December 4, 2025 • 10 mins
It’s December, and you probably have holiday shopping on your mind. Kenosha is a great place to road trip to for their downtown holiday markets right now! They also have some great events at their major museums downtown Saturday, December 6th and at other points during the holiday season, PLUS you can interact with REAL reindeer at Paris Deer Park in Kenosha County near Union Grove! Throughout the holiday season and beyond, both the city of Kenosha and Kenosha County offer plenty of fun and interesting places to exlore. We talk with Meridith Jumisko of Visit Kenosha to get details in this tidy 10-minute episode.
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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 tront Tour podcast. Americ Paulson.
You're a head tour guide and we're doing another visit
to a city, A quick visit today to Kenosha, because
we want to highlight some of the things going on
not only this weekend but through the holiday season. A
lot of reasons to visit Wisconsin's southeastern corner and check
out the city a Kenosha, which has about one hundred
thousand people now there's almost two hundred thousand in the county.
(00:21):
Events going on across the county from basically holiday markets
by the lakefront to reindeer you can pet take pictures
with feed and more in Union Grove, not far from
Great Lakes drag Away. A lot of good history there,
a lot of great road trips to be had around
Kenosha County, which is the only Wisconsin county that's technically
part of the Chicago metro. There is a higher percentage
(00:42):
of Bears to Packer fans there, but still dominated by
the pack of course, and the Brewers over the Cubs
and et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Great place to visit.
Kenosha has a long and proud manufacturing history, industrial history.
There's a lot of great things to check out there,
from the museums to the restaurants, a lot of breweries
in Kenosha and more, and the great events that await you.
(01:04):
And we'll dive into it with visit Kenosha's Meredith Jamisco
coming up right after this. All right, good morning, Meredith.
How are you?
Speaker 2 (01:13):
I am great, how are you good?
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Good? Good? And it's been a cold and snowy December already,
but it really gets you in the holiday spirit, especially
around Kenosha. You know, when we just started working with
you earlier this year officially, and the array of events
you have all year is dizzying.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
We are very proud of our events calendar. It is
all your long weekdays, weekends. We have something going on
for people to enjoy here.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Yeah, whether it's in the city or just you know,
all across the county. I mean, Bristol has events and
Paris Deer Park that's a really cool thing. We'll get
into that in a minute, but we'll talk first of
all about some of these holiday markets going on for
the month of December. There's a lot of great shopping
opportunities and a lot of great markets happening. Let's dive
into those. First, the holiday markets in Kenosha, that is right.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Of course, we have our two markets every Saturday and
they do a little extra something around the holidays. And
December sixth and seventh, both Saturday and Sunday, is when
the Kenosha Public Market holds their merry and Bright Holiday
Market and at from ten am to four pm. Stanta
will even be there, and that's at Kemper Center, which
(02:22):
actually new and twenty twenty sixth kem Percenter is going
to be at their year round home, so it'll be
outdoors there and the summertime and the good months, and
then indoors there in the wintertime as it has been lately,
indoors at Kemper And then December thirteenth, Kenosha Harbor Market
hosts their Kenosha Holiday Winter Harbor Market inside the Stella
(02:43):
Hotel and Ballroom and that will be from nine until two.
Now normally this time of year they're at the Women's
Club of Kenosha, but they go to the larger ballroom
at the Stella to have the festive events. And both
markets you can expect holiday baked goods ready to give gifts,
and homemade local items at the market's handmade homemade to
(03:05):
give us gifts or our decorations, ready to give gifts.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
That sounds nice and convenient. There's probably gift rappers there too,
I would imagine. Yeah, lots happening this actually weekend, I
mean Christmas at the Museum's two is going on not
only at the Kenosha Public Museum, but the Civil War
Museum and elsewhere. So this is kind of a coordinated
Christmas at the Museum's event.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Yes, that is right on December sixth. It's the two
neighboring museums, the Kenosha Public Museum and the Civil War Museum,
and the Public Museum has a festive vendor market going
on from ten until three on December sixth. It's more
than twenty five local artisans and makers that will be
offering a wide variety of unique gifts and seasonal goodies.
