SVM_Lake Lifestyle_June 2024

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Smoke ’em if ya got ’em, and you can get ’em at an Oregon cigar store Shop owner knows the A, B, C’s of antiquing Want a slice of Swiss life? Take a day trip to New Glarus Lake Carroll culinary couple can cater to your wishes

JUNE 2024

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om Giovanni and Randy Murrey didn’t blaze the trail that loops around Lake Carroll, but they’re pretty fired up about it, and they’re going the extra mile to get others excited about it, too.

Actually, they’re going the extra 14 1/2 miles to share their passion for the path with others in the community.

The pair of Lake Carroll campers led the charge to bring back the lake’s Trail Club, a group committed to keeping the trails in tip-top shape and encouraging others to enjoy the long and winding trail system that loops around the Lake.

Left: The trail that winds around Lake Carroll is a great place for outdoor lovers to enjoy nature, take a ride, soak in the scenery, or even get a closer look at the wildlife, like the deer seen here; and members of the recently rebooted Trail Club hope more people take some time to enjoy it.

Giovanni and Murrey are charter members of the new Lake Carroll Trail Club, which is back after an absence of a couple of years, and whether people ride it or ski it, hoof it or hike it, the two just want to see people enjoy the trail — and they’re off to a good start.

Already the club has rounded up about 25 members since club chairman Giovanni, who has camped at Lake Carroll for 20 years, presided over its first meeting on May 4, a total that is only going to grow as the summer and fall continues, he said.

Having a club with dedicated members is important to promote safety on the trail, and to assure that it’s always ready to ride on, he said.

“We’re on the trails all of the time, and we see the things that are either good and bad,” Giovanni said. “A big part of what I would like to promote is safe riding, because if we don’t have safe riding, we’re not going to have a trail.”

The trail has several hairpin curves and varying grades of hills inside the wooded areas, as well as a few straightaways that cut through wide-open land. ATVs and UTVs use them most of the year, and snowmobiles hit the trail during the winter months; horseback riding, hiking and cross-country skiing also can be done on the trail.

It’s also a great place to immerse yourself in nature — breathing in the fresh air, soaking in the sights and sounds, seeing all the plants and wildlife that make the woods their home.

Keeping the trails a picturesque place for people of all ages to enjoy is something Murrey, who has camped at Lake Carroll for eight years, wants to maintain as a Trail Club member.

Longtime Lake Carroll campers Tom Giovanni (left) and Randy Murrey are the driving forces behind the resurrection of the Trail Club, which keeps Lake Carroll’s 14.5-mile trail loop maintained. Giovanni serves as its chairman. “We’re on the trails all of the time,” he said.

Mileposts

“It’s family friendly, you don’t have to be an expert rider to go around the trail,” Murrey said. “I like the scenery. When you’re in the woods and it’s grown up all of the way, it’s beautiful. The long stretch looking over the hills, we’ll sometimes stop out there and hang out a little bit and check it out. It’s cool.”

So what prompted the club’s comeback? It turned out that the nighttime was the right time for its return.

In its prior incarnation, the Trail Club hosted an annual night ride in the fall, where riders could make their way around the loop after the sun went down, with just their own lights to guide them. Last fall, there was a push to bring that back, and Giovanni was tasked to lead the effort with other trail riding friends. Even with so little time to round up trail enthusiasts, more than 60 vehicles and 100 people took part in that ride, and it inspired Giovanni to restart the club.

“For two years there wasn’t anything,” Giovanni said. “We were asked to help with the night ride, and that’s when we got the idea to restart the club and bring it back.”

The previous club also helped make the trail loop wider to accommodate ATVs and UTVs, and it established the Dan Herman Trail Riders Park in an open spot in the woods west of the Leroy Hinkle Dam, where riders could take a break or meet up during a ride. The park, which has a pavilion, is dedicated to Trail Club founder Dan Herman, who died in 2015. The area, near the east fork of Plum Creek, also is a spot where trail riders can try and hook fish that make their way from Mississippi River into the creek.

