(instrumental music)

- [Angela] This week
on Wisconsin Life.
Meet a young boy
from Richland County
whose wish led to his
very own field of dreams;
a country music star
in Milwaukee using
his talents to give back;
a La Crosse librarian
more likely to share
blooms than books;
and a Stevens Point man who runs
an oddity shop on
Wisconsin Life.

(upbeat music)

- [Announcer] Funding
for Wisconsin Life
is provided in part by
Alliant Energy,
Lowell and Mary Peterson,
and Friends of Wisconsin
Public Television.

- Hello and welcome
to Wisconsin Life.
I'm your host,
Angela Fitzgerald.
We're here at the
Washington Park Velodrome.
What's a velodrome
you might ask?
It's an arena for track cycling
which is a bicycle racing sport.
This particular velodrome
is located in Kenosha
and is the only
one in Wisconsin.
In fact, the Washington
Park Velodrome is
celebrating its
90th anniversary.
It looks like the
racers are warming up.
I'm gonna head inside while
you catch up with our team
as they travel to Ithaca
to meet a young boy
who combined his love for
baseball with a special wish
to bring a community together.

(soft music)

The small town of
Ithaca lies in the heart
of southwest Wisconsin's
driftless area.

(soft music)

It's home to some
of the Midwest's
most beautiful scenery.

The perfect place for
a Richland County boy
to carve out his
own field of dreams.
(crack of a bat)

Brad and Rhonda Louis were
high school sweethearts.
Their oldest son Jaxon had
two loves, playing baseball...
- He was hitting off the
tee as soon as he could walk.
- ...and watching baseball.

- I was a big Brewer's
fan so I started him out.
Maybe I brainwashed
him a little bit, too.
- Jaxon's room is a journey
through Milwaukee
Brewers' history.
From balls to bats
to bobbleheads,
it's obvious there are few fans
more fervent than Jaxon.
- I'd have the Brewer game on
and Rhonda would
come out and go,
"Why are you
watching the Brewers.
"Doesn't he want
to watch cartoons?"
I said, "Watch, I'll flip it."
I flip it to a
cartoon and he'd want
the Brewer game back on.
- He'd start crying
until he switched
it back to Brewers.
§
- [Host] The beauty of baseball is that it's open ended.

The game continues as long as
you keep circling the bases.

There's no clock.
No time limit.
Baseball had always brought
the Louis family together.
Even when time was the one
thing Jaxon didn't have.
(somber music)

- Jaxon was seven years old
and it was on April of 2013.
And we just found out we were
expecting our fourth child
and Jaxon started
having headaches.
- He'd bury his head in
the corner of the couch
and he just wouldn't--
He just sat there and he just--
You knew something was wrong. Yeah.
- [Host] They took
Jaxon to the hospital.
They hoped it was
anxiety or migraines.
It wasn't.

- They did a CT scan and
found a tumor in his brain.

- [Host] Jaxon was diagnosed
with Medulloblastoma,
brain cancer.
He began chemotherapy
and radiation treatments
in Chicago every
day for seven weeks
followed by six more
months at UW-Madison.
- No, it was horrible.
To walk away that first day
and leave him in that room
'cause, of course, you
can't stay in the room
with the radiation
or anything, so--
- And then they would
strap me down to the table
and they would put me in.
- To walk out that first
day and they were like,
"Okay, you go
to the waiting room."
And it was so hard
to leave him there
and see him strapped in,
yeah, and then knowing
that he was going
through that every day.

(light upbeat music)

- [Host] Back home,
the community rallied
around Jaxon.
Fundraisers were held and
friends provided support.
One of Jaxon's friends
shaved his own head
so Jaxon wouldn't feel alone.

