If you have any questions or need more info, please call Anthony at  920-261-6678.

Please Email any pictures taken at this years BBQ to Casca511@yahoo.com

Add us on facebook www.facebook.com/standtallbbq

Our Sponsors are the people that make it possible for us to bring you a great quality event. Sponsors not only donate time, food, and money, but their participation and that is truly what makes this BBQ what it is.

Local support comes from everywhere.

Anthony's 511

Runamuck Productions

Piggly Wiggly

TransMaster

The Marine Corps League of Watertown

Fire and Iron Station 17

Generations Jewelers

Arctic Fisherman LLC

Watertown Civil
Air Patrol

Wal-Mart

Wis Pak

River City Dist.

Ott Schweitzer Dist. Inc

Triana's Trophy Case

GM Global

Wenzel Brothers

Evolution Ink

American Legion Post189

Far Horizons

 This is a partial list and will be updated regularly

 

 

    Ten years have passed and as we gather together this year we promise to make some noise for those lost to us. We gather to make a horrific event a launching point for all that is good about us and our country. We gather to remember. We gather to show honor. We gather to let those that sought to hurt us that we are stronger than than they will ever know. We prize life and liberty and freedom. We show our strength through our actions and sacrifices. By keeping those taken in our thoughts and prayers we show our strength. By keeping that promise made ten long years ago, " We Will Not Forget!"

  The day was bright and sunny, a perfect day. So similar in respect to that day 10 years ago, but ten years have pasted and the world that we knew would never be the same. I have been blessed to have met some of the nicest people in the world because of the terrorist actions on Sept. 11^th 2001. And I hope that every year we do justice to the memories of those lost that day.

  On Saturday Sept. 10^th a group of Americans came together at Aero Park for the 10^th Stand Tall Remember BBQ. They came to share with others the feelings and thoughts, they remembered from that day. To share the stories of how we have reacted, how we have changed and they came to honor those gone.

    I can say I never expected what started with a Weber grill would become what I saw Sat. the 10^th. This year we had so much help that I was using the expression, “I got a Guy.” to answer how something was going to get done or anytime we found that we had a problem. What you are about to read is who that “Guy” is, hold on ‘cause there are a lot of them.

   This year was amazing for us and these people, groups and business made the BBQ a success. If I forget to mention anyone I am so sorry but sometimes things get done and I don’t know who did them. So first, thanks to everyone that spread the word, told a friend and/or grabbed a poster to put in your business, break room or on your ‘fridge.

   I want thank Jeff Tate and Piggly Wiggly for all the brats, ice and all the help, Jerry at Cousins Subs, also to Heather and CM Global and Evolution Ink, Special T, Far Horizons, Mary’s Touch of Glass for some great prizes. Steve Hepp and Silver Eagle, Jerry Hepp Excavating and his guys, Wetzel and AOK signs for signage, Mayor Krueger, Jack and the Park and Rec. Dept., Krys Brown and the Watertown Airport for making parking possible and The Marine Corps League and American Legion Post 189, Watertown Civil Air Patrol, Transmasters, Ken Zindars Insurance, Budget Print for Ride posters and morning coffee, Budweiser for the great tap beer, Aaron at Charles David & Sons, Pat from On the Rock for his generous help, Larrry Neals for the bags boards. Thanks to all the bars that gave prizes and put up posters, I hope I don’t forget any of you, Dew Drop Inn, Krazys, Sidelines, The Hardware Store, Market Street Inn, 4 of a Kind, Jak’s, Yangers, Old World Pub, Kathy’s Buffalo, Uptown.