Without Dan Herman, there may have never been a Lake Carroll Trail Club to restart. Dan was the founder of the Lake Carroll Trail Club, and this park area along the trail is named in his honor. The Dan Herman Trail Riders Park is tucked within the woods, west of the Leroy Hinkle Dam. It’s a spot near the trail’s crossing of the east fork of Plum Creek where riders can take a break under the pavilion.

“We like having the pavilion area,” Giovanni said. “It’s fun. We can hang out there. There’s fish in the creek near it, and guys who have dogs will bring them down there to run loose and have fun.”

The Trail Club works closely with Lake Carroll’s maintenance department to keep the trails in shape. If members find something that needs a little TLC, they’ll take it upon themselves to take care of it; but if something major happens, they’ll make the maintenance department aware of the situation. If part of the trail is washed out, the maintenance department will bring a Bobcat tractor to smooth things over and dump some gravel.

“All in all, it’s in good shape, really,” Murrey said. “If it gets too bad, they’ll Bobcat it and straighten it out. You can’t really get rid of all of it. It depends on how much rain there will be.”

As part of promoting safety on the trails, one point that Giovanni emphasizes with riders is the use of hand signals to alert incoming riders along the trail of how many vehicles are in a riding group, especially when they meet along winding trails in the woods. For example, a lead vehicle in a group of three will hold up two fingers to whoever they are passing to indicate that there are two more riders behind them. The second rider holds up one finger for them to let them know there’s one more in their group, and then the final rider will hold up a fist to signify zero as the final vehicle.

“It’s universally used in the off-roading community these days, and it’s a great thing,” Giovanni said.

By understanding

end goal

RUSTY

The straightaways have a posted speed limit of 30 miles per hour, with slower speeds suggested for the curves. Mileposts are along most spots on the trail, increasing clockwise beginning at the trail’s access point to the Association Office; it takes about 45 minutes to travel the entire loop going at a safe speed – which includes careful turns on the curves and slowing down on bridges and through the fording of small streams.

“When you can’t see on a winding trail, you got to use those signals because you don’t know who’s coming,” Murrey added.

The Trail Club plans to set up at various Lake Carroll functions to round up new members and continue promoting itself. Members are also planning a poker run and scavenger hunt along the trail during the Fourth of July weekend; additional details about both will be announced as it draws closer.

“We want to promote the club throughout the whole community,” Giovanni said. “We want to let people know that [the trail] is a great amenity to have here. By starting up the club again, we can get more people involved and take ownership of it a little more, be out there more, promote it and be safe about it.”

Cody Cutter can be reached at 815-632-2532 or ccutter@shawmedia.com.

More info

For more information on the Lake Carroll Trail Club, call chairman Tom Giovanni (seen at right, on the trail) at 847-363-9960 or email kingwalleye@gmail.com.

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Donna and Troy Lessman of Lake Carroll turned their love of food into a catering business. The husband and wife team are the chief chefs at Lessman Catering. “We enjoy it. We’re people persons,” says Donna.

CODY CUTTER/SAUK

VALLE Y MEDIA

hen Donna Lessman was a young girl, she enjoyed seeing the newest editions of the cooking magazines stacked in the racks at the grocery store. Every issue would was like food for thought — the recipes and pictures of delicious delights would get her culinary curiosity going and her creative juices flowing, but the inspiration she found in those pages was just a taste of things to come.

Through the years, she would turn that interest into a talent for cooking. It’s a talent she would share with both friends who would ask her to make a favorite dish, and the people she enjoyed chatting with about food and cooking. Today, she’s still cooking, but the serving sizes have gotten bigger — and so has her fan base.

Donna and her husband Troy are the Lessmans behind Lessman Catering, a business they’ve shared for the past 20 years.

It’s not uncommon to find the Lake Carroll couple, who’ve been married 35 years, hard at work on a Thursday or Friday, preparing weekend orders, either from the kitchen they rent from Rolling Hills Progress Center in Lanark, or on the grills or smoker outside their home. They’ve catered parties, weddings, corporate functions, churches and just about anything else that draws in a large group of people — including a few Lake Carroll club events as well.

