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Carol Spaeth-Bauer | In the Meantime
Simple Halloween fun
When Joline Palatino and Linda Forster stopped at the office with results from the Jack-O-Lantern Jaunt, one thing none of the pictures from the event or money raised to benefit the Mukwonago High School Challenge Day and Seniors on the Go Taxi will ever show is the way their eyes light up at the thought of little children given the opportunity to run through the park on a fall night.
Next year will mark the 10th year for the jaunt, started by these two sisters with the simple idea of the community raising money to benefit a community group. After all, it is residents and businesses that provide the carved pumpkins. The sisters and their families provide the Halloween decorations that turn Field Park into a kid-friendly hallowed playground. While the depth of volunteering from groups and individuals to light and keep lit hundreds of candles during the two-night event isn't at a level that allows the sisters much rest during the weekend, the joy of seeing little children able to roam safely past the glowing jack-o-lanterns is a secondary benefit to the exhaustive weekend.
As they presented the checks to the two groups last week, neither Sarah Dianich from MHS Challenge Day or Jack Wieber from Seniors on the Go Taxi had seen the dollar amount before that instant. With their faces glowing from the thousands of dollars handed to them through the generous efforts of two sisters with a simple idea fulfilled through a love of community and warm hearts, each organization now bears the handprint of the Jaunt.
While it takes a village to make an event like this a success, those efforts allow visitors to attend for a mere dollar per person - an entertainment bargain, especially in these economic times - and raise money for worthwhile organizations.
It's old-fashioned, small-town fun. It's kids getting to be kids that provides the spark in their eyes even as Linda and Joline gather their energy again.
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Posted Friday, May 18 |
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Photo of the Week by Todd Ponath: ROCKIN' IT - Fred Eide, left, and his daughter Ashley, of Eide Painting and Sandblasting, use spray guns to paint the individual rock shapes on the underside of the I-94 overpass at Highway P in Oconomowoc Wednesday, May 16. Each "rock" is painted individually and then speckled with black paint to make it look like granite.
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