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The Mineral Point Run, held annually on the 4th of July in kicking off the holiday's events in the early morning, always attracts a lot of participants - and of all ages. Above is a trio of runners who completed the mile run, from the "younger" generation.
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The weather was great for the Mineral Point 4th and for any other event going on that day - unlike last year when temperatures reached 104 on the fourth!
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Saturday marked the 100th Anniversary of the Ridgeway Fire Department. They had quite the parade and a great celebration following. People and fire trucks came from a pretty good distance for the event!
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It was baseball, baseball and then more baseball over the weekend at Centennial Park. Actually I started my baseball weekend by going to watch great-nephew Grant Roh's final league game of the season at Harris Park when his team beat Pecatonica. That game lasted until around 9:30 p.m. and I knew I had a big day on Saturday getting ready to start the 16-18 State Babe Ruth Tournament at Centennial Park. Grant will be playing for the Dodgeville 10U team this weekend at Harris Park in that State Cal Ripken Tournament.
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Saturday started the 16-18 tournament and the weather really cooperated - hot, but not too hot and humid, but not to humid. The concession stand went great guns on Saturday and did pretty well on Sunday too - five games both days at that park and two each day at the high school. I saw two no-hitters, some great plays like the Major Leaguers make and some pretty "dumb" plays and base running and several hit batters. That's baseball! I also ran into a fellow UW-Platteville graduate and good buddy in Howard Lenertz, who was there watching his grandson play. He said he'd probably be back next year as his grandson's team (Sauk Prairie) is pretty much made up of underclassmen.
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I've told this story to several people, but last week I was crossing the main street in Dodgeville by the Higbee Hotel heading toward Kwik Trip. There was an IOWA licensed car coming from the north and that driver just wasn't going to stop, so I did. At the same time there were two WISCONSIN licensed cars coming from the south and they too just weren't going to stop, so I did. Then trailing the two cars was a fellow on a motorcycle - he DID STOP!
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My Centennial Park grill had been acting up, so we took a look at it and found two of the burners were cracked. I ordered new ones (3) and they were replaced on Friday with the tournament starting on Saturday morning. We checked the grill out and everything was okay. Come Saturday morning when I started cooking, none of the burners would light, not even with a lighter. Bob Kratochwill was there helping so he went home to get a grill. When we fired his up, it was only burning on the front burners. So he went home again and brought another one - that one worked fine (3rd time's a charm). He adjusted some things on my grill and we got that working, so he was able to take his two grills home and we began cooking for the rest of the tournament. Thanks for your efforts Bob!
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If you get a chance, stop out to Harris Park and watch the 10U tournament that goes Saturday and into at least Tuesday.