Wisconsin Life

Anchors away! Angela Fitzgerald visits the yards of Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding to see how the legacy of shipbuilding continues in Sturgeon Bay. Then she introduces stories of a maritime archaeologist, an Indian classical dancer, a pair of Irish Road Bowlers and an animated tale about the jitters that come with the first day of every school year.

Angela hits the water of Plum Lake with the Plum Ski-ters Water Ski Show Team and shares stories across Wisconsin about a Mequon teen working to bring increased accessibility to the sport of water skiing, a language only used in a Menominee sawmill, a La Crosse man with a huge, vintage guitar collection and a Milwaukee fashion designer who brings an historic hotel’s paintings to life.

It’s show time as Angela joins Black Arts MKE Performing Arts Summer Camp as they create a live theater. Angela also introduces us to a Milwaukee DJ using her musical talents and love of hip hop to give back, a Muscoda man using goats as low-tech vegetation management, an accomplished teen archer from Cadott, and two men who share the love of puppets: the Madison creator and a Mt. Horeb collector.

It’s time to play ball! Angela suits up to play vintage baseball with the Menomonie Blue Caps as they take on teams from across the Midwest. We also check out a game of snowshoe baseball, meet a woman who preserves memories of those who passed, a businesswoman cooking up a family tradition, and a whimsical story of a West Bend couple’s life, love and LEGOs.

Angela Fitzgerald journeys to Wyalusing State Park, one of Wisconsin's oldest park, to check out the hiking, views and cliff-side camping. We also meet an urban arborist trimming trees in Madison, a pastor sewing one-of-a-kind stoles for almost every occasion, a Sauk County soil conservationist committed to water quality and the man behind the monument to Wisconsinite Mildred Fish-Harnack.

Angela Fitzgerald heads to West Bend to embrace the wildlife at the Shalom Wildlife Zoo and sees what it takes to run a zoo. We also meet a man running a bear sanctuary near Wausau, an Eau Claire musician who both restores stringed instruments and plays bluegrass, a New Berlin artist using text to create large scale works of art, and a Valders couple who raise sheep and run a 1920s woolen mill.

Angela Fitzgerald celebrates Dutch heritage with a trip to the Little Chute Windmill to admire the 1850s-esque construction. We also meet an Oostburg man keeping the Dutch art of wooden shoe carving alive, a couple who reimagined their dairy farm into a garden center in Edgar, a preservationist, architecture historian, and theater lover in Genesee Depot and a Cumberland painter using alcohol ink.

In Kenosha, the library comes to you! Angela Fitzgerald renews her love of reading by checking out the Kenosha Public Library Bookmobile. We also meet an Arbor Vitae man keeping the art of hand bookbinding alive, a Kaukauna man mentoring the next generation, a professional musician managing life with hemophilia in Chippewa Falls, and a woman who’s dedicated her life to uplifting her community.

Angela Fitzgerald heads to the pristine vistas of Mirror Lake State Park where she hits the trails with the Wisconsin chapter of Girls Who Hike. We also meet a crochet prodigy with an international following of craft enthusiasts, an animal lover caring for injured birds, a comedian taking the stage by storm and a man with an unusual chainsaw collection.

Angela Fitzgerald travels to Aniwa to tour the Motorama Auto Museum. The non-profit museum has over 400 vehicles on site: sports cars, motorcycles, and even an auto boneyard. We also meet a Randolph woman restoring hot rod cars, a Madison man mentoring at-risk African American teens, a couple in Primrose creating a giving space and a Chetek barber with his pulse on the town.

Angela Fitzgerald joins a crew of young adults from Operation Fresh Start to rehab a home in Oregon. We also meet a Milwaukee furniture builder using Frank Lloyd Wright's designs, a Germantown artist drawing comic book illustrations for kids with chronic diseases, a mixed martial arts competitor from Arcadia and a Madison carpenter running a program for young women centered around building trades.

Angela Fitzgerald heads to UW-Madison’s Marshfield Agricultural Research Station to spend time on a dairy farm for the first time! Angela learns about research to help farmers. We also meet a Beloit College archivist preserving history, an Algoma sculptor telling stories with clay, a Madison woman researching the contentedness of cows and a premier synchronized ice-skating team from Fond du Lac.

Angela Fitzgerald celebrates Lake Geneva’s annual Winterfest, home of the U.S. Snow Sculpting Championships. We also a meet a skijorer –dog sledding and skiing- from Gleason. We stop in at the Hip-Hop Chess Club of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, meet an “awesome” mailman from Janesville helping the homeless, visit a Two-Spirit artist in Lac Du Flambeau and get to know a Glendale indoor soccer team coach.