Quick story. Ran into a guy at the hardware store Sunday I hadn’t seen since college. Ten years, easy. We stood in the fastener aisle for fifteen minutes catching up while our kids got restless and his wife gave him the look.

Neither of us bought what we came for.

That’s the thing about this town. You can’t run a quick errand. Somebody always knows you. Twenty-five-year-old me hated that. Thirty-eight-year-old me kind of loves it.

Anyway, if you see me at Fleet Farm, come say hi. I’ve got time.

Here’s where else we can catch up.

— MH

Cody DeLorenzo left Lambeau Field on Friday carrying a game ball. He’s running it 313 miles on foot to Detroit to raise $50,000 for Henry Ford Hospital’s Game On Cancer program, which helps families with the stuff insurance doesn’t cover. His wife is 32 and was diagnosed with cancer. He said when you find out, your whole life pauses, and you don’t know what to do next. So he picked a direction and started running. As of Monday, he was outside Grand Rapids with 178 miles to go and more than $21,000 raised. The plan is to arrive at Ford Field for Sunday’s game. If you want to put a few bucks behind a guy from here who’s doing something hard for the right reason, this is the one.

Saturday morning, the city and the Green Bay Conservation Corps are inviting anyone, any age, to spend three hours cleaning up and improving John Muir Park. Bring the kids, bring gloves, leave the park better than you found it. Same morning as Spooktacular, so it’s a 9 to noon here and then Lambeau after lunch kind of day.

East River Optimist Park on Lawe Street has two ball diamonds and no playground. That changes next summer. The Optimist Club of Green Bay put up $50,000, and Gametime added a grant of nearly $46,000, which together cover almost the whole main play structure. The city accepted both Tuesday night and plans to order the equipment by month's end. The 2027 budget request includes surfacing, a fence, and the smaller pieces are in the 2027 budget request. A service club writing a $50,000 check for a park most of the city has never been to is exactly the kind of thing that doesn’t make the news.

The honey nut squash pizza at All Shook Up Tavern in De Pere is gone as of Sunday, and the replacement sounds better: pear and prosciutto, landing this week. If you haven’t been, it’s a small tavern with a patio overlooking a field, plus pizzas, salads, and cocktails, and they open three hours early on Packers home game days so you can eat before you drive to Lambeau. Next home game is Thursday the 29th against Carolina. Plan accordingly.

A company you’ve probably never heard of, here since the early 70s, just committed to a $9.6 million headquarters on the east side. Global Optics makes vision lenses for more than 70 independent optical labs across the country and has outgrown its 34,000-square-foot building on Ontario Road. The Common Council approved the deal Tuesday night. The new site in Grandview Industrial Park, south of East Mason and east of Erie Road, is 70,000 square feet with room to grow again, and it adds 16 to 18 jobs to a team of about 44. The city builds the roads, utilities, and stormwater, paid for through a tax increment district (no levy dollars), and that work opens up the rest of the city-owned land there for the next company. Construction target is end of 2027.

More than 30 regional boutiques under one roof the weekend before holiday shopping gets ugly, and every purchase sends money to a Brown County woman going back to school. That’s the deal the P.E.O. Sisterhood has run for 52 years, and it’s added over $1,000,000 in local scholarships and grants. Door County Lavender, Relish Kitchen Store, Lillians of Appleton, London Dairy Alpacas, Fleurs, Blacksmith Clothing, Pure Joy Children’s Boutique, Nourish Natural Products, and about two dozen more. Five bucks gets you in, and the vendors give a cut of everything you buy to the scholarship fund. Go Friday after work or Saturday before trick-or-treat.

The city is holding a public open house Thursday to walk through plans for a habitat restoration project at Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary and take feedback before anything gets built. Drop in anytime during the window, no sign-up.

Thursday night at the Resch Expo, and yes, the name is exactly what it sounds like. Decorated bras on display, a fundraiser for breast cancer support in Northeast Wisconsin, and a room full of people who’ve been through it or love someone who has. Good cause, loud room.

No Alibis Tour. Nineties country at full strength, the “Time Marches On” and “Paint Me a Birmingham” guy. If you grew up with him on the truck radio, this is your Thursday.

Grown-ups only. A goth dance party with DJ Ben Archive and DJ Vyrss, darkest attire encouraged, costumes welcome. Not your typical Saturday at Titletown Brewing, which is sort of the point.

Shops on both sides of the river hand out candy at midday on Saturday. Short, easy, stroller-friendly, and you can hit Voyageurs or a coffee shop on the way out.

Saturday only. A trolley ride through Green Bay’s Packers history with the lights off and the ghost stories on. Runs through the Packers Hall of Fame.

Sixth year. Kids trick-or-treat along the Wildlife Sanctuary trails while the wolves howl and the owls hoot in the dark. Two sessions: the early one is for little ones who want to finish before it gets dark; the late one is the full howling experience. Costumes expected.

The big free one. “Little monsters” theme this year in the Atrium with stage shows, fall games, craft stations, treat decorating, balloon animals, and face painting. Free parking in the Lambeau lots; enter through the American Family gate on the east side.

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Trick-or-treat through the historic buildings, costumes on, same Saturday morning as Spooktacular and about ten minutes apart. Do Lambeau early, Heritage Hill after lunch.

Lauren wrote in after last week’s edition: “Dude, what about the Green Bay women’s bball team and other UWGB sports?” Fair hit. We’ve given the men three paragraphs, and the women zero, and the women have the banners.

So here’s the Phoenix roundup, and it’ll be a regular thing 😉

Green Bay won the Horizon League regular season and tournament last year, went 25 and 9, and made the NCAA Tournament for the 20th time in program history. That’s 47 straight winning seasons, a streak only Tennessee can beat. Kayla Karius, a Green Bay alum and the 2011 Horizon Player of the Year, is in her first year as head coach and signed through 2035, the longest extension in college basketball when it happened. The roster is loaded with local kids: Gracie Grzesk and Lily Hansford are both from Green Bay, and Carley Duffney is a Preble grad. They opened with an exhibition against UW-La Crosse Saturday and have one more tune-up at home this week before a nonconference schedule that isn't messing around: Duke Nov 3, Wisconsin at the Kress Nov 14, Texas at the Kress Nov 18.

The Phoenix ripped off a nine-match win streak in September and early October, the longest since 2022, and sat alone atop the Horizon League at 4 and 0. Wright State took two from them on the road the weekend of Oct. 9, then Green Bay bounced back with a straight-sets sweep of Milwaukee at the Kress on Tuesday. They’re 12 and 6 overall, 5 and 2 in the league, with Diane Pichelman and Gillian Koning carrying the offense. Home matches at the Kress are free for students and cheap for everyone else.
👉 greenbayphoenix.com

Most people couldn't tell you what scandium is for, but everyone knows what happens when roads go unsalted. North America keeps running short, and Atlas Salt (TSXV: SALT) is building a shovel-ready mine in Newfoundland, three days by ship from Boston, with C$188 million in projected yearly free cash flow.

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🍯 That's the week. Downtown's the place to be, so go catch a show, grab a treat, and I'll see you next Thursday.

📩 Got something Green Bay should know? A new business, event, or shoutout? Just hit reply; we’re all ears, or click the link here.

Stay local. Stay buzzing, and maybe see you at an event. Don’t forget to say Hiiiii!

MH.