(03:47):
And the next door at the Civil War Museum from
ten until three, they have a full lineup of events planned.
They'll be living history demonstrations, live musical performances, There'll be
a Victorian fashion show, holiday crafts, historic games, lots lots
lots to do there, and they they normally have reenactors
there too. I remember going one year with my family
(04:09):
and we were startled the middle of one gallery when
they came to life walking by us. We thought they
were statues and they started moving.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Yeah, it's always fun to see the little kids who
get startled by that, right, Sometimes the grown ups.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Too, Yeah, yeah, sometimes the grown ups.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Yeah, a lot of fun stuff. Yeah, the next two weeks.
And that's in the heart of Kenosha and downtown in
those two museums, the Harbor Park district, which is essentially
downtown where the American Motors Plant was back in the day,
but now it's filled with you know, condos and shops
and restaurants and those great museums. And you're right on
the lakefront with that too.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
And you can even take the trolley around, Yes, the
street car goes around and it is beautifully decorated the
whole area of this time of year, they have a
holiday art walk set up along where the sculpture Walk
is along the Harbor and lots of lights.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
The Christmas tree is lit at Veterans Memorial Park. So
it's absolutely BEAUTI full to visit this time of year.
Just you know, bundle up if you're going to be
outdoors when it's right along the harbor, but the snow
makes it all the more beautiful. It's definitely a winter wonderling.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Yeah, you can enjoy the lake breeze, which in the
wintertime can be a little biting, but yeah, and obviously
when you go down there, I mean there's so many
great restaurants now, so many great places to eat and
drink in Kenosha that you know you can make the
full weekend of it big time. But yeah, there's there's
a huge variety of that in the city and then
when you go out in the rest of the county
(05:29):
there's stuff going on too, including this Saturday, Bristol's growing
with Bristol's annual Light Up the Town event is happening.
That's pretty cool. Kenosha just had their big light tree
lighting Thanksgiving weekend. How'd that go?
Speaker 2 (05:41):
It is, right, Yeah, it was wonderful. There's a drome
show for the first time and it really turned out great.
So yes, all the towns around have their own events.
So this weekend Bristol will have their parade and tree lying,
and also Twin Lakes will have a big event going on,
so there's always something to do for the holidays.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Absolutely, and then when we go to Paris. It's a township,
the township of Paris not far from Great Lakes drag Away,
Union Grove, Wisconsin. We all remember that ad there's a
great ongoing event happening where you can meet and pet
and take pictures with reindeer. I didn't even know this
place was around until recently. That's so shame on me.
(06:23):
But Paris Deer Park, how cool is that it is.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
It's fairly new and they also actually take their reindeer
on the road too for like various events, so you
can see them. But they have a reindeer living there,
and you can meet these friendly reindeer during their Reindeer
Barn tours. And this happens on weekends this time of year,
and you need to make a reservation in advance. With
the admissioncy includes a tour of the barn, a cup
(06:49):
of animal feed, they're speeding opportunities with the reindeer, and
of course wonderful photo opportunities. And we actually have a
blog post about the deer Park on our website and
one of the co owners says that we want to
share that feeling of awe when a deer eats right
from your hand. Very cool. They also want to educate
visitors about wildlife care and conservation, so it's definitely an
(07:11):
immersive learning experience and really cool that we have.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
That here it is, and it's going on weekends now
the fifth and sixth, and then coming up the twelfth
through the fourteenth, nineteenth through the twenty first, and also
they get a breather right after Christmas after they've helped
Santa deliver all the presents on December twenty seventh, So
if you want to check that out two six ninety
two twenty seven, you can also visit them at Parisdearpark
dot com. But all of this information is always available
(07:37):
at visit Kenosha dot com and following you on socials too,
you can see all of that stuff some cool videos
on there too.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Oh yes, thank you. Yeah. We actually have a Merry
and Bright events calendar and even Santos calendar. He's got
to have his own calendar, so we have a whole
hub for that at visit Kenosha dot com slash holidays
And just.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
To look ahead to summer, Country Thunder is coming back
in twenty twenty six out of be July sixteenth through nineteenth.
