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A couple dozen people were expected to help Fred Harrsch paint his famed Green Bay Packers fence on Monday.
Instead, nearly 100 showed up to help Harrsch, who has health problems from a head injury 12 years ago. Within 30 minutes, the fence was done, bellowing out its message in giant green letters on a gold background: "IN COACH McCARTHY WE TRUST."
"Like everybody, I'm a friend of Fred's," said Bruce Kiel of De Pere who organized this year's fence-painting event. He was gratified by the number of volunteers and by the fact that those numbers included Steve Kraft, the fence's former owner, and Packers president and CEO Mark Murphy, who sauntered over from Lambeau after seeing the hubbub across the street and ended up grabbing a paintbrush.
The fence, which faces Lambeau Field, is in Harrsch's backyard at 1177 Shadow Lane. This is the 26th year the fence has proclaimed the glory of the Green Bay Packers, and the sixth year under Harrsch's ownership.
This is the first year of many that local handyman Chris Handler wasn't a part of the action. He and Harrsch had a falling out since last year's slogan was painted, and Handler filed a suit in November for $868.22 he claims he is owed for rebuilding Harrsch's fence last year.
On Sept. 11, Handler plans to paint a rival fence a few lots west of Harrsch's.
Harrsch and his team have taken to calling his the "original fence."
The painting of it was half chore, half tailgate party. Organizers pitched a tent in Harrsch's backyard, cooked brats and served soda and beer to volunteers.
Like every year, passing motorists sounded their horns to show support.
The fence was all but finished when a chilly rain started coming down, blitzing the neatly drawn lines of the letters.
"Onto each drop of paint, a little rain must fall," observed volunteer Geno Wheaton.
Kiel shrugged off the setback, saying, "We've got more paint we'll touch it up afterward."