Published Sept. 12, 2005, in the Waukesha Freeman

Story by Matthew Webber

TOWN OF LISBON - Bob and Mary Mazurek couldn't tell what was bigger: the trucks at Saturday's Dozer Day or the smiles on two of their grandchildren's faces.

"I don't think any place in the country does something like this," said Bob Mazurek of Oconomowoc, one of thousands of visitors to the Halquist Stone Quarry, surrounded by bulldozers, backhoes, Humvees, other construction and military equipment, and a Civil War-era cannon at the eighth Dozer Day.

"They are having the best time," said Mary Mazurek, pointing to two of their grandchildren. "I think it's the neatest thing I've ever seen, I really do."

Those grandchildren, Charlie and Davis Parker, both of Delafield, were so excited by their favorite activities they volunteered to tell a reporter about them.

"I think it was the dump truck Charlie Parker, 9, said. "I liked it because I thought it was going to be scary when we went down the hill but it wasn't."

His younger brother preferred the excavation equipment and the treasure hunt.

"When I found all my gemstones, it was really fun," Davis Parker, 5, said.

Tom Halquist, the co-owner of Halquist Stone Co. Inc., thought the day was successful in every aspect. The crowd flowed through the grounds smoothly, he said. Despite the huge turnout that filled the parking area for the first time he could remember, the lines were short and moved quickly. The weather was warm and sunny.

"If it rains, it gets awfully slick and muddy, just like that," Halquist said. "But there's something about Dozer Day that we always seem to get a good day. We got another one today."

Several families told Halquist the event is more fun than Disneyworld and for a much better price. Halquist's own family agrees, especially when it comes to small, simple activities like playing in a sandbox or writing a name on a rock that eventually will go on a wall.

"It kind of makes you think of when the kids are little at Christmas, and they get something in a big box and they take it out, and then they make a fort out of the box and play with that all day," he said.

Of course, Halquist's children enjoyed the trucks like everybody else.

"It's equipment, equipment, equipment," he said. "The lines are where the equipment moves. This event is about the equipment."

Halquist was also pleased the event raised funds for the Hamilton Education Foundation.

As parents wearing sunglasses and hats kicked up dust and children climbed into equipment near "play safe" signs, another grandparent thanked everyone involved for helping the kids.

"I like to see the young people who are helping out, all the volunteers and of course the military men and women," Marilynne Macijczak of Fairchild, Wis., said. "That's cool. They're so patient with the kids, and they even seem like they're having a good time doing it."