Itinerary Summary

Over three days in South-Central Wisconsin your group will get a close-up look at historic cars, marvel at pioneer craftsmanship and take in horticultural splendor. Also in this group itinerary: a quirky house of wonders, buildings designed by one of America’s premier architects and a museum dedicated to a beloved condiment. This is a great 3-day itinerary for things to do in South Central Wisconsin.

Day 2 – Monroe, Janesville, Beloit

In Janesville, relive your childhood memories through the smell of fresh cut wood and feel of a wooden toy in your hand. It’s as close to Santa’s workshop as you can get. Only in Janesville can you tour the manufacturer of handcrafted JANESVILLE Coaster Wagons and other wooden toys patterned after historic products of the early 20th century. The tour will draw you into their toy making gallery and delight all who watch the artisans create. Then catch a breath of fresh air as you stroll Rotary Botanical Gardens, home to over 26 themed gardens, such as the Japanese and English Cottage gardens.

Drive the scenic rural roads to Spring Green to experience the iconic architecture, culture and nature of Frank Lloyd Wright’s home, studio and school. A visit to his Taliesin estate is an intimate look at the 70-year career of one of America’s greatest architects. Constructed of natural materials and designed to be a part of the surrounding landscape, these buildings are the most personal of Wright’s masterpieces. His cherished community lifestyle and groundbreaking philosophies were founded in the hills of this Driftless Area valley. Constantly inspired by nature, Wright’s endless ideas are apparent in the experimental, organic architecture present in the buildings. Designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Taliesin offers tour options that include Hillside and Taliesin, two significant, yet distinctly different Wright-designed buildings.

Itinerary Summary

This three-day itinerary in northern Wisconsin spotlights an unspoiled land of dense forests, hundreds of lakes and small towns between the Mississippi River and Lake Superior. Highlights include attractions that honor our veterans and chronicle the area’s colorful fur trade, logging and mining history.

Day 2 – Ashley, Hurley, Montreal & Phillips

Celebrate the history and heritage of Lake Superior at the Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center in Ashland. Listen to spirited songs of voyageurs singing as they paddle their fur-laden, 35-foot birch bark canoes across Lake Superior. Peek inside an 18th century fur trading post. Feel the rumble of an explosion in a deep-shaft iron mine. The displays present an overview of human cultures interacting with the land and natural resources of the Northern Great Lakes region, from the Ice Age to the present. Head to the observation deck for an overview of the area or ake a stroll on the trails to enjoy the wildlife and fauna.

In Hurley, our first stop is the Iron County Historical Society Museum, whose displays touch on iron mining, railroads, the timber industry and much more. Little Finland down the road keeps alive the proud heritage of the many Finnish immigrants that settled in the area. More on the mining industry will be explored when you experience the remnants of the world’s deepest iron ore mine where early settlers worked nearly a mile underground.

The town of Montreal was built as a utopian mining community, as the Montreal Mining Company provided everything that it felt the miners and their families needed. The entire town is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Travel through the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest and in Phillips you’ll come upon the Wisconsin Concrete Park, an outdoor museum with 237 embellished concrete and mixed media sculptures built between 1948 and 1964 by Fred Smith, a retired lumberjack and self-taught artist and musician. Installed throughout Smith’s northwoods property, the site showcases life-size and larger-than-life sculptures depicting people, animals and events from local, regional and national history and from Smith’s vivid imagination.

Boat tours, ferry crossings and maritime museums enhance Wisconsin itineraries. Sightseeing cruises on lakes and rivers lead the list of aquatic adventures.

Blessed with a plethora of scenic rivers and lakes, Wisconsin abounds with on-the-water experiences. Bordered on the north and east by two of America’s five Great Lakes and on the west by the mighty Mississippi, the state offers countless aquatic adventures, from sightseeing cruises to nature walks. Groups can delve into Wisconsin’s maritime heritage at captivating museums and historic lighthouses.

