Courtesy of Oshkosh Designs
Winneconne, Wis., population 2,383, is a safe community, but once a year for the past six years there has been a mass kidnapping. Each year, as many as 17 surprised adults have been seen boarding a yellow school bus that takes off for parts unknown, sometimes heading north, sometimes south, sometimes southwest.
No one in the community has made a big deal about the kidnappings because there's nothing nefarious about them: The adults, all employees of inlay and medallion specialist Oshkosh Designs, are returned home before the workday is over.
The kidnappings are owner Brenda Kubasta's quirky spin on team building, and her employees love it. One morning a year, Kubasta rounds the entire staff up in the parking lot around 8 a.m. and they hop on the bus with no inkling of their destination. The staff has taken private tours of Lambeau Field and Miller Park, home to the Green Bay Packers and Milwaukee Brewers, respectively; they've cruised nearby lakes on a rented boat; and they've journeyed all the way to picturesque Wollersheim Winery between the Wisconsin Dells and Madison.
In November, the most recent kidnapping, they visited the Pabst Museum in Milwaukee and took a staff picture, beers in hand, next to a custom medallion they had redone for the museum. Kubasta says she was happy the team from the shop could actually see their work. "I'm just trying to take one day and let them have fun," she says. "I respect everything they do. They work hard during the year."
