LIVING HERE
Venetian Days are gone until next year.
The carnival people worked through the night on Monday morning to assure that Wrigley would be open again by the end of the day, and it was. The carnival this year was clean, bigger, newer, and better in every way. It wasn’t expensive, the food was great, and the fireworks show on Sunday evening was the longest, biggest, and best that’s ever been done over the waters of Geneva Lake.
Congratulations to the Lake Geneva Jaycees who put the whole thing on every year (except for last year when the virus made them cancel the event). The water-skiing performance that was part of the Sunday afternoon events was wonderful. Amazing how a small boat with three huge outboard motors can pull eight skiers, loaded with six more on their shoulders, then three on their shoulders can do the job so efficiently and well. It was also astounding to see that when the skiers came into the beach to take their bows, the skiers at the top of the pier were small children. It makes all the sense in the world from a physics viewpoint but it’s not something noticeable when the performance is going on.
The downside of Venetian Days will settle quietly upon the event being over. Regular businesses do not do as well when Venetian Days are going on, sucking everyone into Flat Iron Park like a black hole and absorbing and occupying every single parking space available in the city. Most of the city businesses have considerably fewer customers when the three-day celebration is in progress. They can all now recover and think about the ‘hit’ they’ll take next year.
The Geneva Lake Law Enforcement Agency has moved its headquarters from Williams Bay to Fontana, or rather; Williams Bay gave it the old ‘heave ho.’
Back in November of 2020, the Village of Williams Bay voted to not renew the lease for the GLEA forcing them to look elsewhere and to also be ready by spring when the busy season started. This decision was a surprise and not by choice of the GLEA who had been in the Williams Bay location for over sixteen years. The need for a space in just the right spot in order for the agency to have a prompt response time to an emergency was extremely important and challenging to find. The City of Lake Geneva had offered to house the agency at the Riviera, but the congestion of that area would pose many challenges for agency operations.
Thankfully the Village of Fontana voted unanimously to house the Agency at either the Abbey Springs Resort or the Lake Geneva Marine Co. The group found a new home in offices adjacent to the Lake Geneva Marine Co. and a remodel was soon underway. The agency typically has a healthy budget with extra money left over at the end of the year to be returned to the four local municipalities supporting the law enforcement group so there weren’t many concerns about the remodel or any construction needing to be done while staying on budget. Unfortunately, the office moves and renovations came in more than anticipated and budgeted, so the agency was soon using reserve funds to cover payroll and operation expenses.
With that fact being the motivator, the Agency voted unanimously to ask the four surrounding municipalities for an additional fifteen thousand dollars. All the municipalities are on board with helping with the additional funding which will cover payroll and expenses through the end of the year. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources reimburses up to seventy-five percent of operating costs so the four municipalities could still see a partial refund for this year. Everyone around the lake wants to keep it safe, clean, and preserve what everyone is fortunate to have, and it’s wonderful to see everyone working together to make it happen.
