Door County Medical Center’s General Surgery Clinic boasts a team of highly trained surgeons who are passionate about patient care. Utilizing advanced technology such as the da Vinci Xi Surgical Robot, our surgeons offer a wide range of services, ensuring the best outcomes and smooth recoveries. Choose quality care close to home.
We want to take this moment to thank you for another wonderful season in our Fish Creek location. We look forward to seeing you again in 2025.
Please visit us in our Green Bay location at 234 South Adams Street, or contact us at (920) 432-0664.
Tracy, Chloe, Zoe, and Tammi
editor Myles Dannhausen Jr.
copy editor Sam Watson
creative director Katie Hohmann
design associate Renee Puccini
sales managers
Jess Farley, Stephen Grutzmacher
inside sales manager
Claudia Rudzinski
courier The Paper Boy, LLC
distribution experts
Jeff Andersen, Chris Eckland, Todd
Jahnke, David Nielsen, Gavin Jahnke, Dan Farrell
office manager Ben Pothast
public notiices and digital
content coordinator Kait Shanks
chief technology officer Nate Bell
contributors
Remy Carmichael, Sally Collins, Anders Erickson, Jess Farley Nielsen, Azusa Inaba, Brett Kosmider, Betsy Lecy, Charlotte Lukes, John Mielke, Larry Mohr, Kevin O’Donnell, Mary Spittell
publisher David Eliot
owners
David Eliot and Myles Dannhausen Jr.
Door County Living, Inc. 8142 Hwy 57, Baileys Harbor, WI 54202 920.839.2120 info@doorcountyliving.com doorcountypulse.com
Volume 22 Issue 4 21,700 copies (17,047 mailed)
Door County Living, celebrating the culture and lifestyle of the Door peninsula, is published five times annually by Peninsula Publishing & Distribution, Inc., 8142 Hwy 57, Baileys Harbor, WI 54202.
To order a subscription, please mail a check for $25 to Door County Living, 8142 Hwy 57, Baileys Harbor, WI 54202. If you would like to advertise, please visit doorcountymarketing. com.
The Sherwood Point Lighthouse in Sturgeon Bay, as seen from the ice.
Photo by Luke Collins. Purchase this or other great photos of Door County taken by Collins at lukecollinsphotography. com, or visit him in person at 8024 Highway 57 in Baileys Harbor.
The Long and Short of It Door County Film Festival Blossoms
A Night Inn
Intimate, salon-style shows during the White Gull Inn’s Winter Concert Series
How Matthew Olson discovered a long-lost shipwreck
The Battery Man
Ken Jones is a master of many trades
The side of service customers don’t
Disappearing in the Center of It All Ephraim Preserve at Anderson Pond 78 IN YOUR GLASS
The Sweet, The Strong, The Festive
Breaking down the science of a winter phenomenon
Channeling Edward Hopper in Algoma
How the McCartneys Capture that
Spice Up Your Life with Jambalaya
A frozen moment. Photo by Kevin O’Donnell.
Long after the last customers have gone home, Josh Stone wipes down each bottle before replacing it in the rail at Husby’s in Sister Bay. Husby’s closes for two days after Fall Fest in October, as well as Thanksgiving and Christmas. But it’s open every other day of the year, usually until bar close, when each night the rails are scrubbed, stools put up and bottles wiped. Photo by Kayla Larsen.
Iwas headed to Piggly Wiggly early on a Saturday morning, the way my elders taught me. Get in before 8 am, when your biggest impediments aren’t lines or finding the right angle to avoid a never-ending conversation, but working around the Kita family and staff furiously stocking shelves soon to be emptied by the hungry masses.
That’s what had me sitting at the stop sign on Maple Drive, right in front of the Sister Bay Bowl, at 6:57 am as a bright morning sun beat down on a largely empty village. In front of me was James Larsen, one of the owners of Husby’s, out on the sidewalk with a garbage can, a broom and a bucket of water, cleaning up the remnants of the night before.
I’m not a subscriber to the idea that Door County folks work harder than people all over the country, but I do believe a great portion of those who visit the peninsula see the busy bars, dining rooms and shops and see easy money for the workers and business owners. If you need proof of that, just open up Facebook and watch how many people complain about “greedy” business owners “lining their pockets” as the cause for just about anything they disagree with here.
The truth is, paying the bills doesn’t come easy for those in the service industry. Step into even the most famous restaurant here and you’ll almost certainly find one of Al Johnson’s children working the dining room, manning the line or guiding the goats onto the roof. If you can’t find
Bruce Alexander in the kitchen at his namesake restaurant, it’s probably because he’s backing a catering trailer into place at a wedding or fundraiser. Look down the line at Thyme Restaurant and you’ll likely see Karl Bradley going gray on the line beside his brother as Tonda works the front.
When I saw James picking up discarded cups and cigarette butts that morning, it sparked the idea to capture the sides of the service world customers don’t see – the side that defines that world for those who work it. This summer we found the right eye in Kayla Larsen, a former waitress and bartender who spent 25 years taking care of customers at Husby’s, as well as the former Wickman House and Second Story restaurants.
Her photo essay on life behind the line appears on page 50, an homage to those who bring you the perfect bite and that Friday old fashioned however you like it.
I am many years removed from my kitchen and bartending days, fortunate enough to enjoy the season from the other side of the line. But for thousands of residents the view from these photos is what the season looks like. Another side of Door County Living.
- Myles Dannhausen Jr.
Photography intern REMY CARMICHAEL is a high school student from Baileys Harbor with a background in ballet.
SALLY COLLINS’ work has appeared regularly in the Peninsula Pulse and Door County Living. Her debut novel, “Muddled Cherries,” is now available from local booksellers or sallycollinswrites.com.
Writer and editor MYLES DANNHAUSEN JR. has been searching out stories for Door County Living since 2005. He lives outside Sister Bay with his wife and two boys. He hopes the winter brings ice he can fat bike on.
ANDERS ERICKSON is a Gibraltar High School graduate who has honed his cocktail knowledge behind the bar in Chicago for more than 20 years. He lives on the city’s north side with his fiancé, Azusa Inaba.
JESS FARLEY NIELSEN lives in Jacksonport with her husband DAVID NIELSEN, their dogs Bernadette and Elwood, and teenage son. Feeding friends and family feeds their souls.
KATIE HOHMANN is the creative director of the Peninsula Pulse and Door County Living and when she isn’t sitting at her desk, she’s standing at it. Her time outside the office is spent painting, paddleboarding and laughing in good company.
Filmmaker and photographer BRETT KOSMIDER is a co-founder at Peninsula Filmworks always in search of new ways to view the county.
Door County native KAYLA LARSEN spent 25 years in the service industry. She turned her lens back on the people who make the industry go for this issue’s feature spread. She and her husband James live outside Sister Bay with their son Beau.
BUTORS
BETSY LECY is a sophomore journalism student at Northwestern University. This Gibraltar High School graduate and marathon finisher calls Fish Creek home.
Since the passing of her husband, Roy, in 2016, CHARLOTTE LUKES writes to fulfill his mission to help educate and inspire readers to learn, care for and protect our native species and the natural world.
JOHN MIELKE and his wife, Patti, and their poodle, Riley, live on Rileys Bay. Together they enjoy exploring all Door County has to offer.
After retiring from a 36-year career in technology, LARRY MOHR is back behind the lens for the Peninsula Pulse and Door County Living. You can often find him on the trail with his wife and black lab.
KEVIN O’DONNELL is an award-winning author and professional photographer, a YouTube creator storyteller who lives in Clay Banks.
MARY SPITTELL moved to Door County eight years ago and truly felt like she found home. Now residing in Jacksonport, she spends as much time as she can outside, exploring all the county has to offer – even in winter.
SAM WATSON is an editorial assistant for the Peninsula Pulse. The UW-Madison grad lives in Baileys Harbor with her partner and three cats. When she’s not working, she likes to crochet and watch bad horror movies.
Visitors Help Invest in Door County’s Future
Visitors Invest Future
Destination Door County’s Community Investment Fund
Destination Door County’s Community Investment Fund
Established in 2023, the Community Investment Fund uses a portion of the room tax dollars paid by overnight visitors and reinvests those dollars to support local projects that enhance the community and improve the quality of life for people who live and work in Door County.
The community impact of funded projects includes public park expansions and infrastructure improvements, new and enhanced trail projects, historic preservation efforts, accessibility improvements and public transportation infrastructure. Since Destination Door County created this fund, $1.66 million has been invested in 33 local projects.
Established in 2023, the Community Investment Fund uses a portion of the by and support local projects that enhance the community and improve the quality in Door includes park and infrastructure improvements, new and enhanced trail projects, historic and infrastructure. Since this in County-based public local units of government are all eligible and encouraged to apply. More information including application
can be found at
Door County-based 501(c)(3) public charities, 501(c)(6) organizations, and local units of government are all eligible and encouraged to apply. More information about the Community Investment Fund, including application materials, project eligibility requirements, and a list of all funded projects, CommunityInvestmentFund.org.
FruitsofAMaster Artist
For customers of the Sturgeon Bay Post Office, it’s a familiar scene. The “Fruits of Sturgeon Bay” mural up high on the wall has greeted people since 1940. But those people may not know that the scene was created by Santos Zingale, one of Wisconsin’s masters of social realism.
The painting was commissioned as part of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal, one of 3,000 installed in post offices throughout the United States. Zingale stayed a week at The Clearing in Ellison Bay as part of his research for the painting.
Social realists used art “almost journalistically to document the plight of Americans,” according to Helen del Guidice of the Miller Art Museum.
Zingale’s paintings inhabit collections at museums in Milwaukee; the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where the artist taught until 1978; the Smithsonian, which accepted a smaller, simpler Sturgeon Bay commercial-fishing painting from the Internal Revenue Service offices; Marquette University; and the Wisconsin Veterans Museum.
– Craig Sterrett
What ’ sin a Flag?
On Jan. 17, 1967, Door County became the second county in Wisconsin to adopt an official county flag. Nearly 60 years later, that flag still flies. But what do the figures on it represent?
The artist who designed the flag, Andy Redmann, is no longer here to tell us, but a dive into the Door County Library’s newspaper archive (one of our favorite resources!) does.
The Door County Advocate reported on the depictions at the first raising of the flag in 1967. The main image is a mariner’s wheel, “with segments of the wheel and hand grips depicting various aspects of the county.”
Those segments include a fiddle to represent the Peninsula Music Festival, a coffee pot to represent hospitality, theater masks to represent Peninsula Players Theatre, skis to represent winter recreation, a factory to represent industry and four more images that don’t require much interpretation: a lighthouse, a farm,
evergreen tree and a sailboat. At the center of the wheel is a map of the county.
Flag designer Redmann was more than an artist. He ran an orchard in Fish Creek, created the xand ran the Lake Cinema movie theater in Baileys Harbor for years.
“A lot of the figures on the ship’s wheel are figures that I grew up with,” said Redmann’s daughter, Marisse. “He wanted to tie together the different industries, the hospitality and the fishing. Even though it’s not an accurate ship’s wheel, it provides a sense of the water and what all ties us together.”
Jack Bergstrom, the manager of the thenDoor County Chamber of Commerce (now Destination Door County), had pushed for a county flag for years. He died in 1965, before it came to fruition, but when Redmann’s flag was finally adopted two years later, Berstrom’s children – Randy, Gary, Alan and Jaclyn – raised the flag for the first time.
