In celebration of the City of Racine's demisemiseptcentennial, state legislators will retire this morning to the Assembly Parlor to partake of the Danish pastry kringle, following the reading of a resolution honoring the city and its populace at this momentous occasion.

Wait. What?

Racine turns 175 this month. To recognize that milestone, Rep. Cory Mason, D-Racine, is bringing kringle to the Capitol. He will share it with fellow legislators after the ceremonial reading of a resolution about Racine and its 175 years.

A few weeks ago, Mason asked constituents about what they thought should be in a resolution honoring the city.

"This is a nice, democratic way to recognize the city," he said. They suggested things like North Beach, the city's abolition tradition and Racine's industrial heritage.

They're also the ones who suggested recognizing what Racinians call a water fountain, in item No. 29 of 38: "Whereas, the people of the Racine Community have the good sense to refer to a water fountain as a Bubbler." Not everyone was in the celebratory spirit, he acknowledged.

"There were two snarky comments," Mason said. "The rest were really people saying what about this? What about the DeKoven Center? There was really a great range of suggestions."

Today, in honor of the city and those suggestions (and, perhaps, in a bit of celebration of the last session day for the year), Mason plans to bring some kringle with him. He is expected to pick the kringle up on his way in to Madison this morning, but declined to say exactly where it will come from: "Say it's from a variety of bakeries in Racine that make kringle. It will be a good representation of the Danish kringle tradition."

Mason intends to bring a mix of pastry, from what he calls the "three kringle food groups: the fruit, the cheeses, the nuts." And, in case you're wondering, Mason's picking up the tab. "This is on my own dime," he said. "There's no line item in the Mason budget for kringle."