Wisconsin Public Television

Transcript: In Wisconsin #913

Air Date: February 3, 2011

Patty Loew:

Welcome to In Wisconsin. Im Patty loew. This week we tap into two rich Wisconsin traditions starting with a visit to the National Brewery Museum in Potosi.

Man:

There were over 240 communities in Wisconsin that had breweries.

Patty Loew:

Plus some unique Wisconsin landmarks.

Man:

I think Wisconsin by far is like the tavern state for sure.

Patty Loew:

Check out these taverns through the lens of an award-winning photographer. Plus, as Packer Nation prepares for the Super Bowl, well take you back for a look at how it all began.

Man:

Curly Lambeau was a Green Bay boy. And I think he had dreams that reached to the stars.

Patty Loew:

Also, author Michael Perrys whimsical take on winter in Wisconsin.

Michael Perry:

Weve had piles and piles of snow up here this winter. You know what piles of snow means. Snow tunnels.

Patty Loew:

Those reports next on In Wisconsin.

Announcer:

Major funding for In Wisconsin is from the people of Alliant Energy, who bring safe, reliable and environmentally friendly energy to keep homes, neighborhoods and life in Wisconsin running smoothly. Alliant Energy, were on for you. And Animal Dentistry and Oral Surgery Specialists, a veterinary team working with pet owners and family veterinarians providing care for oral disease and dental problems of small companion animals.

Patty Loew:

Some say beer and football go hand in hand, especially during this Super Bowl weekend. More than 240 Wisconsin towns once had their own brewery. While thats no longer the case, local breweries are making a comeback. In Wisconsin reporter Andy Soth recently visited one where you can also learn a great deal more about the history of brewing.

Andy Soth:

If youve heard of Potosi in southwest Wisconsin, its a good chance its because of Potosi Beer, brewed from 1852 until the brewery closed in 1972. Today, Potosi beer is back. In an effort thats not only reviving a brand, but also revitalizing a town.

Frank Fiorenza:

This is a small community. Just about everybody who lives in this community and even people who live in the surrounding communities, either their father or uncle, brother or cousin worked at the Potosi Brewery. This was one of the primary employers for this region of south and western Wisconsin.

Andy Soth:

Thats why many contributed to renovating the brewery that had stood idle for more than 30 years.

Frank Fiorenza:

We have more than 400 individual people who contributed to this building.

Andy Soth:

Those contributions, combined with other funding sources led to a building that offers much more than a simple brewery tour.

Frank Fiorenza:

In this section, we have a welcoming area by the American Breweriana Association, they are one of five organizations in the United States dedicated to preserving the history of breweries. We were certainly very, very fortunate to sign a contract with them for putting in the National Museum. What better place to put a national brewery museum than in what was a family brewery? So many, many different breweries featured in this room. Like I said, most of them in this room are Wisconsin breweries. There were over 240 communities in Wisconsin that had breweries. A lot of the breweries not only built big cities, but helped build smaller communities like at Potosi. To my knowledge, this Marshfield neon sign is the only neon sign left from the Marshfield Brewery from Marshfield, Wisconsin. On these train sets, each car is advertising a particular brewery.

Andy Soth:

But the National Brewery Museum isnt the only exhibit worth a tour in this restored building.

Frank Fiorenza:

This is an interpretive center for the Great River Road, one of Americas Scenic Byway. So we were able to tap into Scenic Byway funds in order to help restore the building.

Andy Soth:

And this facility is home to a transportation exhibit.

Frank Fiorenza:

What this does, is tell the history of the brewery through the various modes of transportation, from the horse drawn wagons that were originally used. We were probably the only brewere that owned its own riverboat. It made daily runs to Dubuque. The fleet of trucks after prohibition. The automobiles that the salesmen would drive. And the railroad.

Andy Soth:

All of this could distract you from a bit reason to visit a brewery, the beer. Made here like it had been for more than 100 years. Almost.