– Myles Dannhausen Jr.
iruC o s itie
Photo by Craig Sterrett.
Not
On the grounds of the Liberty Grove Historical Society lie a half dozen old logs that could easily be mistaken as discarded wood. But the logs are actually pier crib logs from the original 1872 Wiltse Pier.
JustOldLogs
Piers were often made with cribbing, a process by which logs were laid parallel, then others were laid across them to create a crib, Lincoln Logs-style. This formation continued upward like a log cabin to form the base of the pier.
The logs were hand-hewn from 300- to 400-year-old area trees, and some still have the original spikes in them. The Wiltse Pier is referenced in a book about the Goodrich Steamboat Line as a major dock for picking up items like corn, potatoes, cherries, Christmas trees and shingles. The cribbing was removed when Frank Forkert rebuilt the Yacht Works dock in 2004.
– Liberty Grove Historical Society
Pac-Man, NBA Jam, Golden Tee. These arcade games have all earned a place among the most iconic bar games. But in the time that each of these and many more have splashed onto the scene, faded from popularity, and burst back to ride a wave of nostalgia, one game has always remained in the corner of Birmingham’s Bar.
Bally’s Captain Fantastic pinball game was purchased by the owners in 1976, and the Elton John image on the glass has witnessed a lot of action at the bar in the nearly 50 years since it first arrived.
– Myles Dannhausen Jr.
Photo by Myles Dannhausen Jr.
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The Long and Short of It
Door County Film Festival blossoms
by SAM WATSON and photos by BRETT KOSMIDER
In 2024, the 15th-annual Door County Film Festival brought in an audience of nearly 300 people, selling out Northern Sky’s Gould Theater in mid-February.
In 2009, the festival started small. It was the outgrowth of a casual film night headed by Red Putter mini golf co-owner Chris Opper, held in the basement of the Base Camp Coffee in Sister Bay. There, groups of 20 to 30 movie-lovers would gather in close quarters to watch films from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, many of which were abstract.
At one point, Opper made the mistake of telling Base Camp owner Joel Kersebet, who helped pull the film nights together, that he was thinking about organizing a film festival.
“When you say stuff like that, you automatically become the director,” Opper said.
That’s exactly what happened – Opper took on the mantle of director and the new film fest
began. It quickly outgrew its original Base Camp venue, moving to the Sister Bay Town Hall within just two years, then to the Gould Theater in 2023.
At first, finding quality films to show at the festival was a challenge, even though Opper has a background in filmmaking and connections within the industry. Many of the first films onscreen were music videos. Such shorts are still screened at the festival, but they were never intended to be its main focus.
“We just didn’t know how we were going to find better movies,” Opper said.
That was until a festival-goer told Opper about FilmFreeway, a virtual aggregation of film fests and screenplay contests that event organizers can add to and filmmakers can browse. Opper joined, accepting submissions for free, and films flooded in – a bit too quickly. After getting 30 to 40 submissions a day for the first week of being listed
Chris Opper, organizer of the Door County Film Fest.
on FilmFreeway, Opper instated a submission fee to slow down the influx.
In recent years, the festival usually gets 70 to 80 submissions, but in 2024, a record 100 films were sent in. Opper watches each one himself, color-codes them to indicate his preferences, then sends them to a trusted group of other movie buffs for feedback.
Several factors are taken into account during the selection process. The quality of the film matters, of course, but so do the audience’s preferences, the length of the film (longer ones are harder to justify), and the pool of other films to be screened during the festival.
“Sometimes, a movie’s really great, but we [already] have three or four horror films,” Opper said.
The film festival usually takes place in February. Once it’s over, Opper spends about a month not thinking about the festival – then once April 1 comes around, he goes right back to it.
As the festival grew, so did the group of people pulling it together. A core group of co-organizers, including hands from the Sister Bay Advancement Association, Door County North and Door Guide Publishing, helps out with logistics, getting sponsors and publicizing the event. That way, Opper can focus on picking out movies and finding new ways to engage the audience.
Tourists and locals make up part of that audience, many of them returning to the festival year after year. With a new slate of films every time, the festival doesn’t lose its novelty, and neither do the movies
onscreen. Short films are, as their name suggests, short, so if an audience member doesn’t like the one currently playing, they only have to wait a few minutes to see the next one, Opper said.
Plus, a limited runtime means the movie has to be compact and tothe-point; there’s not much time for lengthy establishing shots or exposition scenes during a 10-minute film. For those who prefer a longer ride when they watch a movie, Opper has also included feature-length films.
While movie-lovers are part of the crowd, another part is made up of people with connections to the movies onscreen – actors, crew members, directors, or supportive family or friends. Opper has often watched involved artists in the audience meet and discuss their filmmaking processes, then form
The festival moved to Northern Sky’s Gould Theater in 2024.
2025 Door County Film Festival
Feb. 14-15 • Gould Theater, Fish Creek facebook.com/doorcountyshortfilmfestival
crews for future movies with their new acquaintances.
Many of the filmmakers featured at the event are new to the craft and working with limited budgets (a constraint that makes short films much easier to produce than feature-length ones.) Opper gives them feedback, but perhaps even more important is the feedback they receive from the audience as their film is screened. Seeing and hearing a crowd react to one’s movie is invaluable, and DCSFF has provided many emerging
filmmakers with their first chance to do so, Opper said.
Through feedback and practice, filmmakers featured at the festival sharpen their skills, and Opper gets to watch it happen over the course of years.
“You see their progression,” he said. “They make this movie, and then the next one is so much better. That is kind of fun, when you see somebody going through that process of honing their craft.”
Monday
A NightInn
Intimate, salon-style shows during the
series
White Gull Inn’s winter concert
by SAM WATSON and photos by BRETT KOSMIDER
Newberry and Verch perform in an intimate show at the White Gull Inn.
“
Intimate” is a word that can describe many Door County concert venues, but perhaps none more so than the White Gull Inn.
Since starting a winter concert series in 1983, the Fish Creek hotel and restaurant has brought in folk and bluegrass legends like Tom Paxton, Bob Gibson and Chris Smither – big names for such a small venue.
Before the show starts – and after the optional fixed-priced dinner wraps up – guests gather in the dining room, settling down in rows of wooden chairs. It’s all carpeted floors and old-fashioned decor, the warm smells of dinner still lingering in the air. Those near the back watch the show in near-darkness, as the only major light source in the room comes from the lights on the “stage.”
Calling it that may be misleading. The dining room doesn’t feature an actual stage, just a cleared-off space in front of the chairs where the performers stand and, well, perform. There’s no real “backstage,” either, unless you count the door that leads from the “stage” to the lobby, where musicians can often be found before and after shows.
When I walked into the inn for the final show of the 202324 series – a concert by songwriter and The Voice finalist Joshua Davis – I passed the opening act as they chatted in the lobby. I didn’t realize who the trio were until they got up and started singing just a few minutes later.
There’s such little separation between the audience and the musicians at a White Gull show that it’s hard not to absorb the emotions the performers emanate. I swear I could feel the openers’ nerves as the audience quieted down for their set. When Davis spoke, then sang, about losing his father, I felt that too.
A three-time White Gull performer, Davis chatted with the audience like we were all friends – and by the end, I felt like we were. He cracked jokes and told stories, talking about the birth of his daughter, the loss of his friend, and that one time he saw a beautiful sunset in West Virginia, then immediately caught a glimpse of someone defecating on the side of the road.
Davis, apparently, writes lyrics the same way he talks –with an openness that feels natural. Universal themes like love, friendship and loss made appearances in his songs, but they were grounded by specific memories, as in “Paper Boats,” and modern-day struggles, as in “Congratulations and Condolences.”
“Now the years do what they do / and I’m trying to keep up on you though the status on the screen / but I can’t see you between the zeros and ones,” Davis sang in the latter song,
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Near the end of the set, when the songwriter kicked off a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run,” it was almost jarring to hear such a well-known song after so many vulnerable tracks straight from his pen.
The music itself had a similar vulnerability to it. For the majority of the show, Davis was armed only with his guitar and his voice. The supporting act – Sage, an all-female trio of young musicians who came together at Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan, where Davis teaches songwriting – was similarly stripped-down.
But their sound still filled the space, and I mean that in the most physical sense. Between the carpeted floor and the amount of people gathered in the relatively small dining room, it felt like the guitar and vocals were filling in every inch of air unoccupied by a chair or a person sitting in it. I wouldn’t call the concert a loud one, but it felt allencompassing nonetheless.
The size of the venue also adds an almost-imperceptible layer of sound. Sitting just a few feet away from the performer means you can hear noises microphones wouldn’t pick up; quick breaths in between lyrics,
Newberry and Verch.
soft footsteps as performers swayed, the rhythm of Davis’ fingers hitting the fretboard as he changed chords. They’re small noises, not enough to distract from the performance, but enough to create a sound that’s rich and many-layered.
I can’t attest to whether all of the inn’s shows were just as intimate as this one, but I think it would be hard to put on an impersonal performance at the White Gull Inn.
Maybe that’s due to the small size of the performance space. After playing huge concert halls and festivals – as many White Gull performers have –the ability to talk to an audience and get discernable responses, rather than just noise, must be refreshing. Crowd-pleasing questions like “how’s everyone doing tonight?” are met with actual answers from people the performers could reach out and touch if they wanted to.
Or maybe the intimacy of these shows is thanks to how the inn staff treat performers like friends. For instance, White Gull owner Meredith Coulson-Kanter always invites the evening’s artists to dinner. Some decline, but most don’t, and many artists, like Davis, end up returning to the little Fish Creek venue year after year.
I, for one, hope to do the same.
The White Gull Inn’s 41st Winter Concert Series kicks off Dec. 18 with the Don Juans.
Ken Jones is a master of many trades
by JOHN MIELKE
Aconversation with Ken Jones might involve him explaining his patented designs for batteries that work underwater or in outer space. You might learn how he helped a friend race across Australia in a solar-powered car, or created his own version of a Zamboni, or surveyed the mountains of Korea for the U.S. Army and Air Force. He might discuss how he and his wife, Lee, built their beautiful home basically by themselves, or how he participated in the historic Tour de France bicycle race.
Whatever your conversation focuses on, you’ll probably walk away wondering: How did he do all that?
For one, Jones enjoys a challenge. He took on one such challenge when he designed his Door County home. He
surveyed the lot north of Egg Harbor overlooking Green Bay and even created a scale model with a removable roof so his wife could work on the interior.
“It took five, six years,” he said of the home-building process. “It was overwhelming. Every day I’d wake up and think, ‘How am I going to solve this problem?’”
But solve it he did. Now, mementos throughout the house, including numerous patents and photos, highlight parts of Jones’ professional career and personal accomplishments.
Hanging near the front entrance is a Badger State Games silver medal for cycling. In the basement sits a bike on a training stand complete with a laptop computer. It’s where he trained for the 2002 Tour de France; he and his son, Mike, rode in the amateur group. Ken Jones was 72 at the time.
“We had to go four hours ahead of [the professional riders],” Jones said. “And
Above Ken Jones holds the battery he designed and patented. Photo by Brett Kosmider.
if they catch up, you’ve got to get off the course. I was always being threatened. But my son was gone like a rocket.”
Jones knows a thing or two about going fast. He turned his ice boat, which used to fly across frozen Wisconsin waters, into a land racer with the help of some aluminum and titanium from a Boeing aircraft scrap yard. Jones gained access to the scrap yard thanks to a Boeing manager he knew through a battery project. Turns out the Boeing manager was an avid sailor interested in buying a sailboat made in Wisconsin. Jones offered to trailer the sailboat to Seattle in return for a visit to the scrap yard.
