Living Here

The great mess of the Highway 120 construction at the north end of town. The Lake Geneva area is not lacking in road improvements this spring, as almost everyone living or visiting in and around the city fully understands. The Main Street project was a big enough hassle to deal with, but soon after that one started the Highway 120 project began. The Highway 120 reconstruction is a very extensive job that is expected to take until the end of fall this year. When the project started there were not supposed to be any complete closures, and the partial closures that were planned were going to alternate between north and southbound lanes every forty-eight hours. Well, that did not work out. At times, there have been complete closures and no one, not even the Walworth County Officer the GSR talked to about it, expected the closures to be opened up until November.

Part of the Highway 120 interchange is open, however.   As this issue is being printed there is one lane open leaving town and one lane is open coming into town. As far as the on and off ramps for Highway 12, they have been open at odd unannounced times. This could all change at any time, and it doesn’t seem like anyone is too concerned about letting the public know ahead of time regarding details about detours and lane closures. Try to plan ahead or find alternate routes if you need to travel through the construction area. Let’s hope the new road, roundabouts, and traffic lights will be worth the frustration caused by all this.

 

What art festival? Where did it go?
Unless you had been watching the GSR morning news Facebook post or checked out the Chamber of Commerce website, you wouldn’t know this past weekend was the Lake Geneva Arts Festival.  This three-day event took place downtown with nearly twenty artists exhibiting their beautiful paintings, and hand-crafted pieces of art.  Other art discipline added to this year’s event, but not limited to, were live music, theatrical performances, and mural paintings.  Nobody’s saying these events weren’t there, but anytime any of the GSR staff were in town, not once did they see or hear any live music, see any theatrical performances, or mural art being painted.  It’s appreciated the efforts of the Geneva Lakes Art Foundation and The Streets of Lake Geneva coming together to make this event bigger, more enjoyable, and attract more visitors. However, why was there was so little foot traffic and support for our local artists?   Could it be that the wine festival at the Grand Geneva on the outskirts of town sucked the life out of downtown?  Could it be the construction and road closures downtown kept people at bay, or maybe the idea of paying two dollars an hour to park in some areas of downtown was the reason? The real reason may be unknown.

Living Here
Cartoon by Terry O’Neill

Cartoon Terry O'Neill Lake Geneva

 

Summer Time Living Here

Piers at Lake Geneva

The Lake Geneva City Pier is finally open for business, as summer finally arrives on Geneva Lake.

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