Story originally printed in the Holmen Courier or online at www.holmencourier.com

Published - Sunday, June 03, 2007

Sunfish Days fest bats .750

By ADAM BISSEN | Staff writer

The 31st annual Onalaska Sunfish Days attracted a good crowd Thursday, Saturday and Sunday night, but Friday’s attendance left something to be desired.

Still, Sunfish Days organizers — including Onalaska Festivals Inc. President Dawn Kulcinski, who announced this would be her last year running the festival — said three out of four ain’t bad.

No one was sure why attendance was so low on Friday, especially since it was the rare festival day without rain.

“I was surprised it was as bad as it was,” Kulcinski said this week. “Nobody was out Friday night, so I guess the disappointment was that I had really good bands that night and I didn’t have people listen to them.”

Saturday morning started with some sprinkles, but the rain didn’t stop the parade. The softball tournament also ran smoothly, with the only major delay coming from an injured umpire who took a line drive to the shin.

Local classic rock favorites the Flashback Band and the Remainders performed Saturday night, filling the Onalaska OmniCenter and creating a scene that was the polar opposite of the previous night.

Onalaska's Sunfish Days parade was a somewhat wet affair Saturday, but that didn't dampen the spirits of the Luther High School marching band Photo by Randy Erickson

“That place was packed. I didn’t even want to walk through the arena. It was like, ‘Oh, my God.’ I just sat back and enjoyed it,” said Lil Smith, the 2007 parade marshal.

Smith, a longtime Sunfish Days volunteer, said she would be running the festival next year as president of Onalaska Festivals. She also was president in 2003.

One change Smith suggested for the 2008 Sunfish Days was postponing the start time of the craft fair, which debuted this year in the OmniCenter’s second arena. The craft fair started at 8 a.m. on Saturday — four hours before the parade — and business didn’t pick up until the afternoon. The vendors still said they were excited to return to Sunfish Days next year, she said.

Smith also said she was unsure if she could continue the Battle of the Bands in 2008. The contest attracted a good crowd of young people Thursday night, but Smith said she lacked the experience and time to put such a large event together.

Fourteen bands competed this year, with Fredrick, an acoustic group from La Crescent, Minn., winning. The 22-year-old Ashley Janicke, a former co-worker of Kulcinski’s, booked the Battle of the Bands for the first three years.

Sunfish Day’s final entertainment event, New Age Wrestling, also did well, attracting a crowd four times larger than last year, Kulcinski said.

The Onalaska Festivals president is a volunteer position held by people with full-time jobs. Kulcinski said she’s cutting back her involvement with Sunfish Days to “get (her) life back” and concentrate her efforts on other festivals.

Still, Kulcinski said that Sunfish Days is a great event and could be better run with more community involvement. “Everybody thinks that they could have a better festival, and if they want to try it, please come on board and come to a (Sunfish Days) meeting sometime.”

SUNFISH DAYS RESULTS