Steve Buszka

We can take a modern interpretation of a classic beer, people who remember the name Potosi can enjoy, and also the craft beer drinkers and fanatics can also enjoy.

Andy Soth:

Now available once again in bottles, sales of Potosi beer fund the Potosi Brewery Foundation and it is hoped down the road will provide more economic development for the area.

Frank Fiorenza:

Across the street there is a $2 million special events center. There is an art gallery. Thats what this is all about. Its about preserving this community. It is more than just a brewery.

Patty Loew:

The National Brewery Museum in Potosi is open year round, seven days a week. You can learn more by going to our website wpt.org, then scroll down and click on In Wisconsin. Its billed as a historical destination for the entire family.

For some, Wisconsins tavern culture is one-of-a-kind and worth documenting. Just ask award-winning photographer Kyle Corey. In Wisconsin reporter Jo Garrett shows you how Corey traversed the state with a slice of life exhibit called Wisconsin Tavern League.

Kyle Corey:

I think Wisconsins cultural identity has been defined a lot by the taverns. I think Wisconsin, by far, is like the tavern state.

Jo Garrett:

These photos are part of an exhibit called The Wisconsin tavern league. the artist is the nationally known still photographer Kyle Corey of Hudson.

Jo Garrett:

I was in a couple bars, one in Milwaukee called At Random, another one in Frederic called Losing Bowl. And the experience of going in there informed me, or alerted me, to the fact there is something interesting in these taverns.

Jo Garrett:

For two years, Corey traveled the state, often in his camper and in the company of his dog. He set about to document Wisconsin taverns. We met him in one of his favorites, the Red Room in Dodgeville.

Kyle Corey:

The only other state that I think has the mentality of the tavern as community as much as Wisconsin is Pennsylvania. Yeah, Pennsylvania has got a very similar demographic and attitude about the community and taverns and where we go to meet. Growing up in Chicago, we would come to Wisconsin and visit people. And wed always go to a tavern. I was 10 years old, 11 years old, wed go to a tavern. Id play pinball. My folks might have one or two drinks the whole night, but theyd sit and talk with everybody from the area. It is something that has been embedded in my mind.

I was trying to document the place that this interaction occurs in, and the owners that allow that place to exist. Because thats what I think is going away. A lot of the taverns I photographed as recently as a year ago are already closed. And I wanted to save it historically, because its changing.

Woman:

Ive owned the place nine years and probably worked here 23 years or so.

Jo Garrett:

Laurie Ulren, the owner of the Red Room bar and restaurant.

Kyle Corey:

Laurie, you know, shes got a vivacious personality. And shes engaging, very friendly and nice. You can tell she really loves this place. You know, she makes it welcoming and comfortable for people.

Laurie Ulren:

I think because we all care about each other. Were all hometown people and, you know, so close that if somebody doesnt show, were kind of wondering where they are and maybe somebody should go check on them. Yes, its pretty tight.

Kyle Corey:

Its a very difficult business to be in. And the kids dont come, the younger people dont come to these places to meet and socialize. They do it all online, primarily Facebook and the Internet, I dont know, Linked In, Twitter this and Twitter that. Its kind of a shame, because there is no face-to-face like this.

Jo Garrett:

We saw some of that face-to-face in action. A guy came over, wanted to talk about Coreys trailer parked outside.

Kyle Corey:

One of the things that you lose is the ability to actually socialize, and have that decorum, the ability to come up to someone to introduce yourself and talk to them, and respect them, and listen to them, and learn from that.

Man:

Nice meeting you. Ill let you get back to your lunch.

Kyle Corey:

What is your name?

Man:

Byron. Pleased to meet you. Good luck to you.

Jo Garrett:

These places provide a particular kind of sustenance. Connection, conversation, often served up with a side of sweet memories. Something theyve been doing at the Red Room for decades. Waitress Kelly Ulren.