No matter the menu or the client, the Lessmans have found that one things remains the same: Good food can bring people together.

Donna and Troy Lessman of Lessman Catering do much of their cooking in a kitchen they rent from Rolling Hills Progress Center in Lanark.

Making food their business has taken them all throughout the state to meet all kinds of people, and when they cater an event, they don’t just drop off the food and come back later to pick up the dishes. They enjoy staying throughout the event. Most of the time it’s led to long days, but their moments meeting people become memories that they can look back on and enjoy.

“I’ve said that in my retirement I hope to put togeth er my favorite recipes and some anecdotes to tell stories about what we’ve done and seen,” Donna said. “I think they’ll be fun to read.”

If the cook does ever write her own book, the first chapter may well be titled “Apple Praline Pie.” That’s the dessert that made Donna well-known both with those in the Lake Carroll area as well as food connoisseurs who flocked to Shan non’s annual barbecue festivals about 25 years ago. That event attracted grill masters and smokers from all over the country, and its dessert contests became a favorite with locals. Donna’s apple praline racked up a slew of top prize ribbons, and as more people became aware of her talents, she started getting requests for that prize-winning pie.

It wasn’t long before those pie pleas turned into requests for other desserts, and that led to other dishes — main courses that people couldn’t wait to sink their teeth into.

“Once she started entering, she won it every year,” Troy said. “She had won it so often, but by the second or third year people kept calling her and saying, ‘I heard you make great pies, and I would like you to make a pie,’ or all kinds of other desserts. She loves to try new things, and she has so much courage to do that.”

You make the menu, the Lessmans will make the food — everything from A to D: appetizers to dessert, like a meat a cheese appetizer tray or desserts like this three-layer chocolate cake, with chocolate mousse between each layer, coated in a chocolate ganache and topped off with chocolate curls. Incidentally, making this cake was sort of a “blast from the past,” according to a post on Lessman’s Facebook page: It’s one of the first cakes Donna made when she and her husband’s catering business was starting out.

All that cooking got her thinking: Why not mix business with pleasure, and turn something she enjoys into something that she could share with others while earning some money? A catering business was born, and Troy was there to help with the delivery.

Unlike most catering businesses, customers won’t find a specific menu to choose from these days. The Lessmans tried that at first, but found that the menu kept changing based on their own tastes and it got to be too much of a hassle, so they decided to let their clients come up with the menu. Whatever they wanted, the Lessmans would make.

“People will call me and ask if there’s a website of a menu that they can look at,” Donna said. “No, we’ve tried and it just turned into a book because I would always have to change it.”

Interacting with customers during the ordering process has helped generate new creations, opinions and even friends. Donna will go over how the main dishes will be made and prepared, what will pair well with it, and the logistics of it all, all while keeping customers’ budget in mind. Depending on time and location, some foods aren’t feasible for catering; for example, fish and breaded meat won’t work unless there’s a kitchen at the event.

“That’s stuff that people don’t really think about,”

Donna said, “so I’ll tell them that there are a few restrictions with it, but there are still so many good things that are out there.”

Want a preview of the menu? Donna can make a sample plate so clients can get a taste of what she can offer. Not even sure what the menu should be?

Donna’s happy to help. She can help come up with ideas to cater to the event. For example, a cheddar meat loaf has been a favorite for many customers, as has cupcake-sized lasagnas; and when it comes to dessert, she says you can’t go wrong with her vanilla bean cheesecake.

LESSMAN CATERING FACEBOOK PAGE

“They’ll call and I’ll ask what they are thinking. We’ll come up with ideas and suggestions, and we go from that. Once we get the main dishes, we’ll start building around it to make it colorful and interesting. Then the budget is the determining factor in the end with how much you want to spend.”

Freshness is important to the Lessmans, and the timing of each job has to be just right. They use fresh ingredients and coordinate the prep time so that dishes are as fresh as possible.

But none of that would be possible without a lot of hard work.

“A lot of times she’ll work Thursday and Friday preparing for an event. Saturday we’ll get up fairly early, and it’s starting from 6 or 7 o’clock in the morning and we won’t get done until 10 or 11 at night. It’s a long, long day, and that’s what I think people don’t know about it, all of those hours that go into doing it. Especially if you’re doing things homemade.”

All that talent and hard work have paid off. Word of mouth has helped the business grow, and local news media award contests have had a hand in their success, too. It’s a business plan that’s evolved naturally over time, and one that has given them the freedom to focus on quality over quantity — and the “Wow!” factor hasn’t hurt either.

“I believe people eat with their eyes first, so it has to start there and then follow it,” Donna said. “I want people to be proud of what we offer, and want to do it at a price that’s manageable and hopefully wow people in the process.”

Cody Cutter can be reached at 815-632-2532 or ccutter@shawmedia.com.

Lessman Catering on

or call 815-541-3201 to arrange an order, or for more information.

or Barry Skinner, a good day at his shop is when business goes up in a puff of smoke. That’s when he’s happy, and his customers are happy.

Skinner is the owner of Bad Ash Cigars in Oregon, where he puts his 40 years as a cigar aficionado to good use, helping customers who, like himself, love a good cigar.

After decades of working in and visiting cigar shops across the country and around the world, Skinner realized his dream of opening one of his own in 2018, using what he learned along the way and sharing it with customers.

For smokers, there’s a ritual to enjoying a cigar — picking just the right one, gently rolling it in your fingers and taking in the smell, a snip of the tip, the flip and the flash of the lighter — and a camaraderie that comes with kicking back, relaxing with friends and savoring a good smoke; and he’s made his shop a place where customers can do just that.

“No matter where you go around the globe, you can sit down and have camaraderie with people over a cigar,” Skinner said. “I’ve done it in different countries — the Dominican Republic, China, the Philippines and Ireland — and it brings people together, and any animosity just goes away. It doesn’t matter what people’s beliefs are, it doesn’t matter where they stand politically, it doesn’t matter what they do for a living, everybody gets along in a cigar lounge.”

Inside, Bad Ash offers a welcoming atmosphere — a lounge with cozy chairs, tables, TVs — where people can buy and try their purchases (tobacco retailers who derive more than 80% of their business from tobacco get a pass on the state’s Smoke-Free Act, which went into effect in 2008). One of the lounge’s popular features is a 120-inch screen above the front entryway that shows sports or whatever else customers want to watch, including an occasional movie on the weekends

Then, of course, there are the cigars — and lots of them. A humidor room with hundreds of different kinds from near and far. Domestics, imports, hand-rolled ... if you’re looking to turn over a new tobacco leaf, Bad Ash is the place to do it. With about 225 different brands, cigar lovers are sure to find something to enjoy. Skinner previously worked at Jorgio’s Cigars in Wheaton before coming to Oregon in 2018; that’s when his sons found a place along the east bank of the Rock River where their dad’s dream of owning a cigar shop could come true. One of his sons, Joshua, is a co-owner, as is Brian Wynn, who became a co-owner when Bad Ash moved to Oregon’s downtown this past fall after five years at its original location. The younger Skinner and Wynn also own Ogle County Brewery, just a couple of buildings over from Bad Ash.

Bad Ash Cigars owners

Barry Skinner (center) and Brian Wynn, and marketing director Liz Vos are part of a leadership team of one of Oregon's unique specialty businesses: a cigar shop and lounge where customers can enjoy different blends and brands while having an opportunity to sit and chat with friends and friends-to-be.

Grab a smoke and grab a chair. Bad Ash Cigars offers seating areas where customers can enjoy a stogie and some conversation

At first, Skinner wasn’t sure a cigar lounge would work in a small town like Oregon, but then one day, he did something any cigar smoker does when they’re trying to sort things out: He had a cigar and thought about it, and it didn’t take long for him to realize that where there’s smoke, there’s potential.

“I’ve been smoking cigars and going to cigar lounges forever, and I always wanted to have a cigar lounge,” Skinner said. “My sons found a place across the river, and they said they thought they found the perfect area for a cigar lounge. I didn’t quite know about the demographics out here to think that a cigar lounge would go over. So one day I sat out on a bench in town, smoking a cigar, and noticed that about every fifth car there was a guy with a cigar. I thought, ‘Maybe it will go over out here.’”

If you’re looking for a certain brand of cigar, chances are you’ll find it at Bad Ash. It’s humidor is stocked with hundreds of brands, both domestic and imports. “People from Chicago have come out here and can’t believe the selection we have,” said owner Barry Skinner.

In addition to his decades of experience with cigars, Skinner is also a certified retail tobacconist, by the virtual Tobacconist University, based in Port Charlotte, Florida, which gives him a wealth of background and scientific information that he shares with his customers.

There’s no shortage of different cigars out there — skinny, fat, stout, short, long — featuring various blends tobaccos that define the taste. The filler, the wrapper, the binder — each one adds its own character to the cigar. With so much to consider, some people can feel stumped by what stogie to pick, but the staff at Bad Ash is more than happy to help pick the right one.

“I try not to have them go too mild, because some of those cigars might not have much flavor,” Skinner said. “I’ll try to pick something somewhere between mild and medium, and something with at least two flavor changes. If they don’t particularly like it during the first third, In the second third there’s probably something they’re going to like with the change in flavor. I’ll pick something that’s not going to kick their teeth out, but not something that’s going to be so bland that makes them think that they’re not that special.

“I want them to have a good experience.”

So does Wynn.

“They can talk with people like Barry, or with other people who come in who are very well-versed in cigars and glean some opinions,” Wynn said. “A lot of people can get stuck on one or two cigars because they’re hesitant and may not know what else to look for in cigars, but they can talk with people and get an entirely new experience out of having a different cigar.”

Bad Ash’s humidor houses brands from countries such as the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Nicaragua and Mexico, as well American varieties. Nations close to the Equator grow better tobacco because of a good mix of sunlight and rain, Skinner said. Among Bad Ash’s inventory are hard-to-find brands like OpusX from the Dominican, Oliva, Perdomo, Arturo Fuente, Plasencia, Cohiba, Ashton and God of Fire.

“People from Chicago have come out here and can’t believe the selection we have,” Skinner said. “They think they can only get some of these high-end cigars from Chicago. They’ll come here and will be like, ‘Holy heck, you guys have OpusX, you have this and that.’”

Wynn has smoked cigars since the early 1990s and was glad to see a cigar store come to town when it did six years ago. Now, as co-owner, he’s seen firsthand the role a cigar lounge can play in a community. He’s watched customers come in and talk over a whole host of things while grabbing a seat and enjoying a cigar — old friends catching up, business ideas getting hashed out, people talking about job offers.

“What I’ve seen over the years is that cigars are connectors,” Wynn said. “It’s something that people can do that is relaxing and can share conversation. It’s based around enjoying something, depending on the cigar you like, what profile, things like that. You’re going to have a real great experience with a real great cigar. We have enough room here were people can get away, and if they just need some quiet time to be by themselves, they can do that; or if they want to join in and talk with other people, they have a great opportunity to do that.”

HARNESS THE SUN TO POWER

Bad Ash Cigars founder and co-owner Barry Skinner has smoked cigars for more than 40 years, and opened his Oregon shop in 2018. Cigars are what Skinner calls "people connectors," he said. "No matter where you go around the globe, you can sit down and have camaraderie with people over a cigar."

Liz Vos, Bad Ash’s marketing director, has experience promoting Oregon and its business community through the marketing and events company she owns, and she too has seen how the shop has played a role in not only bringing people together, but bringing them together downtown, where they can see what Oregon has to offer. She’s said it’s been great to see people from throughout the Midwest stop by the shop, and then stop by other businesses in town to do some shopping or grab a drink and bite to eat.

“This has become a great place for people to come to network and develop friendships. They enjoy the chance to meet new people,” Vos said. “It’s welcoming to everyone — men, women, all walks of life. There are a lot of women who enjoy cigars, so it’s not just a boys club.”

As part of Bad Ash’s move to downtown Oregon, Skinner made both interior and exterior renovations to the building. Finding it within the busy downtown scene is easy: Just look for the colorful mural on the front, featuring tobacco leaves and Caribbean nations.

“We wanted to add something vibrant to the front,” Wynn said. “Murals are beautiful and are a great addition to any community, and it’s been something that’s growing in them. We thought it would be something that would really be attractive and something that would pop. We have a lot of traffic going down route 64 and 2 that can see this building. It’s something that, if we can get people to stop in town, whether it’s our business or other businesses, it’s such a great advantage to the community.”

Bad Ash also hosts special events each month and sets up at various community events in and around Oregon.

Offering customers a place where they can stop, shop and socialize with people who share a passion for a puff has become a big part of Bad Ash’s success. It’s a place where people can light up and lighten their load.

Bad Ash Cigars, 110 N. Fourth St. in downtown Oregon, is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. Find it on Facebook, email badashcigarsllc@ gmail.com, or call 815-201-3848 for more information.

“It brings a sense of calmness,” Wynn said. “When people light up a cigar, you’ll notice the first thing they’ll do after they get it lit is you can see them physically relax. Everything’s going to be good. It’s an experience for a lot of people, and it’ll bring them a little bit of calm and downtime, and to enjoy the moment.”

Cody Cutter can be reached at 815-632-2532 or ccutter@shawmedia.com.

long as Kay Guzzardo is buying and selling interesting things she sees, class is still in session at Holcomb’s old school — and these days, it’s full of history lessons.

In 1969, Guzzardo turned the then recently closed school into an antique store, and 55 years later, Schoolhouse Antiques is still rekindling memories, not only with its antiques, but with the business itself.

BY CODY CUTTER

“The town revolved around the school,” Guzzardo said. “We’ve been here all these years, and everybody calls it the school still.”

From the everyday to the eclectic, the shop is full of merchandise that’s a stroll down memory lane — furniture, chairs, tools, jewelry, quilts, housewares, dolls, trains, frames, doors, windows, artwork, lighting, toys, glassware, dishes, books and a whole lot more — filling tables and shelves in the old school’s classrooms, hallways, gymnasium and performance stage, areas students once roamed, learning all sorts of interesting things about life while growing up in a small, rural area.

It's been 70 years since Holcomb's Kay Guzzardo was a student in a classroom where she sells antiques. Guzzardo graduated from eighth grade at the town's school in 1954, and has owned Schoolhouse Antiques in the building since 1969.

Center court at the former Holcomb school gym (right) has looked the same since the building opened for students in 1933. Today, the gym is one of the showroom floors for Schoolhouse Antiques. Tell-tale signs of the shop’s former tenant can still be found throughout, like the chalkboards lining the walls (above).

Guzzardo was one of those kids, attending school there until her eighth-grade graduation in 1954. She can still point to where her desks were in either of the school’s two classrooms.

“We hung the flag. We said a prayer. We had music. We had really good teachers,” she said. “I loved school.”

Another lifelong love of Guzzardo’s is appreciating pieces of the past — the history and the mystery of merchandise from days gone by, learning about them, figuring out what they were used for, and helping them find a new home with her customers.

Her mother, Floy Musser, ran a gas station in nearby Kings when Kay was a young adult, and both mother and daughter would meet the occasional customer who would sell all sorts of antiques and other interesting items from the backs of their cars and trucks.

“My mother ran a gas station years ago, and when people would get gas, they would sell their wares out of the trunks of their cars,” Guzzardo said. “My mother and I would buy out of their trunks and put them in our gas station and sell them. She was a hard worker, and she could make money.”

The apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree — or the teacher’s school desk. Like her mother, Guzzardo developed a keen eye for turning collectibles into cash, and when the school she loved closed its doors in 1969, she found a way to open them back up and keep the building part of the community, following in her mother’s footsteps, and her own: the ones she walked as a student there.

She and her husband, Sam, bought the vintage-1933 building at an auction that year and Kay moved her merchandise into the school where she’s selling it ever since. It turned out to be the biggest buy that she Sam ever made. After buying it, they spent a couple of years building an addition to it where they would live.

Countless items, both ornate and simple, have come and gone from the school-turnedstore in the past 55 years — and some of them in the shop today aren’t even as old as the business itself. Though traditionally, something is considered an antique when it’s 80 years or older, but Guzzardo has seen that definition change over the years.

“It used to be that an antique was supposed to be 100 years old,” Guzzardo said. “Those days are gone. If you’re a 20-year-old, your grandparents would maybe be 65 or 70. So whatever they had, to those kids it’s collectible.”

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Looking for holiday decor? Every day is Christmas at Schoolhouse Antiques. These days, vintage holiday decor is becoming more popular than decorations made in recent years, owner Kay Guzzardo said.

She’s shopped at many pop-up and flea markets throughout the Midwest on quests to find interesting and unique things to stock her store. Farm auctions were popular go-to destinations for her until most of them moved from in-person to online set-ups. She’s also had people bring their items to her to see if there’s something that piques her interest. She continues to make the local rounds at popup markets when she can, these days with her children helping her out, after Sam passed away in 2016.

Even after all these years, she still finds it enjoyable.

“It’s never been work to me, ever,” Guzzardo said. “I was doing four markets a month. My daughter went with me one day and said, ‘Mom, how do you do it?’ I said, ‘It’s not work. It’s never been work. It’s still not work.’ I don’t care how long I’ve been selling, I still find something new. It’s just fun, that’s all I can say. I’m not a big collector, I like to buy, and I like to sell, equally.”

As for the store, it’s open by appointment, or whenever Guzzardo posts a block of hours — typically during weekends — on its Facebook page. In recent years, the appointment-based availability has become beneficial to Guzzardo, who will turn 84 this year. She doesn’t have to be tied down to set hours and can keep the store going on her own terms.

When you come, bring paper, not plastic; the business is check or cash only.

“People have asked me why I don’t have regular hours,” Guzzardo said. “I’ll tell them that I’m old, I’m independent, and I don’t want to. That’s the truth. I don’t want to be tied down. But, I will open if you knock on my door and I’m home. This has been wonderful to be open the way I have.”

Guzzardo also avoids selling her items on eBay, preferring a more personable approach to her transactions. “It’s not fun,” she said. “I like people. I think it’s all about people, and it’s always been about people.” That doesn’t mean she shuns modern tech altogether. She uses Facebook and its Marketplace communities to attract shoppers from well beyond Ogle County.

Schoolhouse Antiques, 109 Allen St. in Holcomb, is open by appointment or on select occasions: Find it on Facebook for up-to-date opening hours or call 815-297-4551.

“We didn’t have Marketplace a long time ago,” Guzzardo said. “People read that every day, and they’re antiquers. I’ve had people come out of [Chicago] and people from Madison. People like to take drives today, they want to take a drive and buy antiques.

Marketplace has been so good. People love to find a bargain, and love to find a new place.”

Google has been helpful, too. When it comes to the more unusual items she finds, an online search can solve many a-mystery.

“You’re always learning,” Guzzardo said. “You find something and go, ‘What is that?’ Then you’ll talk with people. Now, you can get on Google. That’s a little easier than what it used to be.”

The evolution of the antiquing industry and constant curiousness keeps Guzzardo going after all these years. She doesn’t plan on quitting until her body tells her to.

“With people today, you never know who’s going to come through the door and what they collect,” she said. “My customers have all been wonderful. They really, really have. I may have some things here that may not be worth a lot, but people love that stuff.” n

Cody Cutter can be reached at 815-632-2532 or ccutter@shawmedia.com.

