Sports Show
Exhibitors finish final preparations for today’s opening
Wisconsin’s newest lake formed Tuesday in West Allis.
Before you get concerned, please know it wasn’t the result of a sinkhole or any other natural disaster.
This one was completely intentional, painstakingly planned and, as of late afternoon, well executed.
It’s called Lake Milwaukee, a new feature at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Sports Show.
The 4,000-square-foot water body occupies the western portion of the Wisconsin Exposition Center at State Fair Park.
As lakes go, this one has several familiar attributes.
It has water, 100,000 gallons of Wisconsin’s finest.
It has a dock, 20 feet long and 4 feet wide.
And it has a fleet of boats, including a fishing craft, a pontoon and some kayaks.
Right about there things take a turn for the different.
It has no boat ramp. The two big boats were hefted by forklifts Tuesday and set upon the lake’s calm waters.
Its average depth is 4 feet. Maximum depth? Ditto.
The lake bed is a synthetic, blue liner, the largest ever made by its manufacturer, according to show engineer Jerry Cleary of Outdoor Sports Group.
The water body’s sides are supported by a network of aluminum braces.
For the next five days, it will be Wisconsin’s only indoor lake.
Lake Milwaukee will host seminars by fishing experts and serve as a venue for show-goers to try out kayaks.
Cedar Lake Sales of West Bend has provided two boats to ply the lake’s waters: a Crestliner Raptor 1850 with a 150-horsepower Mercury outboard and a Manitou pontoon boat with a 40-horse Mercury.
Both are 18-footers and fully equipped for any Wisconsin water.
But this time they’ll be motoring on 0.1 acres of liquid.
Most lakes make boats look small. Lake Milwaukee is different in this regard, too. The boats’ sizes seemed magnified on the indoor reservoir.
Cedar Lake Sales has been an exhibitor at the Sports Show in Milwaukee since the late 1970s. The company also shows its products at boat shows and festivals.
The 2017 Journal Sentinel Sports Show will be the first time any of the company’s products will be floated at an indoor event, said Alan Bell, Cedar Lake Sales coowner.
“It’s unique, to say the least,” Bell said.
The Crestliner features an open front deck with a bow-mount electric trolling motor. The setup will allow seminar speakers to maneuver the rig around the water as they present to the audience.
The boat is equipped with all the bells and whistles and weighs 2,600 pounds.
“We could have selected a small one, but why not go big?” Bell said. “This is identical to what many anglers are using on inland waters.”
And as Bell is fond of saying, “Everybody needs a bigger boat.”
The kayaks on Lake Milwaukee will be supplied by Laacke & Joys, another longtime show exhibitor. Show attendees are encouraged to try one.
The wind and wave conditions are guaranteed to be light.
The water was delivered by Waterman Inc. of West Allis. It took 15 tanker trucks to fill the lake.
The firm sells to pool owners and others with unusually large water needs.
“But this is my first time filling an indoor lake,” said Ken Bryner as he delivered a 6,500gallon load.
Two other water bodies — the trout pond and the lumberjack log rolling/dog retrieving pool — also were being readied Tuesday at the show.
By far the biggest, Lake Milwaukee was being watched by engineers, security guards and the curious as its volume swelled.
“When you’re dealing with 100,000 gallons of water, you can never be too careful to make sure things turn out right,” Cleary said.
Lake Milwaukee is sure to draw interest from show-goers.
Even as exhibitors labored Tuesday to get their booths in order, many took time to visit the blue wonder at the west end of the hall.
Lake Milwaukee is decidedly different from Wisconsin’s 15,000-plus lakes. But water has a timeless attraction for humans.
“There’s something about a lake,” Cleary said. “For the next five days, this one is going to get photographed as much as any in the state.”