Others carried a stuffed
animal around school
to remember their
missing classmate.
He'd even get a boost from
his favorite baseball team.
The Brewers invited him
to a game at Miller Park.
- [Rhonda] And we were in the
dugout until about 10 minutes
before the game so
it was so much fun.
- [Host] While this whirlwind
enveloped the Lewis family,
they were referred
to Make-A-Wish.
- Their wish granters
came right to our house
and they pretty much--
- They talked to Jaxon.
- Yeah, they talked to Jaxon.
Just make a wish,
just whatever your wish is
and we'll go from there.
- [Host] One day
Brad found a story
about a Vermont man
who created a replica
of Boston's Fenway Park.
- And my eyes just lit up.
- And he was like, can we
do something like that?
- [Host] And that's how Jaxon
ended up with a baseball stadium
in his back yard.
[crowd cheering]
Make-A-Wish and the Brewers
brought Miller Park to Ithaca.
Behold Jaxon's Brew Crew Park.

- [Brad] We have a
quarter-inch scale
of Miller Park pretty much.
- [Host] Decked out
with a jumbotron,
scoreboard, and of course
Bernie Brewer's slide.
- It's similar.
I mean it doesn't have
the retractable roof.
(laughter)

- [Host] It's every young
baseball fans dream,
a replica of his
favorite ball park
just beyond his back door.
But Jaxon's wish
wasn't just to build
a baseball stadium.
- The community support,
he saw all that.
He witnessed that
and he just knew that, now--
- Yep, that's what
he's going to do too.
- That's what we do
when somebody's sick.
We've got to raise
money for somebody.
- We've got to help them out.
- Yep, we've got
to help them out.
§
- [Host] If you build it,
they will come.
And in Richland County, they do.

Every June, Jaxon's
Brew Crew Park
hosts a weekend Wiffle
ball tournament.
- [Announcer] A smash
to the short stop.
- [Host] The
proceeds go to GRACE,
Greater Richland Area
Cancer Elimination,
a charity that provides support
to local cancer patients.
- They're going
through what I did
and I know the
community helped me
so I wanted to help
the community, too.

- It's low key and the
families have so much fun
and they're always
out there laughing
and people are just
enjoying themselves
so it's nice to sit
there and watch that.
- [Host] In its
first three years,
the tournament raised
nearly $30,000 for GRACE.

Jaxon's wish was a home run.

In January 2017, Brad and
Rhonda would get their wish.
Jaxon went in for a checkup
and doctor delivered good news.
- He came in and after
the MRI and he said,
"Was it four years?"
- Mmhm, four years
since diagnosis.
- Since diagnosis.
And he said with, he goes,
"Everything looks good."
And he said there's
probably this big a chance
of that thing coming back.
So I mean he said
you're sitting--
- We're in a good spot.
- We're in a good spot.
So that was a good feeling.

- [Host] Today
Jaxon is cancer free
and still circling the bases.
(uplifting choir music)
- I can keep up with
my friends better now
because I have a
little more energy
than I did at treatments.
§
- [Host] Baseball is
measured in innings.
Life is measured in days.
The Lewis family has learned
to make them all count.
- I think, it sounds
a little cliché,
but it really does
make you appreciate
everything you have
because you never know.

(upbeat music)

- [Host] On the last
night of the tournament,
everyone gathers around the
infield to launch lanterns
into the southwest
Wisconsin sky.
It's one final show of
small town solidarity
made possible by one young
man's remarkable wish.
- [Brad] Very humble,
very humble little kid,
little boy, he really is.

- The competition has begun,
at the Velodrome
here in Kenosha.
Cyclists come across
the Midwest to compete
in multiple endurance
and sprint races.

The bikes used on the
track have one set gear
and no brakes, reaching speeds
up to 45 miles per hour.
[announcer] Nice job, number 51.
(crowd cheers)
I'm headed out to explore
more of the Velodrome
while you watch our next story
that takes us to Milwaukee.

We meet a teacher
and gospel singer
who's making a name for himself
as a national
country music artist.

§ Well I guess beauty's
§ in the eye of the
Miller beerholder §

[Host] This basement in the
heart of the city is home
to a little slice of country.

- Country is a lifestyle.
It's what you live.
It's not something that
you just put on a hat
and say yee-haw.
No, it's a lifestyle.

