Travel Calumet Original Podcast
Travel Calumet Original Podcast delves into the events and destinations within Calumet County, Wisconsin.
Travel Calumet Original Podcast
Episode 61
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Pull up a barstool and listen in as participants in the Harvest to Holiday Shopping Season happening from September 25th-27th join host Rick Sense at Schumacher's Shanty in Stockbridge.
The Harvest to Holiday Shopping Season invites you to ditch the frantic crowds and the click-happy world of online shopping and instead, Shop, Sip & Savor your way through fabulous gift shops, cocktail spots, orchards, boutiques, and more along Lake Winnebago’s East Shore. Snag exclusive deals, holiday-inspired goodies, and chances to win prizes, gift cards, and even cash!
So, learn why you will want to grab your friends and embark on a road trip along Lake Winnebago’s east shore and beyond! You’ll find businesses from Fond du Lac to Stockbridge, to Sherwood, to Chilton, and even New Holstein participating. The event features the best rural Wisconsin has to offer, including wonderful shops, restaurants, wineries, artisans, and more. There is something for everyone!
Welcome to episode 61 of the Travel Cad you Met Original Podcast. I'm your host, Rick Sense. Let's pull up a bar stool and listen in as participants in the Harvest to Holiday shopping season. That's the Harvest to Holiday shopping season happening from September 25th through the 27th. Join me at Schumacher Shanty in Stockbridge. By the way, if you haven't been here for pizza, you are missing it. You've got to get here just to the Schumacher Shanty. The pizza is just phenomenal. Back to the Harvest to Holiday shopping season event. We're inviting you to ditch that frantic crowds and the click happy world of online shopping and instead shop, sip, and savor your way through fabulous gift shops, cocktail spots, orchards, boutiques, and more along Lake Winnebago's East Shore. Snag exclusive deals, holiday-inspired goodies, and chances to win prizes, gift cards, and even cash. Who doesn't like that? So grab your friends and embark on a road trip along Lake Winnebago's East Shore and beyond. You'll find businesses from Fond du Lac to Stockbridge, to Sherwood to Childen, and even New Holstein participating. The event features the best rural Wisconsin has to offer, including wonderful shops, restaurants, wineries, artisans, and more. There is something for everyone. And I'm going to turn this over to Craig Molliter, who is with Destination Lake Winnebago Region. Craig, you and your team have put this event together. Can you maybe just give listeners the background on why you decided to do this event?
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. So I'm sitting at this table, but looking across the table at uh Clara, and that is she is really our muse from uh LeClaire. We started uh working with uh LeClaire many years ago. I'm also looking at one of my colleagues, Liz Ng, and our initial efforts were more closely tied to the agricultural elements and aspects of this region. Uh but we soon built that out and expanded that to include a couple of the shops. Uh, and then when we included shops, we thought about maybe some of the eateries and taverns and saloons, uh, and then that included orchards, and then that included some of the artisans that sell amazing things out here, and then it was boutiques. So it started with this kernel uh that quickly expanded out to what is now a uh or what has been the last couple of years, a very vibrant shopping event. What we decided this year, because we are the visitors bureau for Fond du Lac. However, we're close friends with all of our friends in Calinet County, and that's why we're happy to be working with you, Rick, on this podcast. We thought we have so much here that we need to do more with it. We, as I mentioned, we're the Visitors Bureau for Fond du Lac and Wapan, and those two communities also have tons of great brick and mortar shopping uh entities. We thought, how do we project this idea to the outside world and say, come to our communities and shop, right? And if you read the description of this event, we do allude to online shopping. There's also the reality of having to shop at big box stores, but people still love shopping, they still love going to Leclerc and getting some world-class cheese. Um they love going to uh Braveborough, maybe I got that name right, and getting some cute clothing, right? There is a need and desire to socialize and get out into the community and buy stuff. Um so we we we just kind of hit upon this name, Harvest the Holiday, because the uh harvest time shopping event that has taken place the last couple of years here in Caluma County is the is one bookend. Uh, and the other bookend is the shopping events in Wapan and Fond duch that are a little closer to the Christmas holiday shopping season. So hence harvest to holiday shopping season. We've created an entire season to get folks out and about into our community spending some money. That's what it's all about.