Here are 10 ways to navigate the Badger State’s great waterways and revel in their stories:

1. Geneva Lake Mailboat Tour

Lake Geneva Cruise Line’s U.S. Mailboat Tour is a 2½-hour cruise that circles southeastern Wisconsin’s beautiful, spring-fed Geneva Lake. Besides narration highlighting the history of the magnificent lakeside mansions and their lavishly landscaped grounds, the tour (daily from June 15 to September 15) features the added drama of young mail carriers hopping on and off the moving boat as they deposit letters in pier mailboxes. Passengers cheer on the “mail jumpers,” hoping they make it back onboard without falling into the water (which they sometimes do). Mailboat service has been a Geneva Lake tradition since 1916. The boat has an enclosed lower deck and an open, covered top deck.

The cruise line’s two-hour “Full Lake Tour” does the circuit without the mail stops. Also available is a cruise visiting 1888 Black Pointe Estate, the only historic lakefront home open for tours (accessible only via Lake Geneva Cruise Line).

2. Wisconsin Maritime Museum

Located on the Manitowoc River in downtown Manitowoc, this crowd-pleaser is one of the largest such museums in the U.S. Focusing on the Great Lakes and Wisconsin, the museum displays antique boats, ship models, historic shipwrecks and nautical artifacts, and spotlights Manitowoc’s shipbuilding history as well. One exhibition spotlights the USS Cobia, a restored World War II submarine permanently moored on the river. Walking through the sub, visitors see the torpedo launchers, bunk room, radio room, officers’ quarters, mess hall and engine room. Plaques along the riverfront memorial walk commemorate each of the 28 WWII submarines built for the U.S. Navy by Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company, which at one point employed 7,000 workers, including 600 women. The Sub BNB overnight program can accommodate up to 65 guests in the Cobia’s bunks. The vessel is heated and air-conditioned, and a light breakfast is included.

3. S. Badger in Manitowoc

Another fixture on the Manitowoc waterfront is the terminal for the S.S. Badger, a car ferry that crosses Lake Michigan twice a day, from mid-May to early October, between Manitowoc and Ludington, Michigan. The last coal-fired steamship still in operation in the U.S., the Badger carries up to 600 passengers and 160 vehicles, including trucks, tour buses, RVs and farm equipment. Named for the University of Wisconsin athletic teams, the Badger was designed to transport rail cars when it entered service in 1953. During the four-hour, 60-mile crossing, passengers spend their time relaxing on deck, eating and drinking, playing bingo in the main lounge and watching movies in the theater. You lose sight of land after 50 minutes and begin to see it again 50 minutes before arrival at the destination. The steamship is a National Historic Landmark, the only mobile one besides San Francisco’s cable cars.

4. Madeline Island Ferry in Wisconsin

Crossing Lake Superior on the 25-minute voyage between Bayfield and Madeline Island, motorcoach passengers on the ferry disembark in the town of La Pointe. A local step-on guide meets your coach for a tour of the largest and only inhabited island in the 22 Apostle Islands. Groups enjoy shopping in the boutiques and art galleries. A weaving demonstration can be scheduled at Woods Hall Craft Shop, famous for its hand-woven rugs. Stop in for a hot beverage at Mission Hill Coffee or have lunch at the harborside Beach Club. The Madeline Island Historical Museum focuses Ojibwe culture and the island’s past as a French trading post and British settlement.

5. Cruising the Dells

Groups in Wisconsin Dells have a number of on-the-water options. Original Wisconsin Ducks maintains a fleet of World War II amphibious vehicles that have wheels and can float, offering one-hour rides that navigate woodland trails, the Wisconsin River and Lake Delton. Showcasing secluded canyons and unusual rock formations, the Ducks careen down steep hills and make dramatic plunges into water.

Wisconsin River cruises operated by Dells Boat Tours pass by majestic sandstone cliffs, gorges and outcroppings that have been sculpted by wind, water and time. On the two-hour Upper Dells Boat Tour, passengers disembark to walk through narrow passageways at Witches Gulch and watch a dog leap between towering rock pillars. The one-hour Lower Dells Boat Tour features landmark formations like Hawk’s Bill and Baby Grand Piano. The line also offers sunset dinner cruises and 50-minute Jet Boat adventures that combine awesome scenery with spin-outs, slides and power stops.

