July 10, 2023 • 31 mins
Oconto County, tucked into northeastern Wisconsin, offers a lot on your road trip. In the episode, host Eric Paulsen talks with Oconto County Tourism Director Sammy Boucher to discuss it all. We begin with the county's extensive trails for motorized recreaton, especially with Gillett laying claim to the "ATV Capital of the World" (with a stop there at OJ's for pie being a must!) Amidst the beauty of the Nicolet National Forest, you can enjoy Mountain, Lakewood, and Townsend along Highway 32 - including two wineries: the Woodland Trails & Winery in Lakewood and the new Lakehouse Winery in Townsend, where they make Wine Bloody Marys. Closer to Oconto itself, Copper Culture State Park offers plenty to see and new trail connections to the rest of the system. In Oconto itself, Sammy talks about the new and emerging shops in downtown, touring the first Christian Science Church in the world, and checking out the historic Beyer House & Carriage Museum which includes electric vehicles - from over 110 years ago!
Oconto is growing, too. With companies like Cruisers Yachts and various other industries across Oconto County, some good and new employment opportunities exist!
Speaking of new things across Oconto County, Lena now features the Dirt City Motorplex, a very cool dirt track with modern facilities located right off U.S. 141 - with a major event coming up at the end of July. Back to the waters of Lake Michigan, Oconto's Breakwater Park & Harbor is home to some major fishing tournaments. The Marina is a great place to launch, or pull in for a visit. Shout out to The Dockside for a meal when you visit! Another must-stop is where U.S. 41 & 141 split (or merge, depending on your direction) in Abrams: enjoy a treat at the Timberlea Drive-In, one of Sam's favorites! We cap off our conversation with major events coming up, including races at Dirt City Motorplex, the massive Art Fair in Lakewood & Townsend in mid-August, and more. Hit U.S. 41, U.S. 141, Highways 22, 32, or 64, and extensive county and forest roads for a great road trip and fun experiences in Oconto County. You can find out more at OcontoCounty.org, too!
Oconto is growing, too. With companies like Cruisers Yachts and various other industries across Oconto County, some good and new employment opportunities exist!
Speaking of new things across Oconto County, Lena now features the Dirt City Motorplex, a very cool dirt track with modern facilities located right off U.S. 141 - with a major event coming up at the end of July. Back to the waters of Lake Michigan, Oconto's Breakwater Park & Harbor is home to some major fishing tournaments. The Marina is a great place to launch, or pull in for a visit. Shout out to The Dockside for a meal when you visit! Another must-stop is where U.S. 41 & 141 split (or merge, depending on your direction) in Abrams: enjoy a treat at the Timberlea Drive-In, one of Sam's favorites! We cap off our conversation with major events coming up, including races at Dirt City Motorplex, the massive Art Fair in Lakewood & Townsend in mid-August, and more. Hit U.S. 41, U.S. 141, Highways 22, 32, or 64, and extensive county and forest roads for a great road trip and fun experiences in Oconto County. You can find out more at OcontoCounty.org, too!
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Episode Transcript
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(00:19):
I like that little into I likeit too. And Welcome to another episode
of the State Trunk Tour podcast.I'm heading tour guide Eric Paulson as we
wander around Wisconsin and explore different cities, counties, places along all of our
great roads. This is episode thirtysix. Today the big oh Oconto County
and the city of o'conno. What'sgoing on there. It's kind of a
(00:41):
growing place now, especially being justnorth of Green Bay. The way it
is, you've got an interesting mix. You've got some great lakes coastline right
there, and the county actually extendsway up northwest deep into the Nicolay National
Forest. It's a prime spot forrecreation. But a lot of other things
that are going on we want toshare with you right now. US forty
one, one forty one, bothexpressways essentially through most of o'conno County,
(01:03):
Highway twenty two in the northwestern andwestern sections. Highways thirty two and sixty
four go through there, provide youaccess to so many great things. And
in this episode, we're going tobe talking with Sammy Bousche, who is
the tourism director for o'conno County.And it turns out there's a new winery
to discover. There's a bunch ofnew things that are going on, including
in the city of Okonto as itstarts to embrace more of the waters of
(01:26):
Green Bay, as well as everythingelse throughout the county. So in this
episode of the State Trunk Tour podcast, we'll be talking with Sammy. Right
after this and joining me now isthe tourism director for Okonto County, Sammy
Bousche. Hello, Sammy, Hey, thank you for having me. It's
great to talk with you again.You know, there's so much to talk
about with Okonto and o'conno County,and we've talked before. Even though forty
(01:49):
one and one forty one run throughit and those are major routes and everything,
it's still is kind of off thebeaten path in the eyes of many
people because it's it's north of GreenBay, kind of tucked into north eastern
Wisconsin, and we want to bringit into the forefold. Here we do.
I always say we're the armfit ofWisconsin. Don't forget about us,
and we work really well with ourneighbors. It's just a good area,
(02:13):
it really is, and it's interestingwith the geography and topography of Oconto and
o'conno County because it is a LakeMichigan community. It's on the waters of
Green Bay, the county and thecounty seat of o'conno. But geographically it's
stairsteps north and west all the wayback well into the north Woods and the
Shiwamagan Nicolay National Forest. We dowe have a variety. The northern end
(02:37):
is heavily forest and the southern endis the water. So I'm like,
we have two great features that wewould be lost without. Yeah, and
boy, that means a really good, very extensive trail system that gives you
a big variety of things to checkout. Let's talk about that trail system
a little bit. So the majorones are going to be the Snall Bill
and the ETV. So we haveover five hundred interconnected scenic riding for ATV
(03:01):
and around four hundred and eighty milesof trails for snowmobile. Sometimes those are
multi use, sometimes are not.So we are snowmobile only, no ATV
winter use. Yet we're getting there. We're just not there yet. We
like to give our snowmobiles that smoothride and make sure that they're not hitting
(03:22):
any ordivts. So hopefully within thenext couple of years that will change.
But for right now we're sticking withthe sled only and same with ATV trails.
You can go they trust certain Gillettrail wise a certain Grillet Gillet and
then you can go eighty miles northof Michigan if you really wanted to.
(03:43):
But our trail system interconnects with Marinette, Florence, Forest, Lang Laid.
We all have good connectors and worktogether quite well. Yeah, that whole
segment of the state is it's soremote. There's a lot of remote areas
and a lot of extensive trails,but enough great little small hounds where you
can stop and enjoying and bidement things. And you have like Mountain out there,
(04:03):
and you mentioned Gillet. They Laketo Lake, claim to ATV capital
of the world. They do that. They are, they're starting hub.
They've been racking and rolling lately.They have a couple of new businesses.
They have, oh the number onepin in the state pretty much. So
when you're on your ATV, youneed to stop there and make sure that
you get a put slice of piefrom OJ's. OJ's that's the name of
(04:26):
it. Okay, So I havefriends who have a company called Roving Blue
and they're headquartered in Olconno County.Yeah they are, they're in style.