SPEAKER_02You mentioned the two other events. You want to just spend a moment or two talking about those before we focus back on the Calumet County area?
SPEAKER_00Great, and I appreciate you setting it up that way. Yes. So the first uh event is here in Calumet, but uh later in the season, a couple weeks later, we have a shopping event in Wapan. The Wapan's downtown uh uh district is very, very vibrant, tons of boutiques and little restaurants, places to shop and eat. Uh it's it's great. And Fond du Lac itself has some awesome shopping too. Much of it in our downtown district, but in the outlying area. But really, it all began uh with our work here alongside our partners in the Calumet County area. Um, and we have kind of branded this area for our purposes as Lake Winnebago's East Shore. Again, some of it begins in the county in Fondale County, um like Pebbles and Techita, but most of it, much of it, is here in this beautiful county, Calima County.
SPEAKER_02And Liz Hang, also from Destination Lake Winnebago region, uh, could you talk to listeners a little bit about some of the actual logistics of the of the events, the two days or three days actually, September 25th, 6th and 7th?
SPEAKER_06Absolutely, it's three days this year, Rec. So we're very excited as and Craig gave you a good background on how this all came about. But having the three days this year just gives everyone a better opportunity to get out and really uh for businesses to showcase what they have and for our visitors and shoppers to get out and they have an extra day, so they could even come in and stay at our hotels and make it make it a weekend. So, um, of course, the Lake Winnebago East Shore event for the East Shore edition begins on September 25th and ends on the 27th. So we have 37 businesses, 37 stops along the way from Pebbles and Fond du Lac to Sherwood, uh Chilton, Newholsteen, and Hilbert. So we have just a ton of things, and each of those businesses have a special of some kind. So we want to make sure that everyone gets out and picks up what we have a passport again this year, which was very popular last year. And so the passport will have all the specials listed. We will also have specials listed on FDL.com, which is a great resource for people to go. Um, for 37 businesses throughout the the county and Fond du Lac. And um, something new this year is also going to be a bingo card, and we have um different things that people can do while they're shopping, all three events. So let's go back to the dates real quick so people can remind say the dates. So Lake Winnebago East Shore is September 25th through the 27th, the Wapan shopping event is October 30th to November 1st, and then of course the Fond du Lac event, which is really getting close to Christmas, is November 6th to the 8th. So those are you know three great shopping events, big extravagances in each region. So we're really looking forward to pushing those out. So 37 shops on the East Shore. Grab your girlfriends, husband, boyfriend, whoever it might be, take the journey. Uh stop in at many of these places. Uh, Schumacher's is great, they have some great specials. Uh, all of our businesses along the way have great specials, so we hope to see everybody out. I know I'm gonna be out. Um, and because it starts on a Thursday, Craig, I will be out on Thursday.
SPEAKER_00Nobody so I'll give you a shopping allowance.
SPEAKER_06There you go. So, and savor during this event on Lake Winnebago East Shore.
SPEAKER_02All right, it sounds like a lot of fun, but it also sounds like a lot of effort and work that gets behind the scenes that people aren't gonna see. Can you maybe give listeners just uh I'll open the question to both you and uh both you, Craig, and Liz. Can you give listeners an idea of some of the things that are in put into this event that people might not see, but they're gonna see the dividends of it when they're out there shopping?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that that's a great question. I again I appreciate the weird the your perspective on this. So we're a visitors bureau. We are funded entirely by what's called a bed tax, and that bed tax is on hotels in the Pond Lac and the Pond area. That's how we're able to fund our marketing. So we're pouring lots of human resources into this. So Liz and several of her colleagues in in our office are working on this. I don't want to say around the clock, but there's a lot of effort going into this. We're also pouring uh effort into a social media campaign. We're gonna be putting banners up throughout the county. We've put uh put together posters and save the date types of products to get everybody aware of this. The other thing we're doing, which Liz touched on, is we are what I call gamifying some of this. In other words, we're throwing prizes and cash into this to try to get people excited about it, right? The for instance, the bingo card she mentioned, it's our attempt to get folks to shop in uh Lake Winnebago's e shore and in Fond Lake and in Wapan. So if we can get more people to sort of this side of Lake Winnebago, that would be really awesome. So we're we're putting hard cash into it from our organization. Uh real simply, it is a lot of effort. But we're making uh a strategic move in our organization. We look around at some of the the communities, the visitors bureau throughout the state, and there's very little emphasis put into shopping. We think shopping is an awesome thing to promote, not just the tourists, but the locals. As I said earlier in my talk, Amazon is always gonna be there, but so are the local businesses, and we want to help them not just survive but thrive. So we're making a strategic switch at our organization. And frankly, I see this as a five, ten-year effort to change the perspective of what shopping is in this area. It's it's there's so much that we created a season around it. It's like the the the the product is there. We just need to get out there and tell people about it.