6. Horicon Marsh in Wisconsin

Horicon Marsh Education & Visitor Center invites exploration of the nation’s largest cattail marsh. Described by the United Nations and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as globally significant because it is home to endangered species and a stop for migrating birds, the swampy oasis is a tranquil habitat for a complex ecosystem. Bird watchers have spotted at least 300 birds – egrets and owls to pelicans and bald eagles. The center, located one hour northwest of Milwaukee, offers videos and interactive exhibits in its Explorium, plus five miles of trails and boardwalk affording breathtaking views. Recreational activities include canoeing and kayaking.

7. Rogers Street Fishing Village in Two Rivers, WI.

This Two Rivers museum complex comprises a collection of historic sheds and other buildings on the site of century-old fishing yards on the East Twin River. Visitors can view exhibits on commercial fishing, shipwrecks and the Native Americans who first fished in Lake Michigan. They can explore the inside of a fishing tug and climb up the 1886 North Pierhead Lighthouse, one of the few authentic wooden lighthouses left on the Great Lakes. Transplanted from its original location, the beacon guided ships into the harbor until 1969. The large modern building on the grounds houses the Great Lakes Coast Guard Museum, a treasure house of artifacts from the present-day Coast Guard station and U.S. Life-Saving Service station that preceded it.

8. Fox River Cruises of Green Bay

Two-hour Fox River cruises on the cozy, 22-guest Foxy Paddler provide a peaceful way to see Green Bay. For passengers who want to help propel the motorized paddlewheeler, 12 seats are equipped with pedals. Sights along the way include bridges, pelicans and other waterfowl, mountains of coal and gravel, and paper mills (Green Bay has been called the toilet paper capital of the world). Covered by an awning striped in orange, white and gray, the pontoon boat goes as far north as the lighthouse at South Bay Marina, where the Fox meets Green Bay, an arm of Lake Michigan.

9. Door County Sister Bay Scenic Boat Tours

From the marina in the Door County village of Sister Bay, the 149-passenger Norra Dörr cruises Green Bay, sailing past the bluffs, caves and lighthouse of Peninsula State Park. On the 90-minute voyage, hear stories of French explorers and early Native American inhabitants. Keep an eye out for whitetail deer drinking along the shore or a bald eagle in flight. Other tour offerings include a sunset live music cruise.

10. Betty Lou Cruises in Madison

View the picturesque city of Madison while cruising either Lake Mendota or Monona aboard Betty Lou Cruises. Enjoy breathtaking views of Madison’s skyline, which can include the State Capitol, Monona Terrace (a Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece), the Governor’s Mansion and miles of scenic natural shoreline. Choose from a variety of cruising options from lite snacks to full delicious dinners while enjoying the beautiful scenery of Wisconsin’s state capital.

Group tour leaders appreciate that Wisconsin is a year-round destination. Options range from Christmas festivities to eagle watching and theatrical productions.

Rather than hibernate in winter, Wisconsin embraces the season. Whether you’re looking for some indoor coziness or rosy-cheeks fun in the frosty air, the choices are plentiful during the Christmas holidays and beyond.

Here are a few ideas to rev up your engines and warm your hearts when the snowflakes fall in Wisconsin:

1. Rotary Lights in La Crosse, Wisconsin

Gearing up for its 30th year in 2024, Rotary Lights at La Crosse’s Riverside Park offers an opening-night parade, musical entertainment, ice skating, a towering Christmas tree and free s’mores at the fire pits. There’s a live Nativity production, complete with animals, on select nights. Guests can walk, drive, or take a carriage or hayride through the fantasyland of more than 3 million lights. Santa and his reindeer are in attendance through December 23. Enjoyed by nearly 130,000 visitors every year, the free nightly extravaganza (food and cash donations accepted) runs from Thanksgiving weekend through New Year’s Eve.

2. Making Spirits Bright in Sheboygan, WI

For the 13th year in 2024, the nightly display of electric artistry will transform the winding roads of Sheboygan’s Evergreen Park into a winter wonderland. Choreographed to music, twinkling outlines in the light-festooned woodlands may range from a gingerbread house to a 3-D mega star and jolly hippopotamus. On Friday and Saturday nights at the Quarryview Center across from the park, visitors can board the trolley for their tour and will find concessions, entertainment and Santa Claus. The much-anticipated holiday spectacle (from the Friday after Thanksgiving through New Year’s Eve) is staged by the Rotary Clubs of Sheboygan County. Donations of cash and pantry items are welcome.

