Building Community with Larry Gundrum
In honor of Town Square’s 10th anniversary on June 25, we will be sharing notable moments in our history.
With things rocking and rolling inside Town Square, sights turned outside the building - namely to the area now occupied by Mill Pond Terrace. The vision of the Mill Pond Terrace project was to transform the underused and aging parking lots to the north of the building into a valuable community asset, providing space for outdoor events and public gatherings.
Fundraising for the project was completed and ground was broke in 2018 with the goal to debut the completed Mill Pond Terrace and Town Square Tap at Town Square’s annual Party on the Pond on July 2, 2019.
“We knew this was an ambitious, if not crazy, goal,” said Larry Gundrum, who was Town Square’s executive director at the time. “And of course, we needed mother nature to cooperate!”
When Larry came on board as executive director in April 2019, the first phase of the project, which included hardscapes and the semi-circular retaining wall for the overlook, had been completed and contractors had been selected, but most of the physical work remained. The key to completing the project was communication and coordination.
“I created a project plan, shared it with all the contractors so everyone knew who was doing what and approximately when and immediately entered all of them into my speed dial on the phone! During construction, I spent more time on the terrace with the contractors than I did in the office.”
All of the contractors were local, which Larry said was critical to completing the project on time.
“They wanted to make sure the project was completed almost as much as we did,” he said. “Working with and getting to know these people was by far the best part of the project for me. Many of them worked at cost or donated labor.”
Many contractors contributed to the Mill Pond Terrace project including Outdoor Impact, Stahl Plumbing, Grasee Electric, Kinas Excavating, Egbert Excavation, Bomanite of Wisconsin, Design Specialty Builders, Fusion Creative, Steve’s Quality Painting, Lakeside Custom Homes, T. Reichenberger Jr. & Son, Barco Construction, Source One Construction, Modern Overhead Door, Omni Glass & Paint and Shoreline Marine Contracting.
The Mill Pond Terrace Task Force included many passionate people. Graphic designer Amy Arnetveit created a cohesive visual plan and developer Dave Armstrong guided its execution. Phil Burkart constantly offered unique solutions to challenges. Mary-Jo Johnson kept everything on budget. Evelyn Galster kept the needs of the entire community at the forefront.
The creation of Mill Pond Terrace was a true community effort. Larry’s daughter, Jolie, created banners from sails donated by Joe Norton and the Green Lake Yacht Club to be used as decoration at the Town Square Tap. Dave Lloyd helped build the Tap’s pallet wall. The final piece was the donor wall on the overlook. Amy Arneveit created the design and managed the manufacturing and installation with just days left before the grand opening.
In total, nearly 200 people and businesses contributed to the Mill Pond Terrace project and gathered for a special unveiling before the Party on the Pond. That evening, over 600 community members and guests attended the opening with a Dead Horses concert and socialized on the Mill Pond Terrace for the first time.
“Seeing so many people come together to create and enjoy this beautiful new asset for our Green Lake community was a proud day for everyone involved,” Larry said. “To have it all come together for this event was just heartwarming and overwhelming.
“Almost all the funds for the project were donated by people in the community which is really great sign of the community and how they support Green Lake. It turned out even better than we hoped for, largely because of the ideas people brought forth. “