SPEAKER_02And Liz, from your perspective, what kind of things are you doing on a daily basis to just get prepped and ready for this?
SPEAKER_06Well, I don't know where to start.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_06So anyway, uh delivering of posters, delivering of save the dates. We're gonna be out maybe later this afternoon and and um figure out where all the banners are gonna go and yard signs. So it's just been um really fun. Um it's been work, but we all love work, right? And and I can see uh we love our partners on the East Shore, so I work with them quite often, and it's just fun to uh provide something for them to bring in people into their store and and um have a great weekend. So, you know, people are gonna be able to get some great deals, gift cards, cash. You know, who can go wrong, right?
SPEAKER_02Who's gonna turn down cash, right?
SPEAKER_06Yeah, but it's a lot of communication between all of us, and and um like this right here, this podcast gives everybody a chance to meet each other and really support one another. So that's what it's all about.
SPEAKER_02Well, since you alluded to the fact that we get to meet each other, that means there's more people in the room than just Liz, Craig, and myself talking right now. Um, you might have heard Jim and Jody already in the background a little bit before. And just so you know, you really need to come out to Jim and Jody's for uh for for food because for restaurant visits, because we are right in the middle of a almost year-long construction project here and it starts right outside their door. So you might have heard some trucks in the background as we're talking, and and if you do, just know that they're under construction out here, so this is a great opportunity to get out here and support Jim and Jody and what they're doing for Stockbridge and Cayman County. So, with that, we have Jim and Jody from Schumacher from Schumacher Shanty, and we also have uh participants from the honey shop in Sherwood, and we also have from Vern's Cheese, uh, which is in Chiltenay and Green Bay. We also have uh from Pipe, we have Clara Hedrick from uh La Claire Creamery, and uh from somebody who's been on the program before already as well. Um we have uh, you know, I'm gonna save you for for later, just as a surprise. People are gonna wonder who's this person who's been on the show before. So we'll we'll come back uh to that. Uh we'll just say it involves a dog's name of some sort, okay? All right. So, first in line today, I'm gonna I'm gonna talk with uh, if I can, with uh Tori Heideman. Uh she is with the honey shop in Sherwood, and and welcome to the show, Tori.
SPEAKER_04Hey, yeah, thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_02Great. Um, so what is the honey shop?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, that's a great question. Um, I get asked all the time. We do not sell honey products, unfortunately. So um our store is split into two different parts. So in the back is our primary business. So we own honey event planning and coordination, so we're wedding and event planners. So that's the bread and butter of what we do. But in the front um is a really cool opportunity for many small business owners. It's called the honey shop. So it's our it's our storefront, our boutique that features um many different vendors from throughout the area and in the state of Wisconsin offers them uh the opportunity to have their products in a store.
SPEAKER_02So you kind of like an A are an aggregator of Wisconsin products? Is that a fair way to do it?
SPEAKER_04I I think so.
SPEAKER_02So you're doing all the legwork for people so they don't have to drive 15, 20 different places, they can come right to your store and pick up all those really cool Wisconsin things right there.
SPEAKER_04Absolutely. And it's really for people that you know, uh everyone that's inside our shop, they they're working full-time, they're full-time parents, um, but they've got this really cool online boutique, or they maybe, you know, they sell uh handmade home decor, things like that, but they don't have the funds or the time to have a storefront themselves. So it gives um others the opportunity to showcase their talents in uh in a in one place.
SPEAKER_02So it's September 25th, 6th, and 7th. Uh I'm coming to the honey shop. What am I gonna expect to see?
SPEAKER_04Okay, so we've got women, children's clothing, gifts, home decor, all of that great stuff. Um we'll be having uh a few different sales, everything in the shop will be 15% off, but then we'll have a lot of people bringing in extra products, um, some clearance items I know up to 50%. We'll also have some guest vendors too. So you might see some craft fair type people or additional clothing and home decor people in the shop. So every day will be a little bit different.
SPEAKER_02So it sounds like whoever shows up is gonna save some money.
SPEAKER_04Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02Okay, everybody. So next we're gonna turn to the mystery person who I wouldn't say before. She's part of one of our most popular podcast episodes we've ever done, and it was on thrifting. Um, it's been and that's I've had people from all over the country listen to that episode. It's a it's a very interesting discussion. So if you haven't had a chance to check that out, go do that out at the Travel Call you Met Original podcast. But Lisa Martin is from the Wild Corgi Resale in Chilton. And Lisa, can you just tell everybody what is Wild Corgi Resale?
SPEAKER_07Well, I've lived in Chilten my whole life, and I just saw a need for shopping in Chilton. We have very little retail space stores in Chilton. We have a couple big box stores, we have a little gift shop, we have things like that, but nothing really for thrifters at all. There's no thrift store, there's no charity thrift store, there's several close by. And I thought, I am such an avid rummage sailor and thrift store shopper. I should bring that and procure things for other people. So I rented some space and we're going on two years coming up here in November. I opened on small business Saturday in November of 2023, so we're coming up on two years. It's been fantastic. I buy things from customers who come in with their totes of items. I give them cash. It's similar to consignment, only you get paid right away. And they leave with cash. Some of them are shoppers and consigners as well, some of them are just consigners. And I'm trying to save people a trip to Appleton. I don't need to save you a trip to Walmart. We're all going there anyway. We have to, but I'm trying to save you a trip to Appleton. And so far it's just been fantastic.
SPEAKER_02Sounds great. And now you have a really basically an eclectic collection of just about everything. I've been in the store.
SPEAKER_07I do.
SPEAKER_02I mean, can you maybe walk listeners through a little bit of what the experience is like walking through the store?
SPEAKER_07Well, at first I tried to make it something where it's all things that I love. Then I realized things that I love are not necessarily things that everybody loves. So I have uh I stick to ladies. I tried with men's, and men, you can admit, Craig, Rick, you're not good shoppers. Let's just admit that, right?
SPEAKER_00We're not.
SPEAKER_07You're not good shoppers. So women brought me the most beautiful men's items and they didn't sell. So I'm like, okay, we're getting rid of men's. So it's a learning process for sure, but I have mostly ladies, home decor, books, shoes, jewelry, um, everything is pre-owned, but everything is clean. Nothing is donated. I paid for it. So everything, um, I have good partnerships with like Uptown Commons, they check my puzzles to make sure all the pieces are there. So we have some fun partnerships to make sure that everything when you walk in, people walk in the door, and I have I see their faces, they look like, is this stuff new? This stuff looks new. So that's the look that I'm going for.
SPEAKER_02So you would you call yourself a higher end store then?
SPEAKER_07On the sign, it says upscale thrift store.
SPEAKER_02Okay, I'll ask the same question that of you that I asked of Tori earlier. Is it's the 25th, 26th, 27th of September, and I walk in the store, what am I gonna see?