3. Winterfest in Lake Geneva

Lake Geneva’s annual Winterfest features the U.S. National Snow Sculpting Championship. During the first week in February along the shore of Geneva Lake, more than a dozen state-champion teams create larger-than-life sculptures out of massive 10-foot-tall blocks of snow. Steps away from the lakefront, the downtown Ice Sculpture Walk dazzles fest-goers with Instagram-worthy works of art. Winterfest, a free event, also includes live music and bonfires on the beach with hot chocolate and s’mores for purchase.

Geneva National Resort in Lake Geneva presents Winter Realms, a frozen fantasyland of caverns, crawl spaces, slides, tunnels, towers, thrones and snow sculptures. Illuminated at night with LED lights, the wintertime attraction, formerly called Ice Castles, includes a Polar Pub ice bar, ice slides, a tubing hill and horse-drawn wagon rides.

4. The Fireside Dinner Theatre in Fort Atkinson

One of the Midwest’s premier dinner theaters, this group-friendly venue will present Miracle on 34th Street from October 31 to December 22, 2024. Based on the classic movie, the big brassy Broadway musical tells the warm and funny story of Kris Kringle, a sweet and jolly old man who has to prove in court that he is the real Santa Claus. There are matinee and evening performances. Groups can choose from a three-course meal, four-course meal or buffet in the 1,000-seat restaurant.

5. Eagle Watching Around Prairie du Chien, WI

The Mississippi River Valley around Prairie du Chien is an ideal wintering habitat for the bald eagle. From early morning until about 3 p.m., the birds can be seen be seen soaring, perching in riverside trees and sitting on the ice. The best places to see eagles include Gordon’s Bay boat landing and nearby Lock and Dam #9, a short drive north of Prairie du Chien. A good viewing spot in Prairie du Chien is between the Blackhawk Avenue and Washington Street bridges.

6. Pabst Mansion at Christmastime in Milwaukee

The 1892 Milwaukee home of beer baron Frederick Pabst gets gussied up for the holidays, enhancing its Victorian splendor with glittering trees, elaborate garlands and other festive decorations. Christmas at the Pabst Mansion, an annual tradition, features self-guided tours from mid-November to early January. Special evening tours from Thursday to Saturday include live holiday music and drinks for purchase like spiced wine and hot pecan whiskey cider.

7. Nutcracker in the Castle at the Paine Art Center and Gardens

Running from mid-November to early January, the annual display of scenes from The Nutcracker fairytale enchants visitors to Paine Art Center and Gardens, which occupies a historic estate in Oshkosh. Guided tours feature live musical, acting and dance performances, and a special treat awaits in the Sugar Plum Fairy’s Cupcake Cafe. The Paine mansion also glows with 70 Christmas trees.

8. Mitchell Park Domes in Milwaukee, WI

Consisting of three glass domes standing seven stories high, this horticultural blockbuster is one of Milwaukee’s favorite attractions, especially at Christmastime. From mid-November to early January, “A Holiday Snow Globe” in the Floral Dome dazzles visitors with hundreds of poinsettias grouped with decorated spruce trees.

The annual Winter Train Show (January-March) feature a miniature train exhibit with 600 feet of tracks. New themes each year ensure every show is different, with unique props to set the scene and over 4,000 plants to create a stunning display. Also appealing in winter is the warmth provided by the Tropical Dome and Desert Dome, showplaces for exotic vegetation.

9. Wisconsin Stadium Tours for Sports Fans

Historic Lambeau Field, home of football’s Green Bay Packers, offers year-round, behind-the-scenes tours that take guests through the players’ tunnel and onto the track that circles the turf. On the main floor of the six-story atrium are entrances to 1919 Kitchen & Tap, open year-round for lunch and dinner, and the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame.

