December 2, 2024 • 56 mins
Real Racine is now Visit Racine County... but the whole county is real. Real fun with a lot of real options! In this State Trunk Tour Podcast, we cover everything Racine County with Cari Greving, Executive Director of Visit Racine County. We generally go from west to east, giving love to the small towns and their surprising array of things to see and do (much of it walkable), through the countryside with everything from wineries to barn quilts to observatories that are literally astronomical. We check out the lakefront with lighthouses, light shows for the holidays, and lit architecture both in and out of the City of Racine. Water fun on Lake Michigan or inland rivers like the Root and the Fox. New boutique hotels, restaurants, the classic Racine Zoo, and even a spot you can pick up an Indian Motorcycle and experience a road trip a whole new way. Be sure you check out Racine County's Visitors Center too, along Highway 20 just west of I-41/94. We cover it all with Cari in this episode of the State Trunk Tour Podcast. You WILL find yourself wanting to plan a few visits, maybe around a variety of themes!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
And welcome back to the State Trunk Tour. Pine Malson.
You're a head tour guide and as we focus on
road trips and places around Wisconsin, this time we're going
to focus on Racine County, not just the city of Racine,
but the entire county, which encompasses not only the city
and all the beautiful Lake Michigan coast. We're talking all
the way west Burlington, Waterford, those areas, the beautiful land
(00:21):
in between rich In farmland, rich now in wineries, distilleries, breweries,
barn quilts, astronomy options where you can look to the
heavens literally and some fast growing stuff along the interstate too,
around Mount Pleasant and Sternament And in those areas so
many great things to do and experience, from art to architecture.
There's a great zoo. There are wineries, distilleries and more
(00:44):
we've never even talked about yet, not only on the
website but on this podcast so far, and you can
be amazed at not only how cool and vibrant and
walkable downtown Racine is, but downtown Burlington. There's even some
really cool stuff in Waterford and some of the other
small towns throughout Racine County and there's a lot of
holiday stuff going on right now, so why don't we
get into it with Visit Racine Counties Executive Director Carrie Grieving.
(01:07):
She knows all the stuff inside. Now we'll be talking
so many fascinating things. This fifty five minutes will fly
right by, and we start right after this. All right,
and now it's time to talk with Kerry Grieving. We've
talked with her several times before. Actually, she's one of
our favorites because she's so much fun to talk to.
And now she's executive director not just of a city,
(01:30):
promoting a city, but the whole county. Here executive director
of Visit Racine County Carrie Grieving, Good morning.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Carrie, Good morning Erek. How are you.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
I'm doing well, and boy, there's so much going on
and you know, getting into the holiday season. We'll talk
about all of that, but I want to update everybody
on what's going on because we've tagged or seen in
so many posts. There's a lot of things that go
on in the city and downtown, but there's things that
go on all over the county. And now you guys
are officially visit Racine County, Yes.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
We are, and I do appreciate all that tagging that
you always do. There's always so much going on in
all this different promotion, and we've found that for us
it's just so much more fun. I mean, bottom line
is tourism supposed to be fun, right, So we found
like we have so many things in this county. The
city of Racine is great. They put on events, more
(02:20):
events than anybody else nearby. They are always doing something.
But so is Burlington, and so is Waterford, and so
is Caledonia. Everybody here Mount Pleasant, I mean Mount Pleasant,
they're always whether it's industry or music or whatever, they're
always coming up with new ideas. So now we get
to be essentially the marketing firm, the tours of entity
(02:43):
for everybody.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Yeah, your job is to share the news both east
and west, because a lot of people think of east
of the Eye west of the eye. I forty one
and ninety four in Racine County, and there are two
distinct areas at times, but they're all united under one
county and under you guys.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Yes, and it's I mean that's the way it's supposed
to be. And that's the most ideal situation for us,
because there's just if we were just focusing on one.
We honestly would get nowhere because it's there's it's what
you like, Like, what are you looking for? We have
so many different things. You might think that the city
of Racine is very urban and it's on the lake,
and you know all the things about Racine, you know
(03:20):
all the history whorl like malted milk and all of
those things.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Invention of the garbage disposal and malted milk, Yes, it's
a cycle.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Maybe you want to go to incinerator and check out
how those you know, those garbage disposals are made. We
could do that for you. But perhaps you want to
go to a pumpkin farm. Maybe you want to go
see farming. Maybe you want to do all the things
that are a little bit more prevalent in some of
our more rural.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Areas, you know, those rural we'll talk about it a
little more. But the quilt tours, the barn.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Quilts, yeah, oh, quiltes on barnes. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
Again, that's all coming up. But the bottom line is
you've embraced the entire county as one and the back
and forth. I mean, you know, eleven and twenty or
two of the main highways that go all the way
east west, and there's so much to see along all
of them. And that's one of the points we want
to make today.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Yes, yeah, that's exactly right. And the other thing too,
is under our previous names and things that people knew
us as, like Rascine was the sole focus. But by
changing our brand and changing our name to visit Racine County,
it's incredibly clear, like we are here for everybody. We
are here for every visitor, we are here for every resident.
We are here to just show off everything that we
(04:34):
have here, whatever you want to find.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
And yeah, some of those places a little more unsung. Franksville, Caledonia,
Union Grove sometimes even though the Racine County Fair is there.
They're also known for great likes Dragaway, which technically is
on the Kenosha County side of the county line road,
but it's Union Grove, which is a Racine County town.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
You're so good at the geography of all these things. Yes, exactly, Yeah,
that's right, they'd still fall into our Racine County. And
you know, we don't mind sharing with Kenosha. Kenosha is
a nice place. There's a that, like you said, Highway eleven.
There's a lot of stuff that depends on what side
of the road you're on. But to us, if it's
somewhere where people want to go and people want to
(05:14):
learn and see and understand and experience, like we're we're
there for that.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
You know, it's funny because we're Seine County. We're seeing Kenosha.
It's it's the same land areas about Walworth. It's just
Rasceining Kenosha are divided in half east west and Racine's
got that extra township that ducks down and encompasses all
of Burlington, which is kind of funny. But yeah, so
there's there's a lot going on. Actually, why don't we
go west to east and start talking about it like that?
(05:42):
Because Burlington has so much cool stuff. There's there's like
two breweries there now. There's the legendary Fred's, Hamburger's Adriana's
Frozen Custers just celebrating fifty years now. And so it's
also the home famously of the Liars Club. Yeah who
can tell the biggest lie story? And also that logic
(06:04):
puzzle and toy museum and that with the breweries and Fred's,
they're all within like a two block walk of each other.
Because Burlington's downtown is awesome.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
It is, it really is. And I tell people this
all the time because I feel like, again, when you're
west of the Eye, you think everything's really spread out,
you know, because you're thinking farms. You're thinking, oh, I'm
going to have to travel, However, you know, thirty minutes
to do all of these things. That's not true at all.
The downtown in Burlington has all of those things that
(06:33):
you mentioned. You park once and you can hit them all.
You can walk, whether it's in the middle of summer
or if you want to like check out this holiday time,
which is pretty amazing. I mean to be totally, totally
legit about all of this. I think Burlington does the
best job in giving you that charming holiday feel. Where
(06:54):
you're going to go shopping, where you're going to go
to their events, you're going to see Santa. They do
such a really good job of it's like a I
don't want to say it, but it's like a Hallmark Gooby.
When you go there, the lights are up, the streets
are like beautiful and clean and cute, and then their
offerings just kind of back that up. There's always something
(07:16):
to do there's always a reason to go. Light up.
The night is coming on November twenty second, and that's
a big one. That's a I mean, I've been. It's
you can shop, there's great deals, everybody's open late. There's
that feel of walking around and I mean, I don't
want it to be snowing, but other people like snow
and you can you can take the horse drawn carriage,
(07:39):
you could go to a movie, you could eat dinner
and shop. It's I don't know, an it's an experience.
It's an atmosphere that I could just talk about forever.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Yeah, all within walking distance. Yeah, the great shops and restaurants,
the breweries Low Daily, which is it's a it's a
cool little brewery. It's located in the former interurban train
station that where the trains used to ca Neck to Milwaukee,
and so you've got some really cool architecture in there.
They have the sweet patio out back and really good beers.
And then just a couple of steps away is the Runaway,
(08:10):
which is a newer micropub and nano brewery that just
got fired up. And again that's by the other shops
and restaurants, and you're right about downtown in the holiday
season because in my capacity is having done mornings on
WLKG and Lake Geneva. We are a part of the
Burlington Parade and it is truly when you wind through
those downtown streets and they're just filled with people. You
(08:32):
look at the buildings, beautiful buildings. I mean, they've done
a great job preserving them, and all the shops and
all the lights, and the people that live above them
waving from up above. You're like, wow, this is pretty sweet.
And it's it's what about twelve thousand in the town.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Yeah, yeah, that's what I've that's the most recent number
I've seen. And just like you know, you said it.
Those breweries not only are they breweries where you could
just go, you know, if you're feeling like, oh tonight, tonight,
we want to get out, we want to go somewhere
you can go hang out there, but they put on
cool events like they put on they're not just everyone
(09:06):
in Burlington is very invested I think in being there.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
There's a lot of civic pride.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
There is, and you have, like it's an energy when
you go there. So you you'll meet the owners of
Low Daily, of the Runaway and they'll tell you what's
coming up and what you can do, and how great
it is to be in Burlington. So you don't find
that everywhere.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
That's that's true, and you do find it there and
the spirit is really strong and they have you know,
in the warmer weather, they have the aqueducts on Brown's
Lake doing the water ski show. Now Burlington focused on
quote Chocolate city because the big Nestli plant there and
that's still there, and they still have a lot of
great chocolate, but they've diversified what they want to showcase
(09:51):
for people.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
No big time. I in my time here, which has
been like almost a decade in this career, in this area,
Burlington is one eighty. It was all chocolate when I
first got here, and it was all pretty much you know,
chocolate Fest at the you know, Memorial daytime and then
a couple other events. But now it's I mean, chocolate's
(10:14):
just a tiny, tiny little piece of what they offer.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
A piece of chocolate. I like it. I also like
your use of the word op a few minutes ago.
Kudos for that. Well, and what's funny? What's funny is
and so downtown Burlington, it's kind of on it's along
the river and then Echo Lake it's along the Fox River,
and then there's a little lake there that they call
Echo Lake, and then a little bit west there's an island.
And in my capacity with State Trump Tour, where you're
(10:39):
road tripping and discovering new things all the time, we
haven't even covered everything in Burlington now because eighteen forty
one Farms and Vineyard is there just west of downtown,
and that looks spectacular, right.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
It's like, yeah, I don't even know what to say
about this because I could tell we're just talking, you know,
like we're just talking to what's downtown and that's a lot,
like its too much, And then you go just a
little bit out and you find these extra special I
always say experience because it is an experience. It's not
just you know, you're not just going to check out
(11:14):
like a vineyard. They're going to offer you more than that.
And to be able to do all of that within it,
I mean the same day is super cool.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Yeah, they're literally all within a square mile of each
other with that, and that's fantastic. And the Fox River
for western Racine County, that plays a big role in
where the towns are. You kind of go along Highway
thirty six, which kind of parallels it, and you go
up from Burlington, you'll hit Rochester and Waterford, which I
don't want to call them twin cities, but they're literally
right next to each other. Rochester has a lot, it's
(11:46):
a tiny little burg, but as some really cool history.
Some of the really old original trails that used to
go through the area are in downtown Rochester by the
Fox River. And I got to give a shout out
to Chances, which is a supper club and presumably haunted.
And when you go in there, you're like, yeah, I
believe that.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Uh huh oh, yeah I was. I assumed you were
going to bring it up. I mean, how can you
talk about Rochester without Chances? Yep. Yeah. I don't like
scary things like that is not my jam. I don't
like scary movies. I don't like anything. But I immediately
I knew I had to go to Chances and check
it out. And you can't not feel like there's haunted
history there. Walk.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Yeah, it's very old building. They have very great old
fashions by the way.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Yes, yes, bread, yeah, everything you want to definitely. I
mean maybe other people are can be like braver than me,
But I like to focus on the history and that
part of it, and then the food and drink is
like maybe that makes me a little less scared.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Yeah, it's it's a great stop in Rochester and then
Waterford's literally right next door, and they've done a lot
of redeveloping lately, particularly along the river downtown.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Yes, every time you go to Waterford, you should expect
to see something new. And I think that that's pretty
that's a pretty great way to live in this kind
of community because everyone there's this there's a vibe or
there's a feeling like, oh Waterford, well it has you know,
it's got a river and it has a little cute
downtown and that's Waterford. But it's so much more than that.