SPEAKER_07Oh, we're gonna have fun raffles, um, door prizes for everybody. I have a kitchen area that I use for my own items, and that area is going to have a lady selling cookies. Savvy D has beautiful frosted cookies, and I am super excited on Saturday. Dave Jones is a retired police officer, and he wrote a book series. The second one is called No Perfect Wife. The first one is Fox Valley Homicide, and I reached out to him on a whim. Like, I don't know him, but all of his books have a local interest. Like when you're reading his book, it's like, yes, me and my wife went to the Harbor Bar for lunch. I'm like, oh my gosh, I know where that place is. So it's so neat. The references that he has in his books to this area. So I reached out to him on Facebook just randomly saying, This guy is not even going to answer me. And I said, Hey, I have this event coming up. It's the Harvest Holiday Shopping event, and it would be cool if you could come and bring your books and sign them in my store. And you know what he said? Yes, I would love to do that. I'm like, oh my gosh, this is fantastic. So he's coming that day. He's so well known in his area for book signing, but he's bringing his books to the store on that day for that. So that's my exciting uh thing for that weekend.
SPEAKER_02So you not only can shop, but you can buy a book and meet the author.
SPEAKER_07Meet the author. Yep, he's a retired police officer. All right.
SPEAKER_02All right, batting third in the lineup today is Crystal Pulas? Poolis. It's Crystal Poolis. Yes. From Burns Cheese, which is in Chilton and Green Bay, as I mentioned earlier. I have to ask you real quickly, the Green Bay store, how's that going and when did you open it?
SPEAKER_05Oh, we opened that back in April, um, right in time for the NFL draft. So the Green Bay store is going well. It's going even better as we get into Packer season. Um, people that are traveling to Dorr County, they stop by, and we're just having a good time.
SPEAKER_02So you're you you're a regional retailer. Uh, you have fruits outside of Calyama County and Brown County now, too. From your perspective, does that help you in preparing for an event like this as far as being able to attract or I should say shoppers uh to maybe what they're looking for to buy? Because you you've got a very eclectic collection at your store as well. I've been in it numerous times and great cheese, but there's a lot more than that there, too. So you can maybe just talk to listeners a little bit about the experience, how that's going to help you guys prepare for this event.
SPEAKER_05For sure. So I think with our Green Bay store now kind of being linked with our Chilton store, it's really helped us get some of those relationships to be able to bring things from outside of Chilton into Chilton, right? So we've been able to talk to different breweries, we've been able to talk to different sauce companies. I mean, by all means, we are 100% focused on our local cheesemakers. You know, LeClaire, we're a huge fan, big partner with Clara, but we also focus on things like Gooth's caramel syrup, we have different craft items from local craft makers, we have different meats, we we play well with no skis, we have maplewood meats in our Green Bay store, and we're starting to kind of look at bringing them towards Chilton. So it's really helped us expand our offerings, and we just really at Verns like to kind of help promote Wisconsin and like get everybody, for lack of a better term, a taste of Wisconsin.
SPEAKER_02So you walk in the store, and the first thing I'm almost hit with is the fact I there's ice cream in front of me, and I mean, you know how cruel that is to a shopper to walk in and there's ice cream, I gotta have ice cream, I can't shop.
SPEAKER_05Rick, it's also cruel if you work there and it's Monday or it's the day after Labor Day, and you're like, I need a three scoop at my desk now.
SPEAKER_02So, in addition to the killer ice. Cream you guys sell there. What what other things do you sell at the store here in Chiltern?
SPEAKER_05So we also have a really good selection of Uncle Mike's Pringle. So if you need an Uncle Mike's fix, uh, we have a really good selection of those Door County wines, um, beer if you if you need that to get through your Monday, too. Um, we have all the cheese, right? So we have, like we said, LeClaire, but we also have Crave Brothers and Cheese You Can't Get, you know, Pleasant Ridge, um, Car Valley, our own brand of cheese, a lot of cheese skirts to pick from. Um, we have honey, different local honeys. We have oh, so much, Rick. We have so much. Oh, we do, we have pizza. I almost forgot one of the other, one of my other favorite things. If I need lunch, we can throw pizza in. So, yes, we do have some local pizzas.
SPEAKER_02Okay. And uh, if I walk in the store on those three days, what am I gonna expect to see?
SPEAKER_05Well, you're gonna have a ton of samples. So there's going to be all those fall-flavored cheeses, things like apple cinnamon cheddar, all the cranberry, anything pumpkin flavored at that ice cream station we're fond of. We're gonna offer apple cider floats. So you can get three scoops of vanilla ice cream, and then we're partnering with Heritage Orchard.