The Packers Pro Shop sells every kind of green-and-gold logo gear imaginable. A completely indoor tour experience awaits wintertime visitors to the Milwaukee Brewers’ American Family Field, a stadium covered by a retractable roof. Tours reveal some of the most restricted and non-public areas, including the playing field, visitors’ clubhouse and dugout, Brewers bullpen, luxury suite level and press box.

Tap into Wisconsin’s rural roots and its cornucopia of tasty products at creameries, orchards, farmers’ markets and wineries. It’s about cheese and much more.

Wisconsin and cheese go together. In fact, America’s Dairyland leads the nation in cheese production, turning out more than 600 varieties. What better trip souvenir than a block of cheddar or bag of curds.

While we often associate Wisconsin with cheesy goodness, many are surprised to learn that cranberries are big business, too. Did you know that more than half the world’s supply of cranberries is grown on 250 Wisconsin family farms?

For tour groups exploring Wisconsin, some of the best experiences involve getting out into the countryside and meeting the growers and producers responsible for some of our favorite foods. Everyone likes to eat, but few of us know where our food comes from and how it ends up in the grocery store and on the dinner table.

Connecting travelers with farm life plays a major role in the state’s tourism scene. The term for this wildly popular phenomenon is agritourism. Visiting traditional farms, cranberry marshes, cheese factories and farmers’ markets give vacationers a refreshing peek into rural life—and many opportunities for tasting.

Cheese Shops in Wisconsin

The National Historic Cheesemaking Center in Monroe, a shrine to the cheese and dairy industries, spotlights the evolution of crafting Wisconsin’s most famous product. Along with exhibits, the video “How to Make the Greatest Cheese in the World” tells you all you need to know about curds and whey. Group tours led by docents, including retired cheesemakers, are offered year-round.

Also in Monroe is Alp & Dell Cheese, a retail store connected to the Emmi Roth USA cheese plant. This group-tour favorite offers a large selection of cheeses from traditional cheddar and Swiss to specialty cheese made with sheep and goat’s milk.  You can enjoy free samples and watch cheese being made from the viewing hall.

On weekday mornings at Henning’s Wisconsin Cheese in Kiel, groups can see cheesemakers work their magic over massive stainless steel vats. A short video in the little museum covers the whole process, from the time milk is received from 20 small dairy farms to the finished product. Founded by Otto Henning in 1914, Henning’s is a fourth-generation family enterprise that daily produces between 12,000 and 20,000 pounds of cheese—cheddar, colby, mozzarella, farmers and gouda. Specialty cheddars in the store range from blueberry cobbler and pumpkin spice to apple, bacon, chipotle and tequila lime. A wedge of cheddar in the shape of a cow or Wisconsin map makes the perfect gift.

In the Lake Winnebago Region near Fond du Lac, LaClare Family Creamery in Malone invites guests to sample goat milk cheeses and observe cheesemakers through viewing windows. Guests also enjoy watching the goats on the 26-foot-tall climbing silo and posing with the friendly four-legged critters. Guided tours can be arranged. The cafe menu includes salads and sandwiches featuring LaClare cheeses; save room for ice cream made from goat’s or cow’s milk.

Wisconsin Farms Grow Berries, Cherries, Ginseng and Apples

Central Wisconsin is cranberry country. Harvest time for the state’s No. 1 fruit crop, from mid-September through October, is the perfect time to tour a cranberry marsh in the Wisconsin Rapids and Tomah areas. Flaming fall foliage contrasts with the vast crimson lakes where workers shovel the floating berries onto an elevator belt that conveys them to waiting trucks. In downtown Warrens, groups can learn about the tart red berries at Discover Cranberries, a museum, cafe and gift shop housed in a historic cranberry warehouse building. The shop sells everything from cranberry relish to cranberry wine. Its old-fashioned ice cream parlor dishes up five flavors of cranberry ice cream.

Central Wisconsin, to the surprise of many, also produces a lot of ginseng root. In fact, Marathon County, with more than 1,000 ginseng farms, has been declared the Ginseng Capital of the World. Visit Wausau can help arrange a tour to one of the larger operations.

