With a small tear in his eye, and a reluctance to release his grip on the Sam Azinger Trophy, the Noon Club President faithfully delivered the well deserved trophy to the Sunrise Rotary Club on Friday morning at their annual changing of the guard. With a cushy $4,000+ lead going into June, the Noon Club took a nap just before the finish line, and the Sunrise Club made substantial contributions to the Rotary Foundation, putting them in the lead and taking home the coveted award. Sam Azinger vowed that the competition was on, and that the Trophy would be returning to the Noon Club in 2021. Let's not let him down on that promise.   

 

 

The Mequon-Thiensville Gateway Promenade is currently being constructed at the Northeast corner of the intersection of Mequon and Cedarburg Roads. In case you're wondering what the final product will look like, here are the "official" renderings. Congratulations and thank you to everyone who has put in so much time and effort into making this a reality, and thank you to those who have donated. Disclaimer: Any captions should be taken purely for their comedic value, and not taken offense to. The opinions expressed herein are solely that of the Tony Von Reuden Fan Club. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Thiensville-Mequon Rotary Club or its members (except those who are additionally members of the TVR Fan Club). The designations employed in this publication and the presentation of material herein do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Thiensville-Mequon Rotary Club, Rotary International, the Thiensville-Mequon Rotary Foundation, the Mequon-Thiensville Sunrise Rotary Club, the City of Mequon, Village of Thiensville, Groth Design, or the Tony Von Reuden Fan Club.  

 

This promotional profile view shows that the Promenade will probably be a prominent procurement. It also appears to have a misconceived the color of the Milwaukee River, implying that it may in fact be safe to swim in. It also depicts the sidewalk having been moved well away from the street, reflecting the added safety feature. It should be noted that the last photo in this series may completely bring back all safety concerns.

 

The 10 people rendered in this East facing summer sunrise shot demonstrates the Promenade could be heavily patronized at 4:30 in the morning, shortly after the summer sun breaches the horizon, and that mopeds are making a comeback. 

 

 

Another early morning rendering shows a man in a tan suit gazing across the Promenade at two people.  He is clearly wondering "what ever happened to social distancing."

 

 

This shot shows the beautiful interior design of the Promenade and the recognition plaques to be included. This shot is additionally credited with being the most difficult to write a joke about. 

 

This rendering shows kids playing and having fun around the back of the Promenade. It is also acknowledged that a good joke regarding kids playing and having fun is hard to come up with.

 

Here, a father and son approach the Promenade practicing good social distancing. That or the father is attempting to lose his son, or simply forgot that his little legs cannot walk as fast. More likely that the father is just super excited to get up close to the Promenade that he doesn't want to wait for his kid who is "always lagging behind." 

 

Here we see the Promenade from the center of Cedarburg Road, South of Mequon Road.  Two individuals are crossing Cedarburg Road heading West, while several groups, including a large group with a stroller cross Mequon Road anxious to get a closer look at this incredible feature. Meanwhile, a truck is traveling through the intersection toward the family with their stroller. It's unclear which party is violating a traffic signal, but undoubted that someone is. Clearly people not paying attention to the road and signals with such an admirable structure on the Northeast corner will cause substantial dangers, and should be monitored very closely. Also note the traffic jam on North Cedarburg Road of additional gawkers. The Tony Von Reuden Fan Club (Membership Applications Available) is dedicated to building safety awareness to drivers and pedestrians when driving and walking near this beautiful structure. For more information visit www.TVRFanclub.com/safetyaroundthepromenade    

 

 

 

 

 

Representatives of the Village Park Reimagine project, Andy LaFond and Colleen Landish-Hansen, spoke to the club about the status of the Village Park Reimagined projects in Thiensville. 
 

Since 2016, over $300,000 has been raised to make improvements in the park. In recent years we have seen new playground equipment, the PWSB River Stage, new bathrooms, and more. We look forward to a new handicap accessible boat launch, fish ladder, a water feature, and much more.

 

All of this is in great part to donations from local organizations, including Rotary, as well as businesses and individuals.

Although an official meeting wasn’t called, several Rotarians had an impromptu meeting at Thiensville Village Park on a warm afternoon, which ultimately resulted in the presentation of the Rotarian of the Year award being given to John Rosing.

On a separate note, check out the newly carved stone around the Giving Tree. (Rotating this image seems to be outside of the scope of this author's capabilities, but feel free to turn your head 90 degrees to get the full effect.)

 

1. Thank you to Jenne Hohn for volunteering to take over ordering lunches for Tuesday Meetings.

 

2. The Board of Directors voted to extend outdoor meetings in the park through the end of September. Although it may be a little cold toward the end of the summer, general consensus is that there's more comfort meeting outdoors in light of COVID-19. Masks and social distancing are strongly encouraged.

 

3. The Board of Directors voted to cancel Family Night at the end of August and replace it with a regularly scheduled meeting. 

 

4. Tuesday will be a business meeting. Come prepared to join a committee if you are not already on one. We will be encouraging each committee chair to provide a list of members of their committees. If you're not included on a list, you will be assigned to a committee to encourage broad participation in our club's goals and objectives. 

As part of our leadership speaker series, today’s speaker was Dick Gruber. Dick is a former business consultant for Goodyear Tire. He is the father of 5 and grandfather of 9, and currently resides in Cedarburg. 
 

Dick spoke about the importance of customer service, both from the retail side to the wholesale side, and how it can extend to every aspect of business and relationships. He says it all starts with having a good conversation, which leads to a good relationship. He also pointed out the irony of having a customer service department. “If customer service is a department, what is everybody else doing?“

 

Of all the customers Dick had throughout his career, the most successful customers didn’t necessarily have an extensive education, or around the clock.  Instead, one particular customer made it a point to go work the counter so he had the opportunity to connect with his customers. Dick gave a great perspective on ways of providing customer service to advance any business.

Mel’s Charities story can be heard time and time again, and still inspire. Mel’s goal of bringing Mel’s Charities to the southern end of Ozaukee County is coming to fruition in just a couple weeks away. On July 17 and 18, they will be hosting “Mel’s in the Village” where we can rock out on the river for Mel’s Charities.  Hope to see you there.

 

A year of good honest competition has sprung a new home for the Sam Azinger Trophy for the 2020-2021 year. Although the Noon Club gave it their all, and raised $7,201.00, the Sunrise Club brought their A game in June to bring their total contributions to The Rotary Foundation and Polio Plus to $7,599.50, making them the winners of the 2019-2020 head-to-head competition between the two clubs. 

 

As for the Noon Club, the $7,201.00 in contributions is at least a 10-year high, and something to be truly proud of. As for the Sam Azinger Trophy, it will be presented to the Sunrise Club the next opportunity possible. Rest assured, the Noon Club will be back with a vengeance in the 2020-2021 year to bring the Sam Azinger Trophy home. 

The Peterson Apfelbach Award for Excellence in Attraction was presented to Sam Azinger for bringing the most prospective Rotarians to meetings in the 2019-2020 year.  What an honor to receive such a prestigious award named after the person who came up with the idea. 

Changing of the Guard this year was a truly special event, as we gathered together in person for the first time in several months. We thanked our 2019-2020 leadership, enjoyed a year in review presented by Rob Kos, gave out a ton of awards (both legitimate awards and the ones that Sam gave out), and introduced the 2020 Board of Directors: