Saturday, November 1, 2008

Bilingual Town

With the (Sob) baseball season behind us the only thing left, other than leaves and looming snowfall, is the football season. Here in Wisconsin football season is a very serious time. Just East of us we have a Big Red Badger team in Madison and Up Nort we have the Brettless Pack. Right here in Fennimore we have the UNDEFEATED Golden Eagles presently participating in the state finals. Another thing that pops up every year in Fennimore is the display of the BearPak cars. Being a newcomer to the community (only been here almost 15 years) I'm not sure of the origin of these vehicles. I first met the BearPak one day a few years ago when, on my way to the grocery store, I drove past the Catholis Church, I noticed a car parked on the lawn between the church and the parsonage. The car had a rather strange paintjob. One side was painted the Navy and Orange of the Chicago Bears and the other side bore the Green and Gold of the dreaded Green Bay Packers. The story that I heard was that the Pastor of St. Marys, who was a Bear fan, had been hospitalized and in his absence one of his parishoners, who happened to own the local body shop, transformed the pastors old Lincoln into a bipartison "Cheermobile". Since its initial appearance, the original "Cheermobile" has been joined by a twin. Usually the two are on display the weekends when the Bears and Packers play each other but this year they are proudly displayed in front of our fine cheese factory. (What's a true Wisconsin town without a cheese factory?) I feel it is only proper to give equal time to one of Fennimore's outstanding citizens Igor. Igor has been the mascot of Fennimore cheese factories for over fifty years and has a story of his own. But this story belongs to the "Cheermobiles" and an example of small town charm.

How's that for coexistance?
Igor can be seen in the upper left corner of this pic
and in his full glory below.