SPEAKER_02I sense a theme for, sorry to interrupt you, but three scoops, everything's three scoops at Vern's. Is that how it works?
SPEAKER_05Well, ever since I started in November, it's three scoops minimum.
SPEAKER_02Okay, sorry to interrupt you, but I just picked up on that.
SPEAKER_05Like it's never too much ice cream.
SPEAKER_02Okay, okay.
SPEAKER_05Um, so we're gonna partner with Heritage Orchard and use their cider for apple cider floats. But what I'm most excited about that we have never done before at Vern's are the mystery bags. So you can come in and each bag will be worth $20 or more, but you're only gonna pay $15 regardless of what's in it. And then in that mystery bag, we're gonna have three different cheeses. It could be spicy, it could be just something unique, like our chicken soup cheese, a personal favorite. It could be a classic, it could be parmesan, it could be anything, and then with that purchase, a gift there will be a gift bag that has a gift card in that you could win, but there'll also be some gift bags with just assorted extra little sweet treats or whatever we kind of throw in there.
SPEAKER_02That sounds like a lot of fun. So $15 for $20 plus items.
SPEAKER_05Yep.
SPEAKER_02Pretty good deal. So, listeners, yeah. Now you have to stop at Vern's as well as all the other places we've talked about so far this morning. Next up, we're gonna talk with Clara Hedrick from LaClaire Creamery and Pipe. And first of all, Claire, welcome to the show. I think is this what the fifth, sixth time you've been on the show? Um Claire's a regular because Clara is pretty much she was referred to as the Muse before. She she pretty much is involved in just about everything in Calumet County, from county fair to you name it, she's involved. So, having said that, can you maybe walk listeners through what is LeClaire Creamery?
SPEAKER_08LaClaire Creamery is an experience. Uh, when you step into the door, uh you're going to be welcomed, and uh we are sampling various cheeses, uh, and what you're gonna see is all the different cheeses that we make on site. Uh, and if it has the word LeClaire on, that means it is made with goat milk. And then uh if you look around the store, you're going to see that everything there complements our cheeses. Uh we do host local wines, so I'm gonna do a shout out to Ziggler Winery. Heritage Orchard has a wine made by uh Ziggler's Winery. Uh so you know, kind of fun things like that. Some other Booth's chocolates I might mention. Uh they have a toffee that they made with uh goat product. So a lot of opportunity there. And then if you look at our cafe menu, uh every item has a cheese in it because we really want you to experience the cheeses, and so that gives you a wonderful uh opportunity to do that, and plus, you know, when you're looking at the cheese, you go, okay, I know I can use it, I can eat it as is, but then what else can I do with it? And so this gives you that what else. Uh, then as you go around the corner, you can look into our packaging room, uh, watch the staff package up some of your favorite cheeses, uh, zip up the steps, uh, and you can look into the plant and see the chev make. That's one of the fastest growing portions of our business. We have just come out with a lemon-flavored chev that is uh just amazing. And then, of course, our seasonal pumpkin uh chev will be out here shortly. Back down the stairs into the viewing room, you can see baby goats, you can go outside and uh you know pet some of our uh folks that are hanging out either out on the silo or just outside on in the pens. You can look into the barn and don't forget the greenhouse. Uh wonderful experience in the greenhouse. So just a lot of opportunity. Uh, our whole objective there is for that consumer to experience agriculture firsthand. And what's really nice is I will be on site, so if you have questions, I'm happy to uh answer those questions as we go through it. Uh so just a lot of, and really our focus has always been the experience when you come there so that you can walk away with understanding more about agriculture and more about our business.
SPEAKER_02So if we haven't done our job and converted all those non-shoppers out there into shoppers after what they've heard so far, it's pretty hard as a non-shopper to not want to go see Leclerc Creamery because there's so much more happening than they're just retail practices, right?