“Whenever they finish a plane, there’s odds and ends left over,” Jones said. “So I go there and I’m licking my chops. I got I-beams that you could never buy – I could never buy – that they’re throwing out. I got titanium tubing like it’s coming out of my ears.”
Right Ken Jones is an avid cyclist who has ridden the Tour de France course. Photo by Brett Kosmider.
Early Freedom Opened Doors
Jones’ story began on the north side of Milwaukee in the 1940s. His parents owned a women’s clothing store and devoted countless hours to making the business a success. Jones describes himself and his brother as legitimate latch-key kids.
“My upbringing caused me to develop a degree of freedom that you don’t find in a lot of people who have learned by their parents telling them that they can’t do this and they can’t do that.”
– Ken Jones, on growing up with busy parents
“It caused me to develop a degree of freedom that you don’t find in a lot of people who have learned by their parents telling them that they can’t do this and they can’t do that,” Jones said.
The father of a neighborhood friend subscribed to Popular Science and Popular Mechanics magazines, each of which was filled with new ideas.
“He saved them in the attic of the garage,” Jones said. “We’d bring down a stack of them and sit in the backyard and look at these magazines.”
Jones learned mechanical drawing, also known as drafting, at Boys Tech High School, and found out he enjoyed riding a bicycle. Boys Tech was located south of downtown and Jones lived on the north side. “The next thing you know, I’m riding my bike through the middle of Milwaukee,” he recalled.
In high school, Jones worked for an engineer whose business neighbor was a physicist.
“I just kept bumping into these situations that I was attracted to,” he said.
Jones tried college but it wasn’t the right fit, so he enlisted in the army.
“I spent two days filling out tests,” Jones said, “and these guys came up with, ‘This guy’s a loner. He’ll work good as a surveyor in Korea by himself.’”
So off Jones went to test that theory. Alongside a Korean army officer, Jones roamed the mountains and staked out places where runways could be built or where current runways could be converted to handle jet aircraft. He served with the Special Category Army Reassigned with the Air Force, or SCARWAF Branch.
When Jones returned to Milwaukee in 1954, he joined Globe-Union as a draftsman. At the time, the company was the largest automotive battery producer in the country.
At about the same time, Magnavox in Urbana, Illinois, had a government contract to develop a submarinedetection system. The
sonobuoy device needed a battery that would function underwater.
“Magnavox didn’t know anything about batteries,” Jones said.
So the government suggested that the company find someone else to make the battery. Globe-Union got the job and sent Jones to pick up the Magnavox design that resembled a cigar box.
On the drive back to Milwaukee, Jones figured there had to be a better way, so he decided to encapsulate the battery plates in a bioplastic. Jones’ boss told him to go home and not come back until he was ready to do what they had asked him to do – revise the original battery. Instead, Jones kept pitching the idea. The result of his efforts was his first patent.
“That was the breakthrough,” he said. “And that’s where I emerged from
Cirque Kalabanté
low-level draftsman to manager of the specialty battery department.”
Jones also started his own consulting company and, as often happens, somebody knew somebody who needed something. A couple of wealthy guys donated an ice rink
to a private school in Milwaukee. The ice had to be shoveled clean after each hockey or skating session, so the school bought an early-model Zamboni that had been developed in California.
According to Jones, parts and technical support for the machine were almost nonexistent. The businessmen wanted a different machine, and a friend of Jones said he knew a guy.
Before long, Chicago Stadium, the Dane County Coliseum, Michigan Tech University, and even the City of Boston had Jones’ ice-resurfacing machines. When he thought about a battery-
powered version, Jones contacted General Electric and GE sent a representative to Milwaukee.
“I noticed the conversation was not going the way I thought it was supposed to go,” Jones said. “He’s not asking me about how big of a motor I need.”
As it turns out, Jones was being interviewed for a job. GE wanted to get into the battery-powered lawn-tractor business.
Jones moved to New York and went from one of the world’s smallest companies (his own) to one of the world’s largest (GE.) But after the oil crisis of the early ‘70s subsided, GE sold the product line to Simplicity, based in Milwaukee. Jones returned to Wisconsin and continued his career at Simplicity, then again at GlobeUnion, and eventually with Johnson Controls, where he created patented battery designs for communication satellites that are circling the globe right now. Jones has an app on his phone so can check where they are at any moment, tracking them from where his amazing life has landed him now, on the bluff in Door County.
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How Trees Got Their Names
by CHARLOTTE LUKES
The beauty of Door County’s landscape owes thanks to the variety of trees growing here. Many are native, while others have been brought in as ornamentals. Few people call them by their scientific names except foresters, naturalists and horticulturalists.
Common names are easier to remember, especially if they include a particular characteristic of the tree. For example, willows are distinctive with their large crowns of low-hanging branches. The term “willowy” means flexible and thin, like the branches of the weeping willow.
Northern white cedars often grow in dense, impenetrable stands well up into Canada to the Atlantic Ocean and in much of New York state. Arbor means tree and vitae is life. Thus, it was often called the tree of life. Its leaves are made up of flat scales arranged on branches in flared-out sections. Native Americans called the tree “Oo-sooha-tah,” meaning feather leaf.
The Poplar family has several species of trees growing in our area. Cottonwood is perhaps the biggest, attaining heights of 80 to 100 feet east of the Mississippi River. Western trees in good soil can grow 150 feet tall. The tree’s cotton-like seeds are its namesake.
American basswood trees are common throughout much of the northern Midwest from Tennessee to the Canadian border. The fibers of their inner bark are called bast and were used to make mats, fishing nets and to tie items together. The original name of the tree – bastwood – gradually became basswood.
We call the evergreen trees, so common along the lower wetlands, cedars. They are not true cedars but are known as arborvitae, Thuja occcidentalis Thuja is a Latin name for a conifer tree, one which bears cones. Occidentalis means native of the western hemisphere.
Thuja
Poplars, also known as popples, include aspens, balsam poplars, black poplars and Lombardy poplars. The Lombardy species was often planted along the edges of orchards for protection. The tall trees have dense foliage and narrow crowns, so they could be planted close together as a windbreak.
Populus was the Latin word that gave this group of trees their name. It means “people” and “a great number,” perhaps referring to the tree’s many leaves that are constantly in motion. Quaking or trembling aspen are names of common trees in this family.
Pines are some of the most frequently planted trees since they grow fast and can survive in poor soils. The eastern white pine is notable for its white lumber. This tree was prized by British
Populus
Red pines are covered with flat, reddish plates of bark. Photo by Roy Lukes.
Blue beech is also called muscle beech due to its bulging, twisted trunks.
Ironwood trunks have thin, vertical strips of bark.
Photo by Roy Lukes.
settlers, who sent trunks back to Great Britain for use as ship masts. Pines were heavily harvested centuries ago because they were light and buoyant, and could easily be floated down rivers to markets.
Red pines are also planted here, but not as frequently as white pines. Mature red pines are easily identified by their reddish bark, which forms plates on the trunk surface.
A rather common tree that foresters tell people to cut from their woods is the ironwood. It never grows very large and gets its name from the hardness
of its wood, which can dull a saw quickly. Another name for this tree is hop hornbeam due to the shape of its seeds. They have tightly closed scales and look somewhat like hops, which are used in making beer.
These trees in the hornbeam group, like the ironwood, grow well in the understory beneath the upper deciduous canopy as they are shadetolerant. One member of this group that is not common here is the American hornbeam, also called the blue beech. It has smooth blue-gray bark that forms undulations, making its other name “muscle beech.” It prefers to grow in river bottoms and valleys.
American beech trees have smooth gray bark that is thin and elastic, allowing the trees to expand as they
grow. The name “beech” came from a European word meaning “book.” Smooth slabs of beech were used in early times to write on.
Occidentalis Populus
Common names for trees can be quite different in other parts of the world. Sometimes, they are based on what they are used for, like lodgepole pine. Lewis and Clark learned that this straight, strong tree was favored by native Americans for constructing their teepees, which were their “lodges.”
One of Roy’s favorite trees was the serviceberry, also called shadblow or shadbush. That name comes from the fact that it blooms out east when the shad are swimming upriver.
The tree has large white strap-shaped petals and forms small dark-blue fruits in June. Thus, another name for this shrub-like tree is Juneberry.
Two large-toothed aspen leaves compared with three smaller quaking aspen leaves below. Photo by Roy Lukes.
Serviceberry trees are adorned with large white flowers in spring. Photo by Roy Lukes.
The late Roy Lukes stands next to a large American beech with smooth gray bark. Photo by Charlotte Lukes. Ironwood is also known as hop hornbeam due to its seeds, which resemble hops.
Photo by Charlotte Lukes.
That Beautiful Frost
Meteorologist Brad Spakowitz breaks down the science of a winter phenomenon
by JOHN MIELKE
No matter the time of year, Mother Nature is at work, using her brush and canvas to paint breathtaking scenery. At the top of the list are two winter marvels that –when conditions are just right – cover the grass, bushes and trees with a layer of shimmering crystal.
The phenomena are rime frost and its more elusive meteorological cousin, hoar frost
The names of these two chilly formations are themselves interesting. Rime is defined as something that is covered. Hoar harkens back to old English and describes the color white or light gray. In high German, it means magnificent
But what are they, and how are they different?
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) describes rime frost as “a deposit of interlocking ice crystals formed by direct sublimation on objects.” On the other hand, hoar frost is “a deposit of interlocking crystals formed by direct sublimation on objects.”
Okay, that actually doesn’t help much. So we turned to someone who can give us a more user-friendly version of “direct sublimation on objects” –
WBAY meteorologist Brad Spakowitz with a few questions. The conversation has been edited for clarity.
Can you shed some light on the NOAA terminology?
Brad Spakowitz: Direct sublimation is when atmospheric moisture goes directly from an invisible vapor to a solid, skipping the liquid state. In other words, the beautiful ‘interlocking crystals’ literally appear out of thin air.
How do rime and hoar frost differ?
Spakowitz: Rime frost occurs as a result of fog. When the objects on the ground are below freezing, and you have all those little beads of moisture in the atmosphere that are water droplets, they freeze on contact.
Above Frost along Highway 57 in Baileys Harbor. Photo by Sue Mangan.
They, too, have a crystalline type of structure that can build up on objects, but there is a little bit of a difference as to the way it looks compared to hoar frost. Hoar frost is very delicate. If it’s on a strand of grass, you can just barely touch it and it might actually fall off. Rime frost is a little bit more securely attached.
The NOAA says hoar frost “forms when air with a dew point below freezing is brought to saturation by cooling.” Could you explain that?
Spakowitz: The colder the air, the less moisture it can hold. Therefore, when the temperature drops to the dew point – the temperature at which the air is saturated and cannot hold any more water – that moisture will come out of the atmosphere as the
temperature continues to drop. It is simply a law of atmospheric physics.
If the temperature was above freezing, that moisture would come out as water – perhaps as fog or as dew. But with temperatures below freezing, that water can go directly from an invisible vapor to the solid state: ice.
And whatever rime or hoar frost attaches to must be freezing, correct?
Spakowitz: Yes, at or below 32 degrees. You might ask, is that when water freezes or is that when water melts? But it’s both. It’s that moment of transition.
When should we be on the lookout for hoar frost?