§ I love the morning
in the state of Georgia
§ I wasn't born in Tennessee §
KC Williams was born
and raised in Milwaukee,
but spent summers
on his uncle's farm
in Greenwood, Mississippi.
§ I'm just a small city boy
§ With a country mind §

- And my uncle in
Mississippi, he basically,
there's only two types of music
you listen to in his house,
that's gospel and country.
We couldn't play no R&B,
nothing else.
§ I'm running through
the school house §
- [Host] He fell in
love with country music.
Growing up in urban Milwaukee,
that meant line dancing to
the beat of his own drum.
- It just became a part
of me and with that,
it came a lot of ridicule.
You know, because I got
teased in elementary,
middle and high school.
And I used to always
say one of these days,
you guys are going to be
seeing me on the stage.
That was my, always
have been my dream.
Music has been my life.
§
- [Host] KC began writing
songs, playing concerts,
and moving up the
country music ladder.
In an industry with few
black artists, KC stood out.
- In the beginning,
there was a lot of obstacles,
but... I know who I am.
§
I had black people telling me
I shouldn't be singing country
and I had white people telling
me I shouldn't sing country,
but I tell me country is where,
that's where I want to be.
- [Host] His big break came
during a 1998 festival with one
of country music's
biggest stars.
- Tim McGraw was the headliner
and I opened up for
Tim McGraw for that
and he saw me and he
sent his band leader over
and he says, "Man,
hey, Tim likes you."
"He wants to work with you."
And so from there his band,
we started recording together.

(country music)

- [Host] KC's career took off.
He went on to record
multiple studio albums
with Tim McGraw's band
which led to European tours
across Germany, Austria,
Switzerland, and Poland.
His childhood dream
had come true.
- Tim was the reason why
I'd been touring Europe
for the last 10 or 15 years,
because he really,
really gave me a boost.
What does this mean?
(kids respond) Silence.
Nope.
- Stop.
- Stop.
- [Host] In turn,
KC's used his success
to give others a boost.
- Give me an
example of staccato
singing the A, B, C song.
One, two, three, and...
- [All] A, B, C, D, E, F, G...
- [Host] He stepped out
of the spotlight to
become a music teacher
in the Milwaukee
Public School system.
- Giving back pretty much is
where it's at with me now,
helping the young kids in
the inner city and things
and let them know that
there are other ways
and means of life.
(children chant in choral)
So I bartered with the kids.
I say, "Okay you teach me
what you know
"and I'll teach you
what I know."
§ One note here we go. §
[kids] § 1, 2, 3, 4... §
- [Host] KC has no
plans to ride off
into the sunset just yet.
He still writes music
and performs occasionally
with his band, The Big Dogs.
- It's almost like
being in the mob.
(laughs) Once you in,
you know, it's in you.
[Williams] § He wears a cheesehead hat
§ and his shoes are
green and gold §
(kids echo) § Green and gold §
- § Green and gold §
- [Host] But these days,
his favorite gig
is in the classroom.
- And I'll probably
do a show or two,
but my life now is gearing
more toward the kids
and raising them, and
making men and ladies out of
our young inner-city kids.
- [Host] And teaching a lesson he learned long ago.
If you stay positive
and be true to yourself,
you don't need to walk the line.
- Be yourself.
So if you like what
you're hearing,
if you like country music
or whatever you like,
and it's not what the
norm likes, it's okay.
It's okay to like
different things.
It's okay to be different.
Let's just be us.
Let's love us for who we are.
That's just the bottom line.
§ I'm the king of the castle
§ And I'm running fine §

How you doin' Milwaukee?

- After watching these
races, I had to talk
to someone who had
tackled these tracks.
I'm here with Lynn
Rivier who has finished
her first race this year at
the Washington Park Velodrome.
This sounds exciting.
So, how'd you get into racing?
- I was riding my bike.
I enjoyed riding my
bike just for exercise
and then I met some
women who raced
and they convinced me to race.
And my first races
were time trials
which are just long
and hard and boring,
then I discovered the track.
So I started
coming to some clinics
where they taught
you how to ride,
the techniques,
all about the bikes
which is all alarming because
the bikes don't have brakes.
The first time out
you think well,
once you get started you
think well, I'll never get off.
I'll just be doing this
'til I die, but you learn.
- What makes this
track so unique?
- This track is unique
because its steep banking.
Going around the corners
is a lot more fun,
because its banking,
you get the feeling
of the speed, acceleration.
- So what do you like about
the racing culture here
at the Washington
Park Velodrome?
- The feeling of
sprinting is what's fun
because you're going around,
you're gaining speed,
but at one point you find
everyone suddenly takes off hard
and the idea is to
sprint past everyone
and that's really exciting.
It's exciting when
you're training,
it's exciting when
you're on the track.
- Well what do you
recommend to someone
who might be interested
in getting into racing.
- I recommend they
come to a clinic where
they can borrow a bike because
they are special bikes.
And someone will help you learn,
get familiar with
the track, the feel.
You just learn the techniques.
- So when I go to
a clinic, I can
eventually race around this track like you do.
- Yes.
- Okay.
- There's a first time for
everything. (laughter)
- I might try that.
Thank you so much for sharing
your experiences with us.
- You're welcome.
Thanks for having me on.
- And we'll explore
more of our state
in this next story.

Next up, a story from La Crosse
where we found a seed library
you just have to check out.

The Roman orator Cicero
said, "If you have a garden
"and a library, you have
everything you need."
- When you think about it,
that's probably pretty true.
I think you might
want to throw a house
and a stove in there, but--
Yeah, it's two vital things
that make for a
good life I think.
- [Host] Cindy Mischnick
is living that good life.
- [Cindy] You taste a vegetable
that's grown from the heirloom
seed or grown locally,
has no comparison to
something that you buy
in the grocery store.
- [Host] As a gardener
and librarian,
Cindy was a driving force behind Wisconsin's first seed library.
Seed packets can be checked out
from the La Crosse
Public Library
in the spring to
plant your garden.
- We're not only gardeners,
but we're also catalogers
and we collect
information of all types
and catalog it and make it
available to the public,
and it just so happens
that seeds can be
in that category.
- [Host] The La Crosse
Library was initially
stocked by Seed Savers,
the nonprofit Iowa farm
that preserves heirloom
plant varieties.
Seed Savers also provides
training on how to save seeds
so they can be brought
back to the library
to keep the collection growing.
- If you wouldn't mind
splitting open a pod or two.
So this is how we do the
real work at Seed Savers,
we get audiences to do it.
- [Host] Whether it's
separating beans from pods
or letting tomato seeds
stew in their own juices,
each variety has a best
method for saving the seeds.
- There's a lot of junk
that's also getting in there.
- [Host] And Cindy found
that holding events
around seed saving helped grow
a community of fellow
seed collectors.
- It seems like you
can't stop talking
about the excitement of seeds
and the plants that you grew.
- Did the squirrels
get any of it?
- [Woman] They did not.
It turns out squirrels...
- [Cindy] And the
recipes that you make.
- And what did you use
the arugula in this year?
- Just salads.
- It's a real sense of community
and we're finding
it grows and grows.
- And you had a good crop?
- Very good crop.
- You'll be back next year then?
- I sure will.
- All right.
- It's an heirloom seed
swapping group on Facebook.
- [Cindy] Great libraries
grow communities.
We want to be a dynamic
part of a growing community.
- [Host] Keeping heirloom
seeds in circulation
ensures that a wide range
of plant varieties survive.

- [Woman] I think we're
losing some genetic diversity
because of more
commercial seeds.
- [Host] Seed
companies once offered
thousands of crops,
but over time,
companies consolidated
and offered only
a limited range of best sellers.
So the genetics of less
popular species were lost.
Seed librarian Cindy
and the seed library
keep more variety
in circulation.
- We are actually
keeping information, then,
that's really important
to the planet.
- [Host] And that's just
what a librarian does.
- To be a librarian
that has seeds
in your life is just a really good personal fit for me
and it's been really,
really fun.
I couldn't have asked
for anything better.

- The Velodrome opened in 1927.
These arenas were
the go-to place
to mingle with friends.
But as the years went on,
track conditions became
a little worse for wear.
But recently the
track was repaved
and the city hopes
that this place
will once again become as
popular as it once was
during its heyday.
It's time again to
take another look
at life in Wisconsin.

Our team explores an
Appleton Oddity Shop
run by a man known
as a "Skull Boss."
His collection is one you
have to see to believe.

On Wisconsin Avenue
in Appleton...

in the lobby of
a tattoo shop...

there's an inkling
of something strange!

- Just about anything
from human skulls
to antique vaporizers.
If it looks cool to me,
I put it in the store.
Did you see the
football Steve made?
- [Host] Scott Watzlawick
runs an oddity shop,
called Forty Three Skulls,
out of this tattoo parlor.
As a child, Scott
always repurposed things
other people threw away.
- My father in a lot of
cases was less than thrilled
with the things I brought home.
- You know somebody
would have a broken doll
and he'd bring the little
parts and pieces home
and make a design out
of them and I'm like,
there's a reason they're
throwing this stuff away.
It's no good.
No, it'll be okay, really.
I can make something
out of this.

- [Host] Scott still
dabbles in recycled art
but he's gained
notoriety for collecting
and repurposing
animals into his work.
From skulls to
skeletons to folk art,
his store showcases his
eclectic collection.
- This is an old chemistry
cabinet from the science lab.
This is a panther skull,
some tattooed pig skin,
some old quack medicinary
that used to sell
off of wagons years ago.
Marmoset monkey.
Skeleton of a snake.
I would rather see an
animal go into an art piece
that could
educate a child
as opposed to go into a
landfill and rot with garbage.

All my things are
ethically sourced
so nothing has been
killed for the art
or killed to be put into a jar.
This actually comes from a
scientific dissection lab.
- [Host] Scott sees
this as preserving
an animal's legacy while
educating people along the way.
For instance, he says
he sells a lot of items
to science teachers.
- To me, that's
the most fun of it.
It's teaching kids and
keeping them focused
and interested so
they want to go home
and hit up Google and go,
"Where did this bat come from?"
Or, "What's a flying fox bat?" or "I saw a giraffe
"at Forty Three Skulls.
Where do giraffes come from?"

- [Host] Scott's father
Ron, once a skeptic,
is now a believer.
- Yeah, there have been things
that he has asked me to do
and I'm like you've
got to be kidding,
nobody's going to want this.
And then he'll put it in
the store and it's gone.
The more time goes by,
the more I learn
there's a collector
for everything.

- Now they work together to
create new pieces of art
like this walking stick.
- My father routed
out with a Dremel
so we could inlay
the skull here.
In all the trial
and error,
you come up with some
pretty cool, unique items
and you know, I can say I
built that with my father.
§
- [Host] Scott realizes
that many people
find his hobby strange,
but it's actually brought
his family closer together.
- Over the last five
years, I think we've
probably gotten closer
than we've ever been.
I burst at the seams
telling people about it
'cause yeah I
couldn't be happier.
I couldn't be more proud of him.
[Host] And that's
not so odd, after all.
- The old saying goes,
a family that plays together, stays together.
Well, I'm living proof of that.

- [Host] If you're interested
in stopping by Kenosha
and hopping
on the track yourself,
the Velodrome is open
for the public to ride
on nights when professional
races aren't being held.
To learn more about the
Washington Park Velodrome
and other people's
stories you've seen,
visit wisconsinlife.org.
Share your story by emailing us
at wisconsinlife@wpt.org.
Thanks for watching.
I'll leave you now
with some highlights
of the races here.
I'm your host,
Angela Fitzgerald,
and this is our Wisconsin Life.
Bye.

(upbeat music)

- [Announcer] Funding for
Wisconsin Life
is provided in part by
Alliant Energy,
Lowell and Mary Peterson,
and Friends of Wisconsin
Public Television.