2025 UFO Days Parade
The 2025 Grand Marshal for the UFO Days Parade is lifelong resident Steve Vogler.
Steve Vogler taught Physical Education and Science for the School District of Belleville for 27 years. Graduating from UW-River Falls, he moved here in 1972 from Chippewa Falls, and he and his wife Bonnie raised three children who all went through the Belleville schools.
He coached wrestling when he was hired, taking on this challenge for a sport in which he had three total matches to his credit. Steve served as both an assistant football coach and was the Wildcats’ varsity baseball coach for 22 years. The lane leading to the school district’s baseball field already holds the name “Vogler Way.” He left teaching in 1977 to pursue a career in insurance sales through the WEA Trust but returned to teaching at Belleville High School in 1992 and continued to teach at BHS until his retirement in 2014.
He was a teacher that expected a lot out of his students and made them work to achieve high grades. He treated his students as adults. As for the rigor of his classes, he frequently told students, “That is life in the Big 10.” However, many students returned from college to thank Mr. Vogler for preparing them for university coursework.
Every year, Mr. Vogler required students to gather an insect collection. Students could begin collecting in the summer before enrolling in his Biology class. To this day, parents who see Steve in public connect him to the “bug” collections that remain in their homes.
From its inception, Steve has been a mainstay at the Community Picnic as a volunteer for the chicken barbeque. Mr. Vogler also helped build up Post-Prom, beginning with an event for his daughter Michele and then leading the event with his return to teaching in 1992. He, along with Don Robinson, started the Bulldog boys’ youth soccer program, and for years, he ran the summer baseball program in Belleville.
After retiring from teaching, Steve continued to work as a substitute teacher and on the grounds crew, prepping the fields for the sports that he once coached.
Reflecting on Mr. Vogler’s impact, former student Carly Edge commented, “He showed up every day with the mission to help children learn and make a positive impact on every student he taught…at the end of class, he always said ‘have a good day or not, the choice is yours.’”
2024 UFO Day Parade
The 2024 Grand Marshal for the UFO Days Parade is lifelong resident Art Fahey.
Art Fahey celebrated his 100th birthday this year and will be the first UFO Days Parade Grand Marshal.
Art was born and raised in Belleville, where he ran his family farm that was just recently honored as a Wisconsin Century Farm back in August. The Fahey clan, starting with John Sr., Art’s grandfather, who immigrated from Ireland in 1873. John Sr. purchased the farm in 1894 and later split the farm for his sons, John Jr. and Leo, in 1918. Art’s father, John Jr., started farming next to his brother. Together the two farms covered more than 340 acres.
Art attended school in Belleville, but remembers the farm always came first. “When I was in eighth grade, I missed school to work on the farm. My Dad had a three-horse drag and in the spring my brother and I stood on it to add weight to break the soil,” Art explained. Ask Art what the greatest invention is that he has seen in his lifetime, his face lights up and he’ll tell you, “electricity.” He points to the oil lamp that is firmly affixed to a wall in his kitchen of the house. Art is one of four siblings that grew up on the farm and worked on the land until he retired with his wife Kathryn (Conway) Fahey.
When asked to recall his proudest moments, he immediately talks about his wife and family. Raising his four children, John, Art Jr., Connie and Nancy on the farm he comments, “I’ve had so many special moments with my family. Kate and I went to Hawaii, that was a big deal,’ Art recalled. “I had a chance to meet Jim Nabors, I sat in the same booth with Charlie Pride and Loretta Lynn. I also met Johnny Cash and Conway Twitty.” He is quick to speak of the honor of meeting those who are “famous,” but he doesn’t talk about himself. When reminded it is a big deal meeting a man who has lived 100 years on the same farm where he was born, he deflects and talks about his next adventure.
Special thanks to Joe Fahey, Mary Kay Fahey, Connie Fahey and Whitney Anderson for this wonderful biography.