Five Fun Things

The Famous Baby Ducks
The Packers 'Ministry': Feeding the 70,000
Solar Church
St. Anne’s on Parade
Mass on the Grass

(These aren’t the only “fun things” associated with St. Anne’s, but just a sample. For others, keep browsing this site.)

The Famous Baby Ducks

Every spring, the garden in the interior courtyard at St. Anne’s grows a bumper crop of baby ducks.

The church property borders a small pond at Martin Park. It’s a waterfowl hangout from March through November, and every spring at least one mother mallard flies into the courtyard and makes a nest amid the shrubbery, tending her eggs over several weeks as the weather warms.

Children and adults alike peek out through the windows at the courtyard, and the first Sunday morning after the eggs hatch is always an exciting day. The new family spends a few days getting their land legs in the walled-in courtyard before the mother quacks loudly to be “let out.”  The door is opened to a hallway, and then an exterior door is opened for the parade out to the pond.

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The Packers 'Ministry': Feeding the 70,000

Starting with the very successful 2009 season, St. Anne’s became one of the many local non-profit organizations to “adopt” a concessions stand at Lambeau Field.

Because the stands are staffed not by stadium or Green By Packers employees but by groups of unpaid volunteers, a share of the profits goes to the groups themselves: in this case, thousands of dollars to the St. Anne’s treasury.  More than 40 different parishioners volunteer to be part of the 10-person crew at 11 different Packers home games. St. Anne’s has a “kid-friendly” stand selling brats, hot dogs, nachos, popcorn and a variety of snacks, sodas and hot chocolate.

In addition to raising money for the parish, the Packers stand gets the St. Anne’s name in front of a new audience and also provides a fun fellowship activity. (The stands are located underneath the seating areas, however, so workers hear the cheering and radio broadcast, but don’t see any of the game.)

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Solar Church

An array of solar panels faces south from the roof above the classroom wing of St. Anne’s Episcopal Church, and marks the parish as one of the first in the state to "go solar," albeit in a small way.

The panels are nearly a decade old. For a modest investment funded by donors within the congregation, the parish took advantage of a Wisconsin Public Service incentive program to install the solar power equipment as a demonstration project.

The installation generates a few dollars worth of electrical power every day the sun shines. More important, advocates say, it makes a statement about stewardship of natural resources.

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St. Anne’s on Parade

St. Anne’s Episcopal Church has a tradition of entering a float in the popular Memorial Day Parade in the city of De Pere.

The parade is part of a major festival weekend, and in years when the weather is springlike, big crowds line the parade route.  Whether throwing candy to kids, playing music for the crowd or just giving a wave to neighbors and friends, St. Anne’s volunteers of all ages put a friendly face on the parish.

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Mass on the Grass

As the largest of Brown County’s Episcopal congregations, St. Anne’s is always a major contributor to the communitywide Mass on the Grass.

Mass on the Grass takes place on a Sunday morning in early June at a small, wooded park in downtown Green Bay. Each of the four parishes pitches in to help organize the event. Clergy and lay volunteers lead the Eucharist, folk musicians provide the music, and as many as 200 participants join in worship. The picnic afterward is always a highlight. It’s also a great chance to see friends from other parishes, and make new friends.

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