Summertime Traditions
Over the years, you tend to build traditions. This keeps the memories alive by reliving the experiences with family and friends year after year. Two of our traditions were to go to the American Players Theater each summer, as well as attend a number of outdoor music festivals.
APT in Spring Green
I first started attending the American Players Theater (APT), an outdoor Shakespeare theater located in Spring Green, Wisconsin in 1981, the year after I moved to Madison. APT had just opened the summer of 1980 and my graduate school friends and I thought it would be a unique experience. And unique it was. The hilltop setting was beautiful, surrounded by trees. At night during the performance, you could hear the whip-poor-wills sing as the bats swooped down through the audience and actors. It was peaceful and enchanting.
It then became my tradition to attend every year since 1981. The only year I missed was the year I was pregnant with my son. I was on bed rest for the latter half of the summer so I was unable to attend in 1987.
As an incentive to attract more theatergoers, each summer, APT hired a small local jewelry company to make either a silver pendant or necklace for those patrons who would purchased at least $600 worth of tickets for that season. Always up for a challenge, I spread the word to my work colleagues and friends, that if they bought their tickets through me, I would get the pendant or necklace and I would make sure they would get fantastic seats. For more than 10 years, I collected my APT pendants and necklaces.
Recently, I caught up with one of my former supervisors, Sinikka Santala. She was one of the people I used to purchase APT tickets for each year. In one of her emails she sent to me, I had to smile when she mentioned APT.
We still purchase APT tickets early in the season each year. You certainly gave us a wonderful gift when you started that tradition. ~ Sinikka Santala
Over the years, our good friends, Mark Zimmer, Ryan Terry and Joel Wolfgram would come with us to see the APT plays. We generally went to one or two plays with them each summer or fall. Then one year, when it was time to order the tickets in March, Joel and Terry invited their good friends Deb and Paul Chotlos to come along with us, and another tradition was started. It continued as their three children grew older, and their teenage, and now adult children, were added to our group of play-goers.
On Saturday, July 2, 2016, we gathered once again, this time to see “The Comedy of Errors,” by William Shakespeare. This might be the last time we see a play at APT. But, we know the tradition lives on with our friends.
Outdoor Music Festivals
Madison is rich with outdoor music festivals during the summertime, especially the ones on the east side of town where we lived. It generally starts with the Marquette Waterfront Festival in June and concludes with the Willy Street Fair in September.
The weekend of June 11–12, 2016, we were able to attend the Marquette Waterfront Festival. The Waterfront Festival takes place in Yahara Place Park, which is nestled on the northern shore of Lake Monona.
Unfortunately, we won’t be able to attend one of our favorite festivals, La Fete de Marquette. Its theme is French music from around the world, especially cajun music from New Orleans.
However, we were able to attend the Concerts on the Square by the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra on June 29, 2016, the last evening in our home. My work colleague and friend, Tom Haukohl and his wife Jennifer, invited us to attend with them. It was the opening night for this summer’s concert series.
On Sunday, July 3, 2016, Larry and I went back to the Knuckle Down Saloon (where our Buon Viaggio party was held) to see the bands that owner and good friend, Chris Kalmbach, had lined up. We enjoyed The Jimmys, a seven-piece band blending blues, soul, R&B and New Orleans funk. We also spent the late afternoon dancing to the Cash Box Kings, a blues and jazz band. For dinner, we enjoyed barbecued chicken and pork brisket.