Spakowitz: Predicting hoar frost is difficult because the air has to be perfectly calm. The slightest breeze will interfere with the process. If you get just a little bit of mixing, say, winds as little as 1 to 3 miles per hour, you’ll probably get fog. That’s why true hoar frost is kind of rare – but it happens.
Isn’t that how it usually goes with incredibly beautiful things? All the conditions have to be just right. Next time we’re lucky enough to witness a shimmering coat of rime or hoar frost, we’ll know some of the science behind the magic.
Above (Clockwise from top left) Photos by Kevin O’Donnell, Sue Mangan, Kevin O’Donnell, Roy Lukes.
How Matthew Olson discovered a longlost shipwreck
by SALLY COLLINS
Growing up in Door County, Matthew Olson often asked his uncle to take him out on the waters of Green Bay and Lake Michigan to hunt for shipwrecks.
He was fascinated, and never lost that love for the water or the wrecks hidden within it. In fact, he incorporated both into his business, Door County Adventure Rafting, which offers invigorating boat rides and views of
caves, islands, lighthouses and many shipwrecks from the water.
When he’s not at work, Olson is surfing, designing custom surfboards and snorkeling shallow wrecks. And when he’s not on the water, he’s studying satellite images in search of shipwrecks.
“It’s kind of an armchair hobby –easier than being in a boat and looking over the side,” Olson said. “Satellite images can show you up to 20 or 30 feet in water.”
In the spring of 2024, a website he frequents updated their images.
“I was looking around, up and down the coast of the peninsula, and saw
something in the water I hadn’t seen before,” he said.
He studied shipwreck maps and noticed nothing listed at the Whitefish Bay location. So he and his wife, Rachel, took out their boat to investigate.
“It was a big one,” Olson said of the shipwreck they found there. “I was excited. Over 80 feet long, 20 feet wide. I could make out the keel section, see the ribs perpendicular – I could tell it had been there a long time. But I noticed there were no mussels. It had been covered with sand and just recently the sand shifted. All of a sudden, the wreck was exposed.”
Above The Grey Eagle wreck. Photo by Tamara Thomsen.
Olson sent coordinates and images of the wreck to Tamara Thomsen, a maritime archaeologist with the Wisconsin Historical Society, and Mike Neal, a marine conservation warden for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
“Within days, they were diving and mapping it out,” Olson said.
Thomsen, who works and resides primarily in Madison, happened to be in the area and spent four hours diving the wreck.
“I’m responsible for submerged cultural resources, shipwrecks,” she said. “We go down or try to figure out how to get there – in a lot of cases they are very, very deep – and survey the shipwrecks.”
What they don’t do is remove any objects or structural elements of the vessel.
“That diminishes the archeological value,” Thomsen said. “The more stuff left on the shipwrecks, the more for divers and kayakers to explore. We try to promote responsible visitation. It’s been illegal since 1960 to remove anything from a wreck.”
After mapping the site and noting the schooner’s features – two masts and an offset centerboard – Thomsen concluded the wreck was a trading vessel that was blown aground during a southwest gale and sunk in 1869. Built in 1857, the schooner shipped bushels of grain from Chicago or Milwaukee to Buffalo, New York and returned with coal from Cleveland, Ohio.
“It was a very specific build for the Great Lakes,” Thomsen said – and one with quite a history of mishaps.
In 1858, Grey Eagle collided
with another schooner, Sylph. In 1859, the schooner Barbarian collided into Grey Eagle. And in 1864, Grey Eagle collided with the Perseverance, sinking the ironically named vessel.
Thomsen scoured insurance records, business directories, registries, newspaper archives and other records to write a detailed history of the vessel, as she does for every shipwreck. But with only two employees for this statewide program, there is “a backlog of known discoveries,” she said.
“In a normal year, we get two or three discoveries,” Thomsen said. “This year, we’re up to 13.”
That may be due to the cyclical nature of Lake Michigan’s currents and sand movement. The Grey Eagle and other recent discoveries hadn’t been colonized by invasive quagga mussels, so Thomsen said these wrecks have been completely buried for more than
waiting to be discovered,” said Olson, who also spotted Sunshine – a scow schooner with ties to the Underground Railroad – a few years ago and notified Thomsen and Neal.
Neal, also a diver, is Door County’s first responder to water-related queries and emergencies.
If you do believe you’ve found a wreck, Neal’s your go-to.
“There are very specific rules about shipwrecks,” he said. He’s been working for the county since 1999 and enforces shipwreck rules for the Wisconsin Historical Society.
“So much of my job has to do with awareness,” he said. “Years ago, a pipe wrench disappeared from Frank O’Connor and after an incident where an individual took a rudder from a different wreck, thinking he’d keep it and was cited, the pipe wrench showed back up.”
Neal concluded whoever took the wrench did so without malicious intent and realized their error.
As the saying goes, “Leave everything as you found it.”
For more information about Grey Eagle and other Door County shipwrecks, visit wisconsinshipwrecks.org.
Matthew Olson has made a hobby of finding shipwrecks.
Photo by Brett Kosmider.
DOOR COUNTY BEER FESTIVAL
June 14, 2025
All About Beer
Now in its 12th year, the Door County Beer Festival has gained a reputation as one of the marquee events of the summer. It’s the festival brewers love to attend at About Thyme Farm, a venue unlike any other beer fest. Taste more than 200 beers from 40 different midwest craft breweries.
You’ll enjoy great live music, food from local chefs, and take advantage of free door-to-door shuttle service to and from the farm! Tickets are on sale now!
About Thyme Farm, Baileys Harbor
The grounds of About Thyme Farm give attendees room to spread out and enjoy great food and music on a rustic 150 year-old farm. Photo by Kayla Larsen.
For many attendees, the festival is the centerpiece of annual gatherings of family and friends. Photo by Kayla Larsen.
The Door County Beer Festival is a great place to meet the brewers behind your favorite local beers, like Matt Sampson of Sway Brewing + Blending in Baileys Harbor. Photo by Rachel Lukas.
Behind the Line
Serving the masses that swarm to the peninsula each summer can seem like little more than a money-counting operation when you’re looking in from the outside. But for those in the food-service industry, the view looks much different.
Get a group of cooks, bartenders or hosts together in a room and the conversation will often turn to the tasks integral to the operation that few customers ever see –the tedious, dirty and sometimes painful jobs necessary to keep the doors open and the people fed.
They are the tasks that leave scars worn like badges of honor – a cut from a chef’s knife pushed wrong, burns from a pizza-oven door opened too fast, a click in an ankle earned by rushing too quickly to the basement to replenish supplies. They are the marks that separate those who have worked in the industry from those who haven’t.
Last summer, we tasked photographer Kayla Larsen with browsing the eateries of northern Door County to capture the moments that define life behind the bar, line or counter.
Larsen is a service-industry veteran who, after 25 years serving at Second Story, Husby’s and Wickman House, moved from behind the bar to behind the lens in recent years. Those years staring down the masses with a smile gave her a uniquely empathetic eye as she captured the restaurant world of Northern Door in the dog days of August and September.
– Myles Dannhausen Jr.
Kitchen manager Eric Kane scrubs the flattop in the glow of the flood light at the Husby’s Garage Bar kitchen, tucked in the narrow alley between the bar’s patio and the masonry of the old gas station and garage.
Brewer and owner Matt Sampson straightens tables in the glow of the morning sun at Sway Brewing + Blending in Baileys Harbor. The small taproom opens early for coffee and pastries.
Left Rachel Johnson makes soap in the basement of her family’s Sister Bay home. She repeats the process weekly to keep up with demand at Door County Creamery. Below, right He no longer milks his own goats, but Jesse Johnson still makes the cheese at Door County Creamery in Sister Bay. Keeping up with demand is no small task for the Johnsons, who distribute their product to grocers and specialty stores in addition to selling it from their bustling restaurant (below, left) in Sister Bay.
for several hours. As customers wait for their day-starters,
fills takeout boxes in the home stretch of her own day.
Mattea Fischer places focaccia rolls in boxes as a throng of customers waits behind her to place orders at Cultured. By the time customers start rolling into her small café outside of Sister Bay, Fischer has already been baking
Fischer
Left A worker makes cherry pies in the kitchen at Seaquist Orchards. Right Tom Sawyer packs products in the corner of the shipping department in the Seaquist Orchards warehouse, north of Sister Bay.
Left Owner Colin Doherty is illuminated by the glow of the point-of-sale screen as he totals a bill in the dimly lit dining room of Roots Inn and Kitchen in Sister Bay.
Top Right Bowls and glasses balance on the narrow dish station in the limited space in the restaurant’s cozy kitchen.
Bottom Right Doherty delivers ood to the table in the dimly lit dining room.
Shawna Anschutz (left) prepares for the morning rush at the coffee counter while Italia De La Torre prepares in the kitchen just before the doors open at Roost + Banter in Baileys Harbor.
The wife-and-husband team of Amy Starr and Josh Miller (foreground) sit at the bar to review menus and inventory at Inland Pizza. In just a few hours, they and their business partners Kyle and Kristin Jablonski will open their doors for the first time on friends and family night.
There is precious little real estate in most restaurant kitchens, including at Shiny Moon Cafe in Fish Creek, where owner Angie McMahon does the kitchen dance to toss trash as she preps food.
from
Isaiah Erickson takes a swig from a pitcher of water during a moment of respite working the line at the Sister Bay Bowl. On the line, experienced cooks don’t drink from small cups. It’s Friday night, and the orders for perch plates come in waves from the moment the doors open at 4:30 pm. On its busiest Fridays, the Bowl has served nearly 800 people.
Penny Anschutz (holding clipboard at far right) wrangles a crush of customers waiting for the dining-room wall to slide open at the Sister Bay Bowl on a Friday night. The dining room opens for the first turn at 4:30 pm, and diners must come in person to put their name on the list.
A boy appears to hold himself back
climbing over the counter for his ice cream at Wilson’s Ice Cream Parlor, where servers stare down a line out to the road in the peak of the season.
Going Long
by BETSY LECY
I n 2024, four contributors to Door County Living had books published. Those include an autobiographical exploration of golf, a photobook of Door County’s people and places, a personal coming-of-age novel and a local history book.
Behind the Door: Profiles of a Peninsula by Kevin O’Donnell
Door County is the sum of the people, places and things within it. Kevin O’Donnell highlighted that fact in his photobook, Behind the Door: Profiles of a Peninsula.
The book contains 140 photos and 29 essays, many of which cover unexpected topics. O’Donnell went off the beaten path to find stories that reflect the peninsula’s unique cultures and histories.
“This book, I hope, captures with great affection a glimpse into the work we embrace, the winters we endure, the nights we marvel, the environment we steward, the traditions we value, the history we cherish, the stories we tell and the lives we live behind the Door,” O’Donnell wrote.
Muddled Cherries by Sally Collins
Sally Collins penned a complicated love letter to the peninsula when she wrote Muddled Cherries.
A contributor to both the Peninsula Pulse and Door County Living, Collins depicts a young woman’s life-altering summer in Door County. Fleeing broken relationships, a seemingly-lost dream and an unsettling incident with one of the regulars at her dad’s tavern, Emily journeys across the state and joins the staff of The Schooner, a restaurant on the shore of Lake Michigan. There, she embarks on a summer she never expected.
The story balances the heavier themes of alcohol abuse and sexual harassment with humor, romance and local references that those familiar with the area will appreciate.
