Many of the fields bordering the path around the Falls sprouted a new look this week as corn stalks sprouted bright yellow tassels to contrast with the dark green below. The signs of the corn plants moving to the next stage of their growth suggest positive things are happening and build anticipation for fresh local sweet corn and a bumper corn crop.
Anticipation is a quality that does a lot to keep the spirit moving. Predicting the future is never easy. Some just sit by and see what the new day brings. Others do what they can to bring about the preferred future. A couple of great examples of working to bring about a preferred future came into play early Monday.
At River Island Golf Course in Oconto Falls, the Oconto Falls Area Chamber of Commerce was hosting the third annual Joint Chamber Golf Outing. This is an event that partners with the Oconto chamber with every-other-year hosting by each organization. The preferred future on some minds might have been making a hole-in-one shot to win one of the cars that were offered as prizes on two of the holes.
While winning one of the cars was a long shot—actually a very long, accurate shot, there was another more realistic preferred future that was associated with the event. The purpose of the event was to raise funds for joint marketing activities. Rather than just waiting to see what the new day might bring, the members of the two chambers would be working to make a better future happen.
Often there has been a friendly, and sometimes not so friendly, competition between the communities on many different levels. The two communities often are confused. When that happens, in some settings this observer has occasionally distinguished between the two communities by mentioning which one was upstream from the sewage treatment plant, but that is a geography lesson for another time and place.
It is interesting to note that a number of businesses and organizations are members of both chambers. Membership provides networking opportunities and the opportunity to make both communities a better place.
The chamber officers and the volunteers working on the Golf Outing Committee are not paid but had their hearts and heads in the right place. Sometimes leadership working for that preferred future is a bit lacking in some quarters. The leadership in the two chambers has enthusiastically worked to fill that void.
A second example was seen literally at the ground-floor level just north of the high school parking lot. The situation was the pouring of the concrete floor for the concession/restroom/storage building that is being built next to the Panther Pride/CMH/ Saputo Cheese softball complex.
The heavy concrete distribution equipment looked a bit like some type of massive insect or bird with a long snout about to pull something from the earth, but in reality, the nozzle was able to reach out to the extensive footprint of the new building and the observation deck that will allow for a great view of both fields. It will be impressive and is a great example of people and organizations coming together to make a long-awaited difference for the community. Even without that building, the two fields saw extensive use during the first summer of operation.
Those softball fields were the first phase of a dream to replace outdated outdoor facilities that no longer were adequate to meet community needs. The second phase of that effort comes less than two weeks from now as residents of the school district have the opportunity to give approval to moving the track and football field from the city-owned Memorial Field and freeing up space at that location for a redesigned baseball field complex.
The reaction to the initial use of the softball fields has been very positive, with similar positive response anticipated for the relocated football field and track combination. That is the preferred future.
A second question on the Aug. 12 ballot also is about making a preferred future a reality. Increased computer access for students and recruiting/retaining high quality teachers are keys to preparing our students for a brighter future.
When it comes to anticipation, it’s not just the bright tassels on the corn stalks. The tassels on the OFHS grads marching across that graduation stage have come to mean something special. We need to continue to invest in our young people and confidently anticipate they will provide a great return on that investment.
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