Door County Living Winter 2022-23 – Volume 20, Issue 4

Published February 22nd, 2023

editor
Myles Dannhausen Jr.

special issues editor
Grace Johnson

copy editor
Paula Apfelbach

creative director
Andrew Kleidon

design associate
Renee Puccini

sales managers
Jess Farley, Stephen Grutzmacher

inside sales manager
Deanna Nelson

courier
The Paper Boy, LLC

distribution experts
Jeff Andersen, Chris Eckland, Guy Fortin, Todd Jahnke, Jacob Wickman

office manager
Ben Pothast

assistant office manager
Kait Shanks

chief technology officer
Nate Bell

contributors
Jess Farley, Brett Kosmider, Rachel Lukas, Charlotte Lukes, John Mielke, David Nielsen, Sam Watson, Patty Williamson

publisher
David Eliot

owners
David Eliot and Myles Dannhausen Jr.

Door County Living, Inc.

8142 Hwy 57, Baileys Harbor, WI 54202
920.839.2120
[email protected]
doorcountypulse.com

Volume 20 Issue 4
30,000 copies (17,559 mailed)

Door County Living, celebrating the culture and lifestyle of the Door peninsula, is published five times annually by Peninsula Publishing & Distribution, Inc., 8142 Hwy 57, Baileys Harbor, WI 54202.

To order a subscription, please mail a check for $25 to Door County Living, 8142 Hwy 57, Baileys Harbor, WI 54202. If you would like to advertise, please visit doorcountymarketing.com.

Locally owned. Locally minded.

Have Chainsaw, Will Carve

Door County is famous for art. Around every curve and corner, you’ll find art fairs, art festivals, art galleries, concert venues, theater spaces – art is everywhere. Sometimes, however, the art is a bit unexpected. Take that six-foot-tall bear or two bald eagles fighting over a fish – eye-catchers for sure. Cody and Ashley Leist […]
Stories from the Greystone Castle Walls

At the corner of Madison Avenue and Maple Street on Sturgeon Bay’s west side, the Greystone Castle is filled with stories. Greg Ebel bought the bar and eatery in 1978. He was 27, tending bar for Gordy Schumacher at the Scandia Supper Club, and “I was broke,” Greg recalled. “I even borrowed $150 from the […]
The Joy of Winter: Biking, Kiting, Kayaking on Ice

There are no slopes, ski lifts or half pipes on the peninsula, but that doesn’t mean people here don’t go to extremes for winter fun. Last winter, photographer Brett Kosmider set out to capture photos of residents who don’t let a little snow – or a lot of ice – stop them from getting down […]
Editor’s Note: What Winter Reveals

“The soul of the county survives,” he told me, with a special emphasis on “soul,” hanging on it ever so much. I was sitting in the Coop in the woods of Ellison Bay with the writer Norb Blei in September of 2012, several months before he died. I tucked into an old chair in the […]
Recipe: Confit, Cassoulet and Love

Created in collaboration with David Nielsen During the cool, dark months ahead, I prepare to find joy in the kitchen through the creation, the process, the preparation and, ultimately, the act of eating all the deliciousness that I find on my plate and in my bowl. In the past couple of years, I have found […]
Old Fashioned Smoke

When CHOP moved from its original location at the Country Walk Shops and down to the center of Sister Bay, the steakhouse also added a full liquor license. When they did, they also added a new twist on a classic Wisconsin cocktail, the smoked Old Fashioned. “It was on the first CHOP cocktail list in […]
Jill Stukenberg Finds Her Audience

When author Jill Stukenberg won the 2021 Big Moose Prize from Black Lawrence Press for her debut novel, News of the Air, she missed the call. She’s submitted her written work to presses and agents over the years, but she never considered actually getting a call back. “It was pretty much a top life feeling […]
Rum Runners on the Great Lakes

The Story of One of the Largest Liquor Busts on the Great Lakes “Rum runner” is not a term that’s likely to come up in conversation today, but during Prohibition – the period between Jan. 17, 1920, and Dec. 5, 1933, when the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution outlawed the production, transportation and sale […]
Door to Nature: Winter Finches

Spring is an exciting time to go bird-watching. We await the arrival of many species returning from the south in April and May, showing their colorful breeding plumage. Autumn is a rewarding bird-watching season as well, but it’s a more challenging time to identify migrating birds because adults have subdued, post-breeding “attire,” and the immature […]
The Commute: For these riders, cycling isn’t seasonal

There’s a growing community of recreational cyclists in Door County, but few who make cycling a part of their regular commute – and even fewer still who dare to continue that commute through the snow, slush and ice of winter on a peninsula with few bike lanes and little signage. But some of us are […]
Winter Fun in Door County

Christkindlmarkt The Christkindlmarkt is returning to Sister Bay for the second year over three weekends: Nov. 25-27, Dec. 2-4 and Dec. 9-11. Last year’s event drew 10,000 visitors to the Corner of the Past Museum in Sister Bay to check out artists, artisans, beverages, food and live music. Also expect visits from Santa in the […]
Zephyr Ciesar: a singer-songwriter brings her oldies-inspired sound back home

When Zephyr Ciesar was about three years old, she snuck away from her mother at a festival in northern California. Her mother looked everywhere, and when she finally found her daughter, she was onstage with a reggae band. The band had given her a microphone, and she was having the time of her young life […]
Reinventing TAP

During the pandemic, Third Avenue PlayWorks renovated its building, hired new leaders and changed its name, but its mission stayed the same. The Third Avenue PlayWorks of today and the theater company of three years ago seem like two very different entities. That’s courtesy of the pandemic, which shut down the theater – known as […]