They call it the Grandaddy of all festivals Sister Bay’s Fall Fest. It is one of the oldest festivals in Door County. They have a great parade, food, drinks and lots of music, including everyone’s favorite The Happy Schnapps Combo. It’s a blast but you better love a crowd… in my mind that’s what makes it fun… people! New this year will be the Sister Bay themed hat contest… one can only imagine. Can you say goats on the roof?
Here what’s happening…
Weekend Schedule Friday, October 14, 2011 9am-5pm: Classic Auto Show – Waterfront Park Sponsored by Sister Bay Lions Club 10am-5pm: Arts & Crafts Show – Mill Road Sponsored by Sister Bay Advancement Association 10am-5pm: Concessions – Various places in Village 4pm-7pm: Modern Day Drifters @ Husby’s 5pm-8pm: Fish Boil – New Fire Station on Mill Road Sponsored by Sister Bay Lions Club 6pm-7pm: Children’s Cake Walk – Village Hall, Downtown Sponsored by Gibraltar Junior Class 10pm-Close: Hoi Polloi @ Husby’s Saturday, October 15, 2011 7am-11am: Pancake Breakfast – Village Hall Sponsored by Kiwanis 9am-5pm: Concessions – Various places in Village 9am-5pm: Classic Auto Show – Waterfront Park Sponsored by Sister Bay Lions Club 9am-5pm: Mechanical Bull @ Sister Bay Bowl 9am-4pm: Inflatable Games/Bouncers, Bungee Jumping & Clowns All Day Across street from Al Johnson’s (weather permitting) 10am-5pm: Arts & Crafts Show – Mill Road Sponsored by Sister Bay Advancement Association 11am: Parade – Bay Shore Drive, Downtown Volunteer of the Year, Parade Marshal 1pm-3pm: Randy Peterson (Children’s Entertainer) – Gazebo by Village Hall 1pm-4pm: Happy Schnapps on the Husby’s/Sister Bay Bowl stage 3pm: Hat Contest on the Husby’s/Sister Bay Bowl stage 1pm: Dog Show – Downtown Park Tent Proceeds go to Door County Humane Society 9pm-1am: Hoi Polloi @ Husby’s 9:30pm-Close: Whiskey Ditch @ Sister Bay Bowl Sunday, October 16, 2011 9am-2pm: Classic Auto Show – Waterfront Park Sponsored by Sister Bay Lions Club 10am-3pm: Concessions – Various places in Village 10am-3pm: Arts & Crafts Show – Mill Road Sponsored by Sister Bay Advancement Association 10am-3pm: Bungee Jumping Noon-3:30pm: Polka Man Dale with Bellows & Strings – Gazebo by Village Hall
On a side note, life long Sister Bay resident Annika Johnson’s 12 year old son Bo was just diagnosed recently with very serious form of Leukemia. Annika is the daughter of the famed Door County restaurateur Al Johnson. Prayers from all of us in Door County are going out to the family and this amazing kid. Follow his progress in his own words at
Another Pumpkin Patch is behind us and again it was a huge success… the weather was in the high seventies all weekend which helped. We had some great volunteers this year including volunteers for the Randy Pluff benefit (more on that at a later date), Southern Door 8th graders and the Maritime Museum. I thought the bees were going to be a huge problem since I got stung not once but twice on Friday when we were cooking brats. But Saturday and Sunday the bees didn’t seem to be a huge problem. The University of Wisconsin Marching Band did their Fifth Quarter performance compliments of Dave and Vonnie Callsen from Main Street Market. Always a hit with the crowd is Big Mouth and the Power Tool Horns.
Here are some random pics of the craziness…
Pumpkin People
Don Helm and I fighting the smoke
Not to be left out… Polly Helm and me…
girlfriends
The Kugle kids got their faces painted… too cute!
Cole Biwer keeping the peace…
Mike and Carrie from 106.9 The Lodge with Bruce from the Lull-Abi and me for our 2nd annual Pumpkin Patch photo op…
Yes… I am in all the pictures but hey it’s my blog.
This is the main reason I like to help at Pumpkin Patch…
Our Flanigan Distributing helpers Cubby Hartl and Brian Flanigan
And none other than Mark Sawyer is in charge of cooking the brats for the Egg Harbor Business Association… It’s a lot of fun working it but I think the beer helps.