That happens in Twin Lakes too, so four seasons of events.
The big reveal on the artists just happened. You can
find out more about that and more at visit Kenosha
dot com. Two year round fun to be had, and
(08:16):
obviously with the cold and snow, you can also do
a little skiing Wilbot Mountain in Kenosha County.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Yeah, definitely, and you've got snowboarding there, you got snow
tube being there. They make their own snow as long
as it's cold enough, so make a whole weekend of it.
At Golmont Mountain.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Yeah, being cold enough has not been a problem this week,
nor will it be next week. So a lot of
fun going on all across Kenosha. But yeah, check out
the holiday markets, check out Paris Deer Park, and see
what's going on in some of the smaller towns all across.
And of course you can make stops at all the
famous locations, including mars Cheese Castle, which is always a must,
at Highway one forty two and I forty one ninety four.
(08:53):
Checking out all those things. The road trips you can
take all across Kenosha County are phenomenal and make sure
you hit down town and check out those.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Christmas events definitely, and make sure you get the crush
Cheese herds when you go to Mars. We can't miss.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
I love their King of Clubs, Spreadable Cheddar. It's just
phenomenal stuff.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Yeah, delicious, all.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Right, Meredith, Well, it's a delicious time to visit Kenosha.
Visit Kenosha dot com you can find out more. Thanks
for checking in with us. We'll talk to you again soon,
all right, thank you, all right, thanks again to Meredith
jamisco A. Visit Kenosha. Find out more again at visit
Kenosha dot com. So all of these events are happening
over the next couple of weeks, some just this weekend.
Find out more at Stay trunk Tour dot com as well,
(09:35):
and stay on that site. Check us out on Instagram
and Facebook tool keep you on top of what's going
on all across Wisconsin. Some of the best road trips
and some of the best highways to follow end to
end and again in Kenosha, follow thirty two, fifty one,
forty two, when fifty eight thirty one and then further
out in the county US forty five Highway eighty three.
It's all out there. There's a lot of great stuff
(09:56):
to visit all across the county. We've got it all
for you at State trunk tour dot com. Next episode
coming out shortly. We'll look forward to talking with you. Then,
thank you for listening to the State Trunk Tour Podcast.
And welcome back to the State tront Tour podcast. Americ Paulson.
You're a head tour guide and we're doing another visit
to a city, A quick visit today to Kenosha, because
we want to highlight some of the things going on
not only this weekend but through the holiday season. A
lot of reasons to visit Wisconsin's southeastern corner and check
out the city a Kenosha, which has about one hundred
thousand people now there's almost two hundred thousand in the county.
(00:21):
Events going on across the county from basically holiday markets
by the lakefront to reindeer you can pet take pictures
with feed and more in Union Grove, not far from
Great Lakes drag Away. A lot of good history there,
a lot of great road trips to be had around
Kenosha County, which is the only Wisconsin county that's technically
part of the Chicago metro. There is a higher percentage
(00:42):
of Bears to Packer fans there, but still dominated by
the pack of course, and the Brewers over the Cubs
and et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Great place to visit.
Kenosha has a long and proud manufacturing history, industrial history.
There's a lot of great things to check out there,
from the museums to the restaurants, a lot of breweries
in Kenosha and more, and the great events that await you.
(01:04):
And we'll dive into it with visit Kenosha's Meredith Jamisco
coming up right after this. All right, good morning, Meredith.
How are you?
Speaker 2 (01:13):
I am great, how are you good?
