamless event that people who come just. We don't want them to realize all the work that goes into it on the back end. Awesome.

Well, you do a great job and you and the team do it. Is there any opportunity for people to help out? Is there, are there volunteer opportunities or anything like that with downtown West Bend?

Absolutely. Thank you. Right now on the top of my mind is winter warmup. Okay. So we do have, we go through signup. link and we just posted it on recently on our Facebook page. about our need for volunteers. And here's the link to do it. And we just updated on the website. So the variety of opportunities are, tending the fire and like handing out the, the marshmallows for roasting, handing out the brochures because we're creating the map and the brochures that people are going to use as they're wanting to see like which sculptures are where. We, now that we're going to be doing some, more hot cocoa and hot apple cider sales, we do need some volunteers that are going to be, helping to do that. So mixing up the. The drinks, serving them, our goal is we, we have a connection with someone that may have a heated trailer, to be able to sell the hot cocoa because I know it's a cold day. I really get that. All of our volunteers will get free hot cocoa and apple cider and hand warmers and all of that. I mean, we will see what the weather brings, but we're, we're prepared. So that's a big volunteer need right now. And there's always volunteer needs that come up throughout the year, but that's the main one I want to focus on. All right,

perfect. And again, people can find all this information on downtownwestbend. com, if you want to volunteer. You could be a fire tender, which is the coolest volunteer title that you can get, by far. So, uh, well, thank you so much for coming in. Obviously, the holidays, great time in downtown West Bend and the Downtown West Bend Association is, contributes highly to making that happen. So thanks for all you do, and thanks for coming in.

Thank you so much.

Well, thank you again to Noelle Braun of the Downtown West Bend Association for joining me on this week's episode of Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz. Again, you can email me fuzz at fuzzmartin. com if you ever have an idea for a guest for this show. That email again, it's real easy. Fuzz at fuzzmartin. com. New episodes coming on Tuesdays, but we're going to take a little break for the holidays, though. I might have a little present for you next week. If I can make it happen, we'll see again, you can find all the episodes of the show on Apple podcasts, Spotify. You too. I hope, I hope I showed up in some of your Spotify Wrapped. Uh, that would be really nice. Uh, as well as at fuzzmartin. com, you can listen there as well. Have the merriest of Christmases. And thank you so much for listening to Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz.