Sunfish Days’ buttons hold a special place in Adam Bakalar’s heart. Bakalar grew up in Onalaska when they used to have the youth competitions for the Sunfish Day button design.

“I tried for years and years and years and never, ever won it,” he said.

It took a lot of traveling around and many life changes before he finally got a chance to have his design ideas imprinted on Sunfish Days’ buttons. He moved from Onalaska, went to Western Technical College, traveled to Wyoming, then came back to the area to work for his uncle at the Button Boutique.

So what he dreamed of as a kid has come true.

Since he has been back, Bakalar has worked on the Sunfish Days’ button designs submitted by festival organizers. Onalaska Festivals stopped running the button design competition about five years ago.

“It’s one of my favorite festivals to work on because of where I grew up,” Bakalar said,

This year, he took the theme suggested by Onalaska Festivals President Lil Smith and ran with it.

The theme of the 2008 Sunfish Days is honoring community volunteers. Bakalars said it was hard to come up with an idea because there were so many outstanding organizations in the community, it was hard to pick one thing.

He usually works from photos, but this year was different. He got the idea to use the theme of helping hands and the rest came easily. “Helping hands and the artwork all came together without isolating one particular community group,” Bakalar said.

“He did a bang-up job,” said Bruce Smith, past president of Sunfish Days. “He deserves recognition.”