By Lake Superior in northern Wisconsin, the Bayfield area abounds with berry farms and fruit orchards. Summer travelers flock to the Fruit Loop for strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries. You’ll also find sweet and tart cherries. The area’s 10 apple orchards are popular fall destinations.

Apple Holler, a year-round tourist favorite in Sturtevant, invites groups to participate in an “Ag-venture.” The 78-acre family farm offers pick-your-own apples, peaches and pears, plus orchard and farm tours, hayrides and sleigh rides. The farm-to-table Red Barn Restaurant serves delicious down-home cooking. Treats in the farm store and bakery include apple butter, apple cider, apple turnovers and apple pies. You can feed the goats at the Golden Goat Bridge.

More than a dozen apple orchards make the Eau Claire area a prime harvest-time destination. Ferguson’s Orchards, a center of agri-entertainment, offers apple and pumpkin picking, corn mazes, haunted houses and wagon rides. Eau Claire also is the largest grower and producer of horseradish

Set among the bluffs of the Mississippi River in Prairie du Chien, Shihata’s Orchard features u-pick apples and can arrange a wagon ride and tour of the packing house. A half hour to the northeast, on a hill known as Orchard Ridge, five orchards flank Highway 171 in the community of Gays Mills, which proclaims to be the Apple Capital of Wisconsin.

Door County also abounds with apple orchards but is most famous for its cherries. Farm markets at large orchards like Lautenbach’s (in Fish Creek) and Seaquist (Sister Bay) sell not only freshly picked cherries but cherry products ranging from juices and jams to donuts, muffins and strudel. Most Door County orchards offer pick-your-own cherries in July and August. During blossom-viewing season in mid-to-late May, the highways and byways are lined with cherry trees cloaked in pink and white flowers. Apple blossoms’ peak time arrives about a week later.

Farmers’ Markets Feature the Bounty of Wisconsin

For seasonal bounty, tour groups have a field day at farmers’ markets across the state. The Dane County Farmers’ Market is a beloved Madison tradition. On Wednesdays and Saturdays from April to November, vendors throng Capitol Square, with about 130 showing up every Saturday. All of the items for sale are grown, raised and produced in Wisconsin by the person behind the stand.

The Stevens Point Farmers Market, a community staple since 1853, is the oldest continuously operating such market in the state. It is held daily (Saturday’s the big day) from May to October on Mathias Mitchell Public Square, a lively gathering spot surrounded by 19th century brick buildings.

Wisconsin’s Newest Agritourism Attraction

Brand new on the agriculture scene, the Food + Farm Exploration Center in nearby Plover spotlights the intersection of farming and food, the people who make it happen and the processes that take it from field to fork. Dozens of immersive, multi-sensory activities and exhibits provide a new perspective on agriculture and food production. In the Farm Tech Shed, sit in the driver’s seat of mammoth machines that keep the industry moving. The learning space extends beyond the center’s walls to encompass four demonstration fields, each with its own crop rotation and center pivot irrigator. Welcoming visitors to the attraction is the world’s largest potato masher, a 39-foot-tall sculpture that invites selfies.

Raise a Glass to Wisconsin Wineries

Viticulture is also part of Wisconsin’s agricultural scene, and many wineries offer group tours. Door Peninsula Winery, the state’s largest winery, dispenses free samples of many of its 70 wine varieties. Most popular are the Blackberry Merlot and Cherry Mimosa, an “applewine” combing cherry wine and sparkling apple cider. The popular winery is one of eight on the Door County Wine Trail between Lake Michigan and Green Bay.

In Greater Green Bay, groups can savor the fruit of the vine at places like Von Stiehl Winery in Algoma and Parallel 44 Vineyard & Winery in Kewaunee. In Baraboo, 20 minutes from Wisconsin Dells, wine fans flock to Baraboo Bluff Balanced Rock and Broken Bottle wineries. Bailey’s Run Vineyard, nestled in the rolling hills of New Glarus, commands one of the most scenic views of any winery in Wisconsin.

Agricultural fairs are staged across Wisconsin every summer. The ultimate ag party is the Wisconsin State Fair, an 11-day August extravaganza in West Allis. Fair goers attend pig races, see milking demonstrations and feast on deep-fried cheese curds and roasted sweet corn dripping with butter. The fair’s iconic cream-filled pastry, officially known as the Original Cream Puff, has been a staple since 1925, when Wisconsin’s farmers and bakers came up with a way to showcase the wheat and dairy industries.

No discussion of agritourism is complete without mentioning Farm Wisconsin Discovery Center. At this massive red barn just off Interstate 43 near Manitowoc, visitors can witness the birth of a calf and explore interactive exhibits that explain the origins of our food. The on-site Wisconsin Cafe dishes up farm-to-table fare using locally sourced ingredients from America’s Dairyland—the state’s license plate tagline since 1939.

Stages and arenas present crowd-pleasing options, from Broadway musicals to displays of equestrian artistry. Brand new is the Legacy Theater in Wisconsin Dells.

Live performances, from lavishly staged Broadway musicals to laugh-until-you-cry comedy shows, are just the ticket for spicing up Wisconsin tour itineraries.

Theaters in Wisconsin

Peninsula Players Theatre entertains Door County visitors with top-quality musicals, dramas and comedies from June to October in a covered theater on the forested shores of Green Bay. Gearing up for its 89th season, America’s oldest professional resident summer theater will enthrall 2024 audiences with fare such as the poignant Neil Simon comedy I Ought to Be in Pictures, Million Dollar Quartet and Agatha Christie’s The Stranger.

Door County’s Northern Sky Theater presents original musicals beneath the stars and towering pines at Peninsula State Park’s amphitheater and indoors at the Gould Theater.

At downtown Green Bay’s historic Meyer Theatre, Let Me Be Frank Productions presents hilarious all-original musicals that fuse elements of Saturday Night Live sketches and pop concerts.

More Theatres and Shows in Wisconsin

In Fort Atkinson, Fireside Dinner Theatre has been a favorite with motorcoach groups for decades. The 2024 playbill includes:

• Jersey Boys
• Fiddler on the Roof
• Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
• Nunsense
• Matilda: The Musical
• Rocky: The Musical
• Miracle on 34th Street

Marcus Performing Arts Center in downtown Milwaukee presents everything from ballet and opera to comedy and magic acts. Among touring Broadway shows scheduled for 2024 are:

• Mamma Mia!
• Shrek: The Musical
• TINA: The Tina Turner Musical
• Moulin Rouge! The Musical

Legendary Entertainment has arrived in the Wisconsin Dells, bringing you an extraordinary dinner theater experience like no other—the Legacy Dinner Theater. Prepare yourself for a journey into a world of wonder and joy. Visit their website and explore the 2024 schedule.

You won’t want to miss the Legacy Dinner Theater’s spectacular holiday event “Christmas in the Dells,” a holiday extravaganza that will leave you with cherished memories for years to come. Your travelers will be immersed in the enchanting world of Christmas as you meet Santa Claus himself, sing along to timeless classics performed live and witness a breathtaking live nativity scene. The talented performers from around the globe will captivate you with their exceptional singing, mesmerizing dancing, thrilling skating routines and awe-inspiring aerial acts.

The Dancing Horses Theatre presents dazzling spectacles of equestrian artistry in a 300-seat indoor arena. Offered year-round, the 90-minute show stars horses in a variety of breeds that perform with exacting precision alongside their trainers. The 40-acre property’s Animal Gardens Petting Zoo is open May-October. Lunch and dinner packages are available. 

Wisconsin tour/bus operators work with tour organizers to deliver the best travel experiences. They can provide the right vehicle and customize an itinerary.

Group tour planners will find just the professional expertise they need by partnering with the following reliable tour, motorcoach and receptive companies in Wisconsin:

Wisconsin’s Badger Bus

A family-owned and -operated company founded in 1920, Badger Bus has the right vehicle for your group tour. Its fleet ranges from 6-passenger mini-vans all the way up to the 81-passenger double decker coach.

Lamers Bus Lines Tours

Providing trustworthy service for 80 years, this transportation company offers a wide range of bus sizes. Amenities on its deluxe motorcoaches include restrooms, extra head and leg room, and a host of other features. Lamers offers custom tour planning as well.

