MONROE - Busy and parking were the buzz words for Cheese Days 2012.
Customers lined up at the Cheese Days Store booth after the parade Sunday, making their last-minutes purchases of keepsake T-shirts, buttons and beer steins.
"The crowds have been outstanding," said Diane Phillips, a past Cheese Days president volunteering at the sales booth.
People commented on the vivid blue Cheese Days logo for 2012 especially, she said. "It's so happy and bright and colorful this year," she said.
The Cheese Days crowds were large this year, if the parking situation was any indication.
Streets were filled with parked vehicles "ten blocks out from the Square, in any direction," said Police Chief Fred Kelly.
Kelly estimated 100,000 to 150,000 people attended the three-day affair. Saturday and Sunday pulled about 50,000 people, shoulder-to-shoulder at times, packing the Square each day. "It's been busy," he said. Kelley took photos of the crowds, which show "there was no space" between them.
Parking was the main law enforcement issue for police over the weekend, Kelley said.
Officers handled increased complaints about parking, issued tickets and coordinated tows. Five vehicles were towed off the parade route Sunday morning, and six were towed from the Monroe Public Library lot to make room for vendors.
Some people got testy with police about parking, but Kelley said the temporary parking rules for Cheese Days are in place for good reasons and not arbitrarily enforced for revenue purposes only.
"We don't walk around like Rosco P. Coltrane with (no-parking) signs," Kelley said, referencing the bumbling sheriff on the TV series "The Dukes of Hazzard."
All Monroe officers are required to work Cheese Days in 12-hour shifts. Kelley added 25 officers from surrounding law enforcement agencies to his force for the weekend, including the New Glarus and Stoughton Police and Green County Sheriff's Departments.
Overtime for these additional officers is paid in some cases by the City of Monroe under mutual-aid agreements. He estimates police overtime alone will cost the city $27,000.
Beyond parking issues, Kelley said police encountered the average number and range of problems for an event of this size, mostly citations for underage drinking and disorderly conduct, plus a few arrests for driving while intoxicated. He hadn't yet tallied the weekend's numbers Sunday evening but said the number of citations was likely in line with past Cheese Days.
"To me it was a typical large-scale event," he said. Officers are often able to nip fights and other problems in the bud by spotting signs of trouble early. "We just swarm like bees on stuff if we think it's gonna be (a problem). We do a pretty good for a small town with crowd control because we have experience."
Fortunately no one at Cheese Days, to his knowledge, was found passed out or in need of detox. The nearest detox facility is in Madison, so detox trips typically eat up lots of officer hours.
Dan Nufer, Monroe EMS chief, also reported a calm weekend.
"Quite a boring Cheese Days from our perspective," he said. "It was pretty much our standard flow of calls, probably not even worse than most weekends. It was one of the quieter Cheese Days."
Cheese Days-related ambulance trips were mostly calls to help people who had tripped and fallen, or had too much to drink, he said.
Food, fun and beautiful weather
As usual, Morning Optimists sold deep-fried cheese curds non-stop, with customers at times forming lines a block long to buy tickets and wait for an opening at the counter.
Jessica Akins, 21, South Wayne, ducked under of the cheese curds ropes with two servings in hand. The wait to get her cheese curds was only 10 minutes, she said.
"I bought tickets Friday," she added. She bought five tickets Friday to buy cheese curds through the weekend.
Anyone who waited until late Sunday to buy a Master's Grilled Cheese Sandwich from the National Historic Cheesemaking Center's trailer was too late: They were sold out by 4 p.m., after making an estimated 3,500 sandwiches for the weekend.
Among the full schedule of entertainment and activities, the Monroe Swiss Singers presented "The Heart of Cheese Days" Friday and Saturday - Old World Swiss culture, folk artisans in action, and artifact and heritage displays - at Turner Hall.
But as Sunday afternoon was winding down, several of the singers were relaxing behind the main stage downtown.
"I've never seen so many cars parked in this town, ever," said Char Mattmann, New Glarus, a member of the Monroe Swiss Singers. Mattmann was dressed in a traditional Swiss dirndl.
Her husband, Heinz, also in traditional Swiss attire, had just gotten back to the Square "after playing the Alphorn - again," she said. Heinz is also part of the Swiss Singers, New Glarus Mannerchor and New Glarus Jodler Klub - all of which performed on the Main Stage this past weekend. Char serves as his wardrobe manager.
"It's better weather than yesterday," Mattmann said, looking a little exhausted. "I like it cooler, with a breeze."
The Swiss Singers rode a float in Sunday's 2-mile parade that had about 2,000 people and an untold number of cows, dogs and horses.