(13:25):
They are constantly adding you know, housing like condo buildings,
things that you think are a little bit more like
city city, but when you go there and you see them,
they fit in perfectly. It's such a neighborhood vibe, such
a neighborhood feel that everything they're doing is just leading
(13:47):
closer to that feeling.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Yeah, and they're doing so much along the river. There's
been some newer events recently, and you know they're taking
advantage of their assets really well, and frankly their position
because some people commute to Milwaukee because thirty six Loomis
shoots you right over there, and twenty can get your
right over to Racine or over by East Troy and
(14:08):
those other locations, and then you can also shoot right
down to Lake Geneva also right I'm thirty six. So
it's they're well positioned, kind of like Burlington is. Really.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
Yeah, nothing's far away. That's what we talk about all
the time here is that wherever you want to be
in Racine County, nothing's far away from you. It's it.
You can commute south, you can go north, you can
whatever you're looking for, or you can stay within the county,
which I recommend, and you can find everything there too.
So yeah, just like you said, it's not nothing is
(14:40):
hard to get to.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
No, And there's some good recreation too, and you get
north of Waterford. Not to be confused with Lake Michigan.
There's Michigan Lake. I don't know, I don't know how
that came about, but yeah, and that's right off one
sixty four, because you know, twenty one sixty four to
thirty six, they all kind of gather around Waterford, and
then a little further to the east there's wind Lake.
Remember that's in Racine County, and there's a lot of
(15:02):
cool recreational opportunities because we don't talk much about inland
lakes in Racine County, but they have them in the
western part.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Oh yeah, I mean you brought it up before when
you mentioned the aqueducts. You know, Brown's Lake is infamous
for it's a big lake. People. There are people that
will boat all summer long on Brown's Lake over and
over again because it's big. You know, it's not a
teeny tiny lake that you feel like, oh, I've been
there once, I don't need to go again. And while
(15:31):
Chichigan is a little bit different than that, kind of
a different feel, these these lakes are like as essential
for everyone's summertime. And you don't have to be in
Lake Michigan. I tell people that all the time. You can.
It's great, it's big, it's a great lake. But literally, yep,
it's not your only option, especially if you're looking for
(15:53):
things that are you know, kayaking on the Fox River.
There's multiple options to do that between Waterford and Berlin.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Oh that's a yeah, it's a good river to go
up and down in a kayak. That's a great point.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Yeah, it's really and it's it's you know, like it
it's within reasons navigable. You don't have to like be
an expert kayaker two to go a far distance and
you can jump out and you can you know, port
in water in Waterford and then go to the Waterford
Stillhouse and enjoy you know, something that they might have there,
(16:25):
an event going on or just whiskey. You know.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
That's another spot we haven't been to yet, is the
Waterford Still House.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Oh, oh my gosh, you yes, you must go.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
My parents have been there. They told me about it. Relatively,
it's they they call it on their own site Racine
County's best micro distillery.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Mm hmmm yep.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
And definitely have to check that out because we got
to write an entry on that. But that's yeah, that's
right on Main Street too. And it's funny with the
craft breweries and uh to some extent, wineries, those are
usually further out, but distilleries and breweries kind of are
some of the newer anchors of these downtowns of these
small cities.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
It is wild how these how this has come about
and how important it is for these communities to have
something like that. And it's not always about the you know,
the alcohol or the beer or whatever they're they're serving.
It's they become like cornerstones of the community. The Waterford
Steel House they put on a like they have a
(17:28):
walking group, or you can run a five k in the.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Summer like before you I presume yes.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Then you can get Avod calimonade. Like see how it
all works out? Like it's they're offering so much more
to residents to visitors than ever before. Well, and that's
a very new thing.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
There's a creamery on main Street too, you know, Noble
Brothers Waterford Creamery. So if you prefer ice cream or
maybe you can visit both and make an ice cream
drink or cocktail. You can get creative.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Certainly in the Stillhouse they have they sell soap. They say,
you know, there's all sorts of different it's not just
about the brewing. It's not just about that.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
It's not the distilling. Yeah right, Well, there's camaraderie in
those places and that's one of the reasons they become
more community centers for both visitors and residents.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Yep, yeah, exactly. It's about going there, sitting down, either
meeting someone new or someone you see all the time,
like people you just become your neighbors, become your friends.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Yeah, it sure does happen in those places. Usually the
alcoholic beverages help to yeah, loosen things up a little bit,
shall we say. And that can happen at wineries too,
And there's usually you have to go further out because
of true winery where they grow grapes. You know, you
need to be in a farm and outside just a
little bit east of wind Lake, not too far off
(18:55):
US forty five, there's the Spirits of Norway Vineyard.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
Yep, you want to visit a family run vineyard, this
is the place to go. They've been doing this for
a very long time, like Randy, he's the owner. And again,
when I first started here, it was very much about
making wine, you know, like could they how could they
(19:21):
get these grapes? How could they do this in Wisconsin?
What are I mean? There's a lot It's not easy
to just make wine here. No, so it was I
think it was very focused on that. Now they like
the wine is like nothing to them. They can make
wine all day, but they offer all these different experiences
you can come. You know, they have tastings, they have
(19:42):
holiday events, they have summertime events when you could take
your family, have a birthday party there, you have an
anniversary party. They've they've just grown to something like a
complete attraction for us in the county.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
Yeah, and they're right at the end of six mile Road,
which is funny and Racine there are you have some
east west mile roads, which does help you navigate because
eight mile is kind of the Racine Milwaukee County border
and that's eight miles north. But I think Highway twenty
is the baseline for that, right, so that does help
you navigate. So yeah, Spirits of Norway Vineyard in northwestern
Racine County definitely worth a stop. And they have cultivated
(20:18):
It's one of the things our university us have been
up to and big kudos actually to the University of
Minnesota for that cultivating the Marquette grape, oh and some
others that our heartier grapes that grow better in this weather,
and that's allowed a lot more grapes to be cultivated
and grown in this area for locally made wines.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Well, thank goodness for that, because I feel like we
needed that. I think there are so many people who
wanted to be able to become a part of this
that this wine making world, and you need to know
how to do it in this climate. It is not California, No, it.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Is not latitude wise, though, we're in a good spot
in the forties. That's over in Europe. That's where all
the wineries tend to be. And so yeah, well you know,
they cultivated tougher grapes. They're kind of like packer fans
who take their shirts off outside in November and December
games that we can't understand sometimes. So but yeah, definitely
a great stop out in the middle of Racine County.
(21:18):
Like in the Farmland area, there are still great things
to check out on a road trip, and you can
really put these together. You can do the breweries in Burlington,
the distillery in Waterford, and the spirits of Norway Vineyard.
The mailing address is Franksville. But you know it's just
a little bit east of wind Lake. I mean those
are all within I mean if you went straight from
one to the other, just without stopping, it would still
(21:41):
be like what twenty minutes twenty five?
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Oh if that?
Speaker 1 (21:44):
If that? Yeah, so they're all in they're all conveniently
located near each other. And again that's west of US
forty five in western Racine County. And we haven't given
those as much, you know, love if you will when
we've talked previously. So that's one night thing about you
being visited Racine County now is we're like, oh, yeah,
we should focus more in those areas too.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Yep. Yeah. And it's just a matter of like talking
about it. And it's so simple to to share the
stories because the stories are already there. So it's just
a matter of having you tell one person and it's
ripple effects from all over yep, yep.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
And you know, it's not just about drinking beverages of
various kinds. If you if you're into astronomy, there's actually
a cool place in Yorkville.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Yes, if you. This is one of those things too
that I people will call the visitor center and say, what,
I don't know if the Internet is real, you know,
like they they want to be sure that Modine Benstead
is truly an observat here observatory and it is. It's
in Union Grove and you can visit and they have
(22:57):
I would always recommend that people check their website first.
Or even call and see how it's going, because, as
you can imagine, an observatory is not open every second
of the day.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Yes, that's true.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
You want to make sure that you can get in
there and see everything that they have to offer. But
it is there and it is cool.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
So yeah, they're seen. Astronomical Society is down there, and yeah,
Modeen Benstead so that dates back to like nineteen fifty
six and they just wanted to get people more aware
of what's up there, if you will. And so that's
open to the public. They say one Saturday in April
and one Friday per month from May through September. That's
(23:36):
still the case.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Yeah, that is still the case. Things do change, and
it's also some you know, if you had a specific
group there, they are open to, you know, working with
a group who might be coming in very specifically on
a date, a certain date.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
Very cool. Yeah, it's two dome buildings and they've got
these really cool reflecting telescopes and the actual observatory was
built in nineteen sixty three, so there's a bit of
a sixties vibe in there.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
And oh yeah, yeah, so.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
If you're into if you're into looking at the stars,
Racine County's got a great place for you.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Yep, yeah, check it out.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
Absolutely, and that's just not too far actually off Highway
twenty right, yeah, at forty five, right in that area. Yeah,
eleven and twenty just they come a little closer together
as you get closer into a scene. And actually on
Highway twenty right before you get to the interstate, you've
got your visitor headquarters.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Yeah, so you could always stop and see us here
at the Visitor Center. You can't miss us. We are
a very distinctly designed Franklin, right building, and pretty exciting
news for us here is twenty twenty five. We're going
to be renovating inside the visitor center. Really, you know, yep,
(24:52):
we're about twenty We're cool. We're getting closer to twenty
five years old being in this building, and not a
lot has changed in that time. So we are just
that it's time and we're going to you know, give
a whole fresh new look inside. Easy things, paint updates, renovations,
that kind of thing. But we're also going to be
starting a Verstine County marketplace here where you can stop
(25:14):
and buy Rastine County products. Oh that maybe if you
don't have the time to head to Waterford or downtown
in Racine. You can just see what some of those
shops have to offer here with us.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Okay, and then maybe some of the beverages they produce
and things like that.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
And then I would hope so to the east.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
In Racine, which is you know, in the Kringle capitals
of the world, they already have an O.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
N H.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Danish bakery inside the mobile Like the truck stop at
the interstate junction with twenty. I'm assuming there you might
be offering some Kringle at the visitor center as well.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Yes, I would hope. So I could not see us
not doing that. Really come here and not experienced Kringle
in some way, shape or form.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
Nice little sweet treet. Yeah, you're right next to Route To,
which a big bar with a lot of live music.
That's a lively place, next to Culver's, which is a
Wisconsin staple. So can't get much more Wisconsin than your
little neck of the woods. For the visitors center.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
It's yeah, you really cannot. Yep, that is very true.
Across the street there's an RV center. I mean, hey,
what's more Wisconsin than an RV And then right next door.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
To US is a golf course, so yeah, it's a
big one.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
You get off on one exit and you can have
the complete Wisconsin experience.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
And really there's an Equinn Educational complex, you know, if
you love horses. There's a couple of farms you can
tour near there. You can skydive just south of there,
the Skydive Midwest Skydiving Centers right there, because there used
to be a Slovenia airport. In fact, I think that's
still there, right, Slavinia Airport, yep.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
And it's funny because across the street from that used
to be the University of Losnymy, which was a guy
named Alfred Lawson who is trying to start this new
education idea and everything. I have a lot about it
on the rout of line page on State trunk tour
dot com if you want to find out more about it.
It's not there as much now, but it's kind of
(27:06):
a cool piece of history.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
It is. There's there's all sorts of stuff like that
in this county where you know, whatever's there now, more
than likely something was there before it, and that history
alone is going to be interesting enough to want to
find out.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
Yeah, and the farms have been a big part of
Hersine County's history because the soil there is so good.
They can grow so much stuff and if you want
to get a farm experience. One of the most popular
spots in the state, and a lot of people come
up from Illinois for it too, is just down the
road at Apple Holler.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Yes, yeah, I mean Apple Holler is it's it's it's
its own world almost. If people have told me that
when you go there, you feel like you don't have
to leave, like everything is. You could stay there for
more than a day easily, and it's all dependent upon
what you want to do. And I also have to
tell people all the time that it is open year round,
(27:59):
so don't think that it's just you know, once you're
done picking apples or pears or whatever you want to
fall you do in the fall, then winter is just
as exciting. They have you know, sleigh rides. They have
domes outside where you can experience you know, an outdoor
meal in the middle of winter. It's between the barns,
(28:22):
between the restaurant, between the farm aspect and the goats
that climb on stuff, and all the trees and all
the all the train rides. Apple Holler is a pretty
big deal for us.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
And that is a good thing to note. Apple Holler
is open year round, so even as you know we
dive into winter here, it's still a destination we can
enjoy a lot of a lot of different things. And
what's funny is around Slovenia that's also the Mount Pleasant area.