All hands on deck Pumpkin Patch is here! The tents are being set up already in Harbor View Park. The beer wagon opens for business tomorrow and Mark, Nellie and I are selling brats tomorrow as well for the official kick off. We will know Pumpkin Patch has arrived when our friends Sue and Mark who live in Chicago stop by for their annual Pumpkin Patch Friday brats and beer. Note to Sue… control yourself this year! Look for us cooking the brats Saturday and Sunday too. The weather is going to be spectacular so it should be a great weekend. See you there!
Saturday, October 8
9am-4:30pm
Silent Auction
10am-2pm
Modern Day Drifters
10am-4pm
Carnival Rides & Inflatable Bouncers
10am-4pm
Face Painting
10am-5pm
Juried Arts & Crafts Vendors at Baylake Bank
11am-1pm
Children’s Musician Randy Peterson
11am-3pm
Roaming Magician Bruce Hetzler
1pm-4pm
Storyteller Carol Johnson
2pm-5:30pm
Mango Brothers | Jimmy Buffet Tribute
Sunday,
October 9
10am-1:15pm
Mighty Mouth | Rock & Blues
10am-4pm
Carnival Rides & Inflatable Bouncers
10am-4pm
Face Painting
10am-5pm
Juried Arts & Crafts Vendors at Baylake Bank
12pm-3pm
Storyteller Carol Johnson
1:15-1:45pm
UW-Madison Marching Band performs
1:30pm-4:30pm
Big Mouth & The Power Tool Horns | Rock & Blues
3pm
Door County Maritime Museum Canoe Raffle Drawing Winner Announced
Next weekend July 30, Carlsville will host a double festival which looks to be tons of fun. The 10th annual Carlsville Day has joined forces with the Town of Egg Harbor in celebrating their Sesquicentennial. The Town of Egg Harbor, which includes Carlsville, kind of runs around the outside the Village of Egg Harbor but mostly to the south. Mark and I live in the town of Egg Harbor but our business Egg Harbor Lodge is in the village… get it? Trust me, I am still confused. Anyway, it looks to be a pretty darn big affair complete with a parade, pony and tractor rides and performances by the UW-Madison Marching Band. Our neighbors, Bob and Dolores Spittlemeister are the Parade Marshalls… nice choice by the way. Not only that, there will be inflatables, craft fairs, free water slides and bands playing from 3-8pm (The Bittorf Bros., Modern Day Drifters and a Polka band… Can’t get better than that). Not enough? How about a cherry pit spit competition (I am good at that) a Wild West reenactment and free Door County Trolley rides to Carlsville businesses and the Egg Harbor Town hall. There will also be a pet psychic… I might have to take our dog Bailey to that. Nah.
If you can’t read this poster check out the festivities here.
I am glad the festival isn’t two days long or they may have named it Carlsville Daze. That would have just been wrong…
Don’t forget… THE CHERRIES ARE READY, THE CHERRIES ARE READY!
We headed to downtown Egg Harbor on July 3 for the fireworks and we certainly were not disappointed… they were phenomenal! Tons of people, music and food. It was great. We always stop at the Alpine for drinks after to see my friend Emily Bertschinger Pitchford and her family.
For the parade on Monday, we got our float done in record time… enough time to run down to Bruce and Gail’s at the Lull-Abi Inn for a minute to catch their live band before the parade.
This is basically how our float starts out…
Our guests get afraid, very afraid when they see this hot tub hanging out in the Egg Harbor Lodge lawn a few days before the parade. They all say “Oh… it’s for the float!” Got that cleared up. Then progress begins…
This is our friend Tom… without him it would be a much bigger chore to put this gig together…
Mark made brats for us and Tom and Helen who used to stay with us (now they have a condo) came up as did Katie and Jim Pionkoski. Katie and Jim own a new cheese store in Egg Harbor called Wisconsin CheeseMasters.Com on Rainbow Ridge Court at the top of the Egg Harbor hill. Their Ba Ba Bleu Cheese… yum.
This is our granddaughter Adi. Her big brother Jaden passed out the candy in the parade. Remember the good old days when you could just throw it? Not anymore.
Adi and Grammy
The parade begins with a fright…
Nellie, Joe, monster, Emilie, Sadie
For some reason we didn’t get a picture of our float in it’s entirety but check my previous blog post… the float was pretty much the same as last year. But hey, it’s tradition. Mark and I rode on the bed and the girls were in the hot tub. The signs say “Make your own fireworks at Egg Harbor Lodge” and “Leave the kids at home!” under the hot tub. Now why mess with perfection?
