Madison, WI Event Aims to Pass the $1 Million Mark in Funds Raised for Local Charities

Brat lovers worldwide come together for Brats, music and to help local charities.

2011-05-18

MADISON, WI, May 18, 2011 (Press-News.org) Madisonians can all agree they are anxiously waiting for the first smells of summer and the moment they can fire up the grill. The good news is, they don't have to wait long! This year's biggest summer grilling kickoff will be at The World's Largest Brat Fest, now in its 29th year of record-breaking grilling!

The 2011 World's Largest Brat Fest, sponsored by Johnsonville Sausage and produced by Metcalfe's Market, will be held rain or shine Memorial Day Weekend, May 27 through the 30 in Madison, WI.

"This is the time of year we absolutely love; it's the time when our community comes together, raises funds for local charities and enjoys great food," said Tim Metcalfe, Bratman and president of Metcalfe's Market.

THE CHARITIES
Brat Fest is completely volunteer-run and benefits more than 100 local organizations. Throughout the four-day event, volunteers from the benefiting organizations work as cashiers, grillers or cleaning staff. This year, volunteers will earn an hourly wage of $9-10, a $1 increase from 2010, which will be donated to their organization. During the 2011 event, more than 5,000 volunteer shifts will donate more than 16,450 hours of their time and raise more than $150,000 for local organizations.

"We are so fortunate to be one of many nonprofits that benefit from the annual Brat Fest event," said Michael Johnson, CEO of the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County. "The support we have received from Brat Fest over the years has paid the membership cost for more than 1,000 young people attending our Clubs. This level of support helps us keep our doors open six days a week, 50 weeks out of the year for the children and families who need us the most."

Since its inception, the volunteers who have taken part in this event have collectively helped raise nearly $1,000,000 for local organizations, including the Boys & Girls Club of Dane County, Special Olympics Wisconsin, Hospice Care, local schools and more. This year, Brat Fest organizers say they're aiming to surpass that $1 million mark!

"West Madison Special Olympics uses the funds earned to help support the 135 adult disabled athletes that participate in a multitude of sports, including softball, track, swimming, tennis, basketball, volleyball, bocce ball, soccer, golfing, speed skating and snowshoeing. The funds earned from Brat Fest are used for transportation for regional and state tournaments, required uniforms, state fees for participants, equipment needs and the use of practice fields for the different sports," said Anita Allison, volunteer coordinator of the West Madison Special Olympics.

BRAT FEST 2011
The 2011 event will have more than just record-breaking brat consumption and community fundraising. This year, there will also be:

- Budweiser Clydesdale horses
- Fireworks at 9:05 p.m., Sunday, May 29
- A new menu item: hot buttered corn on the cob
- An expanded carnival
- Free music
- Free parking
- Free admission

BRAT FEST ENDOWMENT FUND
A portion of the funds remaining after paying volunteer organizations will go into the Brat Fest Endowment Fund, a 501(c)(3) organization set up by Tim and Kevin Metcalfe in 2009 to honor their late father Tom Metcalfe, the original founder of the World's Largest Brat Fest. This fund is held at the Madison Community Foundation, and each year, groups can apply for grants from the organization to help fund projects throughout Dane County.

"We enjoy continuing the Brat Fest tradition that our father started over 28 years ago," said Tim Metcalfe. "Giving back to the Madison community is very rewarding and knowing that the money raised during the four-day weekend gets donated to the organizations who volunteered is a good feeling."

TAKE YOUR BRAT TO WORK DAY
Everyone in the Madison area will once again have the chance to kick off their Memorial Day weekend early, with "Take Your Brat to Work Day." This annual tradition is a brat "drive-thru," which will take place from 6 to 9 a.m. on Friday, May 27, at Willow Island at the Alliant Energy Center. This will be the only opportunity this year for Madison residents to drive their cars onto Willow Island.

The World's Largest Brat Fest 2011
Willow Island at the Alliant Energy Center
May 27-30, 2011
10 a.m. - 9 p.m., Friday - Sunday
10 a.m. - 6 p.m., Monday
Rain or Shine

About Brat Fest
The World's Largest Brat Fest started more than 28 years ago, when Tom Metcalfe started grilling brats in the parking lot of Metcalfe's Market to thank his customers. His sons, Tim and Kevin Metcalfe, have grown Brat Fest into what Madisonians and others from around the country know today as "The World's Largest Brat Fest." The event still serves as a thank you to customers, but now it also serves as a way to raise money for local organizations. For additional information on the World's Largest Brat Fest, visit www.bratfest.com.

About Metcalfe's Market
Metcalfe's Market is a locally owned and operated market with locations at Hilldale Mall in Madison and in the heart of downtown Wauwatosa. In its 92 year history, Metcalfe's Market has led the way in environmental practices. From creating a food miles program, to going to 100% green power, to active participation in Dane Buy Local and REAP, Metcalfe's Market is committed to a more sustainable Dane County. The family-run business is also well-known for founding The World's Largest Brat Fest and the Brat Fest Endowment Fund. For additional information on Metcalfe's Market, visit www.shopmetcalfes.com.

About Johnsonville Sausage, LLC
Wisconsin-based Johnsonville Sausage is the No. 1 national brand of brats, Italian sausage, smoked-cooked links and fresh breakfast sausage links. Johnsonville employs approximately 1,300 members. Each member takes ownership of product quality to ensure the excellence and "Big Flavor" of Johnsonville Sausage. Founded in 1945 by Ralph F. and Alice Stayer, the company remains privately owned today. www.johnsonville.com.

[Attachments] See images for this press release:

Madison, WI Event Aims to Pass the $1 Million Mark in Funds Raised for Local Charities 2

Madison, WI Event Aims to Pass the $1 Million Mark in Funds Raised for Local Charities 3

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

True love may wait -- but waiting won't make you a safer lover later on

2011-05-18

Whether sex education focuses only on abstinence or teaches students about contraception and other topics as well, it all shares one main message: Wait. In abstinence-only, students are exhorted to wait for sex until they're married. In "comprehensive" or "abstinence-plus," the idea is to delay sexual relations until . . . later. "The underlying assumption is that delay reduces sexual risk-taking"—and with it unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases, says University of South Florida psychologist Marina A. Bornovalova. "If they just wait, then they'll be ...

Most common form of inherited intellectual disability may be treatable

2011-05-18

Advancements over the last 10 years in understanding intellectual disability (ID, formerly mental retardation), have led to the once-unimaginable possibility that ID may be treatable, a review of more than 100 studies on the topic has concluded. It appears in ACS Chemical Neuroscience. Aileen Healy and colleagues explain that people long have viewed intellectual disability as permanent and untreatable, with medical care focusing on relieving some of the symptoms rather than correcting the underlying causes. That includes Fragile X syndrome (FXS), the most common inherited ...

New method of unreeling cocoons could extend silk industry beyond Asia

2011-05-18

The development and successful testing of a method for unreeling the strands of silk in wild silkworm cocoons could clear the way for establishment of new silk industries not only in Asia but also in vast areas of Africa and South America. The report appears in ACS' journal Biomacromolecules. Fritz Vollrath, Tom Gheysens and colleagues explain that silk is made by unraveling— or unreeling — the fine, soft thread from cocoons of silkmoths. The practice began as far back as 3500 BC in ancient China, where silk was the fabric of royalty. Today, most silk comes from cocoons ...

Safety concerns about adulterated drug ingredients

2011-05-18

Government regulators and pharmaceutical companies are moving to address a major new risk for the global supply of medicines: The possibility that unsafe ingredients are entering the supply chain as pharmaceutical companies increasingly outsource the production of drug ingredients to third parties. That's the topic of the cover story in the current edition of Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), ACS' weekly newsmagazine. C&EN Senior Editor Rick Mullin explains that the jolt for action came from several incidents. One incident —a major 2008 recall of contaminated heparin ...

Reforestation research in Latin America helps build better forests

2011-05-18

A tropical forest is easy to cut down, but getting it back is another story. In a special issue of the journal Forest Ecology and Management, leading researchers at the Smithsonian in Panama and across Latin America offer new insights on reforestation based on 20 years of research. "Twenty years ago, we had almost no information about how to build a forest," said Jefferson Hall, staff scientist at the Smithsonian and lead editor of the new special issue of Forest Ecology and Management. "People either planted one of four non-native species—teak, pine, eucalyptus or acacia—or ...

Sodium channels evolved before animals' nervous systems, research shows

2011-05-18

AUSTIN, Texas—An essential component of animal nervous systems—sodium channels—evolved prior to the evolution of those systems, researchers from The University of Texas at Austin have discovered. "The first nervous systems appeared in jellyfish-like animals six hundred million years ago or so," says Harold Zakon, professor of neurobiology, "and it was thought that sodium channels evolved around that time. We have now discovered that sodium channels were around well before nervous systems evolved." Zakon and his coauthors, Professor David Hillis and graduate student ...

New form of girl's best friend is lighter than ever

2011-05-18

LIVERMORE, Calif. -- By combining high pressure with high temperature, Livermore researchers have created a nanocyrstalline diamond aerogel that could improve the optics something as big as a telescope or as small as the lenses in eyeglasses. Aerogels are a class of materials that exhibit the lowest density, thermal conductivity, refractive index and sound velocity of any bulk solid. Aerogels are among the most versatile materials available for technical applications due to their wide variety of exceptional properties. This material has chemists, physicists, astronomers, ...

UT physicist accelerates simulations of thin film growth

2011-05-18

A Toledo, Ohio, physicist has implemented a new mathematical approach that accelerates some complex computer calculations used to simulate the formation of micro-thin materials. Jacques Amar, Ph.D., professor of physics at the University of Toledo (UT), studies the modeling and growth of materials at the atomic level. He uses Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC) resources and Kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) methods to simulate the molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) process, where metals are heated until they transition into a gaseous state and then reform as thin films by condensing ...

First National Insurance Program for Mobile Food Vending Trucks

2011-05-18

Whorton Insurance Services, the parent company of mobilefoodvendorsinsurance.com and MFVInsurance.com, is pleased to announce the launch of the first national insurance program to serve the insurance needs of the mobile food vending industry, a new industry formed by the rapid expansion of mobile food trucks in metropolitan areas throughout the country. Because of this rapid growth, fueled by an ever-increasing appetite and demand for gourmet food and beverages from mobile vendors, city governments are amending their outdated ordinances to accommodate these operations. ...

Home Furnishings Retailer Didriks Introduces Sabre Flatware from France

2011-05-18

This spring, Didriks - www.didriks.com - will expand its tableware collection to include Sabre flatware from Paris France. Started 17 years ago by Francis Gelb, Sabre flatware has a style meant to cut ties with conformism, blending the chic with the offbeat. Sabre flatware features high quality melamine handles and 18/10 stainless steel. Didriks will spotlight the elegant Natura, Bamboo, Basic, Nature, and Djembe Sabre flatware designs when introducing the line. Jonathan Henke of Didriks said, "Sabre flatware makes a summery and also quite elegant addition ...

Madison, WI Event Aims to Pass the $1 Million Mark in Funds Raised for Local Charities

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: