Volunteers for Big Brothers Big Sisters pose near their stand where they sold SunDrop and water
The first annual Sundrop Dayz may have become Shawano’s signature event for the future. Those in attendance came out in large numbers, and the numbers were also large for those who benefited from the event.
Friday night was highlighted by a fish fry that was put on by the Shawano Rotary Club and fish was in high demand.
“We sold 375 fish fry meals,” said Rotary President Chris Marcks. “I honestly had some really high expectations, I would say it met my high expectations to be honest.”
Marcks said with all the planning and hard work, it had the making of being a strong event as long as the weather was able to hold up.
As the day got warmer, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Shawano County and the Forget Me Not Fund benefited from the sales of SunDrop and water.
“We were constantly just swarmed, and we would run out of water and had to keep getting more because we had no idea how much we were going to sell,” said Jennifer Bisterfeldt of Big Brothers Big Sisters.
The sales from those refreshments were profitable, moving $9,000 dollars worth of SunDrop and water combined.
One of the large nonprofit groups the event helped raise money for was the Boys and Girls Club, which was recently established in Shawano. Kim Lodewagon believed the exposure and getting the word out that really helped jump-start the new group.
“I think one of the biggest things that the Boys and Girls Club needs in the starting phase is to let everyone know that we are there, and Sundrop Dayz did that,” she said.
Twigs Beverage may have been the busiest on Saturday of the event. Dan Hartwig stated the museum had record attendance and lines for soda tasting and souvenir purchases were long.
“We wanted everything to go to the non-profits,” he said for the reason of the festival. “We talked to different people and just a lot of people involved helping out were able to get exposure or make money.”