Searching in St. Andrews: Finding the Meaning of Golf During the Game’s Most Turbulent Summer by Sean Zak
When Sean Zak arrived in golf mecca St. Andrews, Scotland, he wasn’t setting out to write a book. Instead, he wanted to spend his summer searching for the essence of golf –and he found it everywhere.
A GOLF reporter, Zak was in Scotland to cover the runup to the 150th Open Championship. In the process, he spent hours with Professional Golf Association (PGA) Tour players and stars on the rogue LIV tour, and met enough colorful characters to fill a book.
Though Zak’s narrative paints a clear picture of Scotland, it also brings the story back home, describing his times working at Horseshoe Bay and golfing with his dad throughout the peninsula.
A History of Kangaroo Lake by Patty Williamson
Patty Williamson wrote nearly 400 stories for the Peninsula Pulse. She was nearing the finish line on one last project when she died in 2022. That project was A History of Kangaroo Lake, which included stories from families who lived around the Baileys Harbor lake.
The author’s husband Howard Williamson was determined to finish what she started, so he collaborated with the Peninsula Pulse, author Ann Heyse and the Kangaroo Lake Association to publish the book. The finished product is 314 pages of local history, delivered with Williamson’s care and attention.
Channeling Edward Hopper in Algoma
by KEVIN O’DONNELL
The City of Algoma in Kewaunee County, population 3,054, has long suffered the dubious role as Door County’s under-appreciated, red-headed step-cousin – at least when it comes to attracting tourists and developers. But what Algoma lacks in cachet from its neighbors to the north is compensated by the one asset the Door cannot claim: the greatest concentration of preserved 19th-century architecture on the entire peninsula. Its sweeping waterfront, authentic buildings and famous hand-painted Walldog murals have long attracted the attention of architecture buffs – and of late, charmed Hollywood film crews. Multiple Algoma locations have made cameo appearances in several popular Hallmark/Lifetime Christmas movies.
On a side street fronting the Ahnapee River is a trio of unassuming Civil Warera structures – a granary, a warehouse and a mural-covered livestock feed store, relics from the days of Algoma’s agricultural reign. They wouldn’t win any beauty contests, nor garner a second glance from a Hollywood location scout – but they certainly caught my attention.
I was intrigued by the aesthetics of this collective. The buildings appear to lean shoulder-to-shoulder in threepart harmony. Their basics in design, balance in geometry and elegance in their lines combine to produce a streetscape that is far greater than their individual parts.
Eager to tease out a composition, I frequented the site over the course of many months. But nothing I photographed seemed to work. Something was missing that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. Then after a smothering snowstorm, an entirely new and simplified vision emerged. The snow had quieted the scene, eliminating the many niggling distractions: weeds in broken pavement, the dearth of color and the distracting detail of the roof surfaces. The white blanket provided greater uniformity to the lines and patterns. The geometric shapes became more obvious. Its luminance naturally brightened the image and provided a textural contrast to the dark, hard edges. Behind it all, a pastel sky of blue melancholy and the memory of magenta.
Then it came to me: “Hopper!”
The Arcadian scene – accentuated by strongly defined light and shadow, a limited palette and cropped viewpoints – gave it a somewhat surreal look reminiscent of paintings by the great 20th-century American artist Edward Hopper. He repeatedly relied on this motif throughout his artistic career. The setting begged to borrow Hopper’s trademark style; a photograph imitating what he brilliantly applied to canvas. But to pull this off would require patience, a return trip and a specific combination of weather and light conditions that may or may not ever converge.
To get the effect I envisioned, I relied on my powerful PhotoPills smartphone app for calculating when the light and shadow conditions would occur. I determined sunlight would briefly skim across the front of the buildings shortly after sunrise on either end of the Winter Solstice. This gave me two windows of opportunity to take the shot on a weather-cooperative date somewhere between Nov. 25 and Dec. 10, or between Dec. 26 and Jan. 12. Any other time of year, the sun is out of position, swinging around too late in the day and too high overhead to create the shadow effect needed and desired. The biggest gamble I made was pinning my hopes on a fresh and significant overnight snowfall on one of these dates, followed by a clear, golden sunrise. This is a rare event in Algoma in winter, when the warmer air over the open waters of Lake Michigan often produces a bank of brooding clouds that lurk the length of the eastern horizon.
But the weather gods were kind this time, and maybe Edward Hopper was blessing my efforts too. The confluence of conditions required to execute the image I had envisioned presented itself at exactly 8:23 am on Dec. 28, 2020. I felt rewarded to give these often overlooked, underappreciated structures some well-deserved “photo love.”
Excerpted from Kevin O’Donnell’s new book, Behind the Door: Profiles of a Peninsula, available now at kevinodonnell.photography.
Unplug.
Never Gets Old
How the McCartneys capture that special day
by MYLES DANNHAUSEN JR.
and photos courtesy of the McCartneys Photography
After 15 years of photographing weddings side-by-side, you’d think the thrill would wear off for Butch and Kelsey McCartney, the husband-and-wife team that makes up The McCartneys Photography.
But they swear it isn’t growing stale.
“I still get the excited, anxious energy bugs,” Kelsey said. “If we didn’t have that level of excitement, that would be our sign to find a new path or a different inspiration. If you’re not inspired to do a good job, you’re not going to do well.”
A Sevastopol graduate, Butch made his way to Wausau, Wisconsin, where he worked as a photojournalist at the Wausau Daily Herald, shooting weddings on the side. Kelsey was working in the corporate-marketing world when she realized she wasn’t inspired by that life as much as she was by Butch’s parents, who live “a creative life together.”
His parents are Mike and DeDe McCartney, he the well-known dog painter and she the proprietor of the much-loved Madison Avenue Wine Shop in Sturgeon Bay.
The two took inspiration from Butch’s parents and changed career plans, forming their photography duo and now shooting weddings across the state from their home base in Wausau (they’d love to move that base to Door County if they could afford it, they said.)
We caught up with them to find out how they still find inspiration after shooting scores of special days. The conversation has been edited for space and clarity.
Myles Dannhausen (MD): Have you ever had a wedding end at the altar?
Kelsey McCartney (KM): No, we haven’t yet had a wedding not go through. Thankfully.
MD: What’s changing with wedding shoots now, if anything?
Butch McCartney (BM): There’s definitely a focus on the real over the staged. A lot of couples are really valuing being present for cocktail hour, when people are mingling and their guard is down, and phasing out of all the excessive portrait time. Nobody wants to be absent from this party with all of their family and friends for two or three hours. They don’t want to miss their own party.
The other thing is a lot of the weddings now are multi-day events. Being brought in for more is exciting. People have always offered rehearsal dinners, but now they’re having a welcome party, a sendoff brunch.
Butch and Kelsey McCartney.
MD: What was your first wedding gig?
BM: I did a few weddings with Matt Orthober when I was still in high school, but my first lead job was shooting my basketball coach, Scott Richrath’s wedding. I went to Harmann’s Photography Studio, bought a flash and a whole bunch of film. I think I just gave Scott all the film. I never heard from him that it was bad, so I assume it was good.
MD: After shooting scores of weddings, does it get old?
KM: No, truly. We wake up on wedding days ready to go and fired up, but I have to manage it because we usually can’t get started until 1 pm. And when you get to know the couple more, that personnel element is really important to us.
BM: I don’t think that feeling will ever go away. This is the one time that event is going to happen for these people – hopefully.
MD: Is it hard to work with your spouse, especially shooting other couples every weekend?
BM: It’s not hard for us, but my parents couldn’t do this. We really enjoy spending the time together.
MD: Do you fight over who gets to take which shot?
BM: We know each other’s strengths, and you can’t miss key moments so you need a plan. Kelsey is way better at getting the bride and groom walking toward you.
KM: Butch’s photojournalism background makes him great at getting cocktail hour and spontaneous moments. We both stand as leads, but swap out too. At portrait time, one takes pictures, and then we rotate and bring fresh ideas.
MD: What sets a wedding apart?
KM: The colors that the couple choose can really set a scene apart. A lot comes down to the planner and the florist.
MD: What’s your one big tip for someone planning their wedding photography?
BM: Ask for candid moments with family. You’ll value those even more than the portraits. It helps to have a wardrobe touch to indicate the people you want the photographer to focus on, like a certain flower for family members.
KM: That helps a lot for getting reactions to the toast, like the parents reacting to the best man speech, candid moments with family or photos of you stealing a moment with your parents.
BM: You’re cutting the cake and grandpa comes over and asks for a piece, and now you have the photo to capture it. We’ve seen it where that photo from the wedding ends up being part of a remembrance or funeral when that person passes, so that can be one of the most important photos that you wouldn’t think of at a wedding.
See more of the McCartneys’ photography at meetthemccartneys.com.
Tools of the Trade
The McCartneys juggle eight different cameras for their wedding shoots, depending on the scope of the project. Butch is a gear geek and brings three cameras with him at all times.
Their gear includes three mediumformat film cameras – a Contax 645, a Hasselblad 500cm, and a Pentax 67; two 35mm film cameras – a Nikkormat and a Nikon F100; and two medium-format digital cameras – a Fuji GFX 50S II and a Fuji GFX 50S. Last year, they added a DJI Mini 3 Pro drone as well.
MaryKay Shumway • Kellstrom- Ray Agency, Inc.
Directly across from the Sister Bay Marina Mobile (920) 421-0038 • Office (920) 854-2353 www.moredoorcounty.com
Capturing Canines
When he’s not shooting weddings, Butch McCartney shoots portraits of another breed – dogs.
“The dog thing for me started in college,” he said. “I used to go to dog shows with my parents because my dad draws the dogs. My mom suggested doing portraits and that led to me doing this, mainly in the winter when there aren’t a lot of weddings.
“In action I’m pretty weird photographing dogs,” Butch admits about the tricks he uses to get the dogs to give the looks he needs.
Those tricks also come into play when he shoots photos of dogs up for adoption at the local humane society.
“You want to take a picture to get them adopted,” Butch said, “so you try not to think about how they got there. A lot of them are very scared.”
The McCartneys have one dog of their own, a 13 year-old cavalier and poodle mix named Parker James.
Learn more at themccartneysdogs.com.
This winter, take some “me” time at Write On, Door County and join us for some of our many free readings and classes offered in person or online. Check out our library. Schedule time for your book club. Or simply stroll our Writer’s Walk — 59 acres of trails that are the quiet spirit of Write On.
Memoir Mondays
Three Mondays each month
Put your memories in writing as a legacy for family and friends.
What’s Your Story?
Fourth Sunday of every month
Join our open mic afternoon for writers of fiction, essays, memoir, and other forms of prose.
The Readers’ Cafe
Third Sunday of every month
Bring your book, find a quiet corner, enjoy light refreshments and engage with other book lovers.
Fun and Games – Literally!
First Sunday of every month (and anytime we’re open!) Re-live the fun of playing literary-related board games with family and friends.
Disappearing
Ephraim Preserve at Anderson Pond
by MARY SPITTELL
There are many shades of winter in Door County, and to each of those you could attach a different winter hike. On days that bring heavy snow, wind and cold, a great way to get outside is Ephraim Preserve at Anderson Pond.
Located at 10118 Moravia Street in Ephraim, the 26-acre preserve was created by the Door County Land Trust in 2006. Though it’s located off the beaten path, the preserve is a wonderful spot to visit when you want to feel like you have a little corner of the world all to yourself.
When you enter the preserve, you are sheltered a bit from the elements by the Niagara Escarpment and trees, so it can be a great spot to stake out on extra blustery days. A section of beech trees on the western side is especially beautiful when things are frozen. I’ve spotted an eagle here a few times, which is much easier to do once the leaves are gone.
I recommend snowshoeing this preserve if you can. When the Peninsula State Park trails are crowded in winter, you can wake up early and have Anderson Pond all to yourself, like Christopher Robin in the Hundred Acre Wood.
The hiking loop is about a mile long and easy enough for anyone, but look out for ice in the winter. There are slick areas of rock, too, so wear some good hiking boots.
Pets are welcome here and they’ll love the chance to bound through the snow. The parking areas are not maintained in winter, so you might have to take a short walk to get to the preserve. Visit doorcountylandtrust.org for more information.
Juno and Willa play on the trail at Anderson Pond. Photo by Myles Dannhausen Jr.
EPHRAIM PRESERVE AT ANDERSON POND
10118 Moravia Street in Ephraim
Difficulty: Easy
Distance: 1 mile
Highlights: This hike takes you on small climbs around Anderson Pond, with views of the Niagara Escarpment bluffside and – after a heavy snow – a beautiful canopy of white hanging on branches.
Photos by Mary Spittell.
Sweet Strong festiveThe
Chocolate Punch
by ANDERS ERICKSON and photos by AZUSA INABA
This is the time of year when we can slow down and treat ourselves to some quality cocktails. These are the sweet, the strong, and the festive drinks that keep us warm and remind us of holiday traditions.
Here are three winter-inspired drinks to take the edge off the snowy season.
If you enjoy a Brandy Alexander, you’re going to love this chocolate punch. Dating back to the 1800s, early recipes of this drink often called for a whole egg, but it has become common to leave that out. The dark, fruity undertones of the ruby port complement the rich chocolate in the crème de cacao, while the cream adds a silky texture. This one is a decadent treat.
• 1 oz. (30 ml) cognac or brandy
• 1/2 oz. (15 ml) ruby port
• 1/2 oz. (15 ml) dark crème de cacao
• 1/4 oz. (7.5 ml) semi-rich simple syrup (1.5:1 ratio of sugar to water)
• 1 oz. (30 ml) heavy cream (or non-dairy substitute)
• Grated chocolate for garnish
Combine all ingredients except grated chocolate in a shaking tin. Add ice and shake for 15 seconds. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with grated chocolate.
Anders Erickson got his start behind the bar at T. Ashwell’s, now Osteria Tre Tassi, in Ellison Bay. Learn how to make hundreds
The Noble Beast
This is an original of mine that pairs a full ounce of Angostura bitters with an ounce of espresso for a full-flavored drink that will give you a proper smack in the mouth (in a good way, I promise.) The egg we omitted in the chocolate punch will be put to good use here, adding body and richness, while the demerara sugar softens any bitterness in the cocktail.
The Angostura bitters are at the forefront of this drink’s flavor, and thanks to the Door County tradition of the “bitters shot” (be sure to grab one at Nelsen’s Hall on Washington Island), this one reminds me of home.
• 1 oz. (30 ml) Angostura aromatic bitters
• 1 oz. (30 ml) espresso
• 1/2 oz (15 ml) rich demerara syrup* (2:1 ratio of demerara sugar to water)
• 1 whole egg
• Ground coffee for garnish
Combine everything except the ground coffee in a shaking tin. Dry shake (without ice) for 5-10 seconds to emulsify the egg. Add ice to shaking tin and wet shake for 10 seconds. Double strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a pinch of finely ground coffee on top.
*To make rich demerara syrup: Over low heat, stir to combine two parts demerara sugar with one part water. Let cool once dissolved.
The Rusty Nail
The Rusty Nail is a strong sipper that brings together two cockle-warming ingredients: blended scotch and Drambuie, an herbal liqueur made with heather honey. The drink is then topped with expressed lemon oil (a squeeze of lemon peel), which lightens the taste with bright aromatics.
This was one of the first recipes I learned as a young bartender. It was a favorite cocktail of an old bar regular, a WWII colonial who was particular about his drink. I still remember the pride (and relief) I felt when he took a sip, nodded and said, “good nail.”
• 2 oz (60 ml) blended scotch whisky
• 1 oz (30 ml) Drambuie
• Expressed lemon oil
Stir scotch and Drambuie with ice for 30 seconds. Strain into an ice-filled double old fashioned glass. Pinch peel to express lemon oil across the top.
Spice up Your Life with
by JESS FARLEY NIELSEN and photos by KATIE HOHMANN
Turn up the zydeco, sharpen your favorite chef’s knife and set up your kitchen prep station – we’re making jambalaya.
This one-pot rice dish is a mix of cultures that will make your mouth sing. A little bit of Cajun and a little bit of Creole, jambalaya originated in southern Louisiana, where you’ll find a blend of Carribean, African, French, Spanish and Native American influences. These cultures were all present in this area when Louisiana was still a French colony. Creole cuisine evolved in a city setting, while Cajun cuisine is an early style of country cooking. Similar to French country or peasant cooking, Cajun cuisine uses the ingredients on hand. The flavors for both Creole and Cajun, all converged in Louisiana before it became a state in 1812.
The flavor profiles that carry through both Creole and Cajun cooking start with the holy trinity of onion, green pepper and celery. Most dishes will include a combination of garlic, peppers, paprika, thyme, parsley and cayenne.
Jambalaya is a great example of this cuisine. The flavors will build on your tongue with each bite you take and the heat level can be adjusted based on your preferences. A Louisiana-style hot sauce is a must-have condiment when jambalaya is on the menu.
Jambalaya pulls together fairly quickly, but to make the process even faster, get all your ingredients prepped before you turn on the heat and start cooking. Have everything organized and ready to go so you can keep the process moving once you start.
This is the perfect dish to serve on football Sunday or after a day of playing in the snow. Its spices and vegetable medley, paired with three different proteins, will warm you up from inside out. Leftovers hold up well for 2-3 days and can be frozen to enjoy later.
TOOLS:
• Dutch oven
• Sharp butcher knife
• Discard bowl (a perfect solution when prepping lots of vegetables)
• Scraper
HOMEMADE CHICKEN STOCK RECIPE
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 1 chicken carcass
• 1 yellow or white onion, rough chopped
• 2-3 celery ribs, chopped in half
• 2-3 carrots, chopped in half
• 1-2 garlic cloves, peeled and whole
• Fresh herbs (thyme, rosemary, sage, etc.)
• Black peppercorns, whole
• Bay leaf
• Salt to taste
• Water
In a large stock pot, melt butter and add onion, celery, carrots and herbs. Saute over medium heat for 5 minutes, enough time to soften and start releasing the flavors. Add everything else to the pot. Pour enough water in to cover the chicken carcass and simmer on medium-low heat for at least an hour. The longer you simmer, the more flavor your stock will have. Add more water if the pot gets low. Using a big strainer and an additional stock pot, strain stock and discard all the chicken bones and veggies (my dogs love to eat the carrots.) The stock will store in your refrigerator for up to a week and can be frozen for future use.
CAJUN SEASONING RECIPE
Cajun seasoning can be purchased premixed, or you can blend your own. We make enough to have a little leftover to use as a spice rub on grilled chicken and fish, or to add to a creamy pasta.
Mix equal parts (1 Tbsp of each):
• Smoked paprika
• Course ground salt
• Garlic powder
• Black pepper (fresh ground)
• White pepper
• Onion powder
• Dried thyme
• Dried oregano
• Cayenne (adjust the heat based on how much you add)
JAMBALAYA
(MY HUSBAND’S DELICIOUS RECIPE)
Yields between 6-8 servings (you can easily double this to feed more people)
• 2 Tbsp Cajun seasoning
• 1 Tbsp dried oregano
• 1 Tbsp dried thyme
• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 2 ribs of celery, diced
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 can of tomatoes
• 1-2 dashes of worcestershire sauce
• 4-5 small fresh tomatoes, diced, or 1 pint of cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 lb andouille sausage, cut into ½-inch circles
• 1 lb chicken thighs, boneless, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1 ½ cups jasmine rice
• 1 cup water
• 3 cups chicken stock
• Green onions, diced, for garnish
• Fresh parsley, chopped, for garnish
1. In your dutch oven, over medium heat, add some of the vegetable oil and 1 Tbsp of the cajun seasoning. Brown the andouille sausage, approximately 5 minutes. Remove the sausage and set aside.
2. Add the chicken to the pan. Brown the chicken, remove from pan and set aside.
3. Add the remaining vegetable oil, onion, celery, peppers, garlic, fresh tomatoes and 1 Tbsp of the cajun seasoning. Soften the vegetables. This will deglaze the pan and pick up all the spices from previous steps.
4. Add the rice to the vegetables and stir. Add the water, chicken stock, worcestershire, oregano and thyme. If you want extra spice, this is the time to ramp it up and add crushed red peppe or a dried pepper. Add the sausage and chicken back to the pot with the can of diced tomatoes. Give everything a good stir.
5. Turn the heat up to bring the ingredients to a low boil. Immediately turn the heat down, cover the pot and simmer for 20-25 minutes. Stir occasionally so the rice doesn’t stick to the bottom.
6. When the rice is cooked, turn the heat off. Quickly place the shrimp on the top of the rice mixture and replace the cover. Steam the shrimp until they are pink, approximately 5 minutes.
7. Serve in a shallow bowl or lipped plate. Make sure each serving gets a sampling of all the ingredients. Garnish with green onion and fresh parsley.
Running Door County
A Different Thanksgiving Bird
On Thanksgiving weekend, run off that turkey with a bird of a different feather at the One Barrel 2.62 run in Egg Harbor. Join the One Barrel Penguin for the run on White Cliff Road on Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend. Cross the finish in your new race hat before you head to the One Barrel taproom for your free post-race beer (or hot chocolate) as Egg Harbor celebrates Holly Days throughout the village! Start your new holiday tradition at onebarrelrun.com.
Nov.
30
One Barrel 2.62 Run, Egg Harbor A 2.62-mile run through Egg Harbor’s back roads. All runners get a One Barrel Run knit hat and a beer at the finish line! onebarrelrun.com
Late
April
Barney Fun Run, Sister Bay Runs of 1.84 miles and 3.89 through Sister Bay to raise funds for local causes. barneyfunrun.com
May 3
Door County Half Marathon and Nicolet Bay 5k
Peninsula State Park, Fish Creek 13.1 mile run, 5k
Hailed as one of the best runs in the Midwest, runners enjoy a closed USATF-certified road course that takes you along the shore, through the woods, and atop the bluffs of Peninsula State Park. Finish with music, beer and friends at Nicolet Bay. doorcountyhalfmarathon.com.
Dec.
7
Northern Door YMCA Ugly Sweater Run, Fish Creek A 5k fun run/ walk.
