Draco the Pet Rock Snake

 As Danielle and I were strolling through downtown Neenah in search of musical chimes, we passed a flower bed where Draco the Pet Rock Snake was residing. I told Danielle I needed to add to Draco.

Apparently community Pet Rock Snakes are a thing. If you search Tik Tok or Facebook for Pet Rock Snakes, there are several pages and posts about them. I vaguely remember seeing something on Future Neenah's Facebook page about Draco. 

Draco is a "snake" made of painted rocks. The community helps by adding a rock to it. It was pretty long when we first saw him. Draco is located in front of Smile Creations SC.

I really meant to paint a rock to add to Draco. I found a rock that was perfect for the design that I wanted. However, I just ran out of time. I ended up using on of the Mandela dot rocks I painted in Kaukauna last year.

After I ran the Fox Cities 5K and we checked out the farmers market, Danielle walked to add to Draco. It was a lot farther down than I remembered.  We left another rock at the end of Draco and hiked back to car. 

If you are looking for a fun activity before winter sets in, find a smooth rock paint it and add to Draco. Or start one in your yard. 

4950. Go to Future Neenah Out to Lunch Concert

Every Thursday during the summer Neenah does a lunch time concert in Shattuck Park.  It is really difficult to go to lunch time concerts since well I am at work. When I saw that Elvis John was going to do a lunch time concert, I mentioned it to the hubby since Grandma loves Elvis John. I re-arranged my schedule to attend.

Shattuck Park is a perfect venue for a lunch time concert. There is plenty of parking nearby, plenty of space to sit, and room for food trucks. There is not a lot of shade so when it's hot, that is a problem. Of course weather could also be a factor.

We had a gorgeous day for a concert in the park. It was in the 70s. We got down to Shattuck Park early enough that I was able to snag space under a tree so we had some shade and had a direct line of site to the stage.

Elvis John was not in his usual jumpsuit but went with the Hawaiian look of a Hawaiian shirt and white pants. I thought it was perfect for an outdoor lunch concert. Grandma wanted the jumpsuit and scarves. 

Like every other Elvis John Concert, I've been to, he does not stay on stage but circles the crowd throughout the entire performance. We did not get to shake his had or sung to this time but it was still nice being able to see him up close. 

It was a great concert, despite the few issues with blown fuses. The hubby even liked the show but did say he moved around too much. I love all his gyrations and movements. That is what makes him Elvis.

I would love to get to more lunch time concerts but with work it is difficult. Who knows maybe next year I'll take some half days to go listen to music. If you are free, you should always check out lunch time concerts in Neenah, Appleton, or whatever city you live in. Most larger communities have some sort of concerts in a park at lunch during the week. 

Checking out the Udderly Euro Car Show

 Heading to DQ we saw that Wisconsin Ave in Neenah was going to be closed for a car show. The hubby likes car shows and I have learned to enjoy them. Since the hubby didn't think he would get home in time to go, I decided to check it out myself.

The Udderly Euro Car Show is a car show that features European cars. It is located in and around Shattuck Park in downtown Neenah. It is free to go check out the cars and the cars are on display from 3-7.

It was a beautiful day to walk around and check out cars. There were parked on Wisconsin Ave, in Shattuck Park, and in the lot in Neenah 1. There were a few food trucks as long as a couple merchandise tents. It was a very well planned and organized event.

I knew this was a European Car Show but I didn't expect so many VWs, BMWs, and Audis in one place. There were very few other European brands. It was mainly VWs and BMWs. 

There were a ton on VW bugs and campers.

Maybe it's because I am the wife of Ford guy but this crowd was not my type of car show. Yes the cars were cool but I felt weirdly out of place. Even though I owned a BMW in the past, I just was not digging this car show. I wouldn't say it was pretentious but the vibe was just different than most car shows.

I am glad I checked it out and really don't need to go back. If someone asked me to meet them down there I would. If you are into VWs, BMWs, or other European cars, I would suggest checking it out. 

Downtown Neenah Decorated Tree Beds

In way to get people downtown Neenah, the downtown businesses decorated the tree beds along Wisconsin Avenue. They were ready for Downtown Neenah's Spring Fling event right before Mother's Day. I wanted to check them out but didn't want to deal with the people so I opted to go another day.

I started at the library where 3 of them were located and walked west to The Plaza and back to the library. I walked the south side of the street and then crossed over and walked the north side making sure I hit all the tree beds.

Many of them were very well done. These businesses got creative and used the whole space including the tree to create their design. They were bright, colorful, and fun.

Others were basic but still creative. I didn't enjoy these as much but the business did try and it they were still fun to look at.

Then there were the advertising ones and those were less fun. Some tied into the theme of what their were advertising (music, farmer's market). 

Others were mainly just signs. Not so much fun.

This one outside of Tricia's Treasures was probably my favorite.

If you get a chance before the beginning of June, go check out the tree beds. They are works of art and I can't believe how much work went into some of them. Hopefully they continue to do this every year.

Neenah Sweet Heart Stroll and Shop

 Every Valentine's weekend, Appleton puts on a Death By Chocolate event and every year I say I want to do it. Last year Danielle and I said we were going to do it next year. Fast forward, twelve months and we are still in a pandemic. Appleton moved their Death by Chocolate "virtual" by offering a 12 piece chocolate treat box for $25. I was going to order one until I saw that Neenah was doing a similar event called Sweet Heart Stroll and Shop which replaced their soup event. The Sweet Heart Stroll and Shop was $20 for 15 treats, 2 beverage samples, and $5 in Neenah cash to be spent downtown. That was  a no brainer. Danielle was unavailable to stroll with me but Tara was.

We started at the Future Neenah office downtown where we picked up our passport and for our goodies. Then it was off to collect treats. I explained this was like trick or treating for adults at area business. Each of the 17 business that participated would stamp our passport and then provide us an individually wrapped treat or beverage sample. Most of the business were within the 2 blocks of downtown. A couples were within fairly close walking distance.

Tara and I opted to start at the far end and work our way back. This proved to be a wise choice for two reasons. 1. Most people started downtown and worked their way out. 2. We didn't have to walk back to our cars after collecting our last treats. At the Double Tree, we also were granted access to the craft fair that was going. It gave us a chance to warm up after walking there. The worst walk was up to the Tailored Hide because the sidewalks weren't shoveled. Maybe we should have driven to that one since it was a good 6 blocks each way.

We thought about having lunch at Greene's Pourhosue but it was quite busy and we would have waited for a table. We opted to do lunch at home after. The hot chocolate with fireball was good though. It warmed the insides but should not be followed with fruit mash up tea from On Wisconsin Nutrition. The tea was excellent but did not agree with the fireball. 

15 treats may not seem like a lot until you start collecting them. Good thing they provided a bag.

This was a great event especially to get people to shop local. I hope Future Neenah continues with it in some fashion even if they bring the soup event back post-pandemic. I prefer sweet treats over soup any day. My only complaint was that there was not enough chocolate treats but it's not a bad thing. If both the death by chocolate and the Sweet Heart Stroll happen next year, I may have a hard time choosing which one to do.