Fearly 80 years ago, a small southern Wisconsin town rich in Swiss heritage made a bold decision in a quest to bounce back from a decline in industry and economy.

Having looked to its roots and realizing it had something special, New Glarus began to promote itself as a town proud and willing to share its heritage not only with locals but visitors too — a plan that has since helped transform this small town into one of the Midwest’s unique tourist destinations.

Situated in rolling green hills, New Glarus isn’t all that far from Lake Carroll, about an hour-and-15-minute drive (according to Google Maps) along state Route 69. The village known as “America’s little Switzerland” is about halfway between Monroe and the state capital of Madison. Coming into town from the south, visitors will see one of the town’s most distinctive characteristics: all of town’s buildings have some sort of Swiss chalet motif to them. In fact, that became part of town code about 30 years ago, so even a national business such as Casey’s General Store has brown chalet decor on the front of its building.

Small mom-and-pop shops and Swiss-themed pubs make up most of New Glarus’ downtown, but you’ll have to turn off of Route 69 to get there. Swiss-themed gifts, handmade and imported home decor and — no surprise — cheese often make their way into customers’ shopping bags, reminders of their visit to this little slice of Switzerland.

New Glarus’ Swiss heritage can be traced back to the town’s founding in 1845 by immigrants Nicholas Durst and Fridolin Streiff, who were originally from Glarus, Switzerland. News of its establishment delivered back to their home overseas helped bring over about 100 more Swiss immigrants to settle there. After its first 50 years, its population rose to about 600, with many residents being immigrants and their descendants — something that’s still true to this day, with several residents continuing to speak with a Swiss-German dialect. The dairy industry was dominant throughout town until mass consolidation of companies after World War II took a toll on the local economy.

New Glarus’ Swiss culture also is proudly shared in the town’s Swiss Historical Village and Museum and a busy calendar of annual events, which include … Polkafest on June 7-8 with plenty of Swiss music, dancing and samplings of local brews and cuisine; the Heidi Folk Festival on June 8, highlighted by a play centered around the Swiss folk tale of the young orphan girl who eventually finds happiness in her community; the Wilhelm Tell Festival on Aug. 31 and Sept. 1, featuring performances of the story of Swiss independence (more popularly known in America as “William Tell”) along with an art fair, children’s lantern parade and live music; and the four-day New Glarus Oktoberfest from Oct. 26-29 of all sorts of beer, live music, chainsaw carvings and a petting zoo.

Other events include the town’s annual Blues, Brews and Food Trucks Festival (June 29); Swiss Volksfest (Aug. 4, on Swiss Independence Day); a car, truck and motorcycle show (Oct. 6) and the Christkindli (Christmas) Market (Dec. 6-8). Go to swisstown.com/events for a complete list of New Glarus’ special events.

Want to see just some of what New Glarus has to offer? Let your fingers to the walking through the following pages to find out. Before you know it, you’ll be ready to hit road and bust out your polka moves.

Larry Heckman (815) 864-2808

25235 Payne Rd.

Shannon, IL 61078 forestgreen44@hotmail.com

Landscape Design &Installation

Seeding *Sodding

Locally GrownNursery Stock

Evergreens *Shade Trees *Perennials

Hardscape Installation *Stone Walks

Retaining Walls *Fireplaces

Sea Walls *Rip Rap

Maintenance *Mowing *TreeRemoval

Mulch Delivery *SnowRemoval

Licensed Pesticide Applicator

A Guide To Lake Carroll Real Estate

VACANT LOTS

County View | 16-170 Stonehedge Dr. | $1 Country View | 12-166 Rosewood Ln. | $5 Country View | 3-650 & 651 Fawn Ridge Dr | $10 Country View | 12-219 Spring Creek Dr | $1,000 Wooded | 13-102 Quail Hollow Dr. | $2,000 Wooded | 12-245 Birchbark Ct. | $3,900 Country View | 31-65 Wakonda Dr. | $25,000 Deeded Slip | 31-76 Country Club Ct. | $28,900 Deeded Slip | 21-54 Old Wharf Rd. | $35,000