Megan Vosberg, 20, South Wayne, one of a very few who stood without a cheese curd in hand as friends around her ate them up, said the parade was better than it has been in the past.
"It moved faster," she said. Her favorite part was the Jesse White Tumblers, a group out of Chicago that performs regularly at Cheese Days.
Cheese Days crowds affected downtown business; some owners said 2012 event was the busiest they've had. But businesses on the city's west side felt the effect too.
"It's been non-stop for five hours," said a McDonald's employee just before 5 p.m. Sunday.
Bock and a Cheese Days engagement
There were plenty of light-hearted moments throughout the weekend. A crowd of 200 beer-lovers charged down 13th Avenue Saturday for the Bock Run, a tradition started in 1982. It's sponsored by Brennan's Market and Minhas Craft Brewery. Referred to tongue-in-cheek as a ".5K," participants dash from Turner Hall to Doyle's Irish Pub, down a mug of Huber Bock beer and then race to the finish line around the corner.
"I got a quarter-barrel in my stomach," shouted one runner enthusiastically after he stumbled toward the finish.
Just like a real 5K, race times are calculated and winners awarded - all with lots of exaggerated fanfare and whooping.
Dan Schlichting, a Monroe native now working as an attorney in Madison, emceed the awards ceremony and handed out the prizes (a cooler bag filled with treats) in a tent outside Bullet's and Bonnie's, another sponsor of the event. Each winner stood on a picnic table with Schlichting and chugged more Huber Bock from the cup on a massive gold trophy.
Michelle (Bartelt) Richard took first place in the women's division. Eric Ayen won first among the men.
Taking second place were Martin Brukwicki and Christina Gray, and in third place, Chase Sellnow and Catherine Borowski.
Borowski joked that she did the Tough Mudder, a miles-long military-style obstacle course, to train for the Bock Run.
One couple had more to celebrate at the finish line of the Bock Run than athletic achievement. Trent Henning, 23, proposed to Natalie Huber, 24. They're both from Monroe, and she's the great-granddaughter to Joseph Huber, the namesake of the beer everyone was drinking. Huber's parents are John and Christie Huber; the groom-to-be's parents are Darris and Tammy Henning.
A crowd gathered around to cheer as she said yes and the couple hugged.
"She didn't know it was going to happen," said Jennifer Lancaster, her sister. "They were high school sweethearts."
Customers lined up at the Cheese Days Store booth after the parade Sunday, making their last-minutes purchases of keepsake T-shirts, buttons and beer steins.
"The crowds have been outstanding," said Diane Phillips, a past Cheese Days president volunteering at the sales booth.
People commented on the vivid blue Cheese Days logo for 2012 especially, she said. "It's so happy and bright and colorful this year," she said.
The Cheese Days crowds were large this year, if the parking situation was any indication.
Streets were filled with parked vehicles "ten blocks out from the Square, in any direction," said Police Chief Fred Kelly.
Kelly estimated 100,000 to 150,000 people attended the three-day affair. Saturday and Sunday pulled about 50,000 people, shoulder-to-shoulder at times, packing the Square each day. "It's been busy," he said. Kelley took photos of the crowds, which show "there was no space" between them.
Parking was the main law enforcement issue for police over the weekend, Kelley said.
Officers handled increased complaints about parking, issued tickets and coordinated tows. Five vehicles were towed off the parade route Sunday morning, and six were towed from the Monroe Public Library lot to make room for vendors.
Some people got testy with police about parking, but Kelley said the temporary parking rules for Cheese Days are in place for good reasons and not arbitrarily enforced for revenue purposes only.
"We don't walk around like Rosco P. Coltrane with (no-parking) signs," Kelley said, referencing the bumbling sheriff on the TV series "The Dukes of Hazzard."
All Monroe officers are required to work Cheese Days in 12-hour shifts. Kelley added 25 officers from surrounding law enforcement agencies to his force for the weekend, including the New Glarus and Stoughton Police and Green County Sheriff's Departments.
Overtime for these additional officers is paid in some cases by the City of Monroe under mutual-aid agreements. He estimates police overtime alone will cost the city $27,000.
Beyond parking issues, Kelley said police encountered the average number and range of problems for an event of this size, mostly citations for underage drinking and disorderly conduct, plus a few arrests for driving while intoxicated. He hadn't yet tallied the weekend's numbers Sunday evening but said the number of citations was likely in line with past Cheese Days.
"To me it was a typical large-scale event," he said. Officers are often able to nip fights and other problems in the bud by spotting signs of trouble early. "We just swarm like bees on stuff if we think it's gonna be (a problem). We do a pretty good for a small town with crowd control because we have experience."
Fortunately no one at Cheese Days, to his knowledge, was found passed out or in need of detox. The nearest detox facility is in Madison, so detox trips typically eat up lots of officer hours.
Dan Nufer, Monroe EMS chief, also reported a calm weekend.
"Quite a boring Cheese Days from our perspective," he said. "It was pretty much our standard flow of calls, probably not even worse than most weekends. It was one of the quieter Cheese Days."
Cheese Days-related ambulance trips were mostly calls to help people who had tripped and fallen, or had too much to drink, he said.
Food, fun and beautiful weather
As usual, Morning Optimists sold deep-fried cheese curds non-stop, with customers at times forming lines a block long to buy tickets and wait for an opening at the counter.
Jessica Akins, 21, South Wayne, ducked under of the cheese curds ropes with two servings in hand. The wait to get her cheese curds was only 10 minutes, she said.
"I bought tickets Friday," she added. She bought five tickets Friday to buy cheese curds through the weekend.
Anyone who waited until late Sunday to buy a Master's Grilled Cheese Sandwich from the National Historic Cheesemaking Center's trailer was too late: They were sold out by 4 p.m., after making an estimated 3,500 sandwiches for the weekend.
Among the full schedule of entertainment and activities, the Monroe Swiss Singers presented "The Heart of Cheese Days" Friday and Saturday - Old World Swiss culture, folk artisans in action, and artifact and heritage displays - at Turner Hall.
But as Sunday afternoon was winding down, several of the singers were relaxing behind the main stage downtown.
"I've never seen so many cars parked in this town, ever," said Char Mattmann, New Glarus, a member of the Monroe Swiss Singers. Mattmann was dressed in a traditional Swiss dirndl.
Her husband, Heinz, also in traditional Swiss attire, had just gotten back to the Square "after playing the Alphorn - again," she said. Heinz is also part of the Swiss Singers, New Glarus Mannerchor and New Glarus Jodler Klub - all of which performed on the Main Stage this past weekend. Char serves as his wardrobe manager.
"It's better weather than yesterday," Mattmann said, looking a little exhausted. "I like it cooler, with a breeze."
The Swiss Singers rode a float in Sunday's 2-mile parade that had about 2,000 people and an untold number of cows, dogs and horses.
Megan Vosberg, 20, South Wayne, one of a very few who stood without a cheese curd in hand as friends around her ate them up, said the parade was better than it has been in the past.
"It moved faster," she said. Her favorite part was the Jesse White Tumblers, a group out of Chicago that performs regularly at Cheese Days.
Cheese Days crowds affected downtown business; some owners said 2012 event was the busiest they've had. But businesses on the city's west side felt the effect too.
"It's been non-stop for five hours," said a McDonald's employee just before 5 p.m. Sunday.
Bock and a Cheese Days engagement
There were plenty of light-hearted moments throughout the weekend. A crowd of 200 beer-lovers charged down 13th Avenue Saturday for the Bock Run, a tradition started in 1982. It's sponsored by Brennan's Market and Minhas Craft Brewery. Referred to tongue-in-cheek as a ".5K," participants dash from Turner Hall to Doyle's Irish Pub, down a mug of Huber Bock beer and then race to the finish line around the corner.
"I got a quarter-barrel in my stomach," shouted one runner enthusiastically after he stumbled toward the finish.
Just like a real 5K, race times are calculated and winners awarded - all with lots of exaggerated fanfare and whooping.
Dan Schlichting, a Monroe native now working as an attorney in Madison, emceed the awards ceremony and handed out the prizes (a cooler bag filled with treats) in a tent outside Bullet's and Bonnie's, another sponsor of the event. Each winner stood on a picnic table with Schlichting and chugged more Huber Bock from the cup on a massive gold trophy.
Michelle (Bartelt) Richard took first place in the women's division. Eric Ayen won first among the men.
Taking second place were Martin Brukwicki and Christina Gray, and in third place, Chase Sellnow and Catherine Borowski.
Borowski joked that she did the Tough Mudder, a miles-long military-style obstacle course, to train for the Bock Run.
One couple had more to celebrate at the finish line of the Bock Run than athletic achievement. Trent Henning, 23, proposed to Natalie Huber, 24. They're both from Monroe, and she's the great-granddaughter to Joseph Huber, the namesake of the beer everyone was drinking. Huber's parents are John and Christie Huber; the groom-to-be's parents are Darris and Tammy Henning.
A crowd gathered around to cheer as she said yes and the couple hugged.
"She didn't know it was going to happen," said Jennifer Lancaster, her sister. "They were high school sweethearts."