Vikings vs. Packers: One side of the fence or other

Sunday, 21 November 2010

There’s Purple Pride and there are Packer Backers – and when it comes to football you’re either on one side of the fence or the other. It’s a rivalry – 50 years in the making – that has divided Minnesotans and Wisconsinites as much as it has brought them together.

In fact, it is probably safe to say you can’t imagine one without the other.

Regardless of which team you cheer for on Sundays, there is one thing fans of both the purple and gold and green and yellow have in common (besides Brett Favre, Darren Sharper, Ryan Longwell and Jerry Burns) … anticipation for the two days a year when the Packers and Vikings do battle.

In downtown Savage, this unique rivalry is put in perspective by a mere quarter inch of air separating Chris St. Martin’s purple fence and Pete Penkratz’s and Bobbi Lambert’s green and yellow one.

Take a stroll down Ottawa Avenue and keep your eyes peeled for the most famous 25 yards of fence in Savage – the talk of the town that depicts one of the most storied rivalries in sports with just three clashing colors: purple on one side; green and yellow on the other.

So what’s the story behind the 6-foot wonder that begs for attention, calls out for residents to stop their vehicles and take a photo, and challenges children to decide whether to yell “Go Packers” or “Skol Vikings” on their way to and from school?

Simple story

“It was his birthday present two years ago,” Bobbi says pointing to her good friend Pete, a life-long Packers fan. “I wanted to do something unique for him.”

So she headed off to the hardware store and came home with a couple of gallons of paint – green and yellow of course – and started methodically painting two boards yellow and two boards green, two boards yellow and two boards green ... over and over again.

Although the famed fence is the centerpiece of Packer Country in downtown, a closer look reveals there is a slew of supporting characters that add to the overall atmosphere of this Packer Backer’s home.

For starters, people passing by are sure to notice the team’s flag waving in the wind. Look in the garage to see green and yellow shelves and old milk jugs with Packer emblems painted on them. Behind the fence sits a Packer-colored bench and a Green Bay rain gauge. Lining the driveway are green and yellow fence posts, mimicking the yardage markers on a football field.

“When I did this for his birthday there was one condition,” Bobbi says. “I’ll do the outside for you, but the inside is for me.”

And after further review, it appears that deal has stood for the last two years, with the exception of the lower level, which could be mistaken for a Packers’ museum.

Pete has been a Packers’ fan for more than 60 years – and has “been going to Packer games most of my life,” he said. Every time the duo heads to Green Bay to visit family and friends, they come back “with a load of Packer stuff.”

If you wonder what type of Packer fan he is, let’s just say, he has shook hands with Vince Lombardi, Paul Horning and Fuzzy Thurston – and his son, who lives in Green Bay, has played golf with Favre.

Pete is a die-hard cheese head – and he’s got the gear to prove it, but does that mean he hates the Vikings?

“No,” he replies with a smirk. “I love the Vikings when the Packers beat them.”

As for the purple side of the fence – well, that came about as a matter of principle for Chris, the next-door neighbor.

“I bleed purple,” the life-long Vikings’ fan says. “When I saw that green and yellow fence, I had to do something. I couldn’t just let that go.”

Chris’ first thought was, “How do I do this bigger and better?”

So he and his buddies tossed ideas around for a couple of months, including the consideration of hiring a painter to do a mural, painting horns on the planks and simply putting the No. 4 in Vikings’ purple – the later Chris said he just couldn’t do after years of despising the former Packers’ quarterback.

But as he tossed ideas around, the Green Bay colors stood alone, gleaming in the summer sun.

“So, in the end, I just had to get something up,” he said. “I couldn’t just let that be.”

Chris said he still thinks about what could be done, and one day he may go bigger than his neighbors, in showing his Purple Pride.

“I’m glad he painted it,” Bobbi said, noting for the record that she is actually a Cowboys fan who likes any team that beats the Packers. “We laughed so hard when he saw it for the first time, came over here and said: ‘Jesus guys, now I have to paint mine.’”

Although the Vikings and Packers are entrenched in one of football’s fiercest rivalries, these two neighbors are good friends, who may be caught yelling at each other on game day, but never lose perspective on the beloved rivalry that was the inspiration for Savage’s most talked about fence.

“Everyone in downtown comments on it,” Bobbi said. “I think it brightens the area and it’s been a lot of fun for everyone around.”

“From the beginning it was meant for people to stop, look at it and have some sort of reaction,” Chris added. “And it definitely gets a reaction – I mean why wouldn’t it, the Vikings and Packers have been rivals forever.”

Shawn Hogendorf can be reached at shogendorf@swpub.com.

By Shawn Hogendorf