2025
May
10
Blossom Run, Egg Harbor
2-mile and 5-mile courses, plus a 1-mile option for kids 12 and under. doorcountyymca.org/events/ blossom-run-2
May 25
Maifest Lake to Lake Race, Jacksonport 10k run and 2 mile fun run runsignup.com/Race/WI/ Jacksonport/JacksonportMaifest
June 14
Crossroads Trail Run, Sturgeon Bay 10k, 5k, and 2k trail run through the woods, meadows, and orchards in and around Crossroads at Big Creek. crossroadsrun.com
July 4
Hairpin Run, Fish Creek 5k run/walk to kick off the 4th of July celebration. Door County’s largest 5k run. hairpinrun.com
July 12
Belgian Days Run, Brussels 2-mile, 4-mile run/walk. letsdothis.com/us/e/belgian-daysrunwalk-212207
July 19
Washington Island Rec Run, Washington Island 10k, 5k, and 2k walk/ run moslingreccenter.org/events
Aug. 9
Shanty Days 5k, kids run, Algoma 5k run/walk, kids superhero fun run visitalgomawi.com/5k-run-walk
RESTAURANT GUIDE
Key
$ $$ $$$
$10-15*
$15-20*
$20*
Full bar
Beer and wine only
Outdoor seating available
Kids’ menu available
Offering breakfast
Offering lunch
Offering dinner
Reservations accepted
Open during winter (hours may vary)
*Price range based on average dinner entrée (if available)
$$$ L D T ( Cornerstone Pub & Restaurant 8123 Hwy 57 (920) 839-9001 baileysharborcorner stonepub.com
$$ B L D J T {
Restaurants are listed in alphabetical order by town. Information is subject to change. Contact individual restaurants for hours of operation. Inclusion in this directory should not be considered an unqualified endorsement by Door County Living. Restaurants are encouraged to email us with up-to-date information at info@doorcountyliving.com.
Coyote Roadhouse
3026 Cty E (920) 839-9192
$$ L D J T {
Located on the shore of Kangaroo Lake offering a full-service bar, appetizers, lunch and dessert selections in a casual and comfortable setting. Children’s menu available. Family friendly. DCBC Eats 8099 Hwy 57 (920) 239-8181
$$ L D
Gatsby’s Grille 7680 HWY 57 (920) 510-3805
L D $$ J ( Harbor Fish Market & Grille 8080 Hwy 57 (920) 839-9999 harborfishmarket grille.com
$$$ L D J { ( T
A full-service restaurant in the heart of Baileys Harbor. Distinctive
waterfront dining with a casual upscale vibe. Seasonal, pet-friendly garden seating.
Inland Door County 8085 Hwy 57 (920) 717-6116
B L Early Dinner
$$$ JT
PC Junction
Corner of A and E (920) 839-2048
$ L D J {
Roost + Banter 8093 Hwy 57 (920) 839-0060
$$ B L {T
Located on the corner of 57 and Howard, Roost + Banter offers a full coffee and Rishi tea menu with breakfast sandwiches and bagels. Our lunch has sandwiches, salads, and soups with vegan and gluten free options available. Indoor and outdoor seating with a great view, Open
daily year round. Sway Brewery & Bakery 2434 Cty F swaybeer.com
$ B { T The Blue Ox 8051 Hwy 57 (920) 839-2271
$ L D { The Thirsty Cow Taphouse 7899 Cty A (920) 839-9991 facebook.com/ thetipsycowtaphouse
$ L D T
Top Deck Restaurant & Bar 1420 Pine Dr. (920) 839-2331
gordonlodge.com
$$$ B D J { ( Vino! Vino! at Stone’s Throw Winery 3382 Cty E (920) 839-9760
$$ L D T
BRUSSELS/LITTLE STURGEON
Chaudoir’s Dock 10863 Cty N (920) 493-7075
chaudoirs.com
$$ L D { Gilmo’s Bar & Bistro Wavepoint Marina Resort, 3600 Cty CC (920) 824-5440
wavepointe.com
$$ L D J T { ( Idlewild Pub & Grill 4146 Golf Valley Dr. (920) 743-5630
$$ L D { Joe Rouer’s Bar E1098 Cty X (920) 866-2585 facebook.com/ Rouer1952
$ L D T { Little Brown Jug Saloon 8952 Cty C (920) 824-5005
littlebrownjugbar.com
$$ L D
Rouer’s Grand Slam 9710 School Road (920) 493-6556
$$ L D
Rouer’s Roadhouse
8649 Cty C (920) 824-5100
facebook.com/ RouersRoadhouse
$ L D
Sawyer Harbor Pub & Grill
36963 Cty Rd. M (920) 493-6558
$$ L D T
Sunset Grill
3810 Rileys Point Road (920) 824-5130
$$ D J T {
The Belgian Delight 1100 Cty C (920) 825-1111
belgiandelight brussels.com
$$ B L D ( CARLSVILLE
Carlsville Roadhouse 5790 Hwy 42 (920) 743-4966
$ L D T
Door County
Coffee Co. 5773 Hwy 42 (920) 743-8930
doorcountycoffee.com
$ B L J T {
Rusty Tractor 6216 Hwy 42 (920) 743-8704
rustytractordoco.com
$ B
EGG HARBOR
Big Easy Bagel & Beignet 7755 Hwy 42 (920) 868-9600
bigeasydoor county.com
$ B L T {
Burton’s on the Bay 7715 Alpine Road (920) 868-3000
Alpineresort.com
$$$ B L D
Burton’s on the Bay is an upscale waterfront restaurant within the newly restored Alpine Resort that offers delicious daily cuisine – breakfast, lunch and dinner with panoramic views of the bay. Both indoor and outdoor dining options are available. Open May-October. Hours of operation change with the season. Visit alpineresort.com or call for restaurant hours. Burton’s on the Green 7670 Horseshoe Bay Road (920) 868-3000
$$ B L D
Burton’s on the Green is Alpine Resort’s golf course clubhouse restaurant offering delicious cuisine crafted by the culinary team of Burton’s on the Bay. Burton’s on the Green is open November-May, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner. Hours of operation change with the season. Visit alpineresort.com or call for restaurant hours.
$$$ D J T { ( Open year-round, we are an upscale casual restaurant located at the Landmark Resort. Featuring a wide range of appetizers, salads, sandwiches, steaks, fish, American classics, desserts and a full bar. Every seat offers a view of the bay. With a Comedy Club on the second Thursday of the month. View
website for our current hours and Comedy Club shows. Serving brunch and dinner.
$$ L D J T Matthew Peterson established Casey’s BBQ & Smokehouse in 2008. Matthew, a Door County native, wanted to put a Door County twist on Southern-style BBQ by using cherry wood to give our meats a rosy cast with a delicious, mild smoked flavor. Also offering a fabulous fish fry, locally famous burgers and many other tasty treats.
Cupola Cafe 7838 Hwy 42 (920) 868-2233
$$ B L T
Fireside Restaurant 7755 Hwy 42 (920) 868-4800 thefiresiderestaurant. com
$$$ D J T
Greens N Grains Deli 7821 Hwy 42 (920) 868-9999 greens-N-grains.com
$ B L J { The Greens N Grains Deli features a selection of vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free and raw-food cuisine. The deli also features a juice bar with freshly pressed veggie juices, fruit smoothies, a healthful bakery, tea bar and organic coffees.
Log Den 6626 Hwy 42 (920) 868-3888 thelogden.com
$$ L D J T { ( MacReady Artisan Bread Company 7828 Hwy 42 (920) 868-2233 MacReadyBread Company.com
$ L D J T { Mezzanine 7821 Horseshoe Bay Road (920) 786-7698 mezzaninerooftop.com
$$$ B L D Pizza Bros 4633 Market St. $$ L D
Fast and casual woodfired pizza. Traditional and experimental flavors, made from scratch and hand pressed. Located inside One Barrel Brewing Company. Shipwrecked Brew Pub 7791 Hwy 42 (920) 868-2767 shipwreckedmicro brew.com
$$$ L D J T { Stone Hedge Golf and Pub 4320 Cty E stonehedgegolf andpub.com
$ L D The Orchards at Egg Harbor 8125 Heritage Lake Road (920) 868-2483 orchardsategg harbor.com
$ L J { Village Cafe 7918 Hwy 42 (920) 868-3247
$$ B L J { Villaggio’s Steak House 4655 Cty Rd. E (920) 890-2190 mojorestaurantgroup. com
$$$ D J (
ELLISON BAY
Blue Bear 12029 Hwy 42 (920) 854-3284
$$ B L D
Featuring a locally sourced menu created from scratch in our kitchen. Offering an extensive selection of both gluten-free and vegan options. Full bar with craft cocktails, local beers, sustainably sourced wine and specialty coffee drinks.
Brew Coffee
12002 Hwy 42 (920) 421-2739
$ B L T { Della Porta 12029 Hwy 42 (920) 633-4014
dellaportadc.com
$$ D
Authentic southern Italian cuisine. With 20 years of experience cooking in the finest restaurants, our chef is excited to present their vision to you and all our guests. We refuse to compromise on quality in our restaurant. That’s why we source our fresh ingredients from local
farmers markets. No matter what time of year, you can be sure you’re eating the best of the season.
Hügel Haus 11934 Hwy 42 (920) 633-4080
$$ D J T (
A German-inspired, Wisconsin-influenced restaurant located on the hill in Ellison Bay serving Deutschland classics and inspired Wisconsin favorites, including Door County’s best cheese curds! Nightly specials and daily happy hour with German bier, wine and specialty cocktails. Open year-round and self-proclaimed as “Door County’s Wurst Bar.” View our menu and hours at hugelhausdoorcounty. com.
Kick Ash Coffee 12001 Mink River Road (920) 421-1041 kickashproducts.com
$ B L T { La Piazza 12029 Hwy 42 920-264-0895
An outdoor Italian wine bar. Stop for a
drink, stay for the food!
A selection of Italian small plates including great gluten-free & vegan options – until 10 pm. Plus wood-fired Pizza Napoletana and desserts. Over 48 Italian wines, from Northern Italia to the southern islands of Sicilia & Sardegna we have a wine for you to enjoy, all estate grown. And, of course, signature cocktails and beer.
$$ L D
Mink River Basin 12010 Hwy 42 (920) 854-2250
minkriverbasin.com
$$ B L D J T { (
Osteria Tre Tassi 11976 Mink River Rd.
$$$ D T (
EPHRAIM
Anatolia 9922 Water Street, Unit 7
$$ L D
Bad Moravian 3055 Church St.
$$ D T
Chef’s Hat 9998 Pioneer Lane (920) 854-2034
$$ B L D J T { (
Cultured 2570 Cty Q (920) 512-3821
$ B L T
Good Eggs 9820 Brookside Lane (920) 854-6621
$ B L {
Klaud’s Kitchen 10420 Water Street (920) 854-3005
klaudskitchen.com
$ B L D J {
We are closed for the winter but will reopen in May of 2025, offering our fabulous bakery, espresso drinks, and all your favorite options for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We look forward to seeing you next spring and hope you have a wonderful winter.
Prince of Pierogi 9922 Water St., #6 (920) 421-8619
princeofpierogi.com
$$ L D { Sip
10326 N. Water St. (920) 857-5602
$$ B L D T {
The place to be for fresh, delicious food that spotlights bold flavors and spectacular presentation. Full coffee shop and wine bar with relaxing indoor and outdoor seating. Combined space with fun home décor and excellent gifts you didn’t know you needed. Come Sip with us – open daily year-around, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Summer Kitchen 10425 Water St. (920) 854-2131
$$ B L D J { (
Sunset Harbor Grill 10018 Water St.
$$ B L D J
The Fashionable 9996 Pioneer Lane (920) 854-8008
$$$ D (T
Wilson’s Restaurant 9990 Water St. (920) 854-2041
wilsonsicecream.com
$ L D J {
FISH CREEK
Alexander’s of Door County 3667 Hwy 42 (920) 868-3532
alexandersofdoor county.com
$$$ D J T { ( Backroads Deli 9331 Spring Rd. B-23 backroadsdeli.com
$$ L J
Barringer’s Restaurant 1 N. Spruce St. (920) 868-3738 barringersdoor county.com
$$$ L D { T ( Bayside Coffee
The Shops at the Bayside baysidecoffee cottage.com
$ B L J
Fish Creek’s only
waterfront cafe. Beautifully situated across the street from the town dock. Outdoor seating with a view. Featuring piping hot or iced Colectivo coffee, espresso drinks and Rishi teas, breakfast and lunch sandwiches, salads and bakery. Open May-August.
