Based on the promotional materials in the mailboxes bordering the path around the Falls this weekend, there are lots of offers to help gear up for the Memorial Day weekend. Many of the ads and circulars included Memorial Day specials.
For someone who dropped in from outer space, a quick analysis of the content would show that the Memorial Day weekend was about one of two things, grilling meat or doing outdoor projects such as painting.
Many people who live in Wisconsin don’t need a whole lot of encouragement to take the cooking chores outdoors, and a Memorial Day sale can be a strong catalyst to fire up the grill. As with any sale or other event, planning for the event has to begin some months before the kickoff.
No doubt people in the meat processing business knew in advance when they would need to build inventory. A few might have a team to identify which feed lot of steers will be designated for market to be used for the local grocery store’s Memorial Day steak and ground beef sale. They might be Black Angus or black and white Holsteins, but to the people working the feedlots, they are red, white and blue Memorial Day specials on the hoof.
Obviously, similar efforts and advance planning goes into providing the higher volume of hot dog and hamburger buns that will be consumed this weekend. There are lots of players in the effort to put together the Memorial Day sale at Witt’s Piggly Wiggly or the brat sales at the Lions food stand at Memorial Field. For some, the game starts a lot earlier than others. The agribusiness industry is a complex business that to some small extent can be affected by the way we celebrate our national holidays.
Gearing up for the paint and garden equipment sales also takes advance planning, but most of that preparation is out of the realm of the agribusiness sector. Some of this is actually Mother Nature’s doing. No one wants to do outdoor painting in the dead of winter. Winter and time can be very hard on building exteriors. Directions on the paint cans actually caution against applying paint below certain temperatures. If she chooses to bring a little rain, that also is a limiting factor for outdoor painting.
Sooner or later, it gets warm and the rain stops, allowing for better conditions for outdoor painting. The Memorial Day weekend is usually a reliable date that can be expected to finally happen. The crew down at United True Value must know that fact, and as a result has a great buy-one, get-one-free deal on paint. That’s even better than the sale a couple of weeks ago, and that gallon is half gone already, with only a third of the front of the garage painted.
Advance planning and an important upcoming event took an interesting turn a few weeks ago when the Oconto Falls School Board, at the urging of a number of residents, decided it was time to finally do something about a number of needs in the outdoors. Mother Nature and the passing of many, many Memorial Days have had their effect on the track at Memorial Field, the football field, many of our parking lots, and the property around Abrams Elementary.
Each of these is to be addressed with a referendum question on the Aug. 12 fall primary election. The time between now and then is not enough to get a steer ready for market, and so the preparation will be rushed, even though this is not about a meat sale.
Community support seems to be at an all-time high. The efforts to design and build the two softball fields at the high school have paid off, even though it was an abbreviated season for the Lady Panthers. The fields will see lots of action with dust flying this summer as the summer recreation program makes use of the fields.
Adding to the mix is the fact that the reconstruction of state Highway 22 next to Memorial Field may encroach on the limited space and the fact that the lease with the city of Oconto Falls for the use of that facility is set to expire in June 2015, only one more Memorial Day weekend away. Paint won’t do much to upgrade the condition of that track, even if the paint is on sale.
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