Door County, Wisconsin - Who, What, Where, Why. And When?

Cynthia Dial

If you haven’t heard of Door County, you’re not alone. On a map, it’s the digit of onshore extending from the metropolis of Green Bay into Lake Michigan to the eastbound and Green Bay to the west. It’s location to 300 miles of shoreline and a postulation of towns with specified distinctive names arsenic Egg Harbor, Sister Bay and Fish Creek – each ne'er acold from water.

But though it is small known nationally, this Midwestern region is celebrated arsenic the region’s pictorial equivalent to Cape Cod. Complete with the mounting of American flags, cherry specialties and Adirondack chairs perched successful parks and facing its surround-sound-like shore, I deemed it “Americana astatine its red, achromatic and bluish best” aft my archetypal sojourn successful July 2012. But portion this archetypal instauration was years ago, I designated Door County a must-return-to question treasure.

Cynthia Dial

The destination is seasonally popular. Though the imperishable nonmigratory colonisation is little than 30,000, this fig importantly swells connected Memorial Day and continues skyward done Labor Day. It’s during this three-month model that the Midwest explodes with a new-found state to bask each those activities placed connected clasp by winter’s weather. And portion I’m a Southern Californian, my docket enthusiastically matched that of warm-weather-deprived tourists with kayaking successful Sister Bay, climbing Cana Island Lighthouse’s 97 steps (yes, I counted), sailing connected the Edith M. Becker gangly vessel and exploring Whitefish Dunes barefoot.

Cynthia Dial

The travel was rounded retired with unrecorded amusement – including specified summertime events arsenic American Folklore Theatre (now known arsenic Northern Sky Theater) performed connected a signifier acceptable successful the woods wrong Peninsula State Park and Midsummer’s Music Festival which showcased enclosure euphony performed by world-class artists and was featured successful a renovated barn during my sojourn (though the venue continually changes).

At the clip I wondered astir off-season Door County – erstwhile the crowds are gone and the offerings are authentically local.

Fast guardant to a antithetic year, antithetic play – December 2022. As a mild-weather inhabitant, I agelong agone learned that the astir exciting, expeditious way to the vacation tone is simply a travel to acold country. So, erstwhile this winter-in-Wisconsin accidental arose, I pulled retired the Ugg boots, down parka and woolen mittens and began mentation for a double-digit somesthesia driblet and a Christmas-charged boost.

Cynthia Dial

Door County’s Scandinavian roots are scattered passim the peninsula – from the flying of Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish and Danish flags to the offering of reddish Dala horses and rosemåling people creation keepsakes. Said to beryllium the astir festive clip to visit, this is erstwhile Christmas lights, ornaments and décor embellish the setting, fêtes denote the play and snowfall apt dusts the countryside. 

Patterned aft Europe’s renowned Christmas markets, Christkindlmarkt (Sister Bay) returns successful 2023 – pursuing its 2021 debut and my 2022 sojourn – and offers 3 consecutive weekends of amusive opening Thanksgiving week’s Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Complete with open-air stalls, it promises to service up everything – from solid creation and fur-imagined hats with one, 2 oregon nary poms to Glühwein (layman term: blistery mulled wine). However, the astir sought-after photograph op is ever of Christkind, the market’s namesake - a princess-style look-alike with just locks and a golden and achromatic robe.

Cynthia Dial

Tannenbaum Holiday Shop (Sister Bay), a Door County specialty retailer since 1978, furthered my temper with country aft country of not lone Christmas ornaments and decorations but year-round holiday-themed items and gifts for each occasions arsenic well. Best part: it’s unfastened passim the year.

And portion immoderate restaurants and retailers adjacent store according to the calendar, it’s ever imaginable to find the enactment of premier artisans similar Popelka Trenchard Glass Fine Art Gallery & Studio (Sturgeon Bay) and Plum Bottom Gallery (Fish Creek, Egg Harbor). Housed successful a erstwhile state station/auto repair shop, the mounting of Popelka Trenchard is non-descript. However, its decorative solid pieces – truthful impressive, you’ll deliberation Chilhuly – are reflective of age-old techniques of maestro solid blowers. Then there’s Plum Bottom, which was named “Best Gallery successful Door County.” Originally established successful 2007 by husband-and-wife team, Chad Luberger and Angela Olson Luberger (resident jewelry artist), it represents much than 150 nationally collected artists.

Cynthia Dial

The Norwegian word Friluftsliv - pronounced free-loofts-liv and interpreted arsenic “open-air living” - is the content that 1 should person a idiosyncratic transportation with quality each day. In compliance with this doctrine are specified activities arsenic snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, adjacent e-biking; but on the less-active way is hiking the Ridges Sanctuary (Baileys Harbor). Designated a State Natural Area, an Audubon Important Bird Area and a National Natural Landmark, this 1,600-acre earthy sphere is Wisconsin’s oldest non-profit onshore trust. Alongside naturalist, Bill Wolff, we trekked on immoderate of the sanctuary’s 5 miles of rustic trails, with the item being Baileys Harbor Range Lights (listed connected the National Register of Historic Places). “This is not conscionable a locomotion successful the woods. I privation you to cognize however peculiar it is,” said Wolff. And during the Ridge’s Natural Christmas event, Kaye Cabin became the epicenter of cheer with Christmas music, cookies, cider and more.

From experience, my proposal would beryllium to cue the opus 'Jingle Bells' and hop aboard a horse-drawn sleigh thrust with John Mayberry, proprietor of Mayberry's Carriages. Encouraged to 'come bask the bid and tranquility of years gone by,' the 10-, 20- oregon 30-minute thrust done the municipality of Fish Creek transports visitors to a back-in-the-day generation.

Fortunately, immoderate things ne'er alteration - careless of the thermometer reading. As during my erstwhile visit, the 'brew crew' of Door County Coffee & Tea Company (Sturgeon Bay) continues to service up a cupful of java not to beryllium missed. Greeted with the aroma of freshly brewed beans, choices were plentiful. With specified vacation flavors arsenic sweetener cooky latte and candy cane, coupled with a baked ovum scramble and toast topped with Bea's chopped cherry jam, you volition person sampled galore of the stand-out flavors representing the region.

Another Door County eating favourite is the peninsula's signature food boil. This contented gives visitors a sensation of the past erstwhile boiling pots of potatoes, onions and the section waters' whitefish were prepared successful outdoor community-style kitchens to efficiently and economically provender ample numbers of the area's archetypal Scandinavian immigrants. Our food boil acquisition astatine White Gull Inn (Fish Creek) ended with this method-of-cooking's expected flair erstwhile kerosene was thrown onto the occurrence causing a occurrence up and h2o boil. The repast was past served with coleslaw, melted food alongside freshly baked breadstuff and finished with a portion of made-from-scratch cherry pie.

Of the area's aggregate breweries and wineries, Harbor Ridge Winery (Egg Harbor) embraced the season's cozy chill with outdoor 'snow globes' - heated, transparent, dome-like tents outfitted with welcoming seating and snuggly blankets. Committed to the comfortableness of its guests, the winery besides revealed its humorous broadside with the vino tasting guide's playful directive to 'solve the world's problems 1 sip astatine a time.'

In the end, the multi-colored finale to my sojourn - a locomotion done Sister Bay's annually-displayed passageway of Christmas lights - was akin to topping my acquisition of a sojourn with a kaleidoscopic bow.

Bottom line. You whitethorn not person known of Door County, but you present cognize erstwhile to visit.

Any time.