By Ryan Whisner
A statue of a young boy fishing has been installed along Fort Atkinson’s downtown riverwalk on a raised platform located east of the pedestrian bridge in memory of Richard W. Milburn.
The Fort Atkinson City Council unanimously approved placement of the statue at its meeting Tuesday.
Council member Megan Hartwick admits that she will likely soon be walking by the statue with her family.
“I have two little boys who usually plan our family walks around which statues they want to go look at or leave little rocks by,” she said. ““We’re lucky to have individuals who want to donate money to add nice things like this to our community that would be otherwise difficult for our city to do.”
She noted that such things add value to the community and encourage residents to get outside and use the riverwalk, do more family walks or head to Bicentennial Park.
Currently, the city has approximately 39 pieces of public art within its parks, open spaces, and public areas. Among them, Fort Atkinson native Brady Lueck completed the Glacial River Trail archway off West Sherman Avenue, the flying pig outside the Jones Market and the memorial recognizing the late Don Bakker, one of the founders of the Tour de Fort bicycle club. Sally Koehler was responsible for “Our Poetry Lady” that is along the trail and the late L.A. Wilson carved out the totem pole.
In addition, local artist Gerald Sawyer completed the “In Dios” (Native American image of God) sculptures flanking the Main Street bridge and “Fireflies” at the corner of Robert Street and Riverside Drive.
Several others located throughout the city were purchased through the company Randolph Rose to keep the similar scale, color palate and theme. For its efforts in its unique placement of the statues, the city has been lauded by the company. Photos of the Jones Park entrance featuring the pitcher statue winding up on one pedestal to pitch to the catcher statue across the way at the other pedestal was once used in the Randolph Rose catalog. Another popular example is Swing Kids. Located along the bike trail, the swing appears to be attached to the tree during the summer when there are leaves on the tree.
Council President Chris Scherer said he loved the fishing boy statue and thought the location was ideal.
Also, he was impressed with the city’s inventory of public art, which Parks and Recreation Department Director Brooke Franseen put together for her presentation to the council.
“It’s amazing when you start to add some of those dollar amounts up to see how much has been invested in artwork and beautification along our parks and our bike path,” he said. “It was really nice to see.”
Franseen told the council Tuesday that in May 2021, she was approached by a person wishing to fund a statue on the riverwalk or bike path in memory of her son, who had been an avid fisherman.
“We had many meetings with the donor and our park staff to determine the best location and an appropriate statue that had a consistent look with other statues in town,” Franseen said. “We determined the fishing boy statue would look great on the concrete ledge in front of the condos on the riverwalk.”
She said the location was chosen due to the statute being on a raised platform under a light and near the river which is appropriate for a fishing statue.
Franseen said that when initially asked about possible statues, the donor did not have any specific design in mind. Thus, she directed the donor to the Randolph Rose website for inspiration.
“Randolph Rose’s website was very helpful in helping her decide on a couple of options and then they offered 10% off,” she said.
During discussion at a recent Plan Commission meeting, Commissioner Jill Kessenich inquired whether the city and donor had investigated hiring a local artis to create the work.
However, after plan commission meeting, Franseen told the city council that she did talk with Mark Dziewior, who had sculpted the K-9 war dog at McCoy Park and then three dogs’ statue at Rock River Park to see if there was interest in such an opportunity. While he appeared interested, she noted that he admitted that the cost would be significantly higher than what anything from Randolph Rose was likely to cost.
In the end, Franseen and the donor opted for the fishing boy to be placed at the location it now sits.
The parks director said the statue is in line with the city’s Comprehensive Plan, which outlines cultural resource goals and objectives, encouraging the enhancement and beautification of downtown and commercial corridors and other key places throughout the community.
“The fishing boy statue will not only be special to the family, but it will serve the community as a whole by providing an interest and attraction to the riverwalk,” Franseen said.
Two photos above: In memory of Richard Milburn, a statue of a young boy fishing with his puppy sitting next to him has been installed along Fort Atkinson’s downtown riverwalk on a raised platform east of the pedestrian bridge. Similar to many of the statues within the community, the piece was purchased from Randolph Rose. Ryan Whisner photos.
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