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Shell Lake Installs Kiosk as Part of Phase One of Town Improvements

Shell Lake Installs Kiosk as Part of Phase One of Town Improvements

SHELL LAKE, Wis. -- Last year when the new Shell Lake information kiosk was approved, resident artist and owner of Brickyard Pottery, Mary Dosch, began sketching out ideas for two, 4x6 feet panels that would be used on both sides of the kiosk whose installation would be near the Shell Lake Fish near the turn-around on highway 63.

On Wednesday, May 31, Mary was there with her crew. Deb Grotjahn, Dexie Dunham, Marty Dolmy, Mary and Wanda Zeug kneeling in the front, to grout the mosaic, finishing their part for now. There are plans to add large mosaics to the outside of the kiosk, one side facing the highway, the other facing the lake.

This group put in at least fifteen, two-hour work session during the winter, and after well over three hundred hours were spent on the creation of the mosaic’s story, it’s finally in place due to what Mary calls, “a true community effort.”

Community meaning the Parks and Recreation Committee who approved the placement of the kiosk, and organizations like the City of Shell Lake that did all the site prep and labor, a tourism grant of 1,000 dollars, the Economic Development Committee throwing in 4,000 dollars and 2,000 came from the general public. The Community Ed. Program takes credit for the talent that was supplied by Mary’s group.

According to Ken Schultz, any monies left over from the kiosk, which will be completely finished soon with its LED lights, brochures and the sign that reads INFORMATION along the top of the kiosk on a separate sign board, will be used to further the Shell Lake Focus Committee’s Phase One and Phase Two plans.

This committee is made up of representatives from the Art Center, Theater in the Woods, the Chamber, Town and Country Days, the school and the business community and they’ve already completed their first goal with two poles strong enough to hold a banner across the highway. 

Their next goal was the kiosk, which will be finished soon with lots of room for brochures from Shell Lake and a small surrounding area’s businesses and attractions, protected from the weather by the generous roof.

The last goal of the first phase is to have the city crew attach spring-loaded hardware on thirteen light poles along the highway for the coming soon thirteen custom-made banners to hang. 

These banners were created by students of the Shell Lake Schools and Mike Macone, another resident artist and owner of the Potter’s Shed, was responsible for tweaking the drawings and creating the finished banners which will be installed by the city crew when they arrive.

So far there is only one item on the Phase Two list, and that’s to create downtown signage that can be seen from the highway. Whether the signage will go on the wall of the Gene’s Antique business or elsewhere is still being debated. Also being discussed is whether the signage will be the actual name of the business or simply a symbol, like the business’s are depicted on one side of the kiosk. The other side of the kiosk being mosaic pictures of things to do in Shell Lake. 

Other Mary Dosch/Shell Lake mosaics can be found in the Post Office,

And on the outside wall of the library;

And outside the Arts Center’s building.

Shell Lake is tired of being thought of as a backwards cow town and it’s on its way to looking smarter and more beautiful than ever before, thanks to a lot of people with some great vision, and of course to the Department of Transportation (DOT) who help start the movement with lots of valuable street improvements. 

Last Update: Jun 08, 2017 11:53 am CDT

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