One thing to note everything we've discussed so far is
west of the interstate. Yeah, and that's worth noting.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
That's pretty crazy.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
And before we hop across, I do want to mention,
because I mentioned it earlier, the Quilt to the barn
Quilt tours. There are some formal ones that you've put together.
People can make up their own, but tell us a
little bit more about that.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Yeah, So Quilts on Barnes is it's a it's a
full Racine County tour. So when you want to see
all of them and there's over twenty, then you're going
to need a day. So you kind of need to
It's one of those things that I always tell people
it's better to plan, but if you're just gonna wing it,
(29:27):
I would definitely stop at the visitor center and pick
up one of our Quiltes on Barnes maps so that
you're not just driving around. You know, you got to
have a plan if you want to see them all.
If you're looking to just see a couple, then sure,
just go ahead find the barns. You can look it
up online on our website or on Quilts on Barnes
and all. I mean, it's very simple. You just drive there.
(29:47):
You can see the quotes on the barn. Many of
the barn owners who are involved in this are more
than happy to talk about their their quilt. So lots
of times anyone who stops people will come out and talk.
They'll give you the hit street. They love it when
you take photos. And then you could do that over
twenty times. So it all depends on how much time
(30:08):
you have.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
Boy, that can be a whole day or a whole
weekend if you're really into those.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
Yep. And it started Kathy Wilson, who is one of
our brilliant artists in this county and involved in like
every art organization that we that we have. She was
one of the people that started that. And I mean,
if you really want the full full Quilton Barnes experience,
I would contact Kathy and she can give that to
you too.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
Okay, very cool. Well, that's that's west of the eye.
Let's do a couple of key things east of the eye.
And why don't we hop to the northern part of
the county here, I mean Mount Pleasant is in the
southern part, and that's gotten very busy. You know, there
were there were there was some fox Con stuff going on,
and now Microsoft is moving in there with this huge deal.
So that area is just growing a lot from industry.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
Oh it is. I mean, it's it's the hub of
the county when it comes to industry, commerce, manufacturing. You
can't find a bigger piece of that for us. And
it's not just for Stine Counties, honestly, for southeast Wisconsin.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
It's gotten busier there to the point they added a
new State Highway three eleven now connects some areas down there.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
I know, like I said, when you go to these
you could go to Waterford and be amazed by the
new things. If you really want to be amazed, go
to Mount Pleasant because there's roads you've never seen before,
there's infrastructure that never existed, there's you know, Microsoft all
of these buildings. But they've also at the same time
that they've been building that and growing the commerce part
(31:41):
of it. Their actual Village Center, which is like their
campus that includes Village Hall there you know, police department,
but they have they now have Campus Park and it's
completely renovated. I mean it is I don't even call
it a renovation, it's just brand new. And what live
music All summer they had the Mount Pleasant music. They
have pickleball courts, they have a splash pad, a really
(32:04):
really cool playground. They have park walking trails that connect
their parks. Like they have done such an amazing job
at making it a community, a place for the community
for everybody that it's I mean, you could spend like
your a whole weekend at Campus Park.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
You know. It's funny because and that kind of surround
stirt event, which is known especially for having a stop
on the Amtrak. Yes, and the main the main line
between not only Milwaukee and Chicago, but you know all
the way west to Seattle. And it's also by the
way where the Canadian Pacific Holiday train is about to
rumble through.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
Yep. Always some people love it that stops there.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
Pretty fun December seventh, that'll be making a stop there.
But yeah, you mentioned with Mount Pleasant, so they've grown
their tax base a lot and they were a township
and now they're you know, a city and they're sizable
population now too, so that, yeah, that gave them a
chance to build a center kind of not unlike Oh Creek,
you know, and when they got rid of the god
(33:07):
what was Delco and then they built that town center.
Mount Pleasant is starting to build like a town center,
if you will. And I think over the next five
ten years it's going to be fun to keep an
eye on what they're doing.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
Yeah, it really is. Their growth is off the charts
and they're in the middle of everything. Like talking about
not having to go far to get to anywhere, you
can use Mount Pleasant as your epicenter and just pretty
much spread out from there and find endless amounts of
things to do an experience.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
Well, you knew it was changing when the freeway signs
for like for Highway twenty started adding Mount Pleasant to it.
If you go a little further north, you're in Franksville
and along County K which connects the interstate and Highway
thirty eight. Pretty well, it's a great way to get
down to a scene off the interstate. If you're coming
from the north. I have to give a shout out
to the Franksville Beer Garden, and I know that's one
(33:55):
of your favorites.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
Yes, yeah, yes, the Franksville Craft Beer Garden is an
amazing place. It is not just a beer garden. It
is a family community gathering center. Ken and Molly have
built this to be something that's absolutely integral to summertime
(34:18):
here in Rastine County. The visitors that come to check
out the beer garden are always amazed. They're you know,
they think that they're going to come find a couple
of picnic tables and maybe like a guy playing guitar,
and that isn't it at all. It's they offer so
many different events, so many different like food trucks constantly,
(34:41):
that the beer is always changing, the roop beer for
kids is always there. It's they just I don't know.
I don't know how they've done it, but I am
impressed every time I see them. Plus be next to
score soccer complex. Pretty awesome because a lot of soccer
parents don't mind checking out a beer garden.
Speaker 1 (34:59):
Well part with that soccer complex. And I saw you
there at the time that you did that. They hosted
an Australian rules football team tournament and it's like how
does Racine pull in these international things because that's not
the only international event that's been drawn into the area.
But yeah, Australian rules football. All these guys came from
down Under to Racine County.
Speaker 2 (35:20):
Yep. Yeah, and I mean that was in whatever. Gosh,
that was a while ago and.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
Six years ago.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
Yeah, yeah, we had them back in twenty I don't
even know the you're twenty twenty three, Like they were
here last year for their Parallel Cup, which is a
tournament against Canada, So I don't know. It's it's so
important to have the vibe that makes visitors want to
come and see what you have. But it's really exciting
(35:46):
when those visitors want to come back. That's the thing
I'm always working for.
Speaker 1 (35:50):
Yeah, return, return business if you will. That's always it.
And that's in Little Franksville, which you know, people don't
always think of it much. Caledonia, which has become a
growth suburb now of both Rosine and Milwaukee. It's right
by the county line. A popular spot for people who
like to CAMPV an RV is the Jellystone Park. They
have a location in Caledonia, but there's a huge holiday
(36:13):
lights show there.
Speaker 2 (36:15):
Oh yes, there's everything at Jellystone Campground right now, like
you said, at Christmas Carnival of Lights, and that is
actually within Jellystone Campground, So you have options. You can
drive your car, you can ride in the giant sleigh.
That's my suggestion and recommendation always. You could take a
golf court tour of the place. And there's over two
(36:38):
million lights. We like to say we're the largest light
show in Wisconsin, and I firmly believe that. I mean,
where else are you going to find two million lights?
Speaker 1 (36:50):
They can count two million lights.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
Also something I've yeah, but they do it like they
start setting this thing up in summer and it's I
don't know, it's it's so great. It's something fun to do.
This is Wisconsin sometimes, even when it's not holiday related,
like it's winter, people are we can't be outside every second,
(37:12):
but when we have attractions putting on events like this,
it's it's so important for us.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
It does really add to it. It's good to get
out and get some fresh air and enjoy things like that.
And then you have bear Pad Adventure Park in the
nicer weather, that's a fun place to take the kids,
let them get out the energy.
Speaker 2 (37:29):
Yes, yes, Randy Isaacson, who used to own Jellystone but
his family still does. He was always on the lookout for,
like what is the what is the next thing that
I have to add to make this an attraction that
people will want to come to. And Bear Pop Beach
was the big first step. And now it's become Bear
(37:51):
Pod Adventure Park with ziplining and laser tag and giant
jumping pillows. And I mean the kids in this region,
they spend their summers there doing all of these things,
and that is pretty awesome to have that kind of
(38:11):
opportunity to watch both tourism grow but also how the
community is responding and supporting someone who's so important to
this area.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
He's really done a good job expanding all of that
up there. And that's right along Highway thirty eight. And
if you follow thirty eight down, you go pat through
husher Is. It just jogs east and then south again.
Then you kind of parallel the Root River, so you
have the Fox River in western Racine County as the
dominant river. The Root River, which is French Racine is
French for root. That's how it all came about. You
(38:44):
follow that river down. Caledoni also as a dog park.
There's the Johnson Park golf course, but you keep going
down and then you get more into towards Racine and
win Point, which we've talked about win Point before. It's
the tallest lighthouse on the Great Lakes, hundred feet tall,
and there's but there's other cool little things to see.
There's like little the Fog Lighthouse. The village hall is
(39:06):
in there, and that's that's a great stop. And it's
really it literally is a point out in the lake.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
Yeah, win Point is you kind of feel like you're
in a I don't know if something special when you're there,
because it's it's so surrounding. You have the lake on
one side and then it's it's very large and open.
Kind Yeah, yes, it is. That's exactly what it feels like.
(39:31):
You're on the East coast somewhere checking out a lighthouse.
The gardens are beautiful. The lighthouse keepers are on site
all the time. They they live there and they take
care of you know, the grounds, and they've been doing
some really cool new things too, with you know, sunset
climbs and sunrise climbs and using the lighthouse in a
(39:51):
in a more engaging way. So that's been a win point,
always does a great job. But now it's almost like
a next level up.
Speaker 1 (39:59):
Bo that's nice. Yeah, And that's where you know, you
go out of course to Lake Michigan. Right there and
just inside is wing Spread and that's one of the
stops along the Frank Lloyd Wright Trail, which starts in
Racine and ends up going up through Milwaukee and then
west and it goes all the way you know, through Madison,
over by Talley Essen and Spring Green and over to
Richland Center. But Racine is the start of that trail,
(40:21):
or the eastern terminus or southern terminus, however you want
to call it, with several stops, of which wing Spread
is one, and that's usually it's private events and everything.
And it used to be the Johnson's home, but people
still can visit there sometimes.
Speaker 2 (40:36):
Sure, Yeah, absolutely, Wingspread is open for public tours. You
just have to make a reservation. I see Johnson all
located here within Racine or Rassine County. They are very
they take care of their company, their buildings. They want
to share it with everyone. They just ask that it's
done in a very you know, structured discipline way, because
(40:57):
these are these are historic buildings, and if you have
not been to Wingspread, I will endlessly tell you to go.
You think you know everything about franklod Right, or you
have no idea about Frankloyd Right, you will learn more
than you thought you could just by visiting that one property.
It's incredible. Whether it's in the winter or in the summer,
you must go. The stories that come with it, the
(41:19):
attention to detail, the frankloid Right way, it's so prevalent
at Wingspread.
Speaker 1 (41:26):
And throughout Racine. I mean, the other stops in there
at the very southern end, just south of downtown includes
the sc Johnson Headquarters, the Golden Rondell, the Johnson Wax
Research Tower, which is a very unique building. And so
if you follow the Frankloyd Right trail and we have
resources there on stage, trunk tour dot com, and there's
others too. You can check all of those out in
(41:47):
ra scene and we've talked about those in detail before. Yeah,
so we'll focus on some of the other things you
can check out. And one of the things as you
get closer into downtown, if you're just off Highway thirty
two or on Main Street, we've got to start with
a shout out to Racine Zoo.
Speaker 2 (42:02):
Yes, we certainly do. A Racine Zoo is our top
attraction in the county, hands down. It is located right
on Lake Michigan, and you can stand at the edge
of it and look out over the lake and you
can turn a quarter turn and see the drafts like.
Speaker 1 (42:19):
It is a so the giraffes have a better view
of the lake than we do though, right.
Speaker 2 (42:24):
Yeah, I would say probably. But you can also be
on Main Street and see the girafts like it is
wild that there is a zoo right in the middle
of a neighborhood. But there's Sine Zoo is not only
is it a zoo, they take wonderful care of their animals.
They many of them live to you know, they live
these lives, like there's monkeys and giraffes and all of
(42:46):
these stuff are there for over twenty years, which is
not always common in a zoo. They get great care,
they get a lot of visitors. But outside of the
animal aspect of a zoo, Beth Heidorn and her team
are They're constantly ways for you to go there for
something else, for events. Boo at the Zoo on Easter
(43:06):
every holiday has something that that matches it at the
Racine Zoo, so it doesn't have to be a big deal.
It could be a very simple event if you want
to go to that. And then they have fundraising events
all year long. And the Rasceine community is they love.