Bayside Tavern
4160 Main St. (920) 868-3441
baysidetavern.com
$ L D J T
For an unpredictably great time, visit Fish Creek’s favorite tavern. Serving cocktails, beer and our famous Bayside Coffee. Our shortorder menu features hearty house-made soups, sandwiches, burgers, housemade pizza, Friday fish fry and Smilen Bob’s chili. Open daily year-round!
Blue Horse Beach Café 4113 Main St. (920) 868-1471
bluehorsecafe.com
$ B L J T {
DC Chocolate Design
9341 Spring Road, Unit A6 (920) 868-5155
dcchocolate design.com
$ B L T {
English Inn
3713 Hwy 42 (920) 868-3076
theenglishinn.com
$$$ D J T (
Fika Bakery & Cafe 3903 Hwy 42 (920) 868-5233
$ B L {
Fish Creek Market 4164 Main St. (920) 868-3351
Fishcreekmarket 1892.com
$$ L
Hill Street 4149 Main St. Hillstreetdoorcounty. com
$$ L D T
Julie’s Park Cafe & Motel 4020 Hwy 42 (920) 868-2999
juliesmotel.com
$$ B L J { (
Kettle Black Fish Boil 4158 Main St. (920) 868-5215
Welcker’s Lounge 4192 Main St. (920) 660-4316 welckers.com
$$$ B L D (
White Gull Inn 4225 Main St. (920) 868-3517
whitegullinn.com
$$$ B L D J T (
Serving breakfast, including the famous cherry stuffed French toast as featured on Good Morning America, as well as a full menu daily. Featuring fish boils in the summer, fall and select winter nights, along with candlelight dinners. Reservations recommended for dinner.
Island Fever Rum Bar & Grill Cty V and Hwy 57 (920) 823-2700
$ L D J T {
Little Bit of Coffee 6332 Hwy 57 (920) 823-2408
$ B Mike’s Port Pub 6269 Hwy 57 (920) 823-2081
$$ L D T
SISTER BAY
Al Johnson’s Swedish Restaurant 10698 N. Bay Shore Dr. (920) 854-2626 aljohnsons.com
$$ B L D J T
Boathouse on the Bay 10716 N. Bay Shore Dr. (920) 854-3223
$$$ L D J { Carroll House 2445 S. Bay Shore Dr. (920) 854-7997
$ B L J CHOP 2345 Mill Road (920) 854-2700
$$$ D J T { ( Crain’s Kitchen 10635 N. Bay Shore Dr. (920) 633-4047
$ L D Door County Creamery 10653 Bay Shore Dr. (920) 854-3388
$ L D { Door County Ice Cream Factory 11051 Hwy 42 (920) 854-9693 doorcountyice cream.com
$ L D J { Dovetail Bar & Grill 10282 Hwy 57 (920) 421-4035
$$ L D J
Fat Belly 10621 N. Highland Road (920) 854-3500
fatbellybowls.com
$$ L D { Order fresh or smoked sh for your
Producers of fresh and smoked fish caught locally in Lake Michigan and Bay of Green Bay. Retail store has a variety of local fish as well as US wild caught fish & seafood. Had a great day sport fishing? Let us professionally process and vacuum pack your catch so you don’t have to.
Warm up with a bowl of chili at our newly remodeled Bayside Tavern. Take a stroll around back and visit the Bayside Shop for great stocking stuffers and gifts for everyone on your list. Cheers!
$$ B L { Grasse’s Grill 10663 N. Bay Shore Dr. (920) 854-1125
$$ B L J { Husby’s Food and Spirits 10641 N. Bay Shore Dr. (920) 854-2624
$ L D J T { LURE
Intersection of Hwys 42 and 57 (920) 854-8111 luredoorcounty.com
$$$ D J T { ( McEvoy’s Culinaria & Catering 2602 S. Bay Shore Dr. (920) 854-8029
$ L D T { Northern Grill & Pizza 10573 Country Walk Dr. (920) 854-9590
$$ L D J { Pasta Vino 10571 Country Walk Dr.
$$$ D
Roots Kitchen 2378 Maple Dr. (920) 854-5107
$ L T { Sister Bay Bowl 10640 N. Bay Shore Dr. (920) 854-2841
sisterbaybowl.com
$$ L D J T
Famous for its Friday-night perch fry and its prime rib, this throwback to yesteryear is located in the heart of Sister Bay, open yearround. Featuring a full dining room, grill and bar, plus Northern Door’s only bowling alley. Skip Stone Coffee Roasters 10678 S. Bay Shore Dr., Building 2 skipstonecoffee.com
$ B L J T { Solago Restaurant & Tequila Bar 10961 Hwy 42 solagodoorcounty. com
$ L D J T
Stabbur Beer Garden at Al Johnson’s 10698 Bay Shore Dr. (920) 421-4628
$$ L D { Sub Express at Sister Bay Mobil 2579 S. Bay Shore Dr. (920) 854-6700
$ B L D J T { The Waterfront 10947 Hwy 42 (920) 854-5491
$$ L D { J T ( Thyme restaurant has a new home in Sister Bay. Join us at our brand-new restaurant, bar and outdoor dining space, where we’ll be serving up fresh, new dishes, as well as some of our classics. Next door is twelve eleven provisions + wine bar, where you can enjoy a variety of wines sourced and
produced from grapes grown in Sonoma and Mendocino counties. Our private, open-air dining space and gabled meadow are available to rent. See you soon!
Wild Tomato WoodFired Pizza & Grille 10677 N. Bay Shore Dr. (920) 854-4685
wildtomatopizza.com
$ L D J T { STURGEON BAY
A’Boat Time
26 E. Oak St. (920) 746-0600 aboattime doorcounty.com
$$ B L J T
Corner Café
113 N. 3rd Ave. (920) 743-1991
$ B L J T ( 5th and Jefferson Café
232 N. 5th Ave. (920) 746-1719
$ B L D { Betsy Ross Family Restaurant
239 Green Bay Road (920) 743-811 Betsyross restaurant.com
$ B L D
Birmingham’s 4709 N. Bay
Shore Dr. (920) 743-5215
birminghamsbar andcottages.com
$$ L D J T
Blue Front Café
86 W. Maple St. (920) 743-9218
$$ L J T (
Brick Lot Pub & Grill
253 N. 3rd Ave. (920) 743-9339
bricklotpub.com
$ L D J T
Cedar Crossing Restaurant & Bar
336 Louisiana St. (920) 743-4200 innatcedar crossing.com
$$$ B L D J T (
Chaser’s Sports Bar & Grill
1217 N. 14th Ave. (920) 743-6997
applevalleylanes.net
$$ Cherry Lanes
Arcade Bar
127 N. 4th Ave. (920) 818-0093
facebook.com/ cherrylanes arcadebar
$$$ D
Crate — Sushi & Seafood
136 N. 3rd Ave. (920) 818-1333
$$$ D T { (
Dan’s Kitchen
50 S. 3rd Ave. (920) 818-1300
dans-kitchen.com
$ L D T
Door County Fire Company
38 S. 3rd Ave. (920) 818-0625
$$ L D J T
Drömhus
611 Jefferson St. (608) 333-4553 dromhus doorcounty.com
$ D T {
Elmo’s Woodfired Pizza
143 N. 4th Ave. (920) 818-0408
$$ L D T
Fatzo’s
46 Green Bay Road (920) 743-6300
$ L D J T {
Get Real Café
43 S. Madison Ave. (920) 818-1455
getrealcafedoor county.com
$$ B L D
Gloria’s Authentic
Mexican Restaurant
23 W. Oak Street (920) 421-5112
$$ L D J T
Greystone Castle
8 N. Madison Ave. (920) 743-9923 Greystonecastle bar.com
$$ L D J T
Healthy Way Market
216 S. 3rd Ave. (920) 746-4103 healthyway market.com
$$ L
Hoffman’s Red Room
66 S. 3rd Ave. (920) 743-3913
$ L D T Kick Coffee
148 N. 3rd Ave. (920) 746-1122
$ B L T {
Kinara Urban Eatery 25 N. Madison Ave. (920) 743-8772
$ L D T
Kitty O’Reilly’s Irish Pub
59 E. Oak St. (920) 743-7441 kittyoreillys.com
$$ L D J T {
Lodge at Leathem Smith 1640 Memorial Dr. (920) 743-5555
$$ L D J T { ( Melt Bistro 2189 Cty DK (920) 825-7272
$ B L T { Melt Bistro (inside Renard’s Cheese) serves delicious, homestyle comfort food with an elevated twist. Menu items are made to order from scratch using only the freshest ingredients. Many selections feature our own handcrafted artisan cheeses. Pizza, hot and cold sandwiches, mac & cheese, soups, salads, a wide selection of alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages, Chocolate Shoppe ice cream and more. Breakfast is available all day. Open daily year-round. View our menu at RenardsCheese.com.
Mill Supper Club 4128 Hwy 42/57 N. (920) 743-5044
$$$ D J T
Morning Glory by the Bay 306 S. 3rd Ave. (920) 818-0711
$$ B L Morning Glory Restaurant 7502 Hwy 42 (920) 743-5355
$ B L J
Old Mexico 901 Egg Harbor Road (920) 818-1500
oldmexicowi.com
$$ L D J T {
Poh’s Corner Pub 164 N. 3rd Ave.
$ L D T
Samuelson’s Creek Pub & Grill
1009 S. Oxford Ave. (920) 743-3295
whitebirchinn.com
$$ L D J T (
Scaturo’s Café 19 Green Bay Road (920) 746-8727
$ B L J T { (
Sonny’s Italian Kitchen & Pizzeria 129 N. Madison Ave. (920) 743-2300
$$$ D Stone Harbor 107 N. 1st St. (920) 746-0700 stoneharborresort.com
$$$ B L D J T { ( Sturgeon Bay Yacht Club 600 Nautical Dr. (920) 743-6934
$$$ L D ( The Gnoshery 23 N. 3rd Ave. (920) 818-0727
$ B L T
The Gnoshery is the county’s premier board game cafe. Filled with fun, games and great “Gnoshables” –food and drink that make your experience a truly memorable one!
The Nightingale Supper Club 1541 Egg Harbor Road (920) 743-5593
$$$ D J T
Institute Saloon 4599 Hwy 57 (920) 743-1919 institutesaloon.com
$ L D T The Hitching Post 4849 Glidden Dr. (920) 818-1114 thehitchingpost doorcounty.com
$$ B L D J ( Valmy Happy Hour 4418 Whitefish Bay Road (920) 743-6236
$ L D J T
WASHINGTON ISLAND
Albatross Drive-In N7W1910 Lobdells Point Road (920) 847-2203
$ L D { Bread & Water Café 1275 Main Road (920) 847-2400
$$ B L { Cellar Restaurant at Karly’s Bar Main Road (920) 847-2655
$$$ L D J T { ( Fiddler’s Green 1699 Jackson Harbor Road (920) 847-2610 washingtonisland fiddlersgreen.com
