HomeMy WebLinkAboutApril 8 2024 - APB Agenda
OSHKOSH ADVISORY PARKS BOARD AGENDA
ROOM 404 (4TH FLOOR), CITY HALL
OSHKOSH, WISCONSIN
April 8, 2024
6:00 p.m.
If anyone requires reasonable ADA accommodations, please contact the Parks Department atemaertz@oshkoshwi.gov, or phone 920-236-5080.
A.CALL TO ORDER (6:00 PM)
B.INTRODUCE ERICKA MAERTZ, ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT
C.ROLL CALL
D.APPROVAL OF MINUTES
E.CITIZEN STATEMENTS (Items not listed on this agenda)
(Statements are limited to five (5) minutes; they must address items that are not listed on the meeting agenda, are limited to
issues that have an impact on the City of Oshkosh and the Advisory Parks Board may address at a future meeting, and must
not include endorsements of any candidates or other electioneering. If you require more time please inform the Chair at the
beginning of your presentation.)
F.OLD BUSINESS
G.NEW BUSINESS
1.Discuss and recommend placement of Oshkosh Woodworker's Strike historic sign near Boatworks
Riverwalk site.
2.Discuss and recommend placement of plaque at Pickart Park.
3.Discuss and recommend hosting Brews on the Bay at Rainbow Memorial Park in 2024.
H.STAFF REPORTS
Park Director (Maurer)
Update on Pratt Trail reconstruction project
Update on Menominee Park beach bathhouse project
Update on Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (CORP) project
Assistant Park Director (Dallman)
Update on Menominee Park Zoo bear/fox exhibit and path paving
Update on 44th Parallel Park play equipment project
Landscape Operations Manager (Derks)
Update on spring tree planting program and Ash tree removals
Revenue Facilities Manager (McCollian)
Update on the Breakfast with the Bunny and Bunny in the Barn events
Update on 2024 Parks Department Activity Guide
I.OTHER BUSINESS
J.ADJOURNMENT
NEXT MEETING DATE: May 13, 2024
TO:TO:Advisory Parks Board
FROM:FROM:Ray Maurer
DATE:DATE:April 08, 2024
SUBJECT:SUBJECT:Discuss and recommend placement of Oshkosh Woodworker's Strike historic sign near
Boatworks Riverwalk site.
BACKGROUNDBACKGROUND
Staff was contacted by Paulette Feld, a member of the Oshkosh Woodworkers Strike 125th Anniversary
Planning Committee, regarding a potential historic sign to be placed near the Boatworks Riverwalk site
commemorating the Oshkosh Woodworkers strike of 1898. A number of lumber mills were once located
along the river throughout Oshkosh. Draft language for the historic sign is included in your packet along
with a list of individuals that are on the Planning Committee. The Committee is proposing a bronze sign
similar to those recently placed near the Chief Oshkosh monument. If approved, the sign would be
installed near some existing benches between the Boatworks site and the Wisconsin Street bridge.
Committee members would be raising the funds for the sign so the only cost to the city would be staff
time to install the sign. There will be Committee members in attendance to answer questions. Placement
of the sign would require Common Council approval.
AttachmentsAttachments
Oshkosh Woodworkers Strike 125th Anniversary Planning Committee
Woodworkers Strike Sign Draft
Oshkosh Woodworkers Strike 125th Anniversary Planning Committee
Virginia Glenn Crane-author of “The Oshkosh Woodworkers Strike of 1898” represented by
Amelia Crane
Paulette Feld-staff, UW Oshkosh Polk Library, retired, also member of Oshkosh Landmarks
Commission
Ken Germanson-Emeritus President, Wisconsin Labor History Society
Jillian Jacklin-Lecturer, Democracy & Social Justice, UW Green Bay
Joan Kaeding-staff, Oshkosh Public Library
Stephen Kercher-Professor of History, UW Oshkosh
Jaclyn Kelly-Executive Director, Wisconsin Labor History Society
Michelle Lokken-History Museum at the Castle-Appleton, author, “Oshkosh: Postcard
History”
Candice Owley-President, Wisconsin Labor History Society
Hugh Sloan-Fox Valley Area Labor Council
More information on the Wisconsin Labor History Society can be found at
wisconsinlaborhistory.org
The Wisconsin Labor History Society is affiliated with the Wisconsin State Historical
Society
Oshkosh Woodworkers Strike 125th Anniversary
Draft Historic Sign Verbiage
DRAFT DRAFT DRAFT DRAFT DRAFT
In 1898, Oshkosh was home to seven sash and door factories, six along the Fox River,
continuing the city’s identity as “Sawdust City.” Oshkosh enjoyed an edge in the lumber
industry due to its access to low-wage immigrants and the river. Hundreds of residents,
including women and children, were employed by the Oshkosh mills and were among the
lowest-paid woodworkers in the country. Economic recession, pay cuts, and wartime inflation
in the 1890s pushed workers to the edge. Woodworkers saw unionizing as the only way to
increase wages and better their situation. With Thomas Kidd of the Amalgamated
Woodworkers’ International Union, Oshkosh woodworkers organized a 16-week-long strike,
involving more than 75% of all industry workers and resulting in a historic court case.
Oshkosh woodworkers’ demands for higher wages, a weekly paycheck, and union recognition
were supported by many Oshkosh citizens, including workers’ wives and families, whose
massive demonstrations were critical. The strike shook the city, resulting in the National Guard
coming to Oshkosh and the idling of the mills. One striker, 16-year-old Jimmie Morris, lost his
life in a picket demonstration. Millowners did not comply, pressuring local authorities to charge
strike leaders with criminal and civil conspiracy. Famed Chicago attorney Clarence Darrow
argued that unions were not conspiracies, and strike leaders were ultimately acquitted.
Although the strike did not lead to wage victories, the court case had national impact by
upholding the right of workers to organize into unions.
Sponsored by the Wisconsin Labor History Society.
TO:TO:Advisory Parks Board
FROM:FROM:Ray Maurer
DATE:DATE:April 08, 2024
SUBJECT:SUBJECT:Discuss and recommend placement of plaque at Pickart Park.
BACKGROUNDBACKGROUND
Staff was contacted by members of the Pickart family requesting that the city consider allowing
placement of a plaque on an existing boulder at Pickart Park. The 1.5 acre park was required by the city
to be dedicated as public parkland when the Pickart Farm property on west 9th Avenue was subdivided
for development in 2018. The Pickart family had farmed the land since 1912. There will be family
members in attendance to answer questions. Placement of the plaque would require Common Council
approval.
AttachmentsAttachments
Pickart Park Plaque Draft
Pickart Farm History
In Memory of The
John & Mary Pickart Farm
1912
PICKART
PARK
EST. 2018
A History of the Pickart Family Farm
In 1912, John and Mary Pickart purchased the eighty-acre dairy farm west of Oshkosh that
would be their home and the home of their descendants to the present day.
Over the next four decades, through World Wars and the financial hardship of the Great
Depression, they raised their five children among the apple trees and sunshine of their farm. John
and Mary planted corn, oats, and hay. They maintained a herd of twenty dairy cows and kept
chickens as well as pigs.
Their oldest son, Anton, purchased the farm from his parents in 1951. He and his wife Cecilia
brought up four children on the family land. These children, James, Robert, Paul, and Mary
helped the farm operate during their youth. Their contributions are memorialized in the names of
several Pickart Estate roads. After Anton retired due to severe health issues in early 1968,
Cecilia, James, Robert (who had just returned from serving in the United States Army), Paul, and
Mary worked together to keep the family farm operational.
Shortly thereafter, Paul purchased part of his parent’s land, took over the dairy operation, and,
with the rest of the family, continued to build the Pickart family legacy. Paul and Robert married
and built homes on the family homestead. Their children were the third generation of Pickarts to
grow up on the land purchased by John and Mary.
The State of Wisconsin certified the Pickart Family Farm as a Century Farm, and the governor
presented the certification at the Wisconsin State Fair in 2013. In 2018, seeking to contribute to
the continuing growth of Oshkosh, Paul and his siblings began the process of creating the
subdivision of Pickart Estates.
TO:TO:Advisory Parks Board
FROM:FROM:Ray Maurer
DATE:DATE:April 08, 2024
SUBJECT:SUBJECT:Discuss and recommend hosting Brews on the Bay at Rainbow Memorial Park in 2024.
BACKGROUNDBACKGROUND
Due to the ongoing Pratt Trail project in Menominee Park, staff is recommending hosting the Brews on the
Bay beer garden events at Rainbow Memorial Park in 2024. There are seven events planned for this
summer from 5pm to 9pm on the following Wednesday evenings: June 5 and 19; July 17 and 31; August 7
and 21; and September 4.
All the activities will be located on the former ice-skating rink on the northern end of the park. The bands
will set up in the southwest corner of the site so that the music is not directed toward the residential area.
As part of this approval, we are requesting that the Advisory Park Board recommend to the Common
Council approval of Parks Department staff to sell fermented malt beverages at Rainbow Memorial Park.
Section 125.06(6) of the Wisconsin Statutes provides that employees of the municipality can sell
fermented malt beverages in parks when authorized by the legislative body. This is the same process
that the City utilized in the past to authorize Parks Department employees to sell fermented malt
beverages at the Leach Amphitheater, Reetz Ball Fields and Brews on the Bay at Menominee Park.
Brews on the Bay are free, family-friendly events that include food trucks, beverages, live music and
outdoor yard games for families to enjoy.
AttachmentsAttachments
Rainbow Park Beer Garden Map
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