Speaker 1 (43:22):
Their zoo, yeah, and the events that are there, and
we post about those events at times throughout the year.
You can get creative and really enjoy a lot of
a lot of different things along with the animals at
the zoo, so definitely check it out. And then you
can also for a nice dose of art. You have
the Racine Art Museum right downtown on Main Street, but
then you also have the Woosdom Museum, which is over
(43:43):
on thirty eight, which is Northwestern Avenue, and that's kind
of a cool like, I don't want to call it
a satellite campus. How would you describe it.
Speaker 2 (43:50):
No, that's a pretty good way of saying it. But
I mean it's its own beast Woosdom. It's a whole again.
Something you're just driving and then you look over and
this huge home is sitting right there and it's open
to the public all the time, so you can stop in.
It's right next to the Rossine Theater Guild. So I
mean you could check out that too, if you even
(44:13):
just to go see inside of the Theater Guild. But
wisdom is the thing about it is it's it has
this like old Southern kind of feel to the actual
building and then you go inside the arts that they, yeah,
that they exhibit is it's everything. It's you know, it
is not just a gallery, is what I'm trying to say,
(44:36):
Like it is truly. You can there's sculpture, there's there's painting,
there's all of the different visual arts. But at the
same time, there's rooms there because they host all of
the different workshops you can sign up for during the year.
Speaker 1 (44:53):
Boy, yeah, there's a lot going on too. It's you
don't usually get a two four on an art museum
like that in a city, but you do in Racine,
so that's pretty wild.
Speaker 2 (45:03):
Yeah. And then I mean ram of course the Racine
Art Museum is right downtown. Again, you could see it
from the lake. It's really incredible to have two options
when it comes to art in that manner, and that
is one of the reasons twenty twenty five for us too,
is we are focusing hard on the arts that we
have in Racine County, and it's more than just those
two museums, but they're pretty good starting points.
Speaker 1 (45:25):
Yeah, absolutely. And then you know, if you get to
the Ram, which is also one of McCartney's best albums,
the main street section of downtown Racene, and then you've
got sixth and seventh and that is it's all Highway
thirty two and the sixth seventh part is also our
Highway twenties eastern end is and thirty eight ends at
State Street at Highway thirty two. You know, just that
(45:45):
region right there. You have so much walkable shops to explore,
restaurants to enjoy. Littleport Brewing Company is down there. And
then the QP, which is a classic old school burger
if you don't mind looking at the at the dolls,
which some people do.
Speaker 2 (46:02):
But it's correct.
Speaker 1 (46:03):
It's a unique place, a classic, beautiful billing. We just
posted the architecture not too long ago on our Instagram page,
the ivanh which is beautiful. And then there's a new
boutique hotel down there.
Speaker 2 (46:18):
Yes, yeah, Hotel Verdant is open and thriving, and like
you said, it's a boutique. So this is really our
first boutique hotel. People go there and the feedback is wild.
They feel like it's because it is in a historic building.
It used to be Zan's department store. So there's a
(46:39):
lot of Rsinians who are like, well this, they just
want to go see what it's like inside. And then
when you're there, everything it is, the design is beautiful.
It is obviously new, so that's helpful too when it
comes to a hotel. But they are fully dedicated to
sustainability and being green. So there's you know, there's plants,
(47:01):
there's natural light there. Everything they do with the heating
and air conditioning systems is sustainable. That's not even to
mention the fact that there's Marguerite, which is an incredible
restaurant one up top. No, Margerite is on the ground floor, okay,
but Eve is what is up on top? Yeah is
the Yes. So you can be on rooftop. It's a
(47:23):
rooftop bar, you can go outside, you can stay inside,
whatever you want to do. But you can see all
the way to the lake and pretty much the entire
city you've seen.
Speaker 1 (47:33):
Yeah, you have a better view than the giraffes when
you're in Eve.
Speaker 2 (47:36):
Yeah. Right. Oh, if the drafts were adding if that
would be wild, Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (47:40):
You'd be able to see that from the whole county.
Speaker 2 (47:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (47:42):
Yeah, And there are a lot of great events. And
we've talked a lot about things in Downtown or Scene,
but there are a lot of great events too. There's
First Fridays, which the last of which for twenty twenty
four is coming up, you know, this first Friday here
in December, but every April through December there's a great
event on the first Friday of every month, and that
centers on Monument Square, which is right next to Verdant,
(48:05):
but that goes up and down a ways, and that's
something worth checking out to kick off a weekend.
Speaker 2 (48:09):
Yeah. Absolutely, people love First Fridays. It's an easy place
to get to. And even though it's First Fridays, so
that's every Friday of those months that you mentioned, everyone
is different.
Speaker 1 (48:22):
Oh yeah, there's a theme themes.
Speaker 2 (48:24):
Yes, November was flannel, yeah right, and you know there's
country like then the live music will match with that theme.
So they do. They do a great job of programming
the Square in a manner where you want to keep
coming back.
Speaker 1 (48:39):
They really do. And you know, Downtown or Scene does
a lot of those kinds of events. There's wine walks,
there's a beer cross, there's all kinds of there's things
with the Art Museum, and those are all worth checking out,
especially when you go to visit Rascinecounty dot com. You
guys are on top of all those events. We share
a lot of them too at State Trump Tour dot Com,
but we do it in the form of a road trip.
(49:02):
And if you want to do your motorcycle road trip,
they have Indian Motorcycle of Racine, which is kind of
a unique thing.
Speaker 2 (49:08):
Yep, right there on Sixth Street two Indian Motorcycle. They
you can go in there and pretty much get lost
looking at different kind of motorcycle that they offer in
the design and the color and all of those like
the life of motorcycling. But the building is cool too,
so they give a lot of history on Indian and
(49:29):
where it came from, why it's here. And then you,
I mean, you could buy a motorcycle if you want
to just drive it right off.
Speaker 1 (49:37):
That'd be pretty cool, all right, walk in, ride out. Yeah,
And there's I mean, there's so many other great things
to check out. We talked about the sc Johnson Headquarters
and just throughout the city. There's Wells Brothers is famous
for their pizza. That's over on the south side of town.
And there's a lot of great restaurants downtown with a
huge variety of cuisine which a lot of people wouldn't
(49:57):
think of.
Speaker 2 (49:59):
Right, Yeah, that's absolutely true. I mean there's options for
anything that you're looking for. The Maple Table is right there.
They offer they're like pretty much farm to table, so
they are constantly changing their menu, giving you lots of
different options, and you could go from there to you know,
Sticky Rice is right across the street. There's all sorts
(50:23):
of there's Asian cuisine, there's Butcher and Beryl which is
like very craft steaks, and there's everything.
Speaker 1 (50:31):
There's even Spanish. In Old Madrid, you've got Asiana, which
is they're focused on Korean and so it gets really
specific in the downtown area and you have a lot
of great choices. And then there's all the fun where
the river starts going into Lake Michigan. You know, there's
like Joey's Yard arm which is a fun place people
pull up their boats there. There's even a Pakistani restaurant
(50:53):
called cheat Chat, which is you know, hey, it runs
the Gamut, check it all out, Dragon Pit Barbecue.
Speaker 2 (51:01):
Like there's just it's whatever you there's always an option.
And people I tell them, you don't, don't go to
the same place twice, try try everything, and then go
back to your favorites.
Speaker 1 (51:13):
Yeah, the owners would be like, no, come back, two, three,
four times.
Speaker 2 (51:15):
We want the day exactly I want to, but stay
here somewhere, don't.
Speaker 1 (51:19):
Play there, explore and check out. So yeah, all right,
now I've kept you way longer than I've promised. So
I just we'll close with a couple of key events
coming up as we go through the winter here, you know,
into December and January and stuff like that. What are
some key things people should remember to maybe stop down
and experience, you.
Speaker 2 (51:41):
Know, Christmas Carnival of Lights is. I would absolutely recommend that.
But in Waterford this year they're having a really huge event.
It's actually a Friday, Saturday and Sunday December sixth, seventh,
and eighth, and it's old fashioned Christmas Market in Waterford,
which is going to include i mean, the involved offering
(52:01):
their own events, but they're they're oh my gosh, they're shopping.
There's the ice rink, there's cookie decorating, there's live music,
Santas coming, there's a parade, so I would definitely recommend
that first week in of December checking out Waterford cool. Yep.
Then we have all of the things that you're looking,
you know, looking for in downtown Racine. Like you said,
(52:24):
there's the Kringle Tour, the Chris Kringle Tour where you
shop and get free Kringle awesome.
Speaker 1 (52:31):
Nice.
Speaker 2 (52:33):
Yes, there are another thing that we didn't touch on.
It's a which I really think you would like. Sixth
Street Theater over our head Players is one of our
performing arts groups, and they're putting on a very schmeeter
Christmas rhymes with theater, so theater Schmeieter okay. And it's
(52:55):
like Racine's own Saturday Night Live. So it's all sketch comedy,
super funny stuff, but also includes like news up live
news and local updates, live music, so like an SNL episode. Interesting,
but specifically we're seeing it is awesome. I cannot recommend
that enough.
Speaker 1 (53:14):
It's like SNL and SCTV put together inner scene.
Speaker 2 (53:17):
Yes, exactly like that, okay, yep, yep.
Speaker 1 (53:22):
Well, you could find more at visit Racine County dot com.
We'll post more about that too on stage trunk tour
dot com. Yeah, we don't often do the theater shows,
but I think in this case, I second to find
out what they're all about, because that sounds pretty darn cool.
Speaker 2 (53:36):
Yeah, it is really cool. And I have to mention
something too that a lot of people that we are
finding very important here. But here at the visitor Center
on December nineteenth, which is a Thursday, we are hosting
a blood drive from two to seven. And that is
something that you can get out and support your community
and help during the holiday season. Very very very easy
thing to do.
Speaker 1 (53:57):
Yeah, you get treats afterwards, right, ah.
Speaker 2 (53:59):
Yeah you could also if we have seventeen donors, you
could get win free Kringle for a year.
Speaker 1 (54:05):
Very nice. Yeah. Well, your body, so your body makes
fresh blood when you donate, you know, you lose a pint.
Your body makes you fresh blood and you need you know, nutrition,
and Kringle will really help your body make more blood.
Speaker 2 (54:17):
Right, You'll be like so much better version of yourself.
You don't even know, you know.
Speaker 1 (54:23):
The common theme now is Kringle fixes everything.
Speaker 2 (54:26):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (54:27):
So it's great. Howl a gift too to ship to
other people. And they've got all the bakeries there, Larsen
and n H and there's a couple of others. They
weren't popping into my brain.
Speaker 2 (54:36):
I know you know them, Yes, Layman's, Layman's that's the one, yes, yep,
but we love them all all.
Speaker 1 (54:44):
And one more shout out is in Mount Pleasant. Actually
just one more brewery.
Speaker 2 (54:49):
There, oh, one of us brewing, Yes.
Speaker 1 (54:52):
One of us brewing. Great great stop in what used
to be kind of a strip mall shopping center thing.
But if you get a chance to stop in there,
it is a delicious place to enjoy a brew on
your way in or out of the city. Ever scene
if you're going back and forth to and from the interstate.
So the bottom line is everywhere you go there's something
cool to check out across the entire county.
Speaker 2 (55:15):
Yep. That's what makes my job so much fun.
Speaker 1 (55:18):
Boy, you certainly know it all in and out. That's
pretty awesome. I'm throwing you. We didn't buy the way
go over specific questions before I did this. I just
kept throwing stuff at you. And then I'm like, and
you were like, yeah, this, this and this about it
so very impressive. No, I try and so we got
all your road trips now eleven, twenty, thirty one, thirty two,
(55:40):
thirty eight, thirty six, one sixty four, I Wave forty five,
seventy five. There's all kinds of roads to explore and
we're seeing. Of course, there's all the back roads and
up and down the interstate, there's a lot, and then
you take the little pathways that take you out to
win Point and everything. There's something behind every corner, and
of course we're happy to continue showcasing it right here
on the State Trunk Tour podcast. Kerrie, thank you so
(56:01):
much for joining us. Another fun conversation with you today.
Speaker 2 (56:05):
Yes, thanks for having me anytime.
Speaker 1 (56:06):
She's always a blast to talk to and she's so
good at what she does there in Racine County. Kerrie Grieving,
the executive director of Visit Rascine County. Again visit their
visitor center which is right on Highway twenty just west
of I forty one to ninety four. Yeah, they are
right next to the golf course. They are right next
to some great bars and restaurants, and there's just so
much cool stuff there. As they get ready to re
(56:27):
up their building and do some new cool things. As
they enter of their twenty fifth anniversary there. Visit Rascinecounty
dot com has all of the information. It's a very
very well organized site for everything you might want to
check out now. We'll also keep you updated on State
trunk Tour dot com on events there and around Wisconsin
and update you on some of the great road trips,
so make sure you go to State trunk Tour dot
(56:47):
com as well. We got another great topic for you
in the next episode, so we'll look forward to talking
with you then on the State Trunk Tour Podcast.
And welcome back to the State Trunk Tour. Pine Malson.
You're a head tour guide and as we focus on
road trips and places around Wisconsin, this time we're going
to focus on Racine County, not just the city of Racine,
but the entire county, which encompasses not only the city
and all the beautiful Lake Michigan coast. We're talking all
the way west Burlington, Waterford, those areas, the beautiful land
(00:21):
in between rich In farmland, rich now in wineries, distilleries, breweries,
barn quilts, astronomy options where you can look to the
heavens literally and some fast growing stuff along the interstate too,
around Mount Pleasant and Sternament And in those areas so
many great things to do and experience, from art to architecture.
There's a great zoo. There are wineries, distilleries and more
(00:44):
we've never even talked about yet, not only on the
website but on this podcast so far, and you can
be amazed at not only how cool and vibrant and
walkable downtown Racine is, but downtown Burlington. There's even some
really cool stuff in Waterford and some of the other
small towns throughout Racine County and there's a lot of
holiday stuff going on right now, so why don't we
get into it with Visit Racine Counties Executive Director Carrie Grieving.
(01:07):
She knows all the stuff inside. Now we'll be talking
so many fascinating things. This fifty five minutes will fly
right by, and we start right after this. All right,
and now it's time to talk with Kerry Grieving. We've
talked with her several times before. Actually, she's one of
our favorites because she's so much fun to talk to.
And now she's executive director not just of a city,
(01:30):
promoting a city, but the whole county. Here executive director
of Visit Racine County Carrie Grieving, Good morning.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Carrie, Good morning Erek. How are you.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
I'm doing well, and boy, there's so much going on
and you know, getting into the holiday season. We'll talk
about all of that, but I want to update everybody
on what's going on because we've tagged or seen in
so many posts. There's a lot of things that go
on in the city and downtown, but there's things that
go on all over the county. And now you guys
are officially visit Racine County, Yes.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
We are, and I do appreciate all that tagging that
you always do. There's always so much going on in
all this different promotion, and we've found that for us
it's just so much more fun. I mean, bottom line
is tourism supposed to be fun, right, So we found
like we have so many things in this county. The
city of Racine is great. They put on events, more
(02:20):
events than anybody else nearby. They are always doing something.
But so is Burlington, and so is Waterford, and so
is Caledonia. Everybody here Mount Pleasant, I mean Mount Pleasant,
they're always whether it's industry or music or whatever, they're
always coming up with new ideas. So now we get
to be essentially the marketing firm, the tours of entity
(02:43):
for everybody.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Yeah, your job is to share the news both east
and west, because a lot of people think of east
of the Eye west of the eye. I forty one
and ninety four in Racine County, and there are two
distinct areas at times, but they're all united under one
county and under you guys.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Yes, and it's I mean that's the way it's supposed
to be. And that's the most ideal situation for us,
because there's just if we were just focusing on one.
We honestly would get nowhere because it's there's it's what
you like, Like, what are you looking for? We have
so many different things. You might think that the city
of Racine is very urban and it's on the lake,
and you know all the things about Racine, you know
(03:20):
all the history whorl like malted milk and all of
those things.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Invention of the garbage disposal and malted milk, Yes, it's
a cycle.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Maybe you want to go to incinerator and check out
how those you know, those garbage disposals are made. We
could do that for you. But perhaps you want to
go to a pumpkin farm. Maybe you want to go
see farming. Maybe you want to do all the things
that are a little bit more prevalent in some of
our more rural.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Areas, you know, those rural we'll talk about it a
little more. But the quilt tours, the barn.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Quilts, yeah, oh, quiltes on barnes. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
Again, that's all coming up. But the bottom line is
you've embraced the entire county as one and the back
and forth. I mean, you know, eleven and twenty or
two of the main highways that go all the way
east west, and there's so much to see along all
of them. And that's one of the points we want
to make today.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Yes, yeah, that's exactly right. And the other thing too,
is under our previous names and things that people knew
us as, like Rascine was the sole focus. But by
changing our brand and changing our name to visit Racine County,
it's incredibly clear, like we are here for everybody. We
are here for every visitor, we are here for every resident.
We are here to just show off everything that we
(04:34):
have here, whatever you want to find.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
And yeah, some of those places a little more unsung. Franksville, Caledonia,
Union Grove sometimes even though the Racine County Fair is there.
They're also known for great likes Dragaway, which technically is
on the Kenosha County side of the county line road,
but it's Union Grove, which is a Racine County town.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
You're so good at the geography of all these things. Yes, exactly, Yeah,
that's right, they'd still fall into our Racine County. And
you know, we don't mind sharing with Kenosha. Kenosha is
a nice place. There's a that, like you said, Highway eleven.
There's a lot of stuff that depends on what side
of the road you're on. But to us, if it's
somewhere where people want to go and people want to
(05:14):
learn and see and understand and experience, like we're we're
there for that.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
You know, it's funny because we're Seine County. We're seeing Kenosha.
It's it's the same land areas about Walworth. It's just
Rasceining Kenosha are divided in half east west and Racine's
got that extra township that ducks down and encompasses all
of Burlington, which is kind of funny. But yeah, so
there's there's a lot going on. Actually, why don't we
go west to east and start talking about it like that?
(05:42):
Because Burlington has so much cool stuff. There's there's like
two breweries there now. There's the legendary Fred's, Hamburger's Adriana's
Frozen Custers just celebrating fifty years now. And so it's
also the home famously of the Liars Club. Yeah who
can tell the biggest lie story? And also that logic
(06:04):
puzzle and toy museum and that with the breweries and Fred's,
they're all within like a two block walk of each other.
Because Burlington's downtown is awesome.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
It is, it really is. And I tell people this
all the time because I feel like, again, when you're
west of the Eye, you think everything's really spread out,
you know, because you're thinking farms. You're thinking, oh, I'm
going to have to travel, However, you know, thirty minutes
to do all of these things. That's not true at all.
The downtown in Burlington has all of those things that
(06:33):
you mentioned. You park once and you can hit them all.
You can walk, whether it's in the middle of summer
or if you want to like check out this holiday time,
which is pretty amazing. I mean to be totally, totally
legit about all of this. I think Burlington does the
best job in giving you that charming holiday feel. Where
(06:54):
you're going to go shopping, where you're going to go
to their events, you're going to see Santa. They do
such a really good job of it's like a I
don't want to say it, but it's like a Hallmark Gooby.
When you go there, the lights are up, the streets
are like beautiful and clean and cute, and then their
offerings just kind of back that up. There's always something
(07:16):
to do there's always a reason to go. Light up.
The night is coming on November twenty second, and that's
a big one. That's a I mean, I've been. It's
you can shop, there's great deals, everybody's open late. There's
that feel of walking around and I mean, I don't
want it to be snowing, but other people like snow
and you can you can take the horse drawn carriage,
(07:39):
you could go to a movie, you could eat dinner
and shop. It's I don't know, an it's an experience.
It's an atmosphere that I could just talk about forever.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Yeah, all within walking distance. Yeah, the great shops and restaurants,
the breweries Low Daily, which is it's a it's a
cool little brewery. It's located in the former interurban train
station that where the trains used to ca Neck to Milwaukee,
and so you've got some really cool architecture in there.
They have the sweet patio out back and really good beers.
And then just a couple of steps away is the Runaway,
(08:10):
which is a newer micropub and nano brewery that just
got fired up. And again that's by the other shops
and restaurants, and you're right about downtown in the holiday
season because in my capacity is having done mornings on
WLKG and Lake Geneva. We are a part of the
Burlington Parade and it is truly when you wind through
those downtown streets and they're just filled with people. You
(08:32):
look at the buildings, beautiful buildings. I mean, they've done
a great job preserving them, and all the shops and
all the lights, and the people that live above them
waving from up above. You're like, wow, this is pretty sweet.
And it's it's what about twelve thousand in the town.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Yeah, yeah, that's what I've that's the most recent number
I've seen. And just like you know, you said it.
Those breweries not only are they breweries where you could
just go, you know, if you're feeling like, oh tonight, tonight,
we want to get out, we want to go somewhere
you can go hang out there, but they put on
cool events like they put on they're not just everyone
(09:06):
in Burlington is very invested I think in being there.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
There's a lot of civic pride.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
There is, and you have, like it's an energy when
you go there. So you you'll meet the owners of
Low Daily, of the Runaway and they'll tell you what's
coming up and what you can do, and how great
it is to be in Burlington. So you don't find
that everywhere.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
That's that's true, and you do find it there and
the spirit is really strong and they have you know,
in the warmer weather, they have the aqueducts on Brown's
Lake doing the water ski show. Now Burlington focused on
quote Chocolate city because the big Nestli plant there and
that's still there, and they still have a lot of
great chocolate, but they've diversified what they want to showcase
(09:51):
for people.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
No big time. I in my time here, which has
been like almost a decade in this career, in this area,
Burlington is one eighty. It was all chocolate when I
first got here, and it was all pretty much you know,
chocolate Fest at the you know, Memorial daytime and then
a couple other events. But now it's I mean, chocolate's
(10:14):
just a tiny, tiny little piece of what they offer.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
A piece of chocolate. I like it. I also like
your use of the word op a few minutes ago.
Kudos for that. Well, and what's funny? What's funny is
and so downtown Burlington, it's kind of on it's along
the river and then Echo Lake it's along the Fox River,
and then there's a little lake there that they call
Echo Lake, and then a little bit west there's an island.
And in my capacity with State Trump Tour, where you're
(10:39):
road tripping and discovering new things all the time, we
haven't even covered everything in Burlington now because eighteen forty
one Farms and Vineyard is there just west of downtown,
and that looks spectacular, right.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
It's like, yeah, I don't even know what to say
about this because I could tell we're just talking, you know,
like we're just talking to what's downtown and that's a lot,
like its too much, And then you go just a
little bit out and you find these extra special I
always say experience because it is an experience. It's not
just you know, you're not just going to check out
(11:14):
like a vineyard. They're going to offer you more than that.
And to be able to do all of that within it,
I mean the same day is super cool.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Yeah, they're literally all within a square mile of each
other with that, and that's fantastic. And the Fox River
for western Racine County, that plays a big role in
where the towns are. You kind of go along Highway
thirty six, which kind of parallels it, and you go
up from Burlington, you'll hit Rochester and Waterford, which I
don't want to call them twin cities, but they're literally
right next to each other. Rochester has a lot, it's
(11:46):
a tiny little burg, but as some really cool history.
Some of the really old original trails that used to
go through the area are in downtown Rochester by the
Fox River. And I got to give a shout out
to Chances, which is a supper club and presumably haunted.
And when you go in there, you're like, yeah, I
believe that.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Uh huh oh, yeah I was. I assumed you were
going to bring it up. I mean, how can you
talk about Rochester without Chances? Yep. Yeah. I don't like
scary things like that is not my jam. I don't
like scary movies. I don't like anything. But I immediately
I knew I had to go to Chances and check
it out. And you can't not feel like there's haunted
history there. Walk.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Yeah, it's very old building. They have very great old
fashions by the way.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Yes, yes, bread, yeah, everything you want to definitely. I
mean maybe other people are can be like braver than me,
But I like to focus on the history and that
part of it, and then the food and drink is
like maybe that makes me a little less scared.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Yeah, it's it's a great stop in Rochester and then
Waterford's literally right next door, and they've done a lot
of redeveloping lately, particularly along the river downtown.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Yes, every time you go to Waterford, you should expect
to see something new. And I think that that's pretty
that's a pretty great way to live in this kind
of community because everyone there's this there's a vibe or
there's a feeling like, oh Waterford, well it has you know,
it's got a river and it has a little cute
downtown and that's Waterford. But it's so much more than that.
