This Years Downtown Appleton Christmas Parades Parade Marshals are Dave Willems and Cory Chisel. The Appleton Parade Committee selects individuals who have made a positive impact on the downtown area to serve as Parade Marshals. We are pleased to honor Dave Willems and Corey Chisel this year. The Mile of Music downtown festival they co-founded has quickly become a major event for all of the Fox Cities area. — Greg Otis, Parade Chairman Parade Marshal Dave Willems: After growing up in Green Bay and working for the Green Bay Packers during his college years at UWGB, Dave served as PR Director for five years for a Milwaukee-based promotion company where he worked with many industries, including the music and sponsorship fields. He began his first marketing business in 1989 in Appleton, and has been a community advocate for the past 25 years in the Fox Cities. Willems Marketing is owned by Dave and his brother, Paul Willems of Green Bay, and the firm is celebrating 15 years in business this month. Willems Marketing & Events is located in Downtown Appleton and has contributed more than $1.5 million dollars in marketing services to community organizations during its 15 years. Dave’s wife, Mary, and their two college-aged children, Kim and Paul, have all worked on both Mile of Music festivals from a coordination, marketing and social media standpoint. Parade Marshal Cory Chisel: Born in Babbitt, Minnesota, Cory’s family moved to Appleton when he was 7. He considers Appleton – where he spent his formative years, participated in the Appleton Boy Choir and began his musical journey – to be his hometown. Now based in Nashville, Cory is currently working on two new records. He has also worked on recent records with the likes of Rosanne Cash and Emmy Lou Harris. As the Music Curator for Mile of Music, he continues to reach out to performers from Nashville, Austin and the Coasts to share the story of his hometown music festival and invite them to join in. Cory will again be hosting his popular “An Evening of Holiday Mischief” concert on Dec. 18th at the Lawrence Memorial Chapel in conjunction with Mile of Music and Appleton Downtown Incorporated. Cory’s partner, Adriel Denae, has performed at both Festivals and they recently welcomed a new addition, a baby boy – Rhodes Wilder Chisel. Downtown Appletons Mile of Music: Mile of Music started with a 2012 phone call from Dave Willems to Cory Chisel. Did Cory want to help start a new music festival in Appleton? He did. Cory lined up performers. Dave secured backing and venues. In summer of the next year, Mile of Music debuted with 100 original music acts and over 200 live performances in Downtown Appleton. This summer saw the festival, dubbed Mile 2, entertain 30,000 people with 218 artists in over 600 live performances at 60 venues. Venues ranged from small restaurants to the Performing Arts Center and the Lawrence Memorial Chapel to a city bus outfitted as the Mile of Music bus that presented live performances while it drove around the downtown area. Most of the music was free. Many of the artists are emerging performers, but well known participants have included Norah Jones, Rodney Crowell, Richie Ramone, and Mike Mills from REM. Plans are now taking shape for next August’s Mile 3, which will be bigger and better – with both fresh and favorite artists, a mystery stage for kids, surprise pop-up acts, and more visual arts to complement the music. This handcrafted, artisan music event will continue to support two main community efforts: funding music education projects in Appleton public schools and supporting creative projects in Downtown Appleton.
Posted on: Sat, 22 Nov 2014 00:20:30 +0000
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