Kelly Rlren:

The 30s, Im guessing. Long before me! Youll have to talk with some of the card boys out there. Some of them actually, I mean, down the line, they remember their parents coming, you know, and playing cards, and the bowling alley downstairs, and setting pins and what not. Thats where your stories are. Im too young to have those memories.

Man:

These are original bar chips. It says Red Room Bar, Dodgeville, Wisconsin, good for 5 cents in trade. Thats what a beer cost in 1938.

Kyle Corey:

There is a wall, and a photo of that wall, that has graffiti from kids who were pin setters from the 1930s and 1940s. And theyve scratched their name in there and the year, and such. We hear some of them are here today. They come in here regularly still 60 or 70 years later, as 75-year-old and 80-year-old guys. And its pretty cool. This place has been here for them.

Man:

They treat you real well. Its homey.

Kyle Corey:

Its the best bread pudding I ever had.

Laurie Ulren:

It goes good with your beer, right?

Jo Garrett:

Wisconsins taverns. Something happens here. Something Corey captures in the Wisconsin Tavern League.

Laurie Ulren:

We have a connection, all of us. Youre face-to-face, and you can see people for what they are.

Kyle Corey:

And I want people to understand that there are environments that are unique, that are there for them, and that its quite possible that they wont be here in years to come. I guess I wanted to save them, to document them and save them in pictures the way Ive seen them.

Patty Loew:

Coreys tavern photography project will soon be the subject of a book called Wisconsin Tavern League. It will be published by the Wisconsin Historical Society this fall and includes commentary by a curator from the Smithsonian. The book also looks at the role of taverns to our states culture.

You can bet bar stools around the state will be packed with Packer fans. After all, its been 14 years since the big boys sporting green and gold have won the Super Bowl. You have to go back a lot farther than that to find the beginning of this football franchise in whats known as TitleTown, USA.

Narrator:

Shortly before they began making paper in Green Bay there was a new game sweeping the country leaving mangled bodies in its wake. It horrified college presidents, but it was an immediate favorite of the fans. In fact, football was such a good fit for Green Bay, its a wonder they didnt invent the game.

Denis Gullickson:

Football has been in Green Bay since 1895, and that was pretty early by most standards in the nation. A gentleman named Fred Hulbert loved football, because he had played it at Wayland Academy in Beaver Dam. He got a bunch of toughs, for the most part, from Green Bays west side. They were primarily the sons of Irish railroad workers. And according to what Im told, I cant say it for certainty, but I guess these guys liked to fight a lot. And so Fred rounded them up and said well, here, Ill give you kind of a form of fighting. There is a little bit of organization to it and he taught them football. Actually, one of the guys early on said I love football, because you can bust the guy in the chops and you wont get thrown in jail.

Lee Remmel:

Curly Lambeau, what he told me was he a freshman at Notre Dame in 1918. He was quite the football player, according to all reports. When he came home for the holidays, he had a bad case of tonsillitis. He went to his family physician who told him that he would have to wait to let the infection subside before he could operate, but the tonsils would have to be removed. By time he had fully recovered, it was too late to go second semester, so he got a job at the Indian Packing Company. $250 a month and he said he thought it was all the money there was in the world.

Denis Gullickson:

Curly Lambeau was a Green Bay boy. I think he always had dreams that reached to the stars. He was an athletic phenomenon at East High School, and kind of a cocksure kid that had a nice wave of hair. I would contend it was Curlys pompous air and his panache that probably gave us the Packers, and why Green Bay still has the packers. Because there were an awful lot of guys who played by the rules, and didnt break some of those social norms, and their teams, of course, no longer exist.

Lee Remmel:

He was expensive, (inaudible) well-ripped, of course a charmer with the ladies. And very confident in himself, always. About everything. He ran into George Whitney Calhoun, the sports editor of the Press Gazette on the street one day. When Calhoun asked what he was going to do about football, he said well, you know, I would like to play, but dont want to go back to Notre Dame. Calhoun said, well, why dont you start your own team? Ill put a notice in the paper and see what happens with it. He put a notice in the paper and about 25 young huskies showed up. They started practicing three nights a week, initially as the Green Bay Indians, because of the Indian Packing Company. J.E. Claire, who I believe was the general manager of the company, gave Curly $500 for uniforms. The Indian Packing Company went out of business about halfway through that first season, and the ACME Packing Company took possession of it. And pretty soon, ACME was left high and dry and they were the Packers, the Green Bay Packers theyve been ever since.

Denis Gullickson:

The Packers, in 1919 and 1920, well, they were the best. In 1919, over ten games they beat their opponents by 565-6. Lambeau thought to himself, what fun is it to beat my opponents around here 57-0? We better take this to the next level. And so, like-minded teams across the country formed the American Professional Football Association, which became the NFL.

Lee Remmel:

Curly led the Packers to three champions in a row, 1929, 1930, and 1931. He was just a young guy, only 32 or 33 years old, and he was a national figure. He was introduced at nightclubs like Bill Tilden and Jack Dempsey, and people like that. Curly Lambeau, head coach of the Green Bay Packers, world champion Green Bay Packers.

Mary Jane Herber:

It was always a big thing. It just, you know, the Packer games and the Sundays and women wore dresses and suits. In the early fall, theyd maybe wear a mink stole. Then, when it got colder, then theyd wear fur coats, because it was warm. You know, theyd wear heels. One of the reasons they dressed in finery is because at old City Stadium behind East High, during halftime theyd promenade. You know, you would stretch your legs. The wooden bleachers certainly were not very comfortable. So, at halftime everybody would take a little stroll around the edge of the field, and nobody wanted to be wearing the same thing somebody else wore to the football game, certainly.

Denis Gullickson:

You had to have the football guys. You had to have a little talent to start with. Then you would need some money. That was true in every town that kept a football team alive, even for a few years. In Green Bay, they always had the hand out. You know, we need the Packers. The Packers have to stay afloat. This is an important part of our pride and what makes us Green Bay. And so, buy some stock. This has been done in recent times. And people love that piece of paper, even though its worthless, or priceless, depending on how you view it.

Lee Remmel:

Canton Bulldogs, Stapleton Yellowjackets. They just gradually, one by one, dropped off until the Packers were the only small town team remaining, which is an incredible tribute to the people of Green Bay, I think. The simple answer is that the people of Green Bay and environs would never permit this team franchise to leave Green Bay. They have done whatever it is in order to keep the Packers in Green Bay and the franchise alive.

Mary Jane Herber:

Its the fact that people in the community own the team. So that there has always been that interest in that football team and that its been part of the community.

After people retired from the team, theyd stay. Theyd marry a Green Bay girl and theyd stay. There is a whole different aspect that the other parts of the country are interested in maybe because we wish we were living in Green Bay. Because its a small town and yet its got this wonderful football team that everybody knows.

Denis Gullickson:

That David and Goliath thing only works if David wins some of the battles. Of course, the Packers have more NFL championships than any other team in the league. They have the second-most guys in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Theyre the only team in NFL history that won triple championships three years in a row, and theyve done it twice. So there is something about David and his ability to play with the big boys that is pretty necessary in the story, otherwise if Goliath is always kicking David around the field, I think the curtain goes down and the story is done.

Lee Remmel:

Its a remarkable story. Others have said, and I agree, that its the best story in sports. All things considered, I think it is.

Patty Loew:

That report was narrated by Terry Kerr and produced by Mik Derks. It originally aired as part of our program Hometown Stories: Green Bay. Now, heres a look at some of the reports were working on for the next edition of In Wisconsin.

Frederica Freyberg:

From lab to the table. Im Frederica Freyberg. A scientific breakthrough on the UW-Madison campus creates a new food for people who cant eat protein.

Woman:

To end up with a product on the market where youre actually helping people, is wow.

