OSMAN – In the last decade, the Smiling Moose Saloon and Grill has raised tens of thousands of dollars for charity at Moose Fest.
Owner Cheryl Vogel said the main event for the last four years, has been a celebrity sky dive. This year’s celebrity: Manitowoc Mayor Justin Nickels who was jumping tandem with veteran sky diver Andy Van Handel. “We usually typically land into the wind to slow us down,” Van Handel said. He said on Sunday, there was a problem. “Bottom line we just didn’t have any wind and we just kept going,” Van Handel said. “Once we hit the ground we were going at fast speeds and I kinda knew something was gonna happen,” Nickels said. Nickels and Van Handel slid between two tents, almost hit a grill, and at one point hit an 8-year-old boy.
“I grabbed on to him and held on to him because I didn’t want him to get hit and then hit someone else,” Nickels said. “So he slid along with us he was fine he was crying because he was scared.”