Twin Cities Packers fans are going well beyond face paint, foam hats and brats for Sunday's Super Bowl.
This week's snow brought yet another round of shoveling. For Minneapolis' Mary VanderLeest, it meant a more unusual chore: cheese restoration.
The day after her beloved Green Bay Packers qualified for the Super Bowl, VanderLeest and neighbor Curtis Johnson built a gigantic "cheese" sculpture -- 3 1/2 feet tall, 12 feet long and 8 feet wide -- out of snow in her front yard. To keep it looking its best, VanderLeest "repainted" her big cheese with just the right mix of red and yellow food coloring.
She's just one of many Packer backers in the Twin Cities going all out to prepare for Sunday's Super Bowl against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
This isn't the first time VanderLeest built a "big cheese for big occasions." In 1997, her initial cheese sculpture became a celebration platform for Packers fans after Green Bay won that year's Super Bowl. "All of a sudden, people are pulling up, dancing on top of the cheese and taking their pictures," she said.
Even before the Pack tries to repeat that feat, cheeseheads can't help but gloat over the fact that their team is playing a third Super Bowl since the Vikings' most recent appearance XXXIV years ago. And they're even gloating on deeply Purple turf.
According to Murray Parent, assistant manager of the Vikings Locker Room store in Rosedale, Wisconsin fans have been showing their Packer pride. "We've had some people coming in the past two weeks wearing all their Packers stuff," he said, "and they just walk through the store smiling and then leave."
Hitting the road
Plenty of Packers fans at least thought about going to the big game in Dallas. John Byrne of Minneapolis wasn't one of them. He decided to stay home "for the benefit of all the Packer nation," he said. He attended the Super Bowl in 1998 when the Denver Broncos beat Green Bay.
Richfield's Bradford Dobesh, who sports a Packers tattoo on his ankle, has been chasing after tickets all week. If he's successful, he's vowed to stay in his seat the entire game.
"My wife asked me what I'm going to do for the game, and I said I would be wearing Depends," he said.
Eagan's Linda Hempel will definitely be in Dallas. The day after the Packers clinched their Super Bowl berth, she booked a flight and hotel, then set about getting a ticket.
"I rolled the dice that the prices would come down as the game got closer," said Hempel, an elementary school teacher who grew up three blocks from Green Bay's Lambeau Field and, at 11, attended the famous "Ice Bowl" in 1967 (game-time temperature: 15 below).
Unfortunately for her, demand -- and prices -- for this year's Super Bowl went up, she said. After 25 hours of computer searches and negotiations, she landed a seat on the 10-yard line in the upper deck -- for $2,500. "Cinderella is going to the ball," said Hempel.
Jeff Finckler of Hugo will also be traveling to watch the game with a "championship belt" modeled after the invisible wrestling belt that Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers "puts on" after scoring a touchdown. But Finckler's destination is closer to home.
"If you can't be in Dallas," he said, "you do the next best thing and go watch the game in Green Bay."
So, after lunch Saturday at Fuzzy Thurston's, a visit to the Packers Hall of Fame at Lambeau Field and dinner at Curly's Pub, Finckler will watch the game with a gaggle of green-and-gold-clad fanatics at the Best Western, where he's staying.
Of bears, brats and beers
Most Twin Cities Packer backers will be staying closer to home. Greg Kamin is hosting a large all-ages party at his Edina photo studio, Gamut One. On tap: Wii games and a bouncy obstacle course for the younger set, a keg and chili cookoff for the adults, and a photo booth for all hands.
The bars that serve as meccas for Packers fans all season long, including Gabe's Roadhouse, Park Tavern and Herkimer Pub, will be ramping things up, as well.
On Friday afternoon at Tiffany Sports Lounge in St. Paul, they unveiled two 4-foot-tall ice sculptures: a block of cheese imprinted with a giant green "G" and a supersized Super Bowl XLV logo. On Saturday, they'll hand out a free beer to anyone who donates a piece of Brett Favre gear. (All clothes go to charity.)
On game day, Tiffany customers will have to settle for specials on green beer and Ellsworth cheese curds because "there's no way we can top the last thing we did," said manager Kevin Montpetit. When the Packers played the Bears two Sundays ago, they roasted a whole bear.
At her south Minneapolis home, VanderLeest will be doing the standard beer-and-brats thing and focusing on the game. She might not be the only one on her block rooting for the Pack, though.
"The last time [she had a cheese sculpture], the thing stayed on the lawn until about June," she said. "The Packers had better win, because the neighbors are gonna be looking at it for a long time."
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