Yeah, they're awesome people. Theymake an incredible product that purifies water using
some proprietary form of electrolysis. Butit's an incredible thing where you can like
take water out of the lake orout of a river and use this pen
(04:48):
and it will purify the water andmake it safe to drink. So it's
pretty cool what they've done. Andbut they've been telling me I've got to
go to Gillet for this pie.Oh you do. Seriously, If I
just go up there just for thedid for a meeting, I come home
with one and you know, youever know when they're going to give back
there. Yeah, it's true,true, it's okay. And that's right
along Highway Jillet's right on Highway twentytwo, which is a great drive that
(05:13):
will take you actually from Gillet througho'conno Falls all the way over to o'conno
and we'll talk more about the cityof Ocono in a little bit. And
Highways one, forty one and fortyone major backbone routes through o'conno County,
and they'll connect you to a lotof places, and then sixty four goes
west and thirty two goes north.They meet in Mountain, which is kind
of one of the other epicenters forwinter and summer recreation. Right, Yeah,
(05:34):
mountains just as just as equal asI would say, Lakewood tonson um
in the Mountain Riverview areas getting anew ATV U t V camp Crown.
We're going to break ground next year, so it's going to be a little
nice feature. Right now, we'rejust kind of waiting on um so by
results for our users to tell usexactly what they want there. Oh,
that's very well, making it romfrom their feedback. So you know,
(05:59):
it's funny if you're on a roadtrip and you're in Mountain, if you
follow what it's kind of a sideroad now, but it used to be
part of the main line of thirtytwo way back in the day. You
follow that just north of Mountain,that main intersection by County w you can
get to the Mountain Lookout tower.And I finally got a chance to climb
that thing where you got a breathwhen you get to the top, you
(06:20):
know, I'll tell you it isbeautiful. Yeah, the rest of it
will take your breath away once you'reup there, because it is a three
hundred and sixty degree view that goeson forever. It does, and it's
not only fall. I mean,like we all we all love the false
colors, but just being up thereduring the spring and summer and you'd get
that green field and the skies areblue. It really is breath taking.
(06:44):
There is so much to see upthere, and I can't imagine someone sitting
up there for eight to twelve hoursback in the day when they used to
literally watch the fire. So it'snot a big top, maybe at eight
by eight, so it's ways withthe wind. I did notice that,
Yes, oh yes it does.If it's windy. I don't go up
(07:05):
to the top. Yeats about heights. I wouldn't necessarily recommend recommend climbing it,
but it is. It's a greatlittle thing to check out in o'conno
County if you want just an amazingview, and you can kind of see
all the way over to the watersof Green Bay and Lake Michigan. It's
kind of hard to make out.It has to be a really clear day,
but you can see forever. It'ssuch a wonderful view. And you
(07:26):
can see into several counties. Youcan, and you can see other little
features too, just from the topof there. So it's just nice to
get a lookout. You can almostsee where the winery sits in Lakewood.
Just a pretty little spot to geta little serenity and relaxation. Yeah,
tell me more about the Lakewood Winery. Oh so the Lakewood it's Woodland Trails
(07:48):
and Winery. They've been here forover thirty years. Family owned and operated
for a while. They have avariety of the most unique flavors whatever tasted.
And we just recently went to umTownsend just got a new winery called
the Lake Hoost Winery, and shemade us a wine bloody mary. It
(08:11):
was the best thing that I tastedin a long time. Yes, instead
of the vodka, they use ared wine. It was phenomenal. I'm
curious about that now, Okay,bloody like I might have to make extra
workstops. What do they call it? It's just a wine bloody mary.
(08:35):
And she just used a I wouldsay, a little drier red and she
had her own bloody mary mix.So she makes her own and it's got
a secret ingredient that she puts init um. She did express it headlam
and pepper. She gave one ingredientaway um. But it was it was
so good. I was impressed.And it didn't need any garnishes or anything
(08:56):
because it was complete just the wayit was. Man, So I have
to do more research along thirty two. Yeah, you do, and make
pit stuff. You keep adding newstuff. I was proud of myself because
I climbed that tower, but Imissed out on a red wine bloody Mary.
Yeah, George, you didn't missit too much because she just opened
on June fifteenth, so oh yeah, my last drive down there was shortly
(09:18):
before that. Okay, So thisis a brand spanking new thing. She
it's brand spanking names. Yeah.And the rate on the tones and folage,
so the backyard scenery rate on thewater, it's just beautiful. Wow,
Okay cool. Yeah. The proliferationof wineries and breweries is pretty impressive
really statewide, but even in thenortheastern Wisconsin area. Yeah, I know,
(09:39):
and they're my favorite. So nowOconto had its own beer brand.
Any chance that's coming back? Haveyou heard anything? So m o'conno beer.
They brought it back a couple ofyears ago. They are moving forward
with another version that the Okanno Breweryused to put out, and that's looking
like it's coming out in twenty twentyfour or late twenty twenty three. Believe
(10:03):
it or not. The Oconic CountyHistorical Society has a big part in that.
A lot of the members are theylove their Oconna Brewery right, it's
a good feature, it's it's partof our history, basically our culture for
a long time. So they aremoving forward with another spin off. So
future plans in place, So nospecific plans for a brewery or taphouse yet
(10:26):
necessarily, but they're working on bringingthe beer itself back. Yes, the
beer itself will be coming back,but not not an actual establishment that we
are going to work on, sothat that's possible. It's just the plans
aren't specific for it quite yet.It's possible, yep. I mean the
recipes are all still here everything,so it wouldn't take much to get it
(10:48):
started. Thanks, well, we'llkeep our eyes and ears open for that.
Now. We were talking about culture. Beer obviously a huge piece of
Wisconsin culture, but in that area, copper has been an indelible part of
the culture for thousands of years.There's a state park named after it,
and a major festival that took placein June with Copperfest. Let's dive into
the copper culture of o'conno County alittle bit. Sure, you'll have so
(11:11):
Coupper Culture State Park will have amuseum, and the park itself so will
have multiple trails. It all liesagainst the Oconto River, so I think
that the trail systems are all rightthere right on the edge of it.
So walk peaceful walks. They dosome candlelight hikes throughout the winter, do
some features. But the actual museummuseum itself is open all Memorialty to Labor
(11:37):
Day, every day of the weekfrom like ten am till four so you
can always stop. We have tonsof visitors that are from out of the
country. I mean, majority ofthem are flown in and just it's not
a huge museum, but it's justreally really fascinating it is, and there's
artifacts that date back thousands or eventens of thousands of years because Native Americans
(11:58):
mined copper and that area for allof that time. And although they're not
doing it anymore, people aren't,you know, getting copper out of the
area too much anymore. It's influenceon the history and the building of things
which continue to this day, youknow, can't be denied. And it's
the museum and then the grounds.They are great for trails and actually you
(12:18):
can connect to some of those ATVtrails from there, can't you. You
can, Yeah, you can takethe kind of river State trail and connect
with the ATV trails. Very verygood. So you have access over five
hundred miles of trails just from thatand Copper Culture State Park. Even though
it's a state park, it's notlike that far away from everything. In
fact, it's right off the Highwayforty one Expressway, the US forty one
(12:41):
Expressway where twenty two ends, andthen just to the east of it,
boom, you have the city ofOconto and there's a lot going on in
that town. There is, we'rei would say a lot of young entrepreneurs
right now. We have a brandnew candy store which is called the Candy
Store. It's creative. There isactually you know, it's it's Lennentaz Early
(13:03):
that own it um and they areone of my favorite couples. They also
own the shop on Maine and O'Connell, so they're just going from building to
building opening up fantastic stores. Sothey are done so well. Everything is
yes, uh, I don't reallyenjoy coffee as much, but they have
(13:24):
Lotuses, which is a caffeine plantbased drink which is phenomenal. So I'm
usually there every morning except for Sundaywhen they clothes um. But they do
have some great things and the candysource fully stocked. It'll have a variety
of old fashion but new things,and then they have their common um little
stuffed animals and a few other thingsthat purchase. But they have these school
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would would carve games, so justa little old fashioned in there too,
but a lot of numbering and alot of educational games in there as well
well. So it sounds like it'sa pretty comprehensive andy store. It is
it is, and it's all everythingdone in there. All the work is
(14:07):
done by their family. They're greatcraftsmen, ideas everything they're They're just an
amazing family and I couldn't be moreproud of them at the work that they
do. It's very cool. Andso a number of these stores, and
I've seen some newer bars and restaurantsopening up kind of along Main Street and
it's interesting because the old school crossroads, I think that's County s going north
(14:28):
south. That used to be Highwayforty one way way way back when that
was a main drag connecting Green Bayin the Upper Peninsula, and then Main
Street which goes east west, andthat was Highway twenty two, although technically
twenty two ends out at the Expresswaynow, that was the main crossroads.
And you can tell with some ofthe really grand old buildings that line the
downtown streets. Oh, we havebeautiful historic buildings and it's really happy to
(14:52):
start to see some of them comeback to life that they were horrible,
but it's just a little tender lovecare and a little fresh coat of paint
here and there about. Then there'sa new boutique that just opened. They
gave there's a little facelift. Wehave a new i would say, a
new outlet store on Main Street acrossfrom Robert Toomptown Hardware. And then not
(15:16):
too far off with the shop onMaine which is a coffee the Coffeehouse.
So they have a lot of gooda good variety that will make you walk
downtown and take it all in.Yeah, it is getting it's it's always
been walkable, but it's getting increasinglywalkable with more destinations to check out,
and it's not too far of awalk to check out some other historical things
like the first Christian science church inthe world was erected in o'conno back in
(15:39):
eighteen eighty six, and that's atthe corner of Maine in Chicago, just
kind of on the west side ofthat main downtown area. It is.
It's a beautiful location. They dohave a historic walking tour as well,
so you can grab a booklet atmultiple of the gas stations and the stores
and they'll go through all the oldVictorian homes on Main Street as well and
(16:00):
give them a little background on there. You can bridge a bike walk.
We're golf cart legal ATV legal onthe streets, so you can take any
form of transportation and just take inthe history. Don't have the Liman bird
scooters there yet, huh, notyet yet. So and the Buyer House
that's another really great historic place.And actually when we've been there for Copperfest,
(16:23):
that's that was kind of where thearea the activities were centered. But
a tour of the Buyer House ispretty cool. It is amazing, So
you'll have the old buyer home,which is all refurbished with Victorian style furnishings.
And then next to it is theCarriage Museum. And actually you got
to ride in the nineteen eleven waverya little electric cars and I think it
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was like a three mile per hourtop speed. Well, no, said
seven, and that got scary.You know that's the open air well.
Yeah, put helmets on there was. They have an old convertible in there,
a lot of old cars that havebeen reserviced and flipped by a local
gentleman. They give great information aboutthe old Bond Tickle Company and one of
(17:12):
Cruiser's first both the first boats thatthey made. So there's a lot of
cool features in the Carriage Museum.Yeah, and it's funny because it's early
evs. These are one hundred yearold electric cars, nineteen eleven. We
are ahead of the game one hundredand ten years ago now that I think
of it. Yeah, I keepthinking the eighties, for example, we're
two decades ago, so I can't. Yeah, but that's okay. I
(17:37):
like that era. Oh no,it's great. So Sammy, you mentioned
boats. Now, Okano has,like many cities in the area, like
Sturgeon Bay and like Marinette nearby andeverything. There's a history of boat and
ship and sometimes yacht building in thecities that are along the waters of the
coast of the Bay of Green Bay. In Lake Michigan. O'kanno is no
exception. Yeah, we have yachtsthat has been building boats here for a
(18:03):
good guess a long time. Theyhave just stunning it's just beautiful to go
see them. They're usually at thebreakwater park in Harbor. They usually launch
them there and keep them for alittle while, do some test drive.
But the point do they share lookmake the marina look beautiful because they are
a million plus most of the timeboats, so it's fun to watch them
(18:26):
take off and test them out.Some nice high end stuff right there.
And that's so that's a major businessand employer I imagine in Ocono, in
o'conno County. What are some ofthe others you might want to give a
shout out too, because you know, the economic development piece is powerful.
Yeah, we have a lot ofmanufacturers in the area, Unlimited services,
they do wire harnesses and then wehave nircons. Saputo Cheese is in Lina.
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That's probably one of our bigger manufacturers, probably our top and then Nikon
I think we talked about a smidge, But Nicolae Plastics is also in Mountain,
so they are another good manufacturer andobviously always looking for employees, so
great morale culture there on all ofthem. Yeah, that's true. There's
some actually good opportunities if if you'relooking to move to a place that has
(19:15):
some opportunities for good jobs and kindof get away from it all place,
that's certainly a good option. Itis, And you know, we're always
here to help with housing because weknow that's a struggle for everybody, so
we've been making sure that we lockeverybody down with someplace to be. And
there's also actually the county has beengrowing. O'conno is at about five thousand.
(19:36):
In terms of the city, O'ConnellCounty has been pushing towards forty thousand.
Lately. Some people are starting tomove up from the Green Bay area
and commute they are. We havea lot that are moving north. But
it's not a bad thing. Ithink just the peace of mind and working
remotely has made a big impact.We've had a lot of California residents lately
(19:59):
d of o'conn um. Yeah,it's it's been crazy. We are in
the middle of some major developments forsome housing units in the city of O'Connell,
plus in Lena, so we aremaking fast adaptions. Well, and
you know you're right along those maindrags. Well, maybe they did some
research on state trunk tour and sawstuff about O'Connell. You never know,
right right rights and maybe the costof living that definitely helps. And some
(20:26):
nice serenity too at times. Butgood access to everything. I mean,
you're forty five minutes from an NFLstadium for Crane out loud. That's just
truth like that. We get somuch overflow traffic from those packer games,
it's unbelievable. In the NFL draft, thankfully we'll be a big impact.
That should be pretty cool too.Now you mentioned Lena, which is now
(20:47):
My grandmother grew up in Coleman,which is just north of there, but
that's in Marinette County. But Lenais kind of growing again now too.
It's interesting with these towns because oneforty one used to cut right through the
heart of town and then they builtan expressway bypass, which hurt the town
initially, but now it's growing againbecause of the traffic the expressways bringing I
guess, but not too long ago, a major track developed there, the
(21:07):
Dirt City Motor Pleques. Yeah.We had a group of individuals that they
were already enjoying the sport of racingright, and they decided they were going
to pull their own money together andbuild a track. And I was like,
Oh, that's going to be reallyhard. In the first year,
they proved me wrong. They builtthat track, got it together in less
(21:29):
than one year, and we've continuousand continuously had two to three races a
year, and we just continue tobuild. They are some pretty big go
getters, and they pull with theOff Road Championship Motorsport, which will also
do the races in Crandon and Anago. We have our own little series.
But they are moving in a grooven. They'll start to see they like horse
(21:55):
chuck pulls because they made a lanefor that when they were building, so
that they could have some other oreven there besides just the short off road
track racing. Yeah, it's interestingto see because I mean that place first
of all, popped up on anowhere. Those of us who weren't paying
close attention suddenly you're on one fortyone and you're like, holy cow,
what's that That opened to what twentyeighteen? Yeah, you can't miss it.
