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Fox Jazz Fest Renamed, Relocated, Resuscitated, and
Refunded
by Bob
Lowe
August 6, 2004
The
former Neenah Jazz-Fest, formerly hosted by Future Neenah,
Inc. and held at Shattuck Park for the past nine years over
the Labor Day weekend now has a new home, a new name, a new
sponsor and a new life. The outdoor music festival is now
called Fox Jazz Fest and is scheduled for Sept. 4-5 at Jefferson
Park in Menasha. It will run from noon to 7 p.m. both Saturday
and Sunday. Admission is free. National headliners are pianist
David Berkman on Saturday and T.S. Monk Sextet on Sunday.
Monk is the drummer son of legendary jazz pianist Thelonious
Monk, perhaps best known for his signature composition, ‘Bout
Midnight." Among the regional and local musicians scheduled
to perform are saxophonist John Salerno, singer Janet Planet
& Friends, vocalist Chris Salerno, Playtime, guitarist
Dave Sullivan, singer Todd Bufa, the Noah Harmon Trio, cellist/pianist
Matt Turner, the Brenda Theabo Quartet, the jazz ensembles
from Neenah and Menasha high schools, St. Mary Central High
School, Seton Middle School, singer /pianist Helen Exner and
bassist Red Brown, The Lights Band and a Sunday jazz service
featuring vocalist Mary Catterton. Future Neenah announced
in April that it was putting the festival on hiatus because
of plans to reconstruct Riverwalk, a $3.2 million waterfront
improvement project along the Fox river that includes the
construction of a two-story pavilion in Shattuck Park as its
centerpiece. Pianist/composer John Harmon, who booked guest
artists for the festival, said he didn’t want to see
the event die on its 10th anniversary. A committee was soon
formed to keep the festival alive. Appleton businessman Paul
Hoffman from the design construction firm Hoffman Corp. in
Greenville, made a $5,000 donation to the effort, which resuscitated
the festival for at least one more year. Other funds were
raised to pay for the guest artists appearing at the music
festival. Many local musician expressed their support by agreeing
to perform for free. Fox Brewing Co. will be serving beer
and other beverages. Menasha Grill and Café Beignet
will be serving food, which will include Cajun fare. Boaters
will have ample opportunities to tie up their craft and view
the event from the water. Harmon said more funds are still
needed, not only for this year’s festival but for next
year’s event. The festival web site is at www.foxjazzfest.com.
PACKERS INTRASQUAD GAME – Only in Green Bay would 60,000
fans turn out to see what is essentially a practice game between
the Green Bay Packers offensive and defensive teams. The Packers
Family Night at 7 p.m. Saturday at Lambeau Field is sold out.
The intrasquad scrimmage will be televised on WLUK-TV Channel
11. Following the game, Head Coach Mike Sherman and some Packer
players will hold a question-and-answer session. The evening
also will include "Jerseys Off Our Back," a drawing
in which 20 Packers’ jerseys worn by the players will
be given away. The night will end with a fireworks show. Parking
is $5 The lots open at 5 p.m. RESTAURANT UPDATE – Here
are some new Fox Cities restaurants that recently opened that
you might want to check out. Panchero’s Mexican Grill,
recently opened a second outlet in the Wal-Mart outlot at
3719 E. Calumet St., on Appleton’s far east side. The
Madison-based restaurant chain also has another outlet on
Casaloma Drive, near the Fox River Mall. It will share a building
with Atlanta Bread Co., which has a 4,300 square foot bakery
in the same shopping plaza. Smokin’ J’s Bar and
BBQ, 527 W. College Ave., opened its doors last week. It specializes
in port ribs smoked over hickory wood, beef brisket, burgers
and pulled pork. Shoua Products, 901 W. Wisconsin Ave., is
a carry out Asian food place, specializing in Hmong egg rolls.
Cold Stone Creamery opened in the J.C. Penny wing of the Fox
River Mall in Grand Chute this week. The ice cream shop offers
everything from cones to a Banana Splitacular. Each ice cream
treat is customized with items like fresh fruit, roasted almonds,
cookie bits, brownie chunks and pile filling.
High Rollers Restaurant, inside the Vegas Lounge at 211 W.
College Ave., recently renamed in order to obtained greater
visibility. The new menu will offer more Cajun items, which
is ironic for a place that had its start as Champagne Charlie’s
Cajun Restaurant. Wilber Vandenburgt, who operated a competing
Cajun restaurant across the street, has closed. A number of
popular restaurants recently completed a makeover, expanded
or built from a scratch.. They include the newly remodeled
Chef Chu’s Chinese Cuisine, 719 W. College Ave.; Apollon,
the Greek restaurant a 207 N. Appleton St.; A Taste of India,
a Milwaukee-area restaurant which opened a second branch at
2333 W. Wisconsin Ave., in Grand Chute, near the Copps Food
Center. The new site will hold the restaurant and banquet
room, each holding 75 people, plus a double kitchen capable
of providing catering for up to 500 people. In a few weeks,
a 6,000 square feet grocery store specializing in Indian food
will be built on the adjacent property. Waverly Beach Restaurant
at the south end of Oneida Street in Appleton, recently completed
a remodeling under its new ownership that includes members
of the Vic Ferrari Band. The changes include new patio tables
and cutting windows in the lower level. Crabby Julie’s,
which has a "Crabby Hour", as well as homemade pizza,
burger and fish, opened in Sherwood at State 114 and State
55. Juquila, on South Memorial Drive near the Valley Fair
Mall in Appleton, completed its conversion from the bakery
to a full-fledged restaurant. Valley Fair recently set up
two coffee houses, Dunn Bros Coffee, offering a limited menu
of desserts, bakery items, sandwiches and soup, and Caffe
Tazza, which also will serve specialty sandwiches, soups,
salads and desserts Grazies Pasta Co., a casual upscale made-from-a-scratch
pizzeria, bakery and pasta shop, opened last month in the
Darboy area. A new sports bar and diner, the 5th Quarter Restaurant
in Little Chute, will open later this month with a 150-seat
banquet room.
Sammy’s Pizza relocated from downtown Appleton Street
location to its new home at 1513 N. Richmond Street last month.
And a brand new GingeRootz Asian Grille on North Ballard Road
near Northland Avenue, replaced the former Jade Chinese on
N. Richmond Street. Diners can see the chefs prepare a variety
of Asian dishes from places like Hong Kong, Korea, Japan and,
of course, China. Confucius, another Chinese Restaurant, is
set to open this month next to Galvan’s on East Northland
Avenue in Appleton. And Krispy Kreme, the doughnut maker,
is slated to open a brand new facility later this month at
Bluemound Drive and College Avenue, the former Rich’s
Bakery location PIONEER INN RESORT REBUILDING – The
Pioneer Resort & Marina will begin construction in September
of a 5-story multimillion redevelopment project that will
transform the historic 1965-built complex into a 21st Century
luxury condominium and rental facility. Using the existing
foundation, the new 5-story structure will consist of one-,
two, and three-bedroom condo-rental units. The project also
will include expansion of the marina, adding two additional
piers that will provide 250 slips for boats. A model is open
to the public. The work is scheduled for completion in the
summer of 2005.
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