If you've read the blog or followed the the morning show over the years, you know I would basically push ANY viable idea to save the Sheboygan Armory. I had literally morphed into the, 'Save the Clocktower!' lady from Back to the Future.
It just seemed to me that a building steeped in history, that was formerly a cornerstone of Sheboygan, should be renovated and put back into use.
Selfishly, I wanted the building rehabbed so we could use it as a concert venue. The three most popular questions I get when I run into a B93 listener are some form of; 1) Why do you always play the same songs over and over? 2) I'm sick of always driving to Green Bay or Milwaukee, why can't we have more concerts in Sheboygan? 3) Why are you the way that you are? The answers to those questions are; 1) Because. 2) Price point and lack of venue. 3) As a child, no one discouraged me from being myself.
But the middle question/answer is true; Sheboygan has always lacked a spot that could hold 2,000-2,500 people. That type of venue would allow us to bring in a Jon Pardi, or Kip Moore, or Maren Morris, and not have the tickets be $75 a pop.
Unfortunately, despite the hard work of a LOT of people, the funding never came to fruition for the Armory. The building had fallen (or was left to fall) into disrepair. And the cost to make it a useful building again was in the millions of dollars.
In my mind, the most viable option presented was a few years ago when a group backed by Joe Wolf attempted to lure the Milwaukee Bucks G League team. The plan was in place, the capital seemed to be there, it would have rehabbed the building and returned it to one of its original uses (some version of professional basketball), it was perfect. Sadly, Oshkosh beat out Sheboygan in the final vote, and the dream of the Surf City Seagulls was dead. Once that idea fell by the wayside, I knew the ship had likely sailed on the Armory.
And it's too bad. I will always remember the North/South games there, taking my mom to see wrestling on Mother's Day in 1988, concerts, UW Marching Band performances, all of the fun I had there as a kid. Goodbye history, hello unaffordable apartments with a partial lake view.
PS: I will never get over not being able to see Steven Seagull come to life as the Surf City Seagulls mascot:
Double PS: One of the reasons that Oshkosh got the Herd was likely because they promised a new, shiny arena. Which they did build. But it took less than two years for it to fall into a BAD financial situation. Read more
here
. Turns out the group that brought the Herd to Oshkosh may have falsified some of their financial backing and owe the contractors who built the arena in the neighborhood of 13 million dollars. Whoops!
