Flood leaves Merry-Go-Fish reception, Exploreum in limbo


Merry-Go-Fish designed by area artists that will be auctioned at the Greater Port Washington Kiwanis Club Gala next month to raise money for Possibility Playground.
By 
KRISTYN HALBIG ZIEHM
Ozaukee Press staff

UPDATE 9/7/18: The artists’ reception for the Merry-Go-Fish project planned for Sunday, Sept. 9, at the Port Exploreum has been cancelled.

The Exploreum won’t be ready to reopen by then, said John Sigwart, a member of the Greater Port Washington Kiwanis Club and its playground committee.

The reception won’t be rescheduled, he added.

The Exploreum’s lower level and its elevator were damaged during last week’s flood.

The Merry-Go-Fish project is a fundraiser for Possibility Playground, with artists decorating wooden fish. The fish have been displayed throughout the community this summer.

They may also be displayed at the Exploreum throughout the remainder of September, in preparation for the Kiwanis Club’s gala on Oct. 5, when the fish will be auctioned off that day.

 Tickets to the gala may be purchased at the Exploreum website or from Kiwanis Club members.

 

 

Last week’s flood has left the Merry-Go-Fish project aground — at least for the time being.

An artists’ reception for the project, a fundraiser for Possibility Playground, is scheduled to be held Sunday, Sept. 9, at the Port Exploreum in downtown Port, but the flood has left that in limbo.

That’s because the flood damaged the museum’s lower level and left the facility without an elevator, and without an elevator, the Exploreum isn’t open.

“We need the elevator working,” said Wayne Chruscial, executive director of the Port Washington Historical Society, which runs the Exploreum. “I don’t want people coming in and not being able to get to the second floor.”

“The fish have been washed out of the pond,” said John Sigwart, a member of the Greater Port Washington Kiwanis Club and its playground committee.

The club won’t know until sometime Thursday whether the Exploreum will be open in time for the event, and whether the reception will be postponed or cancelled, Sigwart said.

“It would be really nice if we had that event,” he said, noting the Exploreum was to be open to the public at no charge on Sunday, with the artist reception slated from 1 to 3 p.m.

The event was to not only provide a forum for people to see the decorated fish that have been on display throughout the community since July but to meet the artists who designed them.

The fish each started life as a wooden blank, a stylized fish that Sigwart described as a cross between a blue gill and a carp.

Businesses purchased the blank wooden fish, which were cut out by students in Port Washington High School’s woodworking class, and they sponsored artists to decorate them.

The decorated fish are as different from each other as can be. There are fish that are colorful and playful, whimsical and thematic. There are glass fish and stainless steel fish, fish with gears and fish with bottle caps. There are mosaic fish and scrapbook fish. There are fish that light up and others that serve. There are intricately detailed fish and simple fish.

The fish are expected to be displayed at the Exploreum throughout the remainder of September, in preparation for the Kiwanis Club’s gala on Oct. 5. The fish are expected to be auctioned off that day.

Organizers are hoping to raise $25,000 from the Merry-Go-Fish project to expand Possibility Playground.

The funds were originally intended to go toward a merry-go-round that could be used by youngsters in a wheelchair or able-bodied children, but local philanthropist Shirli Flack provided those funds as a Christmas gift to the children of the community.

Instead, the money raised will go toward other improvements at the playground. Organizers want to replace the current twisty slide, which is cracked, and add a formal entryway with a Loch Ness Monster climbing structure.

They also want to replace the sandboxes — the sand spills out and is ruining the playground surface — with a replica of the courthouse clock tower and some of the musical instruments — the paddles used to play them are constantly being stolen — with a replica of the Veterans Park bandshell.

The cost of these improvements isn’t known but will exceed the $25,000 goal.

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Wisconsin’s largest paid circulation community weekly newspaper. Serving Port Washington, Saukville, Grafton, Fredonia, Belgium, as well as Ozaukee County government. Locally owned and printed in Port Washington, Wisconsin.

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