    I have some special thanks to offer to some people that went above and beyond anything that was asked of them. These people made a huge difference and over came some amazing obstacles. The flag line you saw was laid out by a member of the Patriot Guard, on his own time and suffering from a personal loss earlier that day, Kevin the Kontractor, you are an amazing man. Jim Sell and his band of helpers, you did a fantastic job with the Stand Tall Freedom Ride. I want to thank three people whose names I don’t know; two donated the use of their ATV for us to shuttle people to the park and to our auctioneer, you guys made the day! Also to Ray Pruitt welder extraordinaire, who when given an unrealistic time limit went and did the impossible, Ray thank you for joining the BBQ Team, from all the hours before, to showing up at three in the morning trouble shooting, I know it would have been easier to say no. Shawn Kuester for presale tickets, pig roasting and just about everything that needed moving, you stepped up, thank you. Dean Lins you had my back for 5 days, amazing. Jeff Leis for letting us burn that roaster out at his place. Michael Surdik, Karen and Ralph Wandersee, and Fire and Iron for donating us the mother of all pigs! Sterotype, S.N.A.F.U. and Rabid Aardvarks were the bands that donated their time and talent to keep the crowd entertained. I would recommend these bands to anyone that needs live music, seriously, one of the greatest sounding days I have ever heard. Thanks for letting the sound guys do their job. And thanks to Jason and his right hand man that made the bands sound like a choir.

   Now here are the people that make the BBQ the smoothest possible, these folks aren’t an organized group. These people volunteer and come together to pull off 20 hours of back breaking work, from setting up and tearing down the park, shuttling people, and dozens of morning runs, to serving over 500lbs of pork done ten ways. Without these people I would have a great idea, but I would be sitting in the park alone. Deal, Michelle & Shawn Lins, Dean & Amy Johnson, Walter & Carrie Schmit, Teddy & Chris Blaser, Jason Gritzner, Dick Gallup, Jen and Brad Vogt, Christina Arnold, Tara Euclide-Selke, Nicole O’Haver and Phil with an F in absentia, Tony Ditman, Nicci Pilgrim, Michael Surdick, Nakyta & Makyle Chentis, Mark Zindars and Kailee Blazek. To my wife, Alicia, thank you for your love, support, help, strength and belief in me. These people continue to amaze and astound me year after year. You have all made great things possible. If these people didn’t commit with their hearts, I would be sitting alone in a park. Thank you for all you do.

   I look back over the last ten years and often wonder where we would be if the nightmare of that day didn’t exist. I thought about it a lot as I wrote this letter over the last week. I came to what I find a comforting thought. I realized that I will never know where we would be at now. But I do know that great deeds have been done because of that day. 3.498 lives have brought together and influenced hundreds of thousands to become more than they thought they were possible of, to care more than they thought  and help others they hadn’t thought they could. I know because I have seen it first hand over the last 5 years. I know because there is one person that changed and influenced me and my friends.

   Cpl. Matthew R. Zindars, Marine, Son, Brother. He changed how I thought and did the BBQ. Because of his sacrifice, I became more than I thought I was. Because of this one young man, we have been inspired to do things we had never dreamed of, Because Matthew cared, we cared. Matthew has put five children through Burn Camp, has helped students with scholarships, he has aided children through the S.A.L. and sent a WWII vet to Washington to see the monument raised for him and his lost brothers. I never met Matthew, but he has made a huge impact on my life and made me a better man than I thought I was. Thank you, Matthew.

 If you were at the park that day I thank you for coming and sharing your day, if you didn’t make it I hope that next year you will come and join us.

 Sincerely Anthony Chentis

These are the people that make this happen. I always seem to be the one getting the pats on the back and the “Good job”. I don’t deserve them, These are the people that make that BBQ you are going to on Saturday the success it is. There is no way that this BBQ could work without these people, Alicia, Dean, Deanner, Teddy, Walter, Carrie, Michelle, Dawn, Michael, Jim, Juanita, Tara, Jason, Christina, Shawn, Phil (with an F), and Number 10.

       The 9/11 Commission which is a group of volunteers that make it possible to bring you the BBQ in all its glory and these men and women are the backbone of this event. If you have any questions or if you would like to help with your time, resources or donations please contact me, Anthony at 920-261-6678.