(22:18):
It's right off the highway. Yeah, it's great access one forty one
and the County A exit, whichis the main exit for Lena, and
boy oh boy. They just itlooks like they have a nice variety of
races too, but all dirt,all dirt, yep, all short track
dirt. Literally, the organizers ofthis, they were took everyone's racetrack in
the Wisconsin area Minnesota, and theytook the best features from each one and
(22:42):
they made this track. So youknow, it's pretty good. All the
hard turns, a twists, thedouble lane jumps, they incorporated everything well.
And it actually looks pretty cool withthe facility too, because I mean
it looks like there's like because I'venot been to a race there yet,
but I need to go, andit looks like there's skyboxes and all kinds
(23:02):
of like amenities there is. Andthe best thing is the gas station and
there's a couple of food places justabove the track south of it, so
you can literally eat everything. Theyhave food and stuff there on the grounds.
But then the gas is right there, the food is right there,
so it worked out very well justto accommodate everyone, the racers and the
(23:25):
fans. Yeah, man, thatis fantastic. So you know, we've
talked about, you know, theATV trails further up in the county.
We've talked about the racing in Lane, and we talked about the copper culture
in the state park, and wetalked a bit about o'conno. We started
talking about the yacht building. Butthat's that kind of lends to the other
part of Okano County and the cityof o'cano too, which is the city
isn't right on the water. It'sfocused on the Ocono River, but it's
(23:48):
what maybe a mile inland from thelake. It is not even really neighborhoods
extend out to it. Yeah,but there is a really cool little marina
out there in Okano that I thinka lot of people forget about. So
I want to make sure people knowabout that. If they go on Why
or something east of downtown, they'regoing to find some nice little gems over
there. They will. So ifyou take Why out of the city limits,
(24:12):
you'll see the brickwater parking harbor.There's over fifty slips rentals. The
backside is out there which has phenomenalfood. The harbor probably has three,
yeah, three launch lanes, andthen the causeway that you can drive out
too. That got a little expansiona couple of years ago, so it's
like just to drive out, checkout the water, check out the scenery,
(24:33):
and come back. It's about maybea half mile long, but the
Brickwater Parking Harbor is our major spotfor our fishing tournaments. So whether you're
a fisherman or not, it's justfun to watch the Master Walley Circuits or
AIM. They host their events outthere and the kids can see way INDs,
adults can see the way INDs.It's just usually a good fun day
(24:55):
to watch the fishermen do their work. Yeah, those tournaments have really picked
up steam lately. A good spotto grab food and drink is dock Side,
which is right there in the corner. It is if you're looking for
some of the best customer service ino'conno County or possibly the state, the
Dockside is one of them, andthey have phenomenal food, not just typical
(25:18):
menu, and then fantastic drinks.If you're looking for something a little bit
more unique. That's your destination.Okay, Yeah, lots of cool stuff
because the way it's laid out,you know, the roads don't take you
by the water all that much unlessyou're on y itself. But yeah,
you go through o'cono, the town, and then you just keep going east
a little bit and that's your accesspoint for the water. And a lot
(25:40):
of people increasingly are looking to parktheir boats if they take off from Green
Bay itself or somewhere Indoor County.Ocanno's kind of growing as a destination to
a set anchor for a while.It is, you know, just cross
the bay, come over for dinner, and head back. We have a
lot that come from Ocano and goacross the bay as well to the other
(26:00):
side, just to have a littlea little different old atmosphere. And depending
on what you're doing, how thehow the bay is cooperating, I should
say that's true depending on what sideof vote is be careful, but otherwise
it's a great working relationship across thebay. To be able to explore a
croft really is. Yeah, soall kinds of recreation, from voting to
(26:22):
ATVing hunting. There's some good huntinggrounds there but really if you just want
to check out history and some greatplaces to eat from mom and pop shops
and more a lot of good stuff. I do want to give another shout
out if you go to Abrams right, we're forty one one forty one have
their junction kind of along the oldroad. The Timberly Drive in oh that's
my favorite Timberly Drive and has someof the best custard that you will ever
(26:49):
find. From blue Moon, Purplecow Um. I think this week was
mocha and caramel their flavors. Theyusually have three flavors that change each week.
You can always get the vanilla andchocolate. But they do have food
too, but I usually go therejust for the custard. Yeah, I
mean they have the burgers and thehot dogs and all that good stuff.
(27:10):
There's a lot of pictures are drivingarticle where we check out over thirty different
drive in burger and custard stands acrossWisconsin. Certainly has Timberley on there,
and boy, it's it's a littletricky to get to. You got to
go off on some side roads fromthe main roads. But once you're there,
it's great and they're right by agolf course. It is actually in
same owners okay, is the sameowner as the Timberley, so they work
(27:33):
hand in hand. The golf coursehas fish fries and everything else like that.
But if you're looking for something else, they will deliver it to you
over there, get you going.But the v Custard is my favorite,
and I will tell you on Sundays, be prepared to wait. It's worth
the wait, but be prepared towait. Yeah, it's quite a line,
but it's it's a pleasant little spotbecause you know, you can watch
(27:56):
the golf course in the level ofthe picnic tables out there. You can
watch all thing. You can kindof hear the traffic which is there,
but it's more of like a nicelittle lull rather than anything else. It's
a great spot to relax. Itis it is. Timberley is dear to
my heart. So yeah, youcan check out all of all of those
things across the county, whether you'regoing up towards Mountain and Lakewood and Townsend.
(28:18):
You can stop in Sewing, whichthey love to pride themselves. You're
on the forty fifth parallel in o'connoCounty. You're halfway between the North Pole
and the equator. There's a lotto check out. All the way through
the county is its stairsteps north andwest. But don't forget if you're in
Oconno County to get to o'conno itself, see what's going on there and check
out the water because it's a beautifulspot on the waters of Green Bay too.
(28:38):
Got a little bit of everything therein the county, don't you.
We do. We're a little sliceof having up here and I would say
homing, hospitality, feeling. Anyother major events coming up you want to
share with us for the rest ofthe summer and in towards the fall,
we can get on our calendars.Well, Dirt City we'll be gearing up
at the end of July. They'rethe thirtieth and thirty first, so that's
(29:02):
the big race at the Dirt CityMotorplex. And then our phenomenal Arts and
Crafts show in Lakewood is the firstSaturday in August, which is a fifth
that is over one hundred and fifteenvendors, all producing original art, so
it's it's one of the best showsto go to. That's right. That's
like the biggest art fair in thecounty and probably in northeastern Wisconsin outside of
(29:25):
Green Bay. Yeah, it's huge. They do a phenomenal job. It's
been organized by our allons for overforty years, so they know what they're
doing by now. Yeah. Lakewoodin Townsend, it's interesting because you drive
through on thirty two and it's justkind of scattered stuff here and there,
but those are cohesive communities that kindof fan out into the forest. There's
a lot to see there. Thereis there. I mean there's a lot
(29:45):
of roads in between buildings and businessesand stuff like that. Spread out a
little bit more, but they havea lot going for them. Especially on
the weekends, it's a whole differentatmosphere than during the week Everyone coming up,
everyone's going everywhere. Expect to waitto cross thirty two. It gets
pretty busy. Yeah, it certainlydoes. But you know what, most
(30:08):
of the time it's quite serene andyou can enjoy kind of that getaway from
it all things. So you've gotyour choice and you've got your options here,
and a great way to check everythingout is not only on State trunk
Tour where we show you what's alongall the roads and some of the events
going on like the ones you justmentioned, but ocado County dot org.
