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Area: Ephraim

  • Amanda DeWitt: Cottage Jeweler in Ephraim

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    “I sort of fell into it,” Amanda DeWitt said. “I am very artistic, but I never knew you could do something that you like to do to make a living!” In 1969 during her junior year DeWitt quit college and moved from Champaign (Illinois) to Door County with her then husband, jewelry-maker Tom DeWitt.

  • Ephraim’s Go-To Girl

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    Finally, you arrive in Door County. Map and guidebook in hand, you scan lists and advertisements for a plethora of restaurants, shops, galleries, wineries, taverns, parks, orchards, and more. You wonder where to rent a kayak. You wonder where to find live music. You wonder where you can buy a can opener. You realize this […]

  • Hot Town, Summer in the Kitchen

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    Soup and salad:  a deeply satisfying, heart-happy combination. Yet, like many classic things, it can be done to perfection reminiscent of Mom’s home cooking, or it can pale in comparison. At the Summer Kitchen, located on the north end of Ephraim, owners and brothers Nino and Armando Jauregui make a mean cup of soup. In […]

  • Time to Leave the Lakes Alone

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    After a century and a half of trying to control the Great Lakes, is it time to concede to Mother Nature? Bryan Nelson stands on his wooden boardwalk over Lake Michigan, about 100 feet from shore. Well, 10 years ago he’d be standing over Lake Michigan water. Today, he’s surrounded by tall grasses growing from […]

  • Jim Leatham on the art of outdoor painting

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    You see them around the county, strolling through downtown Fish Creek with collapsible easels and sun caps or scattered in front of the Cana Island Lighthouse at sunset.

  • Good Old-Fashioned American Food

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    I navigate my way over the glossy wooden floor, wearing my red Wilson’s t-shirt and khaki shorts, holding a tray of hamburger baskets above my head. A toddler bobs up and down by the neon-lit jukebox. American Pie by Don McLean plays from the speakers. A white-haired woman tells the cashier about her days as […]

  • Rustic Fish Gallery

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    On top of a tall display shelf in the Rustic Fish Gallery sit eight rectangular blocks of wood. The leftmost block is plain and bald, distinguished only by a rough point on its tip. As the blocks progress to the right, a figure begins to emerge, clearer in each block than it was in the […]

  • The Audio Files

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    As somewhat of an audiophile, I find that I instantly gravitate toward people who like music. It doesn’t matter if you and I don’t happen to like the same music – any passion one might have for any kind of riff, lyric, or beat is what means the most to me. So, it may not […]

  • Free vs. Paid: The Door County Concert Debate

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    This summer, I was part of an upstart company whose primary goal was to bring quality live music to Door County. To be fair, many other businesses and individuals have been doing this for years on the peninsula, but, like those enterprising people, we thought we might be able to fill a different musical niche.

  • Stimulus Package: Ephraim Business Owners Push for Alcohol in the Village

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    The Village of Ephraim is the only dry town in Wisconsin, but some business owners think it’s time to consider a change. Since its founding as a Moravian settlement over 150 years ago, the sale of alcohol has been banned in the village.

  • “Ordinary is Not an Option”: Nathan Hatch, Sculptor-Designer

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    Meet Nate Hatch, born and bred in Door County, son of two respected artists and a fully-emerged professional artist himself at 27, evidenced by his hand-made furniture, gigantic outdoor metal sculptures and the newer and more personal metal graphic designs. His body of work shows a distinctive style within the three distinctly different mediums and […]

  • World-Class Competition Sails Into Ephraim

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    It isn’t a stretch to see why Door County is a huge attraction for sailors. Pristine waters and a constant supply of good winds keep salty dogs from all over the United States coming back year after year. One place these sailors gather is at the Ephraim Yacht Club (EYC) which is just coming off […]

  • Door County News: Booming Business – Local government ballooned as county developed

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    This is the first in a series of articles about the evolution of municipal government in Door County. The 1983 Liberty Grove budget was summarized in a small pamphlet with five pages devoted to the spending breakdown. It was supplemented by a two-page hand-scrawled budget worksheet. The Village of Egg Harbor’s 1984 budget audit is […]

  • Strengthening Security One Backpack at a Time: Door County man soldiers on in Afganistan

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    It’s been more than seven years since the United States launched Operation Enduring Freedom and invaded Afghanistan in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept.

  • Receding Lake Levels Spur Concerns

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    A guest on a Fox Valley radio station was discussing the increasing value of fresh water in a world where many areas face extreme shortages. “It is being said more and more often that water is the oil of the future and the Great Lakes, the biggest freshwater body in the world, its biggest prize,” the guest said (he was gone before I caught his name).

  • Door County’s Outdoor Attitude: Efforts grow to increase county’s active elements

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    Door County is becoming increasingly well-known as a locale for sports such as wind-surfing, kite-boarding, and biking, shifting the peninsula brand in a new direction.

  • Ephraim’s Anderson Dock & Store – 150 Years, Two Beloved Landmarks, One Big Birthday Party

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    One of the first things I learned when I began working for the Ephraim Historical Foundation (EHF) is historic preservation doesn’t just mean the preservation of historic monuments, sites, buildings, or relics.

  • Optimism Paints Way to Door County: Artists Ellen Sprogo-Topelmann & Karsten Topelmann

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    As a girl who spent many summers in Ephraim, I visited Hanseatic Art Gallery frequently, but one visit when I was 16 years old always stands out in my mind. I had just started to enjoy art, and even though I had seen many of Karsten and Ellen Topelmann’s paintings, the beauty and detail of […]

  • Good Eggs: Lucky Season Seven

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    If you’ve never eaten at Good Eggs you are, in my opinion, missing out on one of Door County’s best and most unique breakfast experiences. (Maybe I’m biased:  Joel Bremer, owner/manager/head cook at Good Eggs, is a friend and former roommate. I was actually one of Joel’s guinea pigs for the restaurant when finalizing the […]

  • Red Putter Pro Tournament Brings Intensity to Ephraim

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    “We’ve got to bring the title back to Sister Bay,” was the refrain running through the crowd at the 5th annual Red Putter Pro Tournament. The contingent of area competitors didn’t seem to care who won, just so long as the trophy came back to Northern Door.