Christmas in Titletown

OCONTO, Wis. — For as long as he can remember, Charlie Riewe has bled green and gold for his beloved Green Bay Packers. Attending the NFL Draft, hosted by the Packers last month, he said was like celebrating a family holiday.

“You feel like they are part of your family,” Riewe said. “It’s so ingrained, you feel so invested, it’s part of our culture. There’s no big fancy owner (of the Packers). The fans own the team. I bought my kids stock in the Packers the last time. We’re all shareholders. It’s our team.”

Riewe and his brother, Kenny, are the fourth generation to operate their farm near Oconto that has been in their family since 1915. The brothers milk 140 cows. They transitioned into ownership from their parents, Rick and Diane, two years ago.

The dairy farm is a 35-minute drive from Green Bay’s Lambeau Field.

“The first season I really remember actively following through was in 1989, when we had Don Majkowski, the Majik Man,” Riewe said. “Then he got hurt and Favre came along — everyone just fell in love with Favre. He was like us. You just felt like he’d sit down and have a beer with you.”

Riewe’s passion for Packers football deepened as he became aware of the role the NFL Draft played in the future of the team.

“The draft has been like Christmas for me since probably 1994 when the Packers picked Aaron Taylor in the first round,” Riewe said. “I’d listen to the draft on the radio because we didn’t have cable. On Saturday I’d go to my uncle’s in town and watch the picks all day. Back then it was 15 minutes a pick, so it was a longer day.”

With 30 years of draft watching under his belt, Riewe made the half-hour pilgrimage when the event landed in his backyard, taking his wife, Keriann, and their sons, Bennett and Greyson.

“It was really a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Riewe said. “I wanted to take my family and experience it with my boys. The boys didn’t have classes, and my wife took the day off work and we went on Friday.”

The experience lived up to Riewe’s expectations, in spite of the rain the day he attended.

“It felt like a giant Packer tailgate party,” Riewe said. “Probably 90% of the people there were Packers fans.”

Riewe said he also saw quite a few Bears fans and some Lions fans, but not many Vikings fans. Overall, he said he thought all the teams were represented.

The event drew over 600,000 people during the three days it was held, with 175,000 people in attendance on Friday when the Riewe family attended.

“We entered in the Titletown district area,” Riewe said. “At first it wasn’t too crowded, but the closer we got to Lambeau, the more crowded it became. It was like herding cattle through gates.”

Riewe said he was pleased with the family-friendly atmosphere.

“They had lots of things for the kids,” Riewe said. “There was a wall with all the player helmets where you could take photos, a place where kids could kick little field goals or throw the ball and take photos in their favorite team jerseys.”

The event and activities were free. While the draft stage was built across Oneida Street, the stadium was open for spectators to go inside.

“We watched Round 2 from outside,” Riewe said. “We watched Round 3 in the atrium and drank hot chocolate to get in out of the rain. We stayed afterwards for the drone show they put on, which was neat to see.”

The camaraderie of Packers fans was in its full glory, Riewe said.

“The best part of the draft, for me, was when the Bears would be on the clock,” Riewe said. “Everyone booed them, and then nearly 200,000 people would chant, ‘The Bears still suck.’ That was probably the highlight for me.”

As a long-time follower of the Packers’ draft picks, Riewe said, at first, he was surprised by the team’s first-round selection.

“I didn’t expect them to go with a receiver; they haven’t since like 2002,” Riewe said. “But I think they had to do it with Christian Watson’s knee injury. They needed a guy who can take the top off the defense and flip the field. Looking back, I should have seen it coming — they needed a receiver.”

The second and third rounds brought more unexpected moves.

“Choosing an offensive lineman was surprising because they need a cornerback badly,” Riewe said. “Taking an offensive tackle was more of a pick for the future. The second pick, he’s not much of a receiver, but he can run the wildcat out of the backfield and be a game changer — we haven’t had a game changer in a long time, so hopefully it pans out. They say he’s hard to tackle and that’s what we need.”

As he ponders the future of his team in the upcoming season, Riewe said, like every year, he dreams of a silver football being hoisted high as the Lombardi Trophy makes its way home to Titletown.

“The Packers are my team, they’re Wisconsin’s team, it’s us against everyone else,” Riewe said. “I used to get upset and depressed when the season ended short of a championship. Now I shake it off and start thinking about what next year will bring. That is what I’m trying to instill in my boys — the resiliency to look to the future and the loyalty to stay the course.”