GREEN BAY, Wis. — Smoke from portable grills filled the air with the smell of bratwurst on a recent Sunday in the parking lots that surround Lambeau Field. People were gathered to watch the Green Bay Packers take on the rival Minnesota Vikings, but in a state and city where football is a staple of the culture, they were also there for the pregame tailgate and the experience of one of Wisconsin's premier gathering places.
In one of the crowded lots, the Packers Tailgate Band meandered its way through lawn chairs and folding tables full of food. Brass and woodwind instruments carried the tune while a makeshift drum set mounted to a stroller kept the time. When the band played "Roll Out The Barrel," a Wisconsin polka staple, people got up from their seats and danced.
"It's probably like the best job I have," said Tim Kozlovski, the band's sousaphone player. "It's just having fun with people and partying with them and getting them in the spirit for the game." Kozlovski said the Packers unify people in Wisconsin — he calls it a "good place in your heart.
" And in an atmosphere like that, he said there are some things you just don't talk about, like politics. "You gotta learn to keep that to yourself when you're trying to make people happy," he said. Not everyone has that luxury in Green Bay, where for the first time in years, Lambeau Field and the surrounding community are part of a fierce campaign that could decide control of the Wisconsin Legislature.
A couple of parking lots.