That's your site that you keep up. Yes, that is so all the
(30:29):
events for the rest of the yearand already starting for next year, so
you can start playing in those vacationsand it's pretty sweet, all right,
Sammy, Well, thank you somuch for coming on with us today on
the State Trunk Tour podcast. There'splenty going on. We'll keep you up
to date two but again, OkonnoCounty dot org keeps you on top of
all of that, and we'll lookforward to talking with you as things continue
to develop in the coming year.All right, Yeah, of course,
(30:51):
thank you so much, Eric forhaving me and our thanks again to Sam
Bouche from Oconno County for talking withus today. Make sure you check it
out. The actually the suburbs ofGreen Bay extend into southern Occonno County.
You just keep going. You haveso many great choices, as we've just
illustrated here. I'm Eric Poulson,have some great road trips, plenty of
summer left, and we'll talk againsoon. Meanwhile, stay on State Trunk
Tour dot com. Hop on thereand find out what's going on. Make
(31:12):
sure you're following us on Facebook andon Twitter and on Instagram for all of
the great updates at State Trunk Tour, Happy road tripping with Scotson. We'll
talk next time.
I like that little into I likeit too. And Welcome to another episode
of the State Trunk Tour podcast.I'm heading tour guide Eric Paulson as we
wander around Wisconsin and explore different cities, counties, places along all of our
great roads. This is episode thirtysix. Today the big oh Oconto County
and the city of o'conno. What'sgoing on there. It's kind of a
(00:41):
growing place now, especially being justnorth of Green Bay. The way it
is, you've got an interesting mix. You've got some great lakes coastline right
there, and the county actually extendsway up northwest deep into the Nicolay National
Forest. It's a prime spot forrecreation. But a lot of other things
that are going on we want toshare with you right now. US forty
one, one forty one, bothexpressways essentially through most of o'conno County,
(01:03):
Highway twenty two in the northwestern andwestern sections. Highways thirty two and sixty
four go through there, provide youaccess to so many great things. And
in this episode, we're going tobe talking with Sammy Bousche, who is
the tourism director for o'conno County.And it turns out there's a new winery
to discover. There's a bunch ofnew things that are going on, including
in the city of Okonto as itstarts to embrace more of the waters of
(01:26):
Green Bay, as well as everythingelse throughout the county. So in this
episode of the State Trunk Tour podcast, we'll be talking with Sammy. Right
after this and joining me now isthe tourism director for Okonto County, Sammy
Bousche. Hello, Sammy, Hey, thank you for having me. It's
great to talk with you again.You know, there's so much to talk
about with Okonto and o'conno County,and we've talked before. Even though forty
(01:49):
one and one forty one run throughit and those are major routes and everything,
it's still is kind of off thebeaten path in the eyes of many
people because it's it's north of GreenBay, kind of tucked into north eastern
Wisconsin, and we want to bringit into the forefold. Here we do.
I always say we're the armfit ofWisconsin. Don't forget about us,
and we work really well with ourneighbors. It's just a good area,
(02:13):
it really is, and it's interestingwith the geography and topography of Oconto and
o'conno County because it is a LakeMichigan community. It's on the waters of
Green Bay, the county and thecounty seat of o'conno. But geographically it's
stairsteps north and west all the wayback well into the north Woods and the
Shiwamagan Nicolay National Forest. We dowe have a variety. The northern end
(02:37):
is heavily forest and the southern endis the water. So I'm like,
we have two great features that wewould be lost without. Yeah, and
boy, that means a really good, very extensive trail system that gives you
a big variety of things to checkout. Let's talk about that trail system
a little bit. So the majorones are going to be the Snall Bill
and the ETV. So we haveover five hundred interconnected scenic riding for ATV
(03:01):
and around four hundred and eighty milesof trails for snowmobile. Sometimes those are
multi use, sometimes are not.So we are snowmobile only, no ATV
winter use. Yet we're getting there. We're just not there yet. We
like to give our snowmobiles that smoothride and make sure that they're not hitting
(03:22):
any ordivts. So hopefully within thenext couple of years that will change.
But for right now we're sticking withthe sled only and same with ATV trails.
You can go they trust certain Gillettrail wise a certain Grillet Gillet and
then you can go eighty miles northof Michigan if you really wanted to.
(03:43):
But our trail system interconnects with Marinette, Florence, Forest, Lang Laid.
We all have good connectors and worktogether quite well. Yeah, that whole
segment of the state is it's soremote. There's a lot of remote areas
and a lot of extensive trails,but enough great little small hounds where you
can stop and enjoying and bidement things. And you have like Mountain out there,
(04:03):
and you mentioned Gillet. They Laketo Lake, claim to ATV capital
of the world. They do that. They are, they're starting hub.
They've been racking and rolling lately.They have a couple of new businesses.
They have, oh the number onepin in the state pretty much. So
when you're on your ATV, youneed to stop there and make sure that
you get a put slice of piefrom OJ's. OJ's that's the name of
(04:26):
it. Okay, So I havefriends who have a company called Roving Blue
and they're headquartered in Olconno County.Yeah they are, they're in style.
Yeah, they're awesome people. Theymake an incredible product that purifies water using
some proprietary form of electrolysis. Butit's an incredible thing where you can like
take water out of the lake orout of a river and use this pen
(04:48):
and it will purify the water andmake it safe to drink. So it's
pretty cool what they've done. Andbut they've been telling me I've got to
go to Gillet for this pie.Oh you do. Seriously, If I
just go up there just for thedid for a meeting, I come home
with one and you know, youever know when they're going to give back
there. Yeah, it's true,true, it's okay. And that's right
along Highway Jillet's right on Highway twentytwo, which is a great drive that
(05:13):
will take you actually from Gillet througho'conno Falls all the way over to o'conno
and we'll talk more about the cityof Ocono in a little bit. And
Highways one, forty one and fortyone major backbone routes through o'conno County,
and they'll connect you to a lotof places, and then sixty four goes
west and thirty two goes north.They meet in Mountain, which is kind
of one of the other epicenters forwinter and summer recreation. Right, Yeah,
(05:34):
mountains just as just as equal asI would say, Lakewood tonson um
in the Mountain Riverview areas getting anew ATV U t V camp Crown.
We're going to break ground next year, so it's going to be a little
nice feature. Right now, we'rejust kind of waiting on um so by
results for our users to tell usexactly what they want there. Oh,
that's very well, making it romfrom their feedback. So you know,
(05:59):
it's funny if you're on a roadtrip and you're in Mountain, if you
follow what it's kind of a sideroad now, but it used to be
part of the main line of thirtytwo way back in the day. You
follow that just north of Mountain,that main intersection by County w you can
get to the Mountain Lookout tower.And I finally got a chance to climb
that thing where you got a breathwhen you get to the top, you
(06:20):
know, I'll tell you it isbeautiful. Yeah, the rest of it
will take your breath away once you'reup there, because it is a three
hundred and sixty degree view that goeson forever. It does, and it's
not only fall. I mean,like we all we all love the false
colors, but just being up thereduring the spring and summer and you'd get
that green field and the skies areblue. It really is breath taking.
