Nikolas DeGroot launched Politics in the Park to aim to close the political gap. August 13, 2025. PC: Fox 11 Online
OSHKOSH, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — The political divide in the United States seems to be continuously growing, but one Oshkosh man is hoping to bridge that gap.
Every afternoon from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. at Menominee or South Park, you’ll find a man with a simple sign — and a mission.
Nikolas DeGroot launched Politics in the Park this spring, featuring a topic of the day centered around politics.
It could be national, like on the Electoral College, or it could be local, like Wednesday’s question: If you could change a public space in Oshkosh, what would you change about it and why?
Sometimes, the conversation includes five people of wide-ranging political positions. Emphasis on conversation, not debate.
“There are ways for us to have political discourse and conversations that don’t involve us yelling across the table or trying to one-up each other,” said DeGroot.
Conversations are needed now more than ever. Just ask Jerald Podair, a professor at Lawrence University, who has followed politics for nearly six decades.
“If all you hear is one side, as a viewer, as a citizen, you start thinking there is only one side,” said Podair. “And anyone who believes the other side, there is something wrong with them.”
A simple park conversation can serve as a reprieve from this world.
“I have not gotten into a single screaming match with a single person who has come to talk with me,” said DeGroot.
There’s not an end in sight to today’s political division. But if that gap starts to close ever-so-slightly, know that it just might come out of Menominee Park.
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