Wisconsin food festivals

on location: midwest ❖

nadia beidas

The Warrens Cranberry Festival, attracting nearly 100,000 people the last full weekend in September, offers cranberry marsh tours.

Wisconsi n f o Music, crafts and culinary specialties await group travelers at small-town events that showcase the best of the Badger State hink America’s Dairyland and images of cows and cheese inevitably come to mind. So do soft buns wrapped around fat, juicy bratwursts.

Wisconsin has a reputation for satisfying travelers’ appetites with foods fresh from the farm, the orchard, the bog and the woods.

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Group itineraries that incorporate a food festival add an extra helping of appreciation for the state’s cornucopia of good things to eat. Below is a sampling of food fests throughout the state: Green County Cheese Days in Monroe, located about an hour south of Madison, is held in even years during

the third weekend in September. Dating from 1914, the food festival honors Wisconsin’s cheese industry, dairy farming and the region’s Swiss traditions.

Entertainment includes yodeling, polka bands, polka lessons and the “So You Think You Can Polka” polka contest.

Guests also enjoy yodeling lessons, LeisureGroupTravel.com

cheese and beer pairing seminars, and product sampling from Monroe-based Swiss Colony, plus rock and blues music. The festival features a cow-milking contest, old-time copper kettle cheese-making demonstration, vintage tractor show, children’s parade led by a Cheese Days prince and princess, dairy farm and the Swiss Colony Cheese Days Parade, led by a decorated herd of Brown Swiss cattle. Culinary delights at the food booths include deep-fried cheese curds, cream puffs and cheesecake on a stick. (608-325-7771, cheesedays.com)

400 pounds. A retort cooks one ton of corn every 17 minutes. The festival features family activities, stage shows, musical entertainment, mini-golf, a craft show and parade. (608-837-4547, sunprairiechamber.com) In Sheboygan, Brat Days is held every year around August. Attendees can taste bratwurst in many forms with a variety of sauces such as hot garlic or teriyaki. Also try brat lasagna and brat jambalaya. The festival offers a brat eating contest, family area, carnival, parade and marketplace. (920-207-6606, bratdays.org)

R.J. and Linda Miller

Bake-Off has two divisions—junior for contestants under 17 and senior for those over 18. Cranberry baked goods are divided into four categories: breads & muffins, cookies & bars, desserts & cakes, and pies. There are over 300 craftspeople, a flea market, farmer’s market and pancake breakfast hosted by the local fire department. (stonelakecranberryfestival.com)

Jerry Tyler

Wisconsin Original Cheese Festival (left) and Festa Italia (above) are popular food fetes in Madison.

The Sweet Corn Festival takes place in nearby Sun Prairie.

o d f e s t ival s The Stone Lake Cranberry Festival, which began in 1978, is held every year on the first Saturday in October in Stone Lake. Reserve a luncheon in advance and feast on such delights as cranberry cake on the Friday before the festival. Hop on a bus from the festival and take a cranberry marsh tour at harvest time. The Cranberry Festival Parade features high school bands and floats, and the Crate Derby follows. The LeisureGroupTravel.com

The Sweet Corn Festival in Sun Prairie began in 1953 and served about 13,000 ears of corn. Today about 100,000 people attend the four-day festival, usually held in August. Almost 70 tons of sweet corn are cooked in a boiler and five retorts, which is similar to a rice steamer but ten feet deep and three feet across. Inside each retort are four cast iron baskets holding about 450 ears of corn, and each basket weighs around

The Strawberry Festival is held in Cedarburg on the fourth full weekend in June. Strawberry culinary delights include the “original” strawberry brat, strawberry shortcake, strawberry pie, strawberry crepes, strawberry slush, chocolate-covered strawberries, strawberry ice cream and strawberry blush wine. There is a strawberry pie and sundae eating contest. The Strawberry Pancake Breakfast on Sunday is acOctober 2010 25

R.J. & Linda Miller

on location: midwest ❖

The ketchup slide is a slick event at the Hamburger Fest and Balloon Rally, an August celebration in Seymour.

companied by live, outdoor music.

Berries are also sold in quarts. The festival’s Arts on the Avenue includes Cedarburg Cultural Center’s Fine Art Fair, Cedar Creek Settlement’s Arts Fair and Ozaukee Art Center’s Fine Art Fair. (888-894-4001, cedarburgfestivals.org/strawberryfestival.

Taste delicious mushrooms at the Morel Mushroom Festival, held the weekend after Mother’s Day in Muscoda. The festival also offers wine tasting, a parade, arts and crafts, flea market and carnival. (608-739-3182, muscoda.com) Visit the “Home of the Hamburger” in Seymour and attend Hamburger Fest and Balloon Rally. Held in August, the festival honors Charles Nagreen, who, according to legend, invented the hamburger and served the first one in 1885. See the 14-foot statue of “Hamburger Charlie.” Events include the World’s Largest Hamburger Parade, the ketchup slide, burger press and hamburger eating contest. There are hot air balloons, music and games. (920833-6688, homeofthehamburger.org) The Bayfield Apple Festival in Bay26 October 2010

field, gateway to the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, offers over 60 orchard and food booths. Held in early October, the festival features orchard visits, 150 artists and crafters, a parade, stage entertainment, a fish boil, carnival rides and an evening boat pa-

rade. Festivities also include apple pie/dessert and apple peeling contests.

Listed among the Top Ten Autumn Festivals in North America by the Society of American Travel Writers, the event attracts 50,000 people.(800447-4094, bayfield.org)

June’s Strawberry Festival in Cedarburg offers a fresh taste of summer.

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from local restaurants. There are culinary demonstrations, raffles and silent auctions. (262-245-8635, lakegenevawinefestival.com) An advance look at Wisconsin’s travel events calendar will provide a kettle full of ideas for working in other festivals that spotlight the agricultural bounty of this popular Midwestern getaway spot. LGT

Summer festivals in Wisconsin feature mouth-watering fruits of the season.

Lake Geneva Wine Festival, held in September since 2007, is a cultural event to support local nonprofit organizations. Events include sampling seminars such as “Seminar: Wine 101,” which focuses on the grapes involved in wine-making, pairings with food and the difference between a $5

Obtain Wisconsin visitor guides and itineraries – and contact groupfriendly suppliers directly – at leisuregrouptravel.com/instant-info

and $50 bottle of wine. In “Seminar: Wine Sense, A Blind Tasting,” participants are taught the difference between ONLINE EXCLUSIVE grapes and vintages.

For a look at additional Wisconsin food festivals that may captivate your tour groups, see the article on During “Grand TastLeisure Group Travel’s website. Log on to http://leisureing,” wines are paired grouptravel.com/?p=20344. with food samples

November 5-7 The world’s foremost art fair of post-craft masterworks bridging design, decorative and fine art.

Navy Pier is Chicago’s top-visited, year-round attraction, featuring restaurants, rides, shops, dining cruises, free entertainment and so much more!

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