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If you live in Green Bay, you know it’s special.
Now we know just how special.
It’s not just the lack of traffic hassles, Lambeau Field, low crime, Green Bay Packers tailgates, the change of seasons, a great place to raise a family, etc. — all the practical things we tend to rattle off whenever someone asks.
It’s the people.
A 2025 NFL Draft that was a resounding success, as exhilarating as it was exhausting, is the grandest of reminders that the host city’s real gift is its sense of community pride, how much tradition means here and a work ethic like no other. All of it was on display at every turn during the three days that go down as the biggest event in Green Bay history.
The attendance of 600,000 was topped only by the collective effort of so many to make, not just Green Bay, but the whole state of Wisconsin proud. If the NFL and the Packers were the mighty muscle behind the big lift of the draft, it was your friends, family, neighbors and co-workers in Green Bay, Ashwaubenon and the surrounding communities who were the helping hands that worked tirelessly to make sure it all came together.
It was the local bands who hauled equipment in early and out late through the maze that was the Stadium District. The volunteers who fanned out and picked up trash downtown in the days before the draft. Whoever it was who placed containers of spring blooms on the median on Oneida Street and impeccably planted an endless river of pansies outside Lambeau Field.
It was all those who stood out in the elements for hours directing traffic. The crews who tended to portable toilets, emptied garbage, hauled ice and put up tents. The strategic minds who somehow figured out which roads to close and which sides of which residential streets to allow parking to make traffic flow remarkably well.
It was the chefs who sliced and diced and hauled in huge kettles for setup before the sun was up for the Booyah Battle. Equally as impressive, the large crowds who didn’t bat an eye at coming out in the cold and rain to buy a bowl to support area nonprofits. That’s Green Bay.
The Draft City Music Fest made us see see Leicht Memorial Park, and its potential for an annual music festival, in a new and exciting way. A Saturday Farmers Market — Draft Edition was so lively with visitors you would’ve thought it was prime season for fresh sweet corn and cukes.
And perhaps because this is Green Bay, the smallest market in the NFL, that same sense of community includes former Packers players. Alumni were all over town throughout the week for meet and greets, signings and photos. It felt a little like a family reunion where all the fun uncles showed up. Name another NFL city where your all-time leading scorer visits Piggly Wiggly for autographs.
At Taste of the Draft, guests talked kringle and the Lambeau Leap with LeRoy Butler and slipped on Eugene Robinson’s Super Bowl ring, in between bites of some of the best supper club fare in the state. When the the staff at the Union Hotel & Restaurant in De Pere said Pro Football Hall of Famer Dave Robinson was “family,” it’s because the two really do go way back.
At a USAA event at EPIC Event Center where Packers running back Josh Jacobs and Packers Hall of Famer Clay Matthews talked with 100 invited military members from Wisconsin, Matthews joked about being welcomed at the airport with “a bag of cheese and a six-pack of Spotted Cow” and said even little things, like driving across the State 172 bridge over the Fox River, hold great memories for him of his time spent in Green Bay.
On the final day of the draft, when asked what was his favorite part of the experience, a fan in a Chicago Bears jersey outside Lambeau Field said this: “Just people being friendly.” The woman with him: “Just the showcasing of a small town.”
So for as spectacular as it was to see the dazzling TV shots of the Draft Theater and the sea of fans, maybe the even bigger picture is how a small town stayed true to itself and made a massive event feel so welcoming and personal.
It takes a special city with a lot of heart to do that. Well done, Green Bay.
Kendra Meinert is an entertainment and feature writer at the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Contact her at 920-431-8347 or [email protected]. Follow her on X @KendraMeinert.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Success of 2025 NFL Draft in Green Bay proves what a special city it is
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Now we know just how special.
It’s not just the lack of traffic hassles, Lambeau Field, low crime, Green Bay Packers tailgates, the change of seasons, a great place to raise a family, etc. — all the practical things we tend to rattle off whenever someone asks.
It’s the people.
A 2025 NFL Draft that was a resounding success, as exhilarating as it was exhausting, is the grandest of reminders that the host city’s real gift is its sense of community pride, how much tradition means here and a work ethic like no other. All of it was on display at every turn during the three days that go down as the biggest event in Green Bay history.
You must be registered for see images attach
The attendance of 600,000 was topped only by the collective effort of so many to make, not just Green Bay, but the whole state of Wisconsin proud. If the NFL and the Packers were the mighty muscle behind the big lift of the draft, it was your friends, family, neighbors and co-workers in Green Bay, Ashwaubenon and the surrounding communities who were the helping hands that worked tirelessly to make sure it all came together.
It was the local bands who hauled equipment in early and out late through the maze that was the Stadium District. The volunteers who fanned out and picked up trash downtown in the days before the draft. Whoever it was who placed containers of spring blooms on the median on Oneida Street and impeccably planted an endless river of pansies outside Lambeau Field.
It was all those who stood out in the elements for hours directing traffic. The crews who tended to portable toilets, emptied garbage, hauled ice and put up tents. The strategic minds who somehow figured out which roads to close and which sides of which residential streets to allow parking to make traffic flow remarkably well.
It was the chefs who sliced and diced and hauled in huge kettles for setup before the sun was up for the Booyah Battle. Equally as impressive, the large crowds who didn’t bat an eye at coming out in the cold and rain to buy a bowl to support area nonprofits. That’s Green Bay.
The Draft City Music Fest made us see see Leicht Memorial Park, and its potential for an annual music festival, in a new and exciting way. A Saturday Farmers Market — Draft Edition was so lively with visitors you would’ve thought it was prime season for fresh sweet corn and cukes.
And perhaps because this is Green Bay, the smallest market in the NFL, that same sense of community includes former Packers players. Alumni were all over town throughout the week for meet and greets, signings and photos. It felt a little like a family reunion where all the fun uncles showed up. Name another NFL city where your all-time leading scorer visits Piggly Wiggly for autographs.
You must be registered for see images attach
At Taste of the Draft, guests talked kringle and the Lambeau Leap with LeRoy Butler and slipped on Eugene Robinson’s Super Bowl ring, in between bites of some of the best supper club fare in the state. When the the staff at the Union Hotel & Restaurant in De Pere said Pro Football Hall of Famer Dave Robinson was “family,” it’s because the two really do go way back.
At a USAA event at EPIC Event Center where Packers running back Josh Jacobs and Packers Hall of Famer Clay Matthews talked with 100 invited military members from Wisconsin, Matthews joked about being welcomed at the airport with “a bag of cheese and a six-pack of Spotted Cow” and said even little things, like driving across the State 172 bridge over the Fox River, hold great memories for him of his time spent in Green Bay.
On the final day of the draft, when asked what was his favorite part of the experience, a fan in a Chicago Bears jersey outside Lambeau Field said this: “Just people being friendly.” The woman with him: “Just the showcasing of a small town.”
So for as spectacular as it was to see the dazzling TV shots of the Draft Theater and the sea of fans, maybe the even bigger picture is how a small town stayed true to itself and made a massive event feel so welcoming and personal.
It takes a special city with a lot of heart to do that. Well done, Green Bay.
Kendra Meinert is an entertainment and feature writer at the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Contact her at 920-431-8347 or [email protected]. Follow her on X @KendraMeinert.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Success of 2025 NFL Draft in Green Bay proves what a special city it is
Continue reading...