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Good? Good? And it's been a cold and snowy December already,
but it really gets you in the holiday spirit, especially
around Kenosha. You know, when we just started working with
you earlier this year officially, and the array of events
you have all year is dizzying.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
We are very proud of our events calendar. It is
all your long weekdays, weekends. We have something going on
for people to enjoy here.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Yeah, whether it's in the city or just you know,
all across the county. I mean, Bristol has events and
Paris Deer Park that's a really cool thing. We'll get
into that in a minute, but we'll talk first of
all about some of these holiday markets going on for
the month of December. There's a lot of great shopping
opportunities and a lot of great markets happening. Let's dive
into those. First, the holiday markets in Kenosha, that is right.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Of course, we have our two markets every Saturday and
they do a little extra something around the holidays. And
December sixth and seventh, both Saturday and Sunday, is when
the Kenosha Public Market holds their merry and Bright Holiday
Market and at from ten am to four pm. Stanta
will even be there, and that's at Kemper Center, which
(02:22):
actually new and twenty twenty sixth kem Percenter is going
to be at their year round home, so it'll be
outdoors there and the summertime and the good months, and
then indoors there in the wintertime as it has been lately,
indoors at Kemper And then December thirteenth, Kenosha Harbor Market
hosts their Kenosha Holiday Winter Harbor Market inside the Stella
(02:43):
Hotel and Ballroom and that will be from nine until two.
Now normally this time of year they're at the Women's
Club of Kenosha, but they go to the larger ballroom
at the Stella to have the festive events. And both
markets you can expect holiday baked goods ready to give gifts,
and homemade local items at the market's handmade homemade to
(03:05):
give us gifts or our decorations, ready to give gifts.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
That sounds nice and convenient. There's probably gift rappers there too,
I would imagine. Yeah, lots happening this actually weekend, I
mean Christmas at the Museum's two is going on not
only at the Kenosha Public Museum, but the Civil War
Museum and elsewhere. So this is kind of a coordinated
Christmas at the Museum's event.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Yes, that is right on December sixth. It's the two
neighboring museums, the Kenosha Public Museum and the Civil War Museum,
and the Public Museum has a festive vendor market going
on from ten until three on December sixth. It's more
than twenty five local artisans and makers that will be
offering a wide variety of unique gifts and seasonal goodies.
(03:47):
And the next door at the Civil War Museum from
ten until three, they have a full lineup of events planned.
They'll be living history demonstrations, live musical performances, There'll be
a Victorian fashion show, holiday crafts, historic games, lots lots
lots to do there, and they they normally have reenactors
there too. I remember going one year with my family
(04:09):
and we were startled the middle of one gallery when
they came to life walking by us. We thought they
were statues and they started moving.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Yeah, it's always fun to see the little kids who
get startled by that, right, Sometimes the grown ups.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Too, Yeah, yeah, sometimes the grown ups.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Yeah, a lot of fun stuff. Yeah, the next two weeks.
And that's in the heart of Kenosha and downtown in
those two museums, the Harbor Park district, which is essentially
downtown where the American Motors Plant was back in the day,
but now it's filled with you know, condos and shops
and restaurants and those great museums. And you're right on
the lakefront with that too.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
And you can even take the trolley around, Yes, the
street car goes around and it is beautifully decorated the
whole area of this time of year, they have a
holiday art walk set up along where the sculpture Walk
is along the Harbor and lots of lights.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
The Christmas tree is lit at Veterans Memorial Park. So
it's absolutely BEAUTI full to visit this time of year.
Just you know, bundle up if you're going to be
outdoors when it's right along the harbor, but the snow
makes it all the more beautiful. It's definitely a winter wonderling.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Yeah, you can enjoy the lake breeze, which in the
wintertime can be a little biting, but yeah, and obviously
when you go down there, I mean there's so many
great restaurants now, so many great places to eat and
drink in Kenosha that you know you can make the
full weekend of it big time. But yeah, there's there's
a huge variety of that in the city and then
when you go out in the rest of the county
(05:29):
there's stuff going on too, including this Saturday, Bristol's growing
with Bristol's annual Light Up the Town event is happening.
That's pretty cool. Kenosha just had their big light tree
lighting Thanksgiving weekend. How'd that go?
Speaker 2 (05:41):
It is, right, Yeah, it was wonderful. There's a drome
show for the first time and it really turned out great.
So yes, all the towns around have their own events.