(06:44):
There is so much to see upthere, and I can't imagine someone sitting
up there for eight to twelve hoursback in the day when they used to
literally watch the fire. So it'snot a big top, maybe at eight
by eight, so it's ways withthe wind. I did notice that,
Yes, oh yes it does.If it's windy. I don't go up
(07:05):
to the top. Yeats about heights. I wouldn't necessarily recommend recommend climbing it,
but it is. It's a greatlittle thing to check out in o'conno
County if you want just an amazingview, and you can kind of see
all the way over to the watersof Green Bay and Lake Michigan. It's
kind of hard to make out.It has to be a really clear day,
but you can see forever. It'ssuch a wonderful view. And you
(07:26):
can see into several counties. Youcan, and you can see other little
features too, just from the topof there. So it's just nice to
get a lookout. You can almostsee where the winery sits in Lakewood.
Just a pretty little spot to geta little serenity and relaxation. Yeah,
tell me more about the Lakewood Winery. Oh so the Lakewood it's Woodland Trails
(07:48):
and Winery. They've been here forover thirty years. Family owned and operated
for a while. They have avariety of the most unique flavors whatever tasted.
And we just recently went to umTownsend just got a new winery called
the Lake Hoost Winery, and shemade us a wine bloody mary. It
(08:11):
was the best thing that I tastedin a long time. Yes, instead
of the vodka, they use ared wine. It was phenomenal. I'm
curious about that now, Okay,bloody like I might have to make extra
workstops. What do they call it? It's just a wine bloody mary.
(08:35):
And she just used a I wouldsay, a little drier red and she
had her own bloody mary mix.So she makes her own and it's got
a secret ingredient that she puts init um. She did express it headlam
and pepper. She gave one ingredientaway um. But it was it was
so good. I was impressed.And it didn't need any garnishes or anything
(08:56):
because it was complete just the wayit was. Man, So I have
to do more research along thirty two. Yeah, you do, and make
pit stuff. You keep adding newstuff. I was proud of myself because
I climbed that tower, but Imissed out on a red wine bloody Mary.
Yeah, George, you didn't missit too much because she just opened
on June fifteenth, so oh yeah, my last drive down there was shortly
(09:18):
before that. Okay, So thisis a brand spanking new thing. She
it's brand spanking names. Yeah.And the rate on the tones and folage,
so the backyard scenery rate on thewater, it's just beautiful. Wow,
Okay cool. Yeah. The proliferationof wineries and breweries is pretty impressive
really statewide, but even in thenortheastern Wisconsin area. Yeah, I know,
(09:39):
and they're my favorite. So nowOconto had its own beer brand.
Any chance that's coming back? Haveyou heard anything? So m o'conno beer.
They brought it back a couple ofyears ago. They are moving forward
with another version that the Okanno Breweryused to put out, and that's looking
like it's coming out in twenty twentyfour or late twenty twenty three. Believe
(10:03):
it or not. The Oconic CountyHistorical Society has a big part in that.
A lot of the members are theylove their Oconna Brewery right, it's
a good feature, it's it's partof our history, basically our culture for
a long time. So they aremoving forward with another spin off. So
future plans in place, So nospecific plans for a brewery or taphouse yet
(10:26):
necessarily, but they're working on bringingthe beer itself back. Yes, the
beer itself will be coming back,but not not an actual establishment that we
are going to work on, sothat that's possible. It's just the plans
aren't specific for it quite yet.It's possible, yep. I mean the
recipes are all still here everything,so it wouldn't take much to get it
(10:48):
started. Thanks, well, we'llkeep our eyes and ears open for that.
Now. We were talking about culture. Beer obviously a huge piece of
Wisconsin culture, but in that area, copper has been an indelible part of
the culture for thousands of years.There's a state park named after it,
and a major festival that took placein June with Copperfest. Let's dive into
the copper culture of o'conno County alittle bit. Sure, you'll have so
(11:11):
Coupper Culture State Park will have amuseum, and the park itself so will
have multiple trails. It all liesagainst the Oconto River, so I think
that the trail systems are all rightthere right on the edge of it.
So walk peaceful walks. They dosome candlelight hikes throughout the winter, do
some features. But the actual museummuseum itself is open all Memorialty to Labor
(11:37):
Day, every day of the weekfrom like ten am till four so you
can always stop. We have tonsof visitors that are from out of the
country. I mean, majority ofthem are flown in and just it's not
a huge museum, but it's justreally really fascinating it is, and there's
artifacts that date back thousands or eventens of thousands of years because Native Americans
(11:58):
mined copper and that area for allof that time. And although they're not
doing it anymore, people aren't,you know, getting copper out of the
area too much anymore. It's influenceon the history and the building of things
which continue to this day, youknow, can't be denied. And it's
the museum and then the grounds.They are great for trails and actually you
(12:18):
can connect to some of those ATVtrails from there, can't you. You
can, Yeah, you can takethe kind of river State trail and connect
with the ATV trails. Very verygood. So you have access over five
hundred miles of trails just from thatand Copper Culture State Park. Even though
it's a state park, it's notlike that far away from everything. In
fact, it's right off the Highwayforty one Expressway, the US forty one
(12:41):
Expressway where twenty two ends, andthen just to the east of it,
boom, you have the city ofOconto and there's a lot going on in
that town. There is, we'rei would say a lot of young entrepreneurs
right now. We have a brandnew candy store which is called the Candy
Store. It's creative. There isactually you know, it's it's Lennentaz Early
(13:03):
that own it um and they areone of my favorite couples. They also
own the shop on Maine and O'Connell, so they're just going from building to
building opening up fantastic stores. Sothey are done so well. Everything is
yes, uh, I don't reallyenjoy coffee as much, but they have
(13:24):
Lotuses, which is a caffeine plantbased drink which is phenomenal. So I'm
usually there every morning except for Sundaywhen they clothes um. But they do
have some great things and the candysource fully stocked. It'll have a variety
of old fashion but new things,and then they have their common um little
stuffed animals and a few other thingsthat purchase. But they have these school
(13:46):
would would carve games, so justa little old fashioned in there too,
but a lot of numbering and alot of educational games in there as well
well. So it sounds like it'sa pretty comprehensive andy store. It is
it is, and it's all everythingdone in there. All the work is
(14:07):
done by their family. They're greatcraftsmen, ideas everything they're They're just an
amazing family and I couldn't be moreproud of them at the work that they
do. It's very cool. Andso a number of these stores, and
I've seen some newer bars and restaurantsopening up kind of along Main Street and
it's interesting because the old school crossroads, I think that's County s going north
(14:28):
south. That used to be Highwayforty one way way way back when that
was a main drag connecting Green Bayin the Upper Peninsula, and then Main
Street which goes east west, andthat was Highway twenty two, although technically
twenty two ends out at the Expresswaynow, that was the main crossroads.
And you can tell with some ofthe really grand old buildings that line the
downtown streets. Oh, we havebeautiful historic buildings and it's really happy to
(14:52):
start to see some of them comeback to life that they were horrible,
but it's just a little tender lovecare and a little fresh coat of paint
here and there about. Then there'sa new boutique that just opened. They
gave there's a little facelift. Wehave a new i would say, a
new outlet store on Main Street acrossfrom Robert Toomptown Hardware. And then not
(15:16):
too far off with the shop onMaine which is a coffee the Coffeehouse.
