The bleachers at Calder Stadium in Menasha. September 8, 2026. PC: Fox 11 Online
MENASHA, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Repairs on Calder Stadium in Menasha are moving forward, after the July tornado destroyed half of the bleachers.
The Menasha Joint School District got to work repairing it as soon as possible.
“Right after the tornado, we called in Miron to render the stadium safe, removing all the collapsed bleacher surfaces,” said District Supervisor of Facilities and Safety David Elliott. “We’ve removed that, we’ve removed any storm debris, we’ve cordoned off the entire area construction zone that we’re going to be working in.”
Ben Samolinski is the project manager for the rebuild. “You can walk around, there’s really no threat of further damage or further building failure,” he said. “It is safe, so it’s not like you’re going to see the rest of the bleachers fall down. Everything is kind of structurally in-tact for now.”
That safety is the first step towards returning the stadium to it’s former glory, according to Samolinski.
“We’ve got the original plans of 1963. Kind of the part of this is, we have to build it to its original condition. There are some challenges there, but luckily, we have all the documentation, we have all the information. Just working on getting pricing together and ready to start rebuild,” he explained.
Elliott added the plan is for games to be back at Calder soon.
“We hope to have all of our scope completed here soon so we can start working this fall with a target of making sure our kids are playing games next football season,” he said.
That doesn’t mean kids are off the field until then. The Bluejay football program was able to return for practice this past weekend. That reduces the strain on Maplewood Middle School’s field, where all the programs have been practicing after the damage.
Last month, the Green Bay Blizzard raised over $15,000 to help fund repairs to the stadium.
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