C&M Presents Tours in Wisconsin

This operator offers a range of tour packages in Green Bay, Door County and other parts of eastern Wisconsin. It also will work with you to customize an itinerary for your group, handling every detail, from attraction admissions to lodging and meals.

Happy Times Tours & Experiences

Pros with more than 25 years of tour experience can arrange anything from a themed Milwaukee day trip to a three-night excursion to the Apostle Islands. It customizes fun, creative itineraries for groups of 15 or more.

Tour with Brilliant EdVentures

A full-service operator for U.S. and Canadian destinations, this company works with groups of all types, sizes and ages. As a one-stop shop, it offers complete customized tour planning for educators, group leaders, church groups and tour operators needing wholesale services.

Tour the Great Lakes

This company is ready to make your group’s experience truly exceptional as you explore the Great Lakes region. Whether you’re exploring bustling cities or quaint coastal towns and village, their team of experts is dedicated to curating an itinerary tailored to your group’s interests. They can provide expert guides who are passionate about sharing their knowledge and stories about the Great Lakes region. Through engaging commentary and fascinating anecdotes, they will bring the history, culture and natural wonders of this incredible area to life.

Personalized Tours, Inc.

For 36 years, Personalized Tours has been providing motorcoach tours ranging from one to 30 days in Wisconsin and beyond. Since 1999, Personalized Coaches, Inc. has supplied the transportation needs of Personalized Tours and also offers deluxe coaches that groups can charter.

In both urban areas and idyllic country settings, groups can sample the state’s culinary scene by visiting makers and growers with a passion for food and drink

Biting into a crisp, juicy apple fresh from the tree. Sipping wine on a patio with sweeping vineyard views. Getting a behind-the-scenes look at the beer-making process and then quaffing a pint in the taproom.

These are all special Wisconsin experiences that your travelers will remember long after their tour. The state’s orchards, wineries, distilleries and breweries add appetizing exclamation points to any itinerary. Most of these tasty destinations have places where your group can eat and drink, and all have gift shops filled with Wisconsin-made foods and beverages to take home. In some cases, enterprising proprietors operate two businesses at the same location—perhaps they run a combination winery and distillery or orchard-cum-winery—thus giving groups a chance to double their pleasure.

Apple Holler, a 78-acre family farm and year-round tourist attraction in Sturtevant, offers tractor-drawn tours through its apple, peach and pear orchards, with opportunities for apple picking and feeding goats at the Golden Goat Bridge. In the Red Barn Restaurant, groups can feast on a country meal topped off with hot apple pie and ice cream. Treats in the Farm Store & Bakery include apple cider donuts, caramel apples, apple-pie bread and apple turnovers. Fall brings out the pumpkin pickers.

The Lake Winnebago Region around Fond du Lac abounds with family-friendly farms that are especially popular around pumpkin time in September and October. At Heritage Orchard, overlooking the east shore of Lake Winnebago, folks keep busy selecting apples and pumpkins, hiking the trails, sipping apple cider, and indulging in cider donuts, apple pie and other apple treats. Visitors to LaClare Family Creamery in Malone enjoy watching the goats on the 26-foot-tall climbing silo, posing with the goats, sampling goat milk cheeses and seeing the cheesemakers at work.

In central Wisconsin, following the Cranberry Highway’s 50 miles from Wisconsin Rapids to Warren and Pittsville to Nekoosa is best experienced during harvest season in late September and October when the cranberry bogs are blazing red. Groups learn about the state fruit at the Wisconsin Cranberry Discovery Center in Warrens. Wisconsin is the nation’s top cranberry producer.

Also in central Wisconsin, Visit Wausau can help arrange a tour of a ginseng farm. There are more than 1,000 ginseng producers in Marathon County, the Ginseng Capital of the World. More than 95 percent of the ginseng root exported from the United States comes from the area.

Located by Lake Superior in far northern Wisconsin, Bayfield County enjoys a unique microclimate that allows fruits and berries to flourish. Surrounded by berry farms and orchards of the Fruit Loop, Bayfield is known as the Berry Capital of Wisconsin. During the summer months, you can find fresh strawberