The Shovelmen

05/29/2026

The Shovelmen were joined today by Judge Radcliff and his staff as well as clients of the Drug Court the judge oversees.

Now the third year of doing a project with the Shovelmen, the number of volunteers today neared 30 people.

Volunteers stained the sausage hut, stained the Love Lock bridge railings, and rebuilt two failing retaining walls near the Beaver Creek Covered Bridge.

These 17 year old structures had begun to list towards the river, and the volunteers started with a solid base of base rock which they then compacted. The block was then restacked atop the stone base, and backfilled with topsoil brought to us by the City Street Department. Thank you Dennis Johnson and crew.

It was an incredible day of accomplishment.

05/20/2026

The realization of a plan and a great community effort is apparent today after the first mowing of the turf and preparations for the first concert.

Looking forward to the first concert in the park this evening. See you all there!

05/16/2026

This appropriate sign was placed just in time for the first concert this coming Wednesday. A gentle reminder that the new viewing area is reserved for people with disabilities. Please yield to those needing accessible seating when making your seating decision.

05/16/2026

The new concrete surface and better creek viewing area moved Brian Miller of Virginia Street apartments to donate this bench. Crafted by Roman Troyer of Polywood off County XU, it is a beautiful piece of workmanship.

Thank you Brian!

05/16/2026

05/15/2026

From the May, 11 Monroe County Herald, quoted from Tomah City Administrator Nicholas Morales:

mentions that something like
Sparta's Shovelmen would
be beneficial to Tomah. "The
Shovelmen donate either
time, money, resources, labor,
whatever have you and that's
how they get so many great
projects done in Sparta in
an economy like this," said
Morales.

Even Tomah is watching!

05/15/2026

The Shovelmen spent the past few days getting the east end of the Beaver Creek covered bridge revamped.

Two years ago, Judge Radcliffe’s Drug Court rebuilt the retailing wall atop a much improved footing built by the Shovelmen.

This Spring, the bench was straightened and all the concrete pavers were removed in favor of a concrete approach that extended to the river wall.

The Shovelmen also partnered with Virginia Street Apartments to clean up the adjacent area by the two outdoor condensing units to prove a much more finished look.

The concrete pavement has eliminated bumps where pavers had subsided or were otherwise taken by vandals.

A big thank you goes to the crew this morning:

Jerry Kast
Clint Russell
Al Jenkins
Bruce Kirkeng
Irwin D***s
Reinhard Mueller

We also thank Jacobi Klug who helped prepare the site after school, but was unavailable this morning due to school.

05/12/2026

Just 31 days after this community put their backs into an impactful improvement in the park, Steve Arnold of Arnold’s Electric and Controls put the finishing touches on the project today.

The 36 LED fixtures installed in the edges including the steps came to life tonight. The sod has also taken to the ground beneath it, and the seed grass germinated where the sod blends to the existing.

We are ready for the first concert in 9 days.

Thank you volunteers!

04/27/2026

We would like to thank Steve Arnold of Arnold’s Electric and Controls for coming out on a Sunday to trench and install conduit to support the edge lighting on the Terraces.

When a direct buried line was discovered in the hand excavation to expose the service line, Steve traced the sub feed to the other shelter to ensure the new trench would not conflict. Trench depth was also checked to verify code compliance.

Keep an eye out for the evening glow soon to grace our new amphitheater.

Thanks Steve.