So this weekend Bristol will have their parade and tree lying,
and also Twin Lakes will have a big event going on,
so there's always something to do for the holidays.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Absolutely, and then when we go to Paris. It's a township,
the township of Paris not far from Great Lakes drag Away,
Union Grove, Wisconsin. We all remember that ad there's a
great ongoing event happening where you can meet and pet
and take pictures with reindeer. I didn't even know this
place was around until recently. That's so shame on me.
(06:23):
But Paris Deer Park, how cool is that it is.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
It's fairly new and they also actually take their reindeer
on the road too for like various events, so you
can see them. But they have a reindeer living there,
and you can meet these friendly reindeer during their Reindeer
Barn tours. And this happens on weekends this time of year,
and you need to make a reservation in advance. With
the admissioncy includes a tour of the barn, a cup
(06:49):
of animal feed, they're speeding opportunities with the reindeer, and
of course wonderful photo opportunities. And we actually have a
blog post about the deer Park on our website and
one of the co owners says that we want to
share that feeling of awe when a deer eats right
from your hand. Very cool. They also want to educate
visitors about wildlife care and conservation, so it's definitely an
(07:11):
immersive learning experience and really cool that we have.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
That here it is, and it's going on weekends now
the fifth and sixth, and then coming up the twelfth
through the fourteenth, nineteenth through the twenty first, and also
they get a breather right after Christmas after they've helped
Santa deliver all the presents on December twenty seventh, So
if you want to check that out two six ninety
two twenty seven, you can also visit them at Parisdearpark
dot com. But all of this information is always available
(07:37):
at visit Kenosha dot com and following you on socials too,
you can see all of that stuff some cool videos
on there too.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Oh yes, thank you. Yeah. We actually have a Merry
and Bright events calendar and even Santos calendar. He's got
to have his own calendar, so we have a whole
hub for that at visit Kenosha dot com slash holidays
And just.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
To look ahead to summer, Country Thunder is coming back
in twenty twenty six out of be July sixteenth through nineteenth.
That happens in Twin Lakes too, so four seasons of events.
The big reveal on the artists just happened. You can
find out more about that and more at visit Kenosha
dot com. Two year round fun to be had, and
(08:16):
obviously with the cold and snow, you can also do
a little skiing Wilbot Mountain in Kenosha County.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Yeah, definitely, and you've got snowboarding there, you got snow
tube being there. They make their own snow as long
as it's cold enough, so make a whole weekend of it.
At Golmont Mountain.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Yeah, being cold enough has not been a problem this week,
nor will it be next week. So a lot of
fun going on all across Kenosha. But yeah, check out
the holiday markets, check out Paris Deer Park, and see
what's going on in some of the smaller towns all across.
And of course you can make stops at all the
famous locations, including mars Cheese Castle, which is always a must,
at Highway one forty two and I forty one ninety four.
(08:53):
Checking out all those things. The road trips you can
take all across Kenosha County are phenomenal and make sure
you hit down town and check out those.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Christmas events definitely, and make sure you get the crush
Cheese herds when you go to Mars. We can't miss.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
I love their King of Clubs, Spreadable Cheddar. It's just
phenomenal stuff.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Yeah, delicious, all.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Right, Meredith, Well, it's a delicious time to visit Kenosha.
Visit Kenosha dot com you can find out more. Thanks
for checking in with us. We'll talk to you again soon,
all right, thank you, all right, thanks again to Meredith
jamisco A. Visit Kenosha. Find out more again at visit
Kenosha dot com. So all of these events are happening
over the next couple of weeks, some just this weekend.
Find out more at Stay trunk Tour dot com as well,
(09:35):
and stay on that site. Check us out on Instagram
and Facebook tool keep you on top of what's going
on all across Wisconsin. Some of the best road trips
and some of the best highways to follow end to
end and again in Kenosha, follow thirty two, fifty one,
forty two, when fifty eight thirty one and then further
out in the county US forty five Highway eighty three.
It's all out there. There's a lot of great stuff
(09:56):
to visit all across the county. We've got it all
for you at State trunk tour dot com. Next episode
coming out shortly. We'll look forward to talking with you. Then,
thank you for listening to the State Trunk Tour Podcast.
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