City man wins grand prize in Riverfest raffle

By Adam Tobias of the Daily Times staff
Monday, August 4, 2008 12:36 PM CDT

A Watertown resident was selected as the $10,000 grand prize winner of the 2008 Riverfest Raffle Sunday night as the four-day festival came to a close.

Tom Good, who lives on Theresa Street, has won the $10,000 grand prize.

Good could not be reached before press time today.

Herschel Wickert of Watertown was named the winner of the $1,000 first prize and A & S Plumbing, Heating and Cooling on West Street won the $750 second prize.

Other raffle winners and the amount they will receive are Gerry Meyers of Watertown, $500; Brian Chambers of Watertown, $400; Phil Rhodes Jr., $300; Joseph Darcey of Watertown, $200; Rachel Peralta, $100; Tami Essmann of DeForest, $100; Gloria Batzler and Lisa Nelson of Watertown, $100; and Tricia Strauss of Watertown, $100.

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Businesses that sell winning raffle tickets receive 10 percent of total prize. Local businesses that sold winning tickets and the amount they will receive are Firehouse Lanes of Watertown, $100; Hales Corner of Watertown, $50; J & L Tire Inc. of Johnson Creek; Riverview Store of Watertown $10; and Riverview Water Trap, $10.

According to festival Chairman Tom Schultz, approximately 36,000 tickets were sold during this year's Riverfest celebration.

“As you can see in here we don't have just 40 tickets, and that's a testament that the people of Watertown and in the area are supporting the festival,” Schultz said as the winning tickets were being pulled from the raffle container. “That's very, very nice.”

Of the 11 winners, nine have Watertown addresses, but Schultz said it's also nice to see people who don't live in the city win some of the money.

“That's always a good thing if we share some of this with some out-of-town folks because typically they've got relatives in Watertown or they were from Watertown and they come back to the town to see a lot of friends and that,” Schultz added.