OCONOMOWOC — Not even a quickly approaching thunderstorm and a canceled music set was going to stop thousands of people from celebrating the City of Oconomowoc’s 150th anniversary.
After a year of planning, Visit Oconomowoc and the Chamber of Commerce hosted the HOMETown Celebration, marking the city’s sesquicentennial year of existence. The weekend of festivities concluded with a downtown party July 5 that featured food trucks, beer tents, street dancing and a main stage with live music.
“I feel like I’m at the state fair,” said Oconomowoc resident Sue Taylor, who came to get food and listen to country music.
Sara Ninmann, chamber director of community events, said people love to come out and party in downtown Oconomowoc where they can support local businesses. She added that putting on the event during the Fourth of July weekend was a challenge, but the city and chamber were happy to do it to celebrate the 150th anniversary.
Jeff McCarthy, who serves on the chamber board as past president, has been working with Ninmann for a couple of years to bring these events to life. He said seeing the anniversary celebration come to fruition with a large crowd was rewarding.
Ninmann and McCarthy estimated that there were “easily” more than 10,000 attendees throughout the day — including the mayor of Dietzenbach, Oconowomoc’s sister city in Germany. Ninmann said the food trucks and beverage tents had to restock more than she expected throughout the day due to the event’s popularity.
“It just shows you how excited people are about their community,” Ninmann said. “They love to come out and be a part of it.”
While the last of three scheduled music sets was canceled due to inclement weather, Ninmann said the celebration would continue elsewhere. She said downtown Oconomowoc offers a number of small businesses for partiers to duck into and support.
“That’s the nice thing about down here,” Matt Nesser said. “There’s plenty of places where you can stop off if it’s raining.”
Matt and his wife Marissa moved to Oconomowoc a decade ago and said they appreciate the tight knit community where everyone is willing to help each other.
“Especially the street we live on, all of our neighbors know us, they all come over and help if we need it,” Marissa Nesser said. “We love that.”
The Nessers live within walking distance of the HOMETown Celebration and decided to go out with their two dogs to the event. They said they were excited to check out the food trucks and support their community.
Doug Mathison, owner of Say Cheese Curd Company, has been bringing his food truck to events across Wisconsin for 15 years. He called the 150th anniversary celebration an exceptional day for selling food.
“Wisconsin is just such a special place,” Mathison said. “The people celebrate just about anything.”
Contact Mia Thurow at mthurow@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Oconomowoc rings in 150 years with celebration that draws thousands