The Shawano area is set to unveil a new tradition, as the first annual Sun Drop Dayz festival will debut Friday night and Saturday.
Ideas to form a marquee first began to take shape almost two years ago and have now finally come to fruition.
“Sundrop Dayz first started with an idea and as a service project,” explained Shawano Clerk-Treasurer Karla Duchac. “We just started developing as a group and trying to figure out how we can build on this idea to make it become a reality and very profitable idea for the Shawano area.”
Duchac says the city did their homework and looked to other successful events put on in the area, such as the very popular Oktoberfest celebration in Appleton, which has successfully continued to grow in popularity.
“That grew from just a little seed to as big as it is right now, so we got a lot of ideas from them and around the cranberry fest up north on things to look for, things to plan for and things like that, so without their guidance, I don’t think we’d be where we are right now.”
In essence, the ultimate goal of the event is to give back to the community’s nonprofit groups. Those benefiting include: Leadership Shawano County, Junior Achievement Wolf River District, Shawano Area Matthew 25, the Boys and Girls Club of Shawano, Safe Haven, the Shawano County Farm Bureau, Shawano Pathways and Big Brothers Big Sisters Shawano.
“We are going to set up a fund the next couple of years after we start building up our revenue stream and provide a grant-type fund for other non-profit organizations in the area who are in need of money in order to keep their organizations up and running,” Duchac said. “This will be something that we haven’t had in Shawano before.”
A fish fry will be held Friday night from 5:00 – 9:00 p.m. with musical entertainment from Randy Bruce and The Cougars, followed by all day events on Saturday, beginning with a 5K run/walk at 9:00 a.m.