So they have a lot of gooda good variety that will make you walk
downtown and take it all in.Yeah, it is getting it's it's always
been walkable, but it's getting increasinglywalkable with more destinations to check out,
and it's not too far of awalk to check out some other historical things
like the first Christian science church inthe world was erected in o'conno back in
(15:39):
eighteen eighty six, and that's atthe corner of Maine in Chicago, just
kind of on the west side ofthat main downtown area. It is.
It's a beautiful location. They dohave a historic walking tour as well,
so you can grab a booklet atmultiple of the gas stations and the stores
and they'll go through all the oldVictorian homes on Main Street as well and
(16:00):
give them a little background on there. You can bridge a bike walk.
We're golf cart legal ATV legal onthe streets, so you can take any
form of transportation and just take inthe history. Don't have the Liman bird
scooters there yet, huh, notyet yet. So and the Buyer House
that's another really great historic place.And actually when we've been there for Copperfest,
(16:23):
that's that was kind of where thearea the activities were centered. But
a tour of the Buyer House ispretty cool. It is amazing, So
you'll have the old buyer home,which is all refurbished with Victorian style furnishings.
And then next to it is theCarriage Museum. And actually you got
to ride in the nineteen eleven waverya little electric cars and I think it
(16:48):
was like a three mile per hourtop speed. Well, no, said
seven, and that got scary.You know that's the open air well.
Yeah, put helmets on there was. They have an old convertible in there,
a lot of old cars that havebeen reserviced and flipped by a local
gentleman. They give great information aboutthe old Bond Tickle Company and one of
(17:12):
Cruiser's first both the first boats thatthey made. So there's a lot of
cool features in the Carriage Museum.Yeah, and it's funny because it's early
evs. These are one hundred yearold electric cars, nineteen eleven. We
are ahead of the game one hundredand ten years ago now that I think
of it. Yeah, I keepthinking the eighties, for example, we're
two decades ago, so I can't. Yeah, but that's okay. I
(17:37):
like that era. Oh no,it's great. So Sammy, you mentioned
boats. Now, Okano has,like many cities in the area, like
Sturgeon Bay and like Marinette nearby andeverything. There's a history of boat and
ship and sometimes yacht building in thecities that are along the waters of the
coast of the Bay of Green Bay. In Lake Michigan. O'kanno is no
exception. Yeah, we have yachtsthat has been building boats here for a
(18:03):
good guess a long time. Theyhave just stunning it's just beautiful to go
see them. They're usually at thebreakwater park in Harbor. They usually launch
them there and keep them for alittle while, do some test drive.
But the point do they share lookmake the marina look beautiful because they are
a million plus most of the timeboats, so it's fun to watch them
(18:26):
take off and test them out.Some nice high end stuff right there.
And that's so that's a major businessand employer I imagine in Ocono, in
o'conno County. What are some ofthe others you might want to give a
shout out too, because you know, the economic development piece is powerful.
Yeah, we have a lot ofmanufacturers in the area, Unlimited services,
they do wire harnesses and then wehave nircons. Saputo Cheese is in Lina.
(18:52):
That's probably one of our bigger manufacturers, probably our top and then Nikon
I think we talked about a smidge, But Nicolae Plastics is also in Mountain,
so they are another good manufacturer andobviously always looking for employees, so
great morale culture there on all ofthem. Yeah, that's true. There's
some actually good opportunities if if you'relooking to move to a place that has
(19:15):
some opportunities for good jobs and kindof get away from it all place,
that's certainly a good option. Itis, And you know, we're always
here to help with housing because weknow that's a struggle for everybody, so
we've been making sure that we lockeverybody down with someplace to be. And
there's also actually the county has beengrowing. O'conno is at about five thousand.
(19:36):
In terms of the city, O'ConnellCounty has been pushing towards forty thousand.
Lately. Some people are starting tomove up from the Green Bay area
and commute they are. We havea lot that are moving north. But
it's not a bad thing. Ithink just the peace of mind and working
remotely has made a big impact.We've had a lot of California residents lately
(19:59):
d of o'conn um. Yeah,it's it's been crazy. We are in
the middle of some major developments forsome housing units in the city of O'Connell,
plus in Lena, so we aremaking fast adaptions. Well, and
you know you're right along those maindrags. Well, maybe they did some
research on state trunk tour and sawstuff about O'Connell. You never know,
right right rights and maybe the costof living that definitely helps. And some
(20:26):
nice serenity too at times. Butgood access to everything. I mean,
you're forty five minutes from an NFLstadium for Crane out loud. That's just
truth like that. We get somuch overflow traffic from those packer games,
it's unbelievable. In the NFL draft, thankfully we'll be a big impact.
That should be pretty cool too.Now you mentioned Lena, which is now
(20:47):
My grandmother grew up in Coleman,which is just north of there, but
that's in Marinette County. But Lenais kind of growing again now too.
It's interesting with these towns because oneforty one used to cut right through the
heart of town and then they builtan expressway bypass, which hurt the town
initially, but now it's growing againbecause of the traffic the expressways bringing I
guess, but not too long ago, a major track developed there, the
(21:07):
Dirt City Motor Pleques. Yeah.We had a group of individuals that they
were already enjoying the sport of racingright, and they decided they were going
to pull their own money together andbuild a track. And I was like,
Oh, that's going to be reallyhard. In the first year,
they proved me wrong. They builtthat track, got it together in less
(21:29):
than one year, and we've continuousand continuously had two to three races a
year, and we just continue tobuild. They are some pretty big go
getters, and they pull with theOff Road Championship Motorsport, which will also
do the races in Crandon and Anago. We have our own little series.
But they are moving in a grooven. They'll start to see they like horse
(21:55):
chuck pulls because they made a lanefor that when they were building, so
that they could have some other oreven there besides just the short off road
track racing. Yeah, it's interestingto see because I mean that place first
of all, popped up on anowhere. Those of us who weren't paying
close attention suddenly you're on one fortyone and you're like, holy cow,
what's that That opened to what twentyeighteen? Yeah, you can't miss it.
(22:18):
It's right off the highway. Yeah, it's great access one forty one
and the County A exit, whichis the main exit for Lena, and
boy oh boy. They just itlooks like they have a nice variety of
races too, but all dirt,all dirt, yep, all short track
dirt. Literally, the organizers ofthis, they were took everyone's racetrack in
the Wisconsin area Minnesota, and theytook the best features from each one and
(22:42):
they made this track. So youknow, it's pretty good. All the
hard turns, a twists, thedouble lane jumps, they incorporated everything well.
And it actually looks pretty cool withthe facility too, because I mean
it looks like there's like because I'venot been to a race there yet,
but I need to go, andit looks like there's skyboxes and all kinds
(23:02):
of like amenities there is. Andthe best thing is the gas station and
there's a couple of food places justabove the track south of it, so
you can literally eat everything. Theyhave food and stuff there on the grounds.
But then the gas is right there, the food is right there,
so it worked out very well justto accommodate everyone, the racers and the
(23:25):
fans. Yeah, man, thatis fantastic. So you know, we've
talked about, you know, theATV trails further up in the county.
We've talked about the racing in Lane, and we talked about the copper culture
in the state park, and wetalked a bit about o'conno. We started
talking about the yacht building. Butthat's that kind of lends to the other
part of Okano County and the cityof o'cano too, which is the city
isn't right on the water. It'sfocused on the Ocono River, but it's
(23:48):
what maybe a mile inland from thelake. It is not even really neighborhoods
extend out to it. Yeah,but there is a really cool little marina
out there in Okano that I thinka lot of people forget about. So
I want to make sure people knowabout that. If they go on Why
or something east of downtown, they'regoing to find some nice little gems over
there. They will. So ifyou take Why out of the city limits,
(24:12):
you'll see the brickwater parking harbor.There's over fifty slips rentals. The
backside is out there which has phenomenalfood. The harbor probably has three,
yeah, three launch lanes, andthen the causeway that you can drive out
too. That got a little expansiona couple of years ago, so it's
like just to drive out, checkout the water, check out the scenery,
(24:33):
and come back. It's about maybea half mile long, but the
Brickwater Parking Harbor is our major spotfor our fishing tournaments. So whether you're
a fisherman or not, it's justfun to watch the Master Walley Circuits or
AIM. They host their events outthere and the kids can see way INDs,
adults can see the way INDs.It's just usually a good fun day
(24:55):
to watch the fishermen do their work. Yeah, those tournaments have really picked
up steam lately. A good spotto grab food and drink is dock Side,
which is right there in the corner. It is if you're looking for
some of the best customer service ino'conno County or possibly the state, the
Dockside is one of them, andthey have phenomenal food, not just typical
(25:18):
menu, and then fantastic drinks.If you're looking for something a little bit
more unique. That's your destination.Okay, Yeah, lots of cool stuff
because the way it's laid out,you know, the roads don't take you
by the water all that much unlessyou're on y itself. But yeah,
you go through o'cono, the town, and then you just keep going east
a little bit and that's your accesspoint for the water. And a lot
(25:40):
of people increasingly are looking to parktheir boats if they take off from Green
Bay itself or somewhere Indoor County.Ocanno's kind of growing as a destination to
a set anchor for a while.It is, you know, just cross
the bay, come over for dinner, and head back. We have a
lot that come from Ocano and goacross the bay as well to the other
(26:00):
side, just to have a littlea little different old atmosphere. And depending
on what you're doing, how thehow the bay is cooperating, I should
say that's true depending on what sideof vote is be careful, but otherwise
it's a great working relationship across thebay. To be able to explore a
croft really is. Yeah, soall kinds of recreation, from voting to
(26:22):
ATVing hunting. There's some good huntinggrounds there but really if you just want
to check out history and some greatplaces to eat from mom and pop shops
and more a lot of good stuff. I do want to give another shout
out if you go to Abrams right, we're forty one one forty one have
their junction kind of along the oldroad. The Timberly Drive in oh that's
my favorite Timberly Drive and has someof the best custard that you will ever
(26:49):
find. From blue Moon, Purplecow Um. I think this week was
mocha and caramel their flavors. Theyusually have three flavors that change each week.
You can always get the vanilla andchocolate. But they do have food
too, but I usually go therejust for the custard. Yeah, I
mean they have the burgers and thehot dogs and all that good stuff.
(27:10):
There's a lot of pictures are drivingarticle where we check out over thirty different
drive in burger and custard stands acrossWisconsin. Certainly has Timberley on there,
and boy, it's it's a littletricky to get to. You got to
go off on some side roads fromthe main roads. But once you're there,
it's great and they're right by agolf course. It is actually in
same owners okay, is the sameowner as the Timberley, so they work
(27:33):
hand in hand. The golf coursehas fish fries and everything else like that.
But if you're looking for something else, they will deliver it to you
over there, get you going.But the v Custard is my favorite,
and I will tell you on Sundays, be prepared to wait. It's worth
the wait, but be prepared towait. Yeah, it's quite a line,
but it's it's a pleasant little spotbecause you know, you can watch
(27:56):
the golf course in the level ofthe picnic tables out there. You can
watch all thing. You can kindof hear the traffic which is there,
but it's more of like a nicelittle lull rather than anything else. It's
a great spot to relax. Itis it is. Timberley is dear to
my heart. So yeah, youcan check out all of all of those
things across the county, whether you'regoing up towards Mountain and Lakewood and Townsend.
(28:18):
You can stop in Sewing, whichthey love to pride themselves. You're
on the forty fifth parallel in o'connoCounty. You're halfway between the North Pole
and the equator. There's a lotto check out. All the way through
the county is its stairsteps north andwest. But don't forget if you're in
Oconno County to get to o'conno itself, see what's going on there and check
out the water because it's a beautifulspot on the waters of Green Bay too.
(28:38):
Got a little bit of everything therein the county, don't you.
We do. We're a little sliceof having up here and I would say
homing, hospitality, feeling. Anyother major events coming up you want to
share with us for the rest ofthe summer and in towards the fall,
we can get on our calendars.Well, Dirt City we'll be gearing up
at the end of July. They'rethe thirtieth and thirty first, so that's
(29:02):
the big race at the Dirt CityMotorplex. And then our phenomenal Arts and
Crafts show in Lakewood is the firstSaturday in August, which is a fifth
that is over one hundred and fifteenvendors, all producing original art, so
it's it's one of the best showsto go to. That's right. That's
like the biggest art fair in thecounty and probably in northeastern Wisconsin outside of
(29:25):
Green Bay. Yeah, it's huge. They do a phenomenal job. It's
been organized by our allons for overforty years, so they know what they're
doing by now. Yeah. Lakewoodin Townsend, it's interesting because you drive
through on thirty two and it's justkind of scattered stuff here and there,
but those are cohesive communities that kindof fan out into the forest. There's
a lot to see there. Thereis there. I mean there's a lot
(29:45):
of roads in between buildings and businessesand stuff like that. Spread out a
little bit more, but they havea lot going for them. Especially on
the weekends, it's a whole differentatmosphere than during the week Everyone coming up,
everyone's going everywhere. Expect to waitto cross thirty two. It gets
pretty busy. Yeah, it certainlydoes. But you know what, most
(30:08):
of the time it's quite serene andyou can enjoy kind of that getaway from
it all things. So you've gotyour choice and you've got your options here,
and a great way to check everythingout is not only on State trunk
Tour where we show you what's alongall the roads and some of the events
going on like the ones you justmentioned, but ocado County dot org.
That's your site that you keep up. Yes, that is so all the
(30:29):
events for the rest of the yearand already starting for next year, so
you can start playing in those vacationsand it's pretty sweet, all right,
Sammy, Well, thank you somuch for coming on with us today on
the State Trunk Tour podcast. There'splenty going on. We'll keep you up
to date two but again, OkonnoCounty dot org keeps you on top of
all of that, and we'll lookforward to talking with you as things continue
to develop in the coming year.All right, Yeah, of course,
(30:51):
thank you so much, Eric forhaving me and our thanks again to Sam
Bouche from Oconno County for talking withus today. Make sure you check it
out. The actually the suburbs ofGreen Bay extend into southern Occonno County.
You just keep going. You haveso many great choices, as we've just
illustrated here. I'm Eric Poulson,have some great road trips, plenty of
summer left, and we'll talk againsoon. Meanwhile, stay on State Trunk
Tour dot com. Hop on thereand find out what's going on. Make
(31:12):
sure you're following us on Facebook andon Twitter and on Instagram for all of
the great updates at State Trunk Tour, Happy road tripping with Scotson. We'll
talk next time.
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