New festival shows community spirit

Sun Drop Dayz is more than just a good time. It is a good cause.

Organizers of the new summer festival debuting in Shawano this weekend have invited several nonprofit groups in the area to help make the event a success — and to share in the proceeds.

The Boys & Girls Club of Shawano, Shawano County Farm Bureau and Rotary Club of Shawano are among the organizations that will benefit from the two-day music festival kicking off Friday.

While admission is free throughout the festival, sales from food and beverages are expected to generate revenue to support the event and to give participating nonprofits a little payday.

Stacey Cicero, executive director of Safe Haven emergency shelter, said she credits Sun Drop Dayz organizers with being “community-minded” about how they structured the new festival, to include several nonprofits in the ambitious plan.

Cicero and others from Safe Haven will be operating a stand selling bratwursts for $3 each to raise funds for the organization, which assists victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.

“This is a great opportunity,” Cicero said. “It’s Wisconsin — who doesn’t want a brat?”

Sun Drop Dayz opens at 5 p.m. Friday and continues all day Saturday with live music, a beer tent, arts and crafts, kids inflatables, a car show, a petting zoo, food vendors and many other attractions. The festival grounds is centered on Elizabeth Street between Main Street and Lincoln Street.

Organizers hope to make the festival a yearly tradition marking the start of summer in the Shawano area.

Other participating nonprofits include Junior Achievement Wolf River District, Shawano Area Matthew 25, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northeastern Wisconsin, Leadership Shawano County, Shawano Pathways and the Alzheimer’s Association.

The Boys & Girls Club and Junior Achievement are the main nonprofit partners of the first Sun Drop Dayz.

Junior Achievement district director Sandy Ebbinger said her organization will have volunteers assisting in many ways with operation of the festival, serving as bartenders, selling raffle tickets and staffing the information booth.

Ebbinger said there is no way to predict how much Junior Achievement or other nonprofits will benefit financially, considering that the festival has never been held before. She expressed gratitude, however, that organizers thought to include Junior Achievement, and she said the group is dedicated to making the event a success.

“There really is a great deal of unknown,” she said. “We just want to make sure it’s a hit with the community.”

After Friday’s kickoff with a fish fry and live music from 5-10 p.m., most nonprofits will join Saturday with food and beverage booths open during a full day of festivities between 11 a.m. and 10 p.m.

SAM 25, which operates a homeless shelter in Shawano, will be presenting a dessert booth stocked with homemade cookies, cupcakes and other baked goods.

Jennifer Laude Bisterfeldt, executive director of SAM 25, said the festival offers a chance not only for her nonprofit group to possibly reap financial rewards, but also to gain valuable new exposure within the community. She applauded organizers for being inclusive with nonprofit groups.

“It was wonderful that they thought of that,” she said. “We jumped at the chance.”

The Shawano County Farm Bureau will set up shop in its familiar miniature red barn and treat festival goers to ice cream and root beer floats, with other exotic flavors courtesy of Sun Drop bottler Twig’s Beverage. Prices range from $2 for a small ice cream to $4 for a large float.

Farm Bureau President Deb Mielke said proceeds will benefit FFA chapters whose members show up to help run the ice cream stand. Mielke said she was happy to see the organization included in the new festival plans.

“I think it’ll be fun,” she said. “From what I’ve heard, this could be a really big crowd.”