Fundraising Continues for Gazebo to Honor Digger DeGroot

For 19 years, James “Digger” DeGroot helped to welcome and guide visitors to the best of Fish Creek from his perch behind the desk of the Fish Creek Information Center. Between jokes and jabs, his gravelly voice directed people to the evening’s fish boils, the best park trail and the area’s best bar stool. 

But the village’s late ambassador wished he could direct them to a gazebo in Noble Square to enjoy a picnic, performance or just a moment in the shade. 

“He always wanted the town to build a gazebo there,” said his widow, Jodee DeGroot. “He felt it would look right with the Noble House and fit with the town.”

Digger pictured music performances, maybe wedding ceremonies and town gatherings in the gazebo, and when DeGroot died in February 2020, his friends and family started a collection in his memory to fund it. 

Donations for the Noble Square gazebo can be made to the James DeGroot Memorial Fund at Nicolet Bank, Attn: Teri Berndt, P.O. Box 117, Egg Harbor, WI 54209. Learn more about the project from Trissa Crowley at 920.421.1207.