March 8, 2017 Sports [13] The Warhawks men’s basketball starters huddle before tip-off vs. the University of Northwestern (Minnesota) which the team won before losing in the second round of the D-III NCAA Tournament to Augustana College and ending the team’s season 22-7.
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Campus welcomes Kiki Smith Ashley McCallum Co Editor-in Chief
Kiki Smith is a world-renowned artist who admits she has friends who will not let her paint portraits of them, for fear she will make them look 10 years older. Smith shared that thought, as well as others, with a nearly packed Young Auditorium for her opening lecture on March 6, the first day of Smith’s week-long residency at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater as the inaugural artist funded by the Annette and Dale Schuh Visiting Artist Endowment. While flipping through dozens of slides of work, spanning from the beginning of her career in the 1970s to now, Smith shared anecdotes of time spent creating art and elaborated on some of the inspiration behind some of the work that has made her one of the most critically acclaimed artists of the last four decades. “We’re as artists all completely limited by our ideas, our good taste, our imagination,” Smith said during her lecture. “Getting to walk out into the wind [is important], put a net out, capture things that are unexpected or that either go out of your own life or have something happen.” photo by Sierra High / Photo Editor
Visiting artist Kiki Smith kicked off a week-long printmaking residency while sharing inspirations behind some of her greatest work. Smith’s campus stay will include printmaking sessions working with students and faculty in the Crossman Art Gallery inside the Center of the Arts.
see Smith page 12
Local business owners weigh in on Spring Splash Brad Allen Biz & Tech Editor
They drank, they ate, they conquered. Over the past four years, waves of students from in and out of town have charged into local bars and businesses during Spring Splash weekend, leaving a significant and steadily mounting economic footprint behind in the wake of Whitewater’s biggest annual drinking event. On Friday, April 16, 2016 during last year’s Spring Splash weekend, Taco Fresco closed two hours early due to depletion of product in the store. “The city was affected greatly in a positive way,” Taco Fresco store owner Garret Witherholt said. “We pulled in twice as much in sales than we would on a normal day.” One business which has consistently seen high impact due to the event is WestSider Liquor. Brian Frawley, a spokesperson for the corporation that owns the gas station and liquor store, said that Spring Splash is great for the local economy. “[April 16 of 2016] was the best day of that entire year for Westsider Liquor,” Frawley said. “The impact on our business has steadily grown
through the process.” The first year, Frawley said, the store was unprepared for the surge in sales and was not even aware that event was happening. “It helps us immensely,” Frawley said. “It’s sad to see it go. Obviously the city had their reasons for canceling it. I hope kids still go out and enjoy themselves.” Rocky Rococo’s store owner Ken Dahnert said it is very significant to have a couple thousand extra people in the city during a weekend. “College students come in and drink beer, they get rowdy and they eat,” Dahnert said. “That’s great for restaurants.”
“College students come in and drink beer, they get rowdy and they eat; that’s great for restaurants,” -Ken Dahnert Rocky Rococo store owner
Some community members have voiced their concerns that students coming in from out of town have become a problem, and that these
non-local students are causing damages to property and littering. But the exact perpetrators are hard to pinpoint. Whether Spring Splash is even the most rowdy drinking event of the year is up for debate. Owner of the Black Sheep and Casual Joe’s, Tyler Salisbery, said he has noticed that the weekend of Fourth of July tends to invite more trouble than Spring Splash. “I would say we experience more trash, litter and vehicle damage over the Fourth of July festival then we did during Spring Splash,” Salisbery said. “But we don’t complain because for the most part it’s good for the community.” The same could be said by others for Spring Splash, he added. “If we are going to take the stance of avoid anything that could cause damage or issues again, [then] I am going to say we need to re-evaluate other community events,” Salisbery said. Denny K’s Bar & Grill owner Dennis Knopp said he believes it is students from out of town, and not UW-Whitewater students, who are “getting out hand.”
see Splash page 5