Anyway, much fun was had by all. Just 363 days (leap year) till next year.
June is a great month to visit Door County. Usually our weather is great…albeit hot right now. The weather is supposed to be great over the weekend into next week… and a bit cooler! If you get up here don’t forget to check out Fish Creek Heritage Days which began June 4 and runs through June 12. Lots of history here folks.
Door County is host to the annual Lighthouse Walk which makes sense since we have 10, yes 10 lighthouses located right here in DC. It is Saturday and Sunday… check the Door County Maritime Museum‘s website for details.
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Door County Lighthouse Festival
Have you ever driven over the steel bridge in downtown Sturgeon Bay? Well, with a huge effort of citizens and musicians, many of of them famous (ever heard of Jackson Browne?… thought so), Sturgeon Bay has a huge music fest this weekend with live outdoor music near the historic bridge with most downtown pubs offering live music as well. The Steel Bridge Songfest is a four day festival with over 100 bands and a pub crawl. Whew!
Looking for nightlife around EH? Head down to Mojo Rosa’s or Jersey Shore Pub (both downtown Egg Harbor) this Friday night for live music. PS… they both are within walking distance of Egg Harbor Lodge.
Egg Harbor Door County
There is a plethora of great restaurants, boutiques, lodging and bars in Egg Harbor. Plus, we have great beaches and a phenomenal marina and are centrally located in Door County. No wonder we were voted one of America’s Coolest Small Towns!
What do we do in the winter you ask? Well… last weekend we checked out Birmingham’s Cherry Bounce-off. Anybody can bring in cherry bounce or any variation there of. Cherry Bounce? Well, in July, picked, ripe cherries are added to a jar. Most people use quart or even gallon glass jars. Sugar and booze are added… a lot of booze. The favorite around here would be whisky, but brandy, vodka or any kind of liquor can be used. My favorite is the vodka but they all taste good, IMHO. Watch yourself, the cherries themselves are delicious… but deadly. Somebody once said, “you are to sample it… not bathe in it”. Well said.
Here is owner Bradley Birmingham checking out the entries…
and sampling…
The bounce isn’t ready until at least Thanksgiving… Christmas is more like it. There were around 20 entries this year down from about 27 last year. Not all the entries had cherries or were even made with cherries. One variation was made with pineapple… not a winner however. My entry… well, actually Matthew Peterson’s (Casey’s) entry wasn’t a winner either although I loved it. He said it was “whiskey moonshine” . Come to think of it, all the entries were moonshine. Anyone can bring samples and the bounce was flowing freely all night. The contest brings out a big crowd so it made for a fun night. The winner takes home the “trophy”, a wooden toilet seat and is expected to engrave carve their own name before it is brought back to be proudly displayed at Birmingham’s bar/restaurant. We cheeseheads are a classy bunch. The best thing I tried all night were chocolate-dipped, bounce cherries… yum.
The first weekend in February will be busy indeed. Fish Creekis hosting Winter Festival, formerly Fish Creek Winter Games. It should be tons of fun. Here is the schedule… (note the “Human Foosball Tournament!”.
And then on Sunday… the SUPER BOWL We were at Casey’s this past fall and there were a couple of Packer Players there… kicker, Mason Crosby and Daryn Colledge, guard.
I NEVER miss a photo opportunity…
Lucky for us, we are able to go to the home Packer games… here we are at a game in December…
Gotta love Cole’s “vintage” jersey…
My favorite player, the dreamy Clay Matthews…
Clay Matthews
Packers in their new vintage
So make plans now to visit Door County, it should be a phenomenal weekend!
We attended a benefit for local Door County charities put together by Miss Wisconsinat the Door Community Auditorium. John and Jackie Sawyer (Kimberly’s parents) had a cocktail party afterwards at Husby’s. Here we are with Kimberly at Husby’s…
This is Kim’s mom Jackie and her sister Katie. If Kimberly becomes Miss America, Katie will take the reigns as Miss Wisconsin since she was first runner up at the Miss Wisconsin pageant.
We celebrated New Year’s Eve with live Maine lobster… at home. Going out on New Year’s Eve is for amateurs.