Frederica Freyberg:

Helping people with a genetic disorder that otherwise could cause life long disability.

Liz Koerner:

Since 1994, AmeriCorps volunteers have earned a reputation for rolling up their sleeves and pitching in where help is needed. Now, Wisconsins Native American reservations, including Lac du Flambeau, are benefiting from the work of Tribal AmeriCorps volunteers.

Andy Soth:

Im In Wisconsin reporter Andy Soth, with the restoration of a historic ship.

Man:

This national treasure is being restored by our next generation.

Andy Soth:

And its being forged at UW-Platteville for a New York City museum.

Man:

I still get excited when I see that melted core.

Patty Loew:

Those reports next Thursday at 7:30, right here on Wisconsin Public Television.

We want to invite you to check out our interactive blog called the Producers Journal. You can find it at wpt.org, then click on In Wisconsin, then look for this picture. The blog gives you advanced insight into reports were working on, the people weve met, and the places weve been. Its all in the Producers Journal.

Winter in Wisconsin. Thats all we had to say to farmer-turned-author Michael Perry. Hes a regular contributor on In Wisconsin. And this week hes digging deep for his humorous essay from Eau Claire County.

Michael Perry:

How ya doin? Well, weve had piles and piles of snow up here this winter. You know what piles of snow means. Snow tunnels. This here is a little mini snow tunnel that dug by my daughters and their babysitter right after the big blizzard. Im proud of my little girls. I like the fact that Ive got little girls, who in the face of a blizzard, they want to bundle up and go dig a snow tunnel. Im proud of the babysitter, too, for that matter. Thats what you want in a good babysitter. Can you do CPR? Can you dial 911? Can you dig a snow tunnel? Youre hired.

I dont know where the babysitter learned to make snow tunnels. But I did my training up in Chippewa County with the Perry brothers and sisters. (digging snow)

Well see if the old mans still got it. Whew. So, what is it about snow tunnels? They always fascinated me when we were little kids. I suppose its obviously something about adventure. And tunneling through to the new world. Every kid things about digging a hole straight through the earth and coming out in China. Theres a little bit of danger to it. You know, youre crawling through a tunnel into a big pile of snow.

Now were getting close.

The best part is that build-up to that moment when you finally break through. Thats what were looking for pretty much all our life. The moment when we break through. Well take it wherever we can get it, even if its a snow tunnel.

Pretty nice job.

Looks almost like it was dug by a machine. It was dug by a machine.

All that philosophy is all well and good, but if you want to get any work done you have to get busy on the wooden end of a shovel. Its about time for the big moment. What every kid digs for, the punch-through.

Oh! Ha-ha! The punch-through. I love the punch-through.

All right! Nice and snug. Yes! Success. Perfect.

Wow. Everything seems to be moving fast, and yet slow at the same time. Maybe when you go through the tunnel, you pass through the time-space continuum. Yeah, thats it. Gosh, its great.

I feel like Im flying on my belly. I hope the cat doesnt get in the way. This never used to happen when I was a kid. I dont want this to ever end. Thats the best snow tunnel ever.

Patty Loew:

His face says it all. Winter in Wisconsin. Finally this week, a tribute to the Green Bay Packers. In lighting the State Capitol dome green and gold, Governor Scott Walker said while there are always going to be policy and political differences at the capitol, we can all agree we want the Packers to bring home the Lombardi Trophy to Wisconsin. The legendary football franchise will make its fifth Super Bowl appearance this weekend. Lets hope its a great week In Wisconsin.

Announcer:

Major funding for In Wisconsin is from the people of Alliant Energy, who bring safe, reliable and environmentally friendly energy to keep homes, neighborhoods and life in Wisconsin running smoothly. Alliant Energy, were on for you. And Animal Dentistry and Oral Surgery Specialists, a veterinary team working with pet owners and family veterinarians providing care for oral disease and dental problems of small companion animals.