SPEAKER_08Correct, correct. We do have farm for table dinners. You can uh uh sign up for a tour, that would be something that you would do in advance uh to coming. Uh, and during our uh event, September 25th through the 27th, in the greenhouse, our baby goats will be dressed up uh in their Gotoberfest attire. Uh, and that's gonna be primarily from about 11 to 1 or 2, depending on how many of you come and see our babies. And then we will do some wine and cheese pairing events. So if you just uh take a look at our schedule on our website, that will give you uh an insight. And I think there's um uh and while the babies are hanging out in the greenhouse, I will be sampling out some cheese and wine also. And Saturday, uh, and I should mention uh we do have the iron art will be on exhibit all three days, uh so a wonderful chance to uh uh experience that uh art form. And then on Saturday, that is Gottoberfest. So if you have never experienced Gotoberfest, I really encourage you to stop out. Uh we do have a spawn farkle going on, uh, we do have craft beers.
SPEAKER_02Uh for those non-schooled in uh edit uh the wonderful great eatery and edible styles in Wisconsin. What is a sparn farkle?
SPEAKER_08Uh that is going to be a uh a young uh hog that has been roasted, Eden Meat Market does that for us, and then it is basically a pulled pork sandwich. Uh and Jesse has just a wonderful uh meal pulled together for you, so it's it's well worth your time. Uh, folks, many times just stop out for that. And then early in the morning, if your children have extra energy, not that any child ever does, uh we have a kid fun run. So they're gonna run around the greenhouse and they'll end up coming through the barn. We're going to have a kitty tractor pool, uh, we're going to have some uh games on the green space, and don't forget goat yoga. Uh so the baby goats will be out there uh for you to experience the goat yoga event, so just a lot of different kinds of things that will be available for our for folks for experiences because that's really what it's all about.
SPEAKER_07I think we need to get Rick to do a goat yoga class. I took one like three years ago, and I can tell you that there is no yoga done.
SPEAKER_08Oh yes, yes, we keep people on task.
SPEAKER_07Our baby goats on task. Absolutely no yoga being done here.
SPEAKER_02Listeners, you'll have to pay attention to future episodes, you never know.
SPEAKER_07It was goats everywhere.
SPEAKER_08It was fantastic. And our uh what's really nice is our adult goats many times will come and uh supervise. They will look through the fence and see what you are doing. Uh so they add that little background um staging, shall we say?
SPEAKER_02Okay, now I've heard all these things, and I'm not doing anything right now other than just standing here talking, but I'm working up an appetite hearing about all these things, and I'm gonna be tired and I'm gonna want to sit back and kick back and relax someplace. And immediately I think of Schumacher Shanty. Jim and Jody, the the proprietors here, owners of Schumacher Shanty. What kind of things are you looking to do and have prepared for visitors on September 25th, 26th, and 27th?
SPEAKER_03Well, like usual, we'll be offering our stone fire pizza, pizzas. We have 13 different specialty pizzas as well as a later one. We have um handmade sandwiches, and we have wraps as well as appetizers. So um we'll be offering specialists in those three days. On Thursday, it'll be um a bacon and chicken sandwich, which is not on our regular menu, and a load of nachos, which is also not on our regular menu, so that's the only day you'll be able to get that. And then on Friday and Saturday, we'll be offering when you buy either a sandwich or a pizza, you'll have the option of getting your second bag.
SPEAKER_02Sounds good. And Jim, yeah, you know your your establishment here is just I don't know how to describe it. I feel like I'm in the mountains uh with all the natural woods, and and what how would you describe your establishment, what it looks like on the inside?
SPEAKER_01Come on in for good conversation, great food, if the weather permits, enjoy our death.
SPEAKER_02It's is it something that uh you've worked a long time at doing and putting this together so or is it something that when you first started, or have you done changes and added things? I because I gotta I the reason why I asked that question is Jim is I'm looking at last time I was here, I did not see this Christmas tree right in the middle of the the dinner area. And I don't know if it's a Christmas tree though, because I see a lot of red, white, and blue.
SPEAKER_01It's a holiday tree. A holiday tree, yeah. And this was interesting because the white lights are holiday saves me work. I don't have to take the tree up and down, the lights are remote control. Okay, and we just change the decor on it, whether the how whatever holiday promets next will be Halloween.
SPEAKER_02Okay, okay, all right. And then I also see that you still have some supply of sturgeon season apparel. Will that be available on uh the the sale days as well? Yes, okay. So if you're looking for that uh sturgeon smearing hoodie, this is the place to come and get it, right? Yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_01Okay, absolutely.
SPEAKER_02Well, thanks for opening up your establishment for us today. And listeners, I appreciate you taking the time to listen in. Um, I want to thank everyone that's participated today uh in the taping of the Travel Calumet original podcast. And listeners, make sure to come back to Calumet County and beyond on September 25th through the 27th and enjoy the harvest to holiday shopping season. Also, listeners, I want to just give opportunity one more time to just uh give everybody a chance to say one more thing if they'd like. So, Craig, do you have something you'd want to just mention?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, just real quickly. So there are a lot of components to this brand new season, it's a harvest to holiday shopping season. Uh we've created this in an effort to take uh local shopping to its next level, right? It's we're here to give the local shops and businesses and restaurants and taverns a little extra oomph. Um, and since there are a lot of moving components, we would just really be grateful if folks would go to our website. Super easy to get there. It's FDL.com. FDL like fond de lac. FDL.com. Uh at the top of the landing page, it uh has shopping events. You just click on that button, that'll take you to the interior of the website, and it will um narrate all of the stuff that's going on in all three communities. Of course, first up is Lake Winnebago's East Shore, and like every year, they are bringing it. We want eventually we want to get tourists from all over the Midwest to come here, but right now we're focusing our efforts on um the Fox Cities area, uh obviously Fonlac and Rapond. We want locals to come out and support fellow locals, and uh you can get all of your holiday, all of your Christmas shopping done in one fell swoop and just have a riot while you're at it. Sounds great.
SPEAKER_02And Liz, anything that you want to add?
SPEAKER_06I would love to add just something. Um, you had mentioned the road closures, and so one of the things that we are bringing back this year is the passport. That's gonna have all the specials from all the businesses, and those specials will also be found on FDL.com. But on that passport and on our website, we're gonna have a map with some detours, the detours will be on there. And I've been scouting out Calumet County for the last couple weeks trying to find some different roads to get to different places, so those will also be highlighted on the passport, and then so each business will also have the copies of the passport and the bingo card. So just get out to all those businesses and you'll be able to find them soon on FDL.com. Uh we also have a Facebook page which has all the information. Uh, it is Harvest a Holiday, a short edition, so make sure to get on there. And uh let's share that Facebook page as much as we can. Um you can also pick up passports and bingo cards at our office at 23 South Main Street in Fond du Lac.
SPEAKER_07I just want to thank the Lake Winnebago region for including us in their events because even though you're based in Fond du Lac, we're all the way in Chilton, so we really appreciate that you're willing to come so far north and east to include us. We really appreciate that.
SPEAKER_00Well, we are honored by your thank you. And we thank you for the thank you.
SPEAKER_08And I would like to really thank our uh local uh customers that have supported us through the years and support us year-round. Although this is a we're focusing a uh shopping event. If you've never been to LaClaire or to any of these other businesses, uh we're hosting a special event to welcome you in, but any day is a shopping day in our area.
SPEAKER_02Wonderful. Again, thank you everybody for participating. I really appreciate it. And and uh for everyone again, the dates are September 25th, 26th, and 27th here in Calumet County and in the Fond du Lac County. There are just going to be a wonderful opportunity to get a lot of your holiday shopping done at the Harvest, the holiday shopping season event. So remember, shop, sip, and savor. Come on out and enjoy the times here in Calumet County. So thank you again, everyone, everyone that participated and listeners. Uh I just want to make sure that you uh check out the other 60 episodes of the Travel Calumet original podcast. You can do that by clicking on the microphone on the home page of TravelCalumet.com. And if you liked what you heard today or on previous episodes, please help us spread the word by inviting your friends to listen to the Travel Calumet original podcast. Help us share the news of all the great things to see and do here in Calumet County, like the harvest to holiday shopping season event taking place September twenty-fifth through the twenty-seventh. Thank you for listening and until next time.