Packers fences along Lombardi Avenue are a part of Green Bay football culture
GREEN BAY – As Steve Kraft was driving down Oneida Street to his home at 1177 Shadow Lane nearly 40 years ago, he wondered if letters painted on his picket fence facing Lambeau Field could be read.
The idea lingered, and about a month later he put thought into action and painted "Welcome Back, Forrest" on the fence, in reference to the Green Bay Packers hiring Forrest Gregg as their coach. The fence did better than Gregg, who lasted only four years on the Packers' sideline.
In 1984, Kraft had an actual picket fence, with spaces between the boards, as opposed to all four of the current Packers fences providing solid backgrounds for their murals.
"That’s why I didn’t think it would work, but it did," he said. "You could see it better from the side."
Little did Kraft know he would start a tradition that would become part of the culture of football in Green Bay, and would grow to four fences along that stretch of Shadow Lane now mostly lined with Packers party houses.
"I like to drive by there and think, 'Geez, I started all of this,'" Kraft said. "It’s nice. It’s funny to think about and talk about."
Fence painting became institutionalized, with sponsors in some cases, but originally it was just Kraft and his family. His sister-in-law would design the lettering and friends and family would pitch in to paint.
"We'd have our fantasy football draft and paint the fence," Kraft said.
During the 15 years he painted the fence, interest grew. Grade school classes and others would make suggestions. Kraft preferred clever sayings, often with double meanings and puns; sayings like "Packers edge is Sterling Sharpe," "In-Fante we trust" and "The Pack is all Wright." (Those are references to former receiver Sterling Sharpe, former coach Lindy Infante, and former quarterback and UW alum Randy Wright.)
Interest remained high, so he kept doing it.
"People would drive by and beep their horns and ask us what was going on the fence each year," he said.
The fences have, over the years, promoted more than the Packers. For instance, the fence at 1219 Shadow Lane promoted autism awareness in 2013, and this year that fence recognizes a well-known Packers song.
Here's a little about each of the fences:
1177 Shadow Lane
Owner: Dorothy Harrsch
Artist: Bruce Kiel
Slogan: "The New Pack is a Love Affair"
Story: This was the first Packers fence. Steve Kraft sold the house to Frederick Harrsch in 2002. Harrsch moved to Green Bay from New Jersey to be closer to the Packers and kept up the tradition. Christopher Handler painted the fence for many years before moving on to the fence down the street at 1219 Shadow Lane. Harrsch died in 2022 at age 81.
Sister-in-law Dorothy Harrsch now owns the property, and she and her son, Peter, keep up the fence-painting tradition. The fence is painted on Labor Day by family and friends. Packers President and CEO Mark Murphy sometimes came over at the start of the day.
In addition to acknowledging the Packers new starting quarterback, as all of the fences do this year, this fence includes a painting of Fred Harrsch.
1167 Shadow Lane
Slogan: "You gotta Love this team"
Artist: Christopher Handler
Owner: John Kaul, Richland Center
Story: Kaul Enterprises of Richland Center, a family-owned restaurant and hospitality business, owns the house at 1167 Shadow Lane and rents it for games and events. The Kaul family frequently uses it as well. The company has rental properties in Florida and Wisconsin, as well as owning restaurants across the state.
"It’s such a unique thing. It’s a Midwestern thing," John Kaul said of the Packers fences.
Kaul, a lifelong "crazy" Packers fan — "When it's a big game, I can hardly watch it" — bought the house a long time back, but started having the fence painted only two years ago, when he was approached by Handler.
"We bought the house back when it was easier to buy the houses because the Packers were losing all the time" he said.
He and his wife were driving through Green Bay and saw the house for sale across from Lambeau Field. They stopped to look at it and when he noticed from the bathroom window he could see the Lambeau Field scoreboard, he knew he had to swing a deal.
The backyard of the house includes wooden cutouts of Packers players, which are changed from year to year.
"It will stay in the family," Kaul said of the house. "The rental part of it was to help maintain it. The fun part of it for us is doing the more corny stuff, the cut outs and painting the fence."
Handler solicited suggestions for the slogan and invited volunteers to help paint it.
1219 Shadow Lane
Slogan: "I love my Green Bay Packers"
Artist: Spencer Young
Owner: Matthew Weir
Story: Spencer Young of Forever Young Designs, Shiocton, designed his 10th fence in nine seasons. He did an additional one for the Wisconsin-LSU game in 2016. Cheesehead TV, which owns the house next door, is a sponsor of the fence.
A football player at St. Norbert College, Young was approached by another artist who had been contacted by the owner.
"This season obviously represents a significant shift for the Packers," Young said. "Football is about more than one player. It’s about the team. I do it for the community and the fan base, but it’s nice to promote my art as well. One guy said he drove all the way from Ohio and this was a big reason, to watch me paint."
Featured on this year's fence is the song "I love my Green Bay Packers," written by Ed Lemberger of Milwaukee.
"A friend said if some guy would write a polka about the Packers, I bet it would be a big hit in Wisconsin," said Lemberger, who took him up on it in 1993. "I got to Milwaukee and made a simple recording of it. I guess I got lucky, because the recording sounded good."
His timing was particularly good. The Packers were a rising team with Mike Holmgren at coach and Brett Favre at quarterback. The Packers won their first Super Bowl in 30 years in January 1997.
Like Steve Kraft when he first painted the other fence, Lemberger wasn't expecting to have a lasting impact.
"January of 1996 is when the whole thing exploded. The enthusiasm around the whole state was so tremendous. Just about every radio station and TV in the state was playing my song," Lemberger said.
Soon enough he was performing it at tailgate parties and a cassette tape of the song was placed in a time capsule put together by WGN radio in Chicago, to be opened in 2098.
He eventually wrote some 21 songs about the Packers, as well as songs about the Milwaukee Brewers and Bucks, and many more. Two of his albums, "Prayer Songs" and "Songs of Light" are available on iTunes and Amazon.
1267 Shadow Lane
Slogan: "A New Era"
Artist: Zane Statz
Owner: Dennis Jr. and Pamela Klumb
Story: This fence includes a sponsor, BayCare Clinic, community involvement and a donation to New Community Shelter. Zane Statz of ZAS Designs, who began painting Packers fences in 2014, this year produced a paint-by-numbers design and invited the public to drop by and pick up a brush.
"The Packers are a community-owned team, so why not get the community out to paint the mural as well," Statz said.
The fence includes depictions of three great Packers quarterbacks — Bart Starr, Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers — on one end, and the new guy, Jordan Love, on the other.
"They can come by later and really say, 'I helped paint that,'" Statz said when inviting the community painters.
In past years, Statz designed the murals for the fence at 1219 Shadow Lane.
Contact Richard Ryman at rryman@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @RichRymanPG, on Instagram at @rrymanPG or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/RichardRymanPG/.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Packers fences are a part of Green Bay football culture
