Nearly 100 Onalaska area residents made their way to The Mason Jar Gathering Barn on Leonard Road on Saturday, Feb. 24, for the Onalaska Alliance’s annual fundraising banquet and auction.
The banquet helps pay for operating costs and events the Onalaska Alliance organizes — including the town’s annual Easter egg hunt and the Onalaska Apple Harvest Festival — and also maintenance and improvement projects at Carlisle Lake Park.
Aside from the auction and dinner catered by Toledo’s The Crowded Kitchen Catering Co., new Onalaska Alliance President Duane Blair honored the outgoing treasurer, Carol Heifner, along with outgoing president and current Onalaska Alliance vice chair, Cathy Murphy.
Heifner had been the nonprofit organization’s treasurer since 2021, Blair said.
“We say thank you for making a difference … Carol had the fun task of coming in and having to learn Quickbooks, and if you know anything about Quickbooks, it’s not an easy program to learn,” Blair said.
And though Murphy officially stepped down from her role as president in 2022 when Blair took over, he surprised her at the banquet.
“I took over as president in January of 2022, and at our annual meeting I took the board to lunch and we recognized Cathy Murphy as the outgoing president,” Blair said. “However, that didn’t seem like enough for someone who’s given so much. Sorry, Cathy.”
“I specifically told him not to do this,” Murphy told those in attendance.
Blair said during her time as the Onalaska Alliance president, Murphy was always the first to volunteer and show up to events and “has a drive to see dreams become reality like no other person I’ve ever met.”
Murphy has been on the Onalaska Alliance board since 2009 and served as president from 2013 to 2022. Along with her work for the nonprofit, Murphy worked for Onalaska Elementary School District for 23 years. Blair also read a letter from one of Murphy's former colleagues in the district.
“In her 23 years of teaching, she touched many lives … She mentored many teachers and family members throughout the years at the Onalaska School District, and she is missed,” Blair said.
Blair also thanked Rob Langhorn for continuing to be the host for the Carlisle Lake Park, of which the majority of the money raised Saturday night would go toward.
“The Carlisle Lake operating budget is roughly $14,000 a year, and that includes property tax, utilities, supplies, the dam inspection fee is like $1,200 dollars, vandalism (repair) and trail maintenance,” Blair said.
Insurance and other maintenance costs add to that $14,000 total, he added.
Throughout the past few years, Blair laid out a list of goals the Alliance accomplished at Carlisle Lake Park, including constructing a new nature trail and improving the existing trail, installing a security gate, bringing utilities to the RV and trailer pad along with the maintenance building, constructing a storage building for maintenance equipment and installing additional lighting to improve safety.
Additionally, Blair previewed some of the upcoming events the Alliance will be putting on this year, including the return of Music in the Park at Carlisle Lake. While exact times and dates have yet to be announced, in July, the Freckles Brown Band will be performing at the park, and in August, the Llewellyn Family Band will take the stage. Blair added they are working on getting a third concert set up.
The annual Onalaska Community Easter Egg Hunt will be held on Saturday, March 30, at the Carlisle Park by the Onalaska High School at noon.
The final major event the Onalaska Alliance will be putting on will be the Onalaska Apple Harvest Festival, scheduled for Oct. 4-6.
Established in 2009, the Onalaska Alliance is a nonprofit aiming to create innovative and sustainable economic and educational opportunities which align with Onalaska and the surrounding area’s rural lifestyle.
To learn more about the Onalaska Alliance, visit https://www.onalaskaalliance.org/ or email onalaskaalliance09@gmail.com.