(13:25):
They are constantly adding you know, housing like condo buildings,
things that you think are a little bit more like
city city, but when you go there and you see them,
they fit in perfectly. It's such a neighborhood vibe, such
a neighborhood feel that everything they're doing is just leading
(13:47):
closer to that feeling.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Yeah, and they're doing so much along the river. There's
been some newer events recently, and you know they're taking
advantage of their assets really well, and frankly their position
because some people commute to Milwaukee because thirty six Loomis
shoots you right over there, and twenty can get your
right over to Racine or over by East Troy and
(14:08):
those other locations, and then you can also shoot right
down to Lake Geneva also right I'm thirty six. So
it's they're well positioned, kind of like Burlington is. Really.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
Yeah, nothing's far away. That's what we talk about all
the time here is that wherever you want to be
in Racine County, nothing's far away from you. It's it.
You can commute south, you can go north, you can
whatever you're looking for, or you can stay within the county,
which I recommend, and you can find everything there too.
So yeah, just like you said, it's not nothing is
(14:40):
hard to get to.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
No, And there's some good recreation too, and you get
north of Waterford. Not to be confused with Lake Michigan.
There's Michigan Lake. I don't know, I don't know how
that came about, but yeah, and that's right off one
sixty four, because you know, twenty one sixty four to
thirty six, they all kind of gather around Waterford, and
then a little further to the east there's wind Lake.
Remember that's in Racine County, and there's a lot of
(15:02):
cool recreational opportunities because we don't talk much about inland
lakes in Racine County, but they have them in the
western part.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Oh yeah, I mean you brought it up before when
you mentioned the aqueducts. You know, Brown's Lake is infamous
for it's a big lake. People. There are people that
will boat all summer long on Brown's Lake over and
over again because it's big. You know, it's not a
teeny tiny lake that you feel like, oh, I've been
there once, I don't need to go again. And while
(15:31):
Chichigan is a little bit different than that, kind of
a different feel, these these lakes are like as essential
for everyone's summertime. And you don't have to be in
Lake Michigan. I tell people that all the time. You can.
It's great, it's big, it's a great lake. But literally, yep,
it's not your only option, especially if you're looking for
(15:53):
things that are you know, kayaking on the Fox River.
There's multiple options to do that between Waterford and Berlin.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Oh that's a yeah, it's a good river to go
up and down in a kayak. That's a great point.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Yeah, it's really and it's it's you know, like it
it's within reasons navigable. You don't have to like be
an expert kayaker two to go a far distance and
you can jump out and you can you know, port
in water in Waterford and then go to the Waterford
Stillhouse and enjoy you know, something that they might have there,
(16:25):
an event going on or just whiskey. You know.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
That's another spot we haven't been to yet, is the
Waterford Still House.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Oh, oh my gosh, you yes, you must go.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
My parents have been there. They told me about it. Relatively,
it's they they call it on their own site Racine
County's best micro distillery.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Mm hmmm yep.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
And definitely have to check that out because we got
to write an entry on that. But that's yeah, that's
right on Main Street too. And it's funny with the
craft breweries and uh to some extent, wineries, those are
usually further out, but distilleries and breweries kind of are
some of the newer anchors of these downtowns of these
small cities.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
It is wild how these how this has come about
and how important it is for these communities to have
something like that. And it's not always about the you know,
the alcohol or the beer or whatever they're they're serving.
It's they become like cornerstones of the community. The Waterford
Steel House they put on a like they have a
(17:28):
walking group, or you can run a five k in the.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Summer like before you I presume yes.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Then you can get Avod calimonade. Like see how it
all works out? Like it's they're offering so much more
to residents to visitors than ever before. Well, and that's
a very new thing.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
There's a creamery on main Street too, you know, Noble
Brothers Waterford Creamery. So if you prefer ice cream or
maybe you can visit both and make an ice cream
drink or cocktail. You can get creative.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Certainly in the Stillhouse they have they sell soap. They say,
you know, there's all sorts of different it's not just
about the brewing. It's not just about that.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
It's not the distilling. Yeah right, Well, there's camaraderie in
those places and that's one of the reasons they become
more community centers for both visitors and residents.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Yep, yeah, exactly. It's about going there, sitting down, either
meeting someone new or someone you see all the time,
like people you just become your neighbors, become your friends.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Yeah, it sure does happen in those places. Usually the
alcoholic beverages help to yeah, loosen things up a little bit,
shall we say. And that can happen at wineries too,
And there's usually you have to go further out because
of true winery where they grow grapes. You know, you
need to be in a farm and outside just a
little bit east of wind Lake, not too far off
(18:55):
US forty five, there's the Spirits of Norway Vineyard.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
Yep, you want to visit a family run vineyard, this
is the place to go. They've been doing this for
a very long time, like Randy, he's the owner. And again,
when I first started here, it was very much about
making wine, you know, like could they how could they
(19:21):
get these grapes? How could they do this in Wisconsin?
What are I mean? There's a lot It's not easy
to just make wine here. No, so it was I
think it was very focused on that. Now they like
the wine is like nothing to them. They can make
wine all day, but they offer all these different experiences
you can come. You know, they have tastings, they have
(19:42):
holiday events, they have summertime events when you could take
your family, have a birthday party there, you have an
anniversary party. They've they've just grown to something like a
complete attraction for us in the county.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
Yeah, and they're right at the end of six mile Road,
which is funny and Racine there are you have some
east west mile roads, which does help you navigate because
eight mile is kind of the Racine Milwaukee County border
and that's eight miles north. But I think Highway twenty
is the baseline for that, right, so that does help
you navigate. So yeah, Spirits of Norway Vineyard in northwestern
Racine County definitely worth a stop. And they have cultivated
(20:18):
It's one of the things our university us have been
up to and big kudos actually to the University of
Minnesota for that cultivating the Marquette grape, oh and some
others that our heartier grapes that grow better in this weather,
and that's allowed a lot more grapes to be cultivated
and grown in this area for locally made wines.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Well, thank goodness for that, because I feel like we
needed that. I think there are so many people who
wanted to be able to become a part of this
that this wine making world, and you need to know
how to do it in this climate. It is not California, No, it.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Is not latitude wise, though, we're in a good spot
in the forties. That's over in Europe. That's where all
the wineries tend to be. And so yeah, well you know,
they cultivated tougher grapes. They're kind of like packer fans
who take their shirts off outside in November and December
games that we can't understand sometimes. So but yeah, definitely
a great stop out in the middle of Racine County.
(21:18):
Like in the Farmland area, there are still great things
to check out on a road trip, and you can
really put these together. You can do the breweries in Burlington,
the distillery in Waterford, and the spirits of Norway Vineyard.
The mailing address is Franksville. But you know it's just
a little bit east of wind Lake. I mean those
are all within I mean if you went straight from
one to the other, just without stopping, it would still
(21:41):
be like what twenty minutes twenty five?
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Oh if that?
Speaker 1 (21:44):
If that? Yeah, so they're all in they're all conveniently
located near each other. And again that's west of US
forty five in western Racine County. And we haven't given
those as much, you know, love if you will when
we've talked previously. So that's one night thing about you
being visited Racine County now is we're like, oh, yeah,
we should focus more in those areas too.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Yep. Yeah. And it's just a matter of like talking
about it. And it's so simple to to share the
stories because the stories are already there. So it's just
a matter of having you tell one person and it's
ripple effects from all over yep, yep.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
And you know, it's not just about drinking beverages of
various kinds. If you if you're into astronomy, there's actually
a cool place in Yorkville.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Yes, if you. This is one of those things too
that I people will call the visitor center and say, what,
I don't know if the Internet is real, you know,
like they they want to be sure that Modine Benstead
is truly an observat here observatory and it is. It's
in Union Grove and you can visit and they have
(22:57):
I would always recommend that people check their website first.
Or even call and see how it's going, because, as
you can imagine, an observatory is not open every second
of the day.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Yes, that's true.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
You want to make sure that you can get in
there and see everything that they have to offer. But
it is there and it is cool.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
So yeah, they're seen. Astronomical Society is down there, and yeah,
Modeen Benstead so that dates back to like nineteen fifty
six and they just wanted to get people more aware
of what's up there, if you will. And so that's
open to the public. They say one Saturday in April
and one Friday per month from May through September. That's
(23:36):
still the case.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Yeah, that is still the case. Things do change, and
it's also some you know, if you had a specific
group there, they are open to, you know, working with
a group who might be coming in very specifically on
a date, a certain date.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
Very cool. Yeah, it's two dome buildings and they've got
these really cool reflecting telescopes and the actual observatory was
built in nineteen sixty three, so there's a bit of
a sixties vibe in there.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
And oh yeah, yeah, so.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
If you're into if you're into looking at the stars,
Racine County's got a great place for you.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Yep, yeah, check it out.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
Absolutely, and that's just not too far actually off Highway
twenty right, yeah, at forty five, right in that area. Yeah,
eleven and twenty just they come a little closer together
as you get closer into a scene. And actually on
Highway twenty right before you get to the interstate, you've
got your visitor headquarters.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Yeah, so you could always stop and see us here
at the Visitor Center. You can't miss us. We are
a very distinctly designed Franklin, right building, and pretty exciting
news for us here is twenty twenty five. We're going
to be renovating inside the visitor center. Really, you know, yep,
(24:52):
we're about twenty We're cool. We're getting closer to twenty
five years old being in this building, and not a
lot has changed in that time. So we are just
that it's time and we're going to you know, give
a whole fresh new look inside. Easy things, paint updates, renovations,
that kind of thing. But we're also going to be
starting a Verstine County marketplace here where you can stop
(25:14):
and buy Rastine County products. Oh that maybe if you
don't have the time to head to Waterford or downtown
in Racine. You can just see what some of those
shops have to offer here with us.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Okay, and then maybe some of the beverages they produce
and things like that.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
And then I would hope so to the east.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
In Racine, which is you know, in the Kringle capitals
of the world, they already have an O.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
N H.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Danish bakery inside the mobile Like the truck stop at
the interstate junction with twenty. I'm assuming there you might
be offering some Kringle at the visitor center as well.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Yes, I would hope. So I could not see us
not doing that. Really come here and not experienced Kringle
in some way, shape or form.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
Nice little sweet treet. Yeah, you're right next to Route To,
which a big bar with a lot of live music.
That's a lively place, next to Culver's, which is a
Wisconsin staple. So can't get much more Wisconsin than your
little neck of the woods. For the visitors center.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
It's yeah, you really cannot. Yep, that is very true.
Across the street there's an RV center. I mean, hey,
what's more Wisconsin than an RV And then right next door.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
To US is a golf course, so yeah, it's a
big one.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
You get off on one exit and you can have
the complete Wisconsin experience.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
And really there's an Equinn Educational complex, you know, if
you love horses. There's a couple of farms you can
tour near there. You can skydive just south of there,
the Skydive Midwest Skydiving Centers right there, because there used
to be a Slovenia airport. In fact, I think that's
still there, right, Slavinia Airport, yep.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
And it's funny because across the street from that used
to be the University of Losnymy, which was a guy
named Alfred Lawson who is trying to start this new
education idea and everything. I have a lot about it
on the rout of line page on State trunk tour
dot com if you want to find out more about it.
It's not there as much now, but it's kind of
(27:06):
a cool piece of history.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
It is. There's there's all sorts of stuff like that
in this county where you know, whatever's there now, more
than likely something was there before it, and that history
alone is going to be interesting enough to want to
find out.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
Yeah, and the farms have been a big part of
Hersine County's history because the soil there is so good.
They can grow so much stuff and if you want
to get a farm experience. One of the most popular
spots in the state, and a lot of people come
up from Illinois for it too, is just down the
road at Apple Holler.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Yes, yeah, I mean Apple Holler is it's it's it's
its own world almost. If people have told me that
when you go there, you feel like you don't have
to leave, like everything is. You could stay there for
more than a day easily, and it's all dependent upon
what you want to do. And I also have to
tell people all the time that it is open year round,
(27:59):
so don't think that it's just you know, once you're
done picking apples or pears or whatever you want to
fall you do in the fall, then winter is just
as exciting. They have you know, sleigh rides. They have
domes outside where you can experience you know, an outdoor
meal in the middle of winter. It's between the barns,
(28:22):
between the restaurant, between the farm aspect and the goats
that climb on stuff, and all the trees and all
the all the train rides. Apple Holler is a pretty
big deal for us.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
And that is a good thing to note. Apple Holler
is open year round, so even as you know we
dive into winter here, it's still a destination we can
enjoy a lot of a lot of different things. And
what's funny is around Slovenia that's also the Mount Pleasant area.
One thing to note everything we've discussed so far is
west of the interstate. Yeah, and that's worth noting.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
That's pretty crazy.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
And before we hop across, I do want to mention,
because I mentioned it earlier, the Quilt to the barn
Quilt tours. There are some formal ones that you've put together.
People can make up their own, but tell us a
little bit more about that.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Yeah, So Quilts on Barnes is it's a it's a
full Racine County tour. So when you want to see
all of them and there's over twenty, then you're going
to need a day. So you kind of need to
It's one of those things that I always tell people
it's better to plan, but if you're just gonna wing it,
(29:27):
I would definitely stop at the visitor center and pick
up one of our Quiltes on Barnes maps so that
you're not just driving around. You know, you got to
have a plan if you want to see them all.
If you're looking to just see a couple, then sure,
just go ahead find the barns. You can look it
up online on our website or on Quilts on Barnes
and all. I mean, it's very simple. You just drive there.
(29:47):
You can see the quotes on the barn. Many of
the barn owners who are involved in this are more
than happy to talk about their their quilt. So lots
of times anyone who stops people will come out and talk.
They'll give you the hit street. They love it when
you take photos. And then you could do that over
twenty times. So it all depends on how much time
(30:08):
you have.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
Boy, that can be a whole day or a whole
weekend if you're really into those.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
Yep. And it started Kathy Wilson, who is one of
our brilliant artists in this county and involved in like
every art organization that we that we have. She was
one of the people that started that. And I mean,
if you really want the full full Quilton Barnes experience,
I would contact Kathy and she can give that to
you too.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
Okay, very cool. Well, that's that's west of the eye.
Let's do a couple of key things east of the eye.
And why don't we hop to the northern part of
the county here, I mean Mount Pleasant is in the
southern part, and that's gotten very busy. You know, there
were there were there was some fox Con stuff going on,
and now Microsoft is moving in there with this huge deal.
So that area is just growing a lot from industry.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
Oh it is. I mean, it's it's the hub of
the county when it comes to industry, commerce, manufacturing. You
can't find a bigger piece of that for us. And
it's not just for Stine Counties, honestly, for southeast Wisconsin.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
It's gotten busier there to the point they added a
new State Highway three eleven now connects some areas down there.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
I know, like I said, when you go to these
you could go to Waterford and be amazed by the
new things. If you really want to be amazed, go
to Mount Pleasant because there's roads you've never seen before,
there's infrastructure that never existed, there's you know, Microsoft all
of these buildings. But they've also at the same time
that they've been building that and growing the commerce part
(31:41):
of it. Their actual Village Center, which is like their
campus that includes Village Hall there you know, police department,
but they have they now have Campus Park and it's
completely renovated. I mean it is I don't even call
it a renovation, it's just brand new. And what live
music All summer they had the Mount Pleasant music. They
have pickleball courts, they have a splash pad, a really
(32:04):
really cool playground. They have park walking trails that connect
their parks. Like they have done such an amazing job
at making it a community, a place for the community
for everybody that it's I mean, you could spend like
your a whole weekend at Campus Park.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
You know. It's funny because and that kind of surround
stirt event, which is known especially for having a stop
on the Amtrak. Yes, and the main the main line
between not only Milwaukee and Chicago, but you know all
the way west to Seattle. And it's also by the
way where the Canadian Pacific Holiday train is about to
rumble through.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
Yep. Always some people love it that stops there.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
Pretty fun December seventh, that'll be making a stop there.
But yeah, you mentioned with Mount Pleasant, so they've grown
their tax base a lot and they were a township
and now they're you know, a city and they're sizable
population now too, so that, yeah, that gave them a
chance to build a center kind of not unlike Oh Creek,
you know, and when they got rid of the god
(33:07):
what was Delco and then they built that town center.
Mount Pleasant is starting to build like a town center,
if you will. And I think over the next five
ten years it's going to be fun to keep an
eye on what they're doing.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
Yeah, it really is. Their growth is off the charts
and they're in the middle of everything. Like talking about
not having to go far to get to anywhere, you
can use Mount Pleasant as your epicenter and just pretty
much spread out from there and find endless amounts of
things to do an experience.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
Well, you knew it was changing when the freeway signs
for like for Highway twenty started adding Mount Pleasant to it.
If you go a little further north, you're in Franksville
and along County K which connects the interstate and Highway
thirty eight. Pretty well, it's a great way to get
down to a scene off the interstate. If you're coming
from the north. I have to give a shout out
to the Franksville Beer Garden, and I know that's one
(33:55):
of your favorites.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
Yes, yeah, yes, the Franksville Craft Beer Garden is an
amazing place. It is not just a beer garden. It
is a family community gathering center. Ken and Molly have
built this to be something that's absolutely integral to summertime
(34:18):
here in Rastine County. The visitors that come to check
out the beer garden are always amazed. They're you know,
they think that they're going to come find a couple
of picnic tables and maybe like a guy playing guitar,
and that isn't it at all. It's they offer so
many different events, so many different like food trucks constantly,
(34:41):
that the beer is always changing, the roop beer for
kids is always there. It's they just I don't know.
I don't know how they've done it, but I am
impressed every time I see them. Plus be next to
score soccer complex. Pretty awesome because a lot of soccer
parents don't mind checking out a beer garden.
Speaker 1 (34:59):
Well part with that soccer complex. And I saw you
there at the time that you did that. They hosted
an Australian rules football team tournament and it's like how
does Racine pull in these international things because that's not
the only international event that's been drawn into the area.
But yeah, Australian rules football. All these guys came from
down Under to Racine County.
Speaker 2 (35:20):
Yep. Yeah, and I mean that was in whatever. Gosh,
that was a while ago and.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
Six years ago.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
Yeah, yeah, we had them back in twenty I don't
even know the you're twenty twenty three, Like they were
here last year for their Parallel Cup, which is a
tournament against Canada, So I don't know. It's it's so
important to have the vibe that makes visitors want to
come and see what you have. But it's really exciting
(35:46):
when those visitors want to come back. That's the thing
I'm always working for.
Speaker 1 (35:50):
Yeah, return, return business if you will. That's always it.
And that's in Little Franksville, which you know, people don't
always think of it much. Caledonia, which has become a
growth suburb now of both Rosine and Milwaukee. It's right
by the county line. A popular spot for people who
like to CAMPV an RV is the Jellystone Park. They
have a location in Caledonia, but there's a huge holiday
(36:13):
lights show there.
Speaker 2 (36:15):
Oh yes, there's everything at Jellystone Campground right now, like
you said, at Christmas Carnival of Lights, and that is
actually within Jellystone Campground, So you have options. You can
drive your car, you can ride in the giant sleigh.
That's my suggestion and recommendation always. You could take a
golf court tour of the place. And there's over two
(36:38):
million lights. We like to say we're the largest light
show in Wisconsin, and I firmly believe that. I mean,
where else are you going to find two million lights?
Speaker 1 (36:50):
They can count two million lights.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
Also something I've yeah, but they do it like they
start setting this thing up in summer and it's I
don't know, it's it's so great. It's something fun to do.
This is Wisconsin sometimes, even when it's not holiday related,
like it's winter, people are we can't be outside every second,
(37:12):
but when we have attractions putting on events like this,
it's it's so important for us.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
It does really add to it. It's good to get
out and get some fresh air and enjoy things like that.
And then you have bear Pad Adventure Park in the
nicer weather, that's a fun place to take the kids,
let them get out the energy.
Speaker 2 (37:29):
Yes, yes, Randy Isaacson, who used to own Jellystone but
his family still does. He was always on the lookout for,
like what is the what is the next thing that
I have to add to make this an attraction that
people will want to come to. And Bear Pop Beach
was the big first step. And now it's become Bear
(37:51):
Pod Adventure Park with ziplining and laser tag and giant
jumping pillows. And I mean the kids in this region,
they spend their summers there doing all of these things,
and that is pretty awesome to have that kind of
(38:11):
opportunity to watch both tourism grow but also how the
community is responding and supporting someone who's so important to
this area.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
He's really done a good job expanding all of that
up there. And that's right along Highway thirty eight. And
if you follow thirty eight down, you go pat through
husher Is. It just jogs east and then south again.
Then you kind of parallel the Root River, so you
have the Fox River in western Racine County as the
dominant river. The Root River, which is French Racine is
French for root. That's how it all came about. You
(38:44):
follow that river down. Caledoni also as a dog park.
There's the Johnson Park golf course, but you keep going
down and then you get more into towards Racine and
win Point, which we've talked about win Point before. It's
the tallest lighthouse on the Great Lakes, hundred feet tall,
and there's but there's other cool little things to see.
There's like little the Fog Lighthouse. The village hall is
(39:06):
in there, and that's that's a great stop. And it's
really it literally is a point out in the lake.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
Yeah, win Point is you kind of feel like you're
in a I don't know if something special when you're there,
because it's it's so surrounding. You have the lake on
one side and then it's it's very large and open.
Kind Yeah, yes, it is. That's exactly what it feels like.
(39:31):
You're on the East coast somewhere checking out a lighthouse.
The gardens are beautiful. The lighthouse keepers are on site
all the time. They they live there and they take
care of you know, the grounds, and they've been doing
some really cool new things too, with you know, sunset
climbs and sunrise climbs and using the lighthouse in a
(39:51):
in a more engaging way. So that's been a win point,
always does a great job. But now it's almost like
a next level up.
Speaker 1 (39:59):
Bo that's nice. Yeah, And that's where you know, you
go out of course to Lake Michigan. Right there and
just inside is wing Spread and that's one of the
stops along the Frank Lloyd Wright Trail, which starts in
Racine and ends up going up through Milwaukee and then
west and it goes all the way you know, through Madison,
over by Talley Essen and Spring Green and over to
Richland Center. But Racine is the start of that trail,
(40:21):
or the eastern terminus or southern terminus, however you want
to call it, with several stops, of which wing Spread
is one, and that's usually it's private events and everything.
And it used to be the Johnson's home, but people
still can visit there sometimes.
Speaker 2 (40:36):
Sure, Yeah, absolutely, Wingspread is open for public tours. You
just have to make a reservation. I see Johnson all
located here within Racine or Rassine County. They are very
they take care of their company, their buildings. They want
to share it with everyone. They just ask that it's
done in a very you know, structured discipline way, because
(40:57):
these are these are historic buildings, and if you have
not been to Wingspread, I will endlessly tell you to go.
You think you know everything about franklod Right, or you
have no idea about Frankloyd Right, you will learn more
than you thought you could just by visiting that one property.
It's incredible. Whether it's in the winter or in the summer,
you must go. The stories that come with it, the
(41:19):
attention to detail, the frankloid Right way, it's so prevalent
at Wingspread.
Speaker 1 (41:26):
And throughout Racine. I mean, the other stops in there
at the very southern end, just south of downtown includes
the sc Johnson Headquarters, the Golden Rondell, the Johnson Wax
Research Tower, which is a very unique building. And so
if you follow the Frankloyd Right trail and we have
resources there on stage, trunk tour dot com, and there's
others too. You can check all of those out in
(41:47):
ra scene and we've talked about those in detail before. Yeah,
so we'll focus on some of the other things you
can check out. And one of the things as you
get closer into downtown, if you're just off Highway thirty
two or on Main Street, we've got to start with
a shout out to Racine Zoo.
Speaker 2 (42:02):
Yes, we certainly do. A Racine Zoo is our top
attraction in the county, hands down. It is located right
on Lake Michigan, and you can stand at the edge
of it and look out over the lake and you
can turn a quarter turn and see the drafts like.
Speaker 1 (42:19):
It is a so the giraffes have a better view
of the lake than we do though, right.
Speaker 2 (42:24):
Yeah, I would say probably. But you can also be
on Main Street and see the girafts like it is
wild that there is a zoo right in the middle
of a neighborhood. But there's Sine Zoo is not only
is it a zoo, they take wonderful care of their animals.
They many of them live to you know, they live
these lives, like there's monkeys and giraffes and all of
(42:46):
these stuff are there for over twenty years, which is
not always common in a zoo. They get great care,
they get a lot of visitors. But outside of the
animal aspect of a zoo, Beth Heidorn and her team
are They're constantly ways for you to go there for
something else, for events. Boo at the Zoo on Easter
(43:06):
every holiday has something that that matches it at the
Racine Zoo, so it doesn't have to be a big deal.
It could be a very simple event if you want
to go to that. And then they have fundraising events
all year long. And the Rasceine community is they love.
Speaker 1 (43:22):
Their zoo, yeah, and the events that are there, and
we post about those events at times throughout the year.
You can get creative and really enjoy a lot of
a lot of different things along with the animals at
the zoo, so definitely check it out. And then you
can also for a nice dose of art. You have
the Racine Art Museum right downtown on Main Street, but
then you also have the Woosdom Museum, which is over
(43:43):
on thirty eight, which is Northwestern Avenue, and that's kind
of a cool like, I don't want to call it
a satellite campus. How would you describe it.
Speaker 2 (43:50):
No, that's a pretty good way of saying it. But
I mean it's its own beast Woosdom. It's a whole again.
Something you're just driving and then you look over and
this huge home is sitting right there and it's open
to the public all the time, so you can stop in.
It's right next to the Rossine Theater Guild. So I
mean you could check out that too, if you even
(44:13):
just to go see inside of the Theater Guild. But
wisdom is the thing about it is it's it has
this like old Southern kind of feel to the actual
building and then you go inside the arts that they, yeah,
that they exhibit is it's everything. It's you know, it
is not just a gallery, is what I'm trying to say,
(44:36):
Like it is truly. You can there's sculpture, there's there's painting,
there's all of the different visual arts. But at the
same time, there's rooms there because they host all of
the different workshops you can sign up for during the year.
Speaker 1 (44:53):
Boy, yeah, there's a lot going on too. It's you
don't usually get a two four on an art museum
like that in a city, but you do in Racine,
so that's pretty wild.
Speaker 2 (45:03):
Yeah. And then I mean ram of course the Racine
Art Museum is right downtown. Again, you could see it
from the lake. It's really incredible to have two options
when it comes to art in that manner, and that
is one of the reasons twenty twenty five for us too,
is we are focusing hard on the arts that we
have in Racine County, and it's more than just those
two museums, but they're pretty good starting points.
Speaker 1 (45:25):
Yeah, absolutely. And then you know, if you get to
the Ram, which is also one of McCartney's best albums,
the main street section of downtown Racene, and then you've
got sixth and seventh and that is it's all Highway
thirty two and the sixth seventh part is also our
Highway twenties eastern end is and thirty eight ends at
State Street at Highway thirty two. You know, just that
(45:45):
region right there. You have so much walkable shops to explore,
restaurants to enjoy. Littleport Brewing Company is down there. And
then the QP, which is a classic old school burger
if you don't mind looking at the at the dolls,
which some people do.
Speaker 2 (46:02):
But it's correct.
Speaker 1 (46:03):
It's a unique place, a classic, beautiful billing. We just
posted the architecture not too long ago on our Instagram page,
the ivanh which is beautiful. And then there's a new
boutique hotel down there.
Speaker 2 (46:18):
Yes, yeah, Hotel Verdant is open and thriving, and like
you said, it's a boutique. So this is really our
first boutique hotel. People go there and the feedback is wild.
They feel like it's because it is in a historic building.
It used to be Zan's department store. So there's a
(46:39):
lot of Rsinians who are like, well this, they just
want to go see what it's like inside. And then
when you're there, everything it is, the design is beautiful.
It is obviously new, so that's helpful too when it
comes to a hotel. But they are fully dedicated to
sustainability and being green. So there's you know, there's plants,
(47:01):
there's natural light there. Everything they do with the heating
and air conditioning systems is sustainable. That's not even to
mention the fact that there's Marguerite, which is an incredible
restaurant one up top. No, Margerite is on the ground floor, okay,
but Eve is what is up on top? Yeah is
the Yes. So you can be on rooftop. It's a
(47:23):
rooftop bar, you can go outside, you can stay inside,
whatever you want to do. But you can see all
the way to the lake and pretty much the entire
city you've seen.
Speaker 1 (47:33):
Yeah, you have a better view than the giraffes when
you're in Eve.
Speaker 2 (47:36):
Yeah. Right. Oh, if the drafts were adding if that
would be wild, Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (47:40):
You'd be able to see that from the whole county.
Speaker 2 (47:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (47:42):
Yeah, And there are a lot of great events. And
we've talked a lot about things in Downtown or Scene,
but there are a lot of great events too. There's
First Fridays, which the last of which for twenty twenty
four is coming up, you know, this first Friday here
in December, but every April through December there's a great
event on the first Friday of every month, and that
centers on Monument Square, which is right next to Verdant,
(48:05):
but that goes up and down a ways, and that's
something worth checking out to kick off a weekend.
Speaker 2 (48:09):
Yeah. Absolutely, people love First Fridays. It's an easy place
to get to. And even though it's First Fridays, so
that's every Friday of those months that you mentioned, everyone
is different.
Speaker 1 (48:22):
Oh yeah, there's a theme themes.
Speaker 2 (48:24):
Yes, November was flannel, yeah right, and you know there's
country like then the live music will match with that theme.
So they do. They do a great job of programming
the Square in a manner where you want to keep
coming back.
Speaker 1 (48:39):
They really do. And you know, Downtown or Scene does
a lot of those kinds of events. There's wine walks,
there's a beer cross, there's all kinds of there's things
with the Art Museum, and those are all worth checking out,
especially when you go to visit Rascinecounty dot com. You
guys are on top of all those events. We share
a lot of them too at State Trump Tour dot Com,
but we do it in the form of a road trip.
(49:02):
And if you want to do your motorcycle road trip,
they have Indian Motorcycle of Racine, which is kind of
a unique thing.
Speaker 2 (49:08):
Yep, right there on Sixth Street two Indian Motorcycle. They
you can go in there and pretty much get lost
looking at different kind of motorcycle that they offer in
the design and the color and all of those like
the life of motorcycling. But the building is cool too,
so they give a lot of history on Indian and
(49:29):
where it came from, why it's here. And then you,
I mean, you could buy a motorcycle if you want
to just drive it right off.
Speaker 1 (49:37):
That'd be pretty cool, all right, walk in, ride out. Yeah,
And there's I mean, there's so many other great things
to check out. We talked about the sc Johnson Headquarters
and just throughout the city. There's Wells Brothers is famous
for their pizza. That's over on the south side of town.
And there's a lot of great restaurants downtown with a
huge variety of cuisine which a lot of people wouldn't
(49:57):
think of.
Speaker 2 (49:59):
Right, Yeah, that's absolutely true. I mean there's options for
anything that you're looking for. The Maple Table is right there.
They offer they're like pretty much farm to table, so
they are constantly changing their menu, giving you lots of
different options, and you could go from there to you know,
Sticky Rice is right across the street. There's all sorts
(50:23):
of there's Asian cuisine, there's Butcher and Beryl which is
like very craft steaks, and there's everything.
Speaker 1 (50:31):
There's even Spanish. In Old Madrid, you've got Asiana, which
is they're focused on Korean and so it gets really
specific in the downtown area and you have a lot
of great choices. And then there's all the fun where
the river starts going into Lake Michigan. You know, there's
like Joey's Yard arm which is a fun place people
pull up their boats there. There's even a Pakistani restaurant
(50:53):
called cheat Chat, which is you know, hey, it runs
the Gamut, check it all out, Dragon Pit Barbecue.
Speaker 2 (51:01):
Like there's just it's whatever you there's always an option.
And people I tell them, you don't, don't go to
the same place twice, try try everything, and then go
back to your favorites.
Speaker 1 (51:13):
Yeah, the owners would be like, no, come back, two, three,
four times.
Speaker 2 (51:15):
We want the day exactly I want to, but stay
here somewhere, don't.
Speaker 1 (51:19):
Play there, explore and check out. So yeah, all right,
now I've kept you way longer than I've promised. So
I just we'll close with a couple of key events
coming up as we go through the winter here, you know,
into December and January and stuff like that. What are
some key things people should remember to maybe stop down
and experience, you.
Speaker 2 (51:41):
Know, Christmas Carnival of Lights is. I would absolutely recommend that.
But in Waterford this year they're having a really huge event.
It's actually a Friday, Saturday and Sunday December sixth, seventh,
and eighth, and it's old fashioned Christmas Market in Waterford,
which is going to include i mean, the involved offering
(52:01):
their own events, but they're they're oh my gosh, they're shopping.
There's the ice rink, there's cookie decorating, there's live music,
Santas coming, there's a parade, so I would definitely recommend
that first week in of December checking out Waterford cool. Yep.
Then we have all of the things that you're looking,
you know, looking for in downtown Racine. Like you said,
(52:24):
there's the Kringle Tour, the Chris Kringle Tour where you
shop and get free Kringle awesome.
Speaker 1 (52:31):
Nice.
Speaker 2 (52:33):
Yes, there are another thing that we didn't touch on.
It's a which I really think you would like. Sixth
Street Theater over our head Players is one of our
performing arts groups, and they're putting on a very schmeeter
Christmas rhymes with theater, so theater Schmeieter okay. And it's
(52:55):
like Racine's own Saturday Night Live. So it's all sketch comedy,
super funny stuff, but also includes like news up live
news and local updates, live music, so like an SNL episode. Interesting,
but specifically we're seeing it is awesome. I cannot recommend
that enough.
Speaker 1 (53:14):
It's like SNL and SCTV put together inner scene.
Speaker 2 (53:17):
Yes, exactly like that, okay, yep, yep.
Speaker 1 (53:22):
Well, you could find more at visit Racine County dot com.
We'll post more about that too on stage trunk tour
dot com. Yeah, we don't often do the theater shows,
but I think in this case, I second to find
out what they're all about, because that sounds pretty darn cool.
Speaker 2 (53:36):
Yeah, it is really cool. And I have to mention
something too that a lot of people that we are
finding very important here. But here at the visitor Center
on December nineteenth, which is a Thursday, we are hosting
a blood drive from two to seven. And that is
something that you can get out and support your community
and help during the holiday season. Very very very easy
thing to do.
Speaker 1 (53:57):
Yeah, you get treats afterwards, right, ah.
Speaker 2 (53:59):
Yeah you could also if we have seventeen donors, you
could get win free Kringle for a year.
Speaker 1 (54:05):
Very nice. Yeah. Well, your body, so your body makes
fresh blood when you donate, you know, you lose a pint.
Your body makes you fresh blood and you need you know, nutrition,
and Kringle will really help your body make more blood.
Speaker 2 (54:17):
Right, You'll be like so much better version of yourself.
You don't even know, you know.
Speaker 1 (54:23):
The common theme now is Kringle fixes everything.
Speaker 2 (54:26):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (54:27):
So it's great. Howl a gift too to ship to
other people. And they've got all the bakeries there, Larsen
and n H and there's a couple of others. They
weren't popping into my brain.
Speaker 2 (54:36):
I know you know them, Yes, Layman's, Layman's that's the one, yes, yep,
but we love them all all.
Speaker 1 (54:44):
And one more shout out is in Mount Pleasant. Actually
just one more brewery.
Speaker 2 (54:49):
There, oh, one of us brewing, Yes.
Speaker 1 (54:52):
One of us brewing. Great great stop in what used
to be kind of a strip mall shopping center thing.
But if you get a chance to stop in there,
it is a delicious place to enjoy a brew on
your way in or out of the city. Ever scene
if you're going back and forth to and from the interstate.
So the bottom line is everywhere you go there's something
cool to check out across the entire county.
Speaker 2 (55:15):
Yep. That's what makes my job so much fun.
Speaker 1 (55:18):
Boy, you certainly know it all in and out. That's
pretty awesome. I'm throwing you. We didn't buy the way
go over specific questions before I did this. I just
kept throwing stuff at you. And then I'm like, and
you were like, yeah, this, this and this about it
so very impressive. No, I try and so we got
all your road trips now eleven, twenty, thirty one, thirty two,
(55:40):
thirty eight, thirty six, one sixty four, I Wave forty five,
seventy five. There's all kinds of roads to explore and
we're seeing. Of course, there's all the back roads and
up and down the interstate, there's a lot, and then
you take the little pathways that take you out to
win Point and everything. There's something behind every corner, and
of course we're happy to continue showcasing it right here
on the State Trunk Tour podcast. Kerrie, thank you so
(56:01):
much for joining us. Another fun conversation with you today.
Speaker 2 (56:05):
Yes, thanks for having me anytime.
Speaker 1 (56:06):
She's always a blast to talk to and she's so
good at what she does there in Racine County. Kerrie Grieving,
the executive director of Visit Rascine County. Again visit their
visitor center which is right on Highway twenty just west
of I forty one to ninety four. Yeah, they are
right next to the golf course. They are right next
to some great bars and restaurants, and there's just so
much cool stuff there. As they get ready to re
(56:27):
up their building and do some new cool things. As
they enter of their twenty fifth anniversary there. Visit Rascinecounty
dot com has all of the information. It's a very
very well organized site for everything you might want to
check out now. We'll also keep you updated on State
trunk Tour dot com on events there and around Wisconsin
and update you on some of the great road trips,
so make sure you go to State trunk Tour dot
(56:47):
com as well. We got another great topic for you
in the next episode, so we'll look forward to talking
with you then on the State Trunk Tour Podcast.
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