It’s time to embrace the season as Wisconsin Life host Angela Fitzgerald visits Winterfest in Lake Geneva. The annual festival is home to the United States Snow Sculpting Championship, where teams from across the nation gather to compete as they create massive sculptures. Angela talks with Mike Austin from the Wisconsin-based team “Up to Snow Good” to learn what it takes to create larger than life art. Angela also checks out all the events happening at the festival including an enormous ice castle.
Fitzgerald also shares a collection of all-new stories from our Wisconsin Life team, including a profile of Melissa Omernick from Gleason. She is an experienced dog musher who has turned her attention to skijoring. It’s a winter sport that combines dog sledding and cross-country skiing.
Next, the Hip-Hop Chess Club of Wisconsin, located in Milwaukee, combines the game of chess with hip-hop music to provide a fun and positive atmosphere for kids to learn the game. Chess teaches kids valuable decision-making skills while giving them a creative outlet to learn how to rap and make beats.
Then after seeing Janesville’s homeless population on his mail route, Tom Hathaway started an organization to help those in need. He gathers volunteers and holds numerous fundraisers throughout the year. His organization also raises awareness of the services that are available to the homeless and those less fortunate.
We travel to the Lac Du Flambeau/Minocqua area to meet Ryan Young, a Two-Spirit artist who discovered a connection to gender identity in Ojibwe Culture. “Two-spirit” refers to a person who identifies as having both a masculine and a feminine spirit, and is used by some Indigenous people to describe their sexual, gender and/or spiritual identity.
Finally, we meet Denzel Pettigrew, the first African American owner of an indoor soccer team. He takes a good deal of pride in the diverse team he’s assembled. The Milwaukee-based Brew City Legends compete in the Premier Arena Soccer League that includes teams from Chicago, Cincinnati and Detroit. The team won its division in its first season and is looking to repeat.
