PHOTOS: Tosa Families Hang at National Night Out

Wauwatosa's National Night Out event at Hart Park draws a big crowd of families ready to spray fire hoses and laugh with their neighbors.

Wauwatosa families and neighbors gathered at Hart Park starting at 4 p.m. on Tuesday to enjoy National Night Out, an annual event devoted to public safety and fun. Police and fire officials showed off their squad cars and resuce vehicles all night, and a few lucky kids even got to spray a real fire hose. With food, ice cream, games and dance performances by area kids, the event went off without a hitch. Patch was even there saying hello to readers! Did you come over and meet us?

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HartFest 2012

Festival attendees enjoy race, music, food

With only a few brief sprinklings of rain drops, and hot sunny weather, HartFest was the place to be in Wauwatosa Saturday. Couples listened to bands play music. Children slid down inflatable slides and danced in water. And runners took to the streets. People walked their dogs. See these images and more from HartFest 2012. You can see more photos on the Wauwatosa Patch Facebook site.

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Wauwatosa Community Groups Scramble to Make up HUD Funding Cuts

The Hart Park Senior Center might have to cut programming or staffing after a 21-percent reduction in community development block grant funding.

The Hart Park Senior Center might have to cut staffing and programs as the result of a federal government decision to slash community development block grant funding to Wauwatosa by 21 percent. The Senior Center, which partners with the West Suburban YMCA, runs social, wellness, and educational services for senior citizens at 7300 Chestnut St. Merry Johnson, Senior Center director, said the center sponsors 175 to 200 individual classes per month for local seniors, working largely to combat their isolation and improve their physical and mental health. “There may very well be program and staffing cuts,” she said. “But there may be other options.” Maybe, she said, someone would come forward with a donation to make up for the funding loss. “We…

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HartFest Attractions: LoveMonkeys, Wiffle Ball and Much More

The annual festival runs Friday and Saturday to benefit local charities.

You may remember wiffle ball from your childhood. You can play it again — with adults — during a Saturday tournament for charity as part of this weekend’s two-day HartFest activities. HartFest, which is free, is located at Hart Park at the Wauwatosa Rotary Performance Pavilion near 72nd and State Street in Wauwatosa. The festival — which features musical acts like Milwaukee-area natives LoveMonkeys, several tournaments and fundraisers, a skateboarding demonstration, food from local vendors, and other activities — will run Friday, June 15 from 5 p.m. to close and Saturday June 16 from noon until close. Ryan Melcher, 31, of Wauwatosa, commissioner of the Milwaukee Wiffle Ball league, started that league with friends and moved it from the …

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Jessica McBride

9:32 pm on Wednesday, June 13, 2012

He's just on vacation for a week! :)   more ›

Hart Park Playground Now Open for Business

The heck with official openings. There's nothing to stop kids from coming to enjoy Wauwatosa's newest attraction.

The wraps have come off Wauwatosa's new community playground in Hart Park, and it didn't take long for scores of families to discover it. Most of the "keep out" construction fencing was taken down Wednesday morning, and soon, as if drawn by a magnet, kids arrived to take charge. Nobody, especially those around 8 years old, was bound to wait for the official grand opening and ribbon-cutting scheduled for June 8, and they didn't. The play structures have been in place for a weeks, the spongy rubber play surface has set and is deemed safe for rough and ready action, and sod was laid last week and has been watered in. So, let the play begin. Orion, 5, of Milwaukee enjoyed playing and snacking on a mini-picnic while his mom, Andrea Voncks, …

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Jim Price

1:57 pm on Friday, May 25, 2012

Alfred, I've had the opposite observation. I recently wrote about the playground equipment at Lincoln Elementary School, which was installed less than 15 years ago and made mostly of steel components. Many pieces were peeling and rusting and moving parts had become frozen. About half of it needs to be replaced. By contrast, the play structure at Jacobus Park was installed nearly 20 years ago and …   more ›

Editor's Notebook

Where You Can Park Your Politics in Wauwatosa

Political expression is prohibited in Hart Park, except for where it's not, and except if somebody decides maybe it isn't.

Sometimes the news arrives in strange packages. In the case of a behind-the-scenes controversy delivered to me last week, it was as full of surprises as a set of Russian nesting dolls. The subject, wouldn't you know, was politics. I was treated to a real-time exercise in civic sausage-making when I was blind-copied on a lengthy exchange of e-mails between a number of public officials, some elected, some appointed. Because I was, in effect, eavesdropping, I will leave out most of the names involved. But I think the subject is of public interest and the questions ought to be discussed in the open. It began with a challenge from an alderperson to the city attorney, Alan Kesner (I don't mind naming Kesner because he agreed to discuss it with …

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Bucky

5:02 pm on Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Tracy you scream horns and drums for the 1st amendment and free speech but when it doesn't fit your agenda then you call it harassment. So you and only you speak of IP address's and want to silence my 1st amendment rights. What a hypocrite.   more ›

Weather Should Be Picture Perfect for Tosafest This Weekend

The 32nd annual event features food, entertainment and family fun, plus a 9/11 memorial ceremony.

The community will come together this weekend to enjoy local fare and entertainment during the 32nd annual Tosafest. The event, to be held Friday evening and all day Saturday, supports local community safety, education and neighborhood improvement projects. "We are hoping that we are going to have a really good year because the weather is going to be great," said Ann Raisler, one of the organizers of the event. "So many businesses this year were really good about sponsoring us that we are thinking that we are will be able to bring in a lot more money this year than in the past few years," Raisler added. Tosafest also allows participating local businesses and non-profit organizations to market themselves to the Wauwatosa community, Raisler …

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Skateboarders, Bikers 'Ollie Up to It' in School as Well as After

Skateboarding group gives students extra motivation to do well in school.

Members of the new Endless Skate Club at Longfellow Middle School are practicing their skills, while Tosa Skateboarders United continues working to raise money to build a skate park at Hart Park. Judy Doyle, an active member and secretary of TSU, is now also the new Endless Skate Club’s volunteer advisor and founder.  Doyle lost her son Jack in 2006 at age 13.  Jack was an avid inline skater and involved in the early days of TSU, an organization formed in 2005.  The organization is working towards building a skate park in Hart Park for skateboarders, inline skaters and BMX riders.  In Jack’s memory, Doyle and her husband Mike have been active members of TSU and committed to supporting the youth of Wauwatosa who are interested in …

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