Our park

Our park

Our five-year old calls the park across the street “Our Park”, because that’s what he thought he heard me say the first time I took him to Erb. He’s right, though. Erb Park is our park. It’s your park too. It belongs to all of us in that wonderful, universal way all public parks belong [...]

Snow emergency

Snow emergency

Yesterday morning, I watched the news scroll across my screen and realized I was facing a snow emergency so severe it made me slightly late for work. The forecast for today, a high of 59 with showers, followed by 13 straight days of no precipitation, meant I needed to move quickly if I wanted to [...]

A tree competition grows in Appleton

A tree competition grows in Appleton

Those stately old Erb Park trees have witnessed a lot in their hundreds of years -- the design and construction of three swiming pools, the 1970s Dutch Elm plague, the historic wind shear storm of 2011 and more teen-aged mischief than they'll ever report. This past weekend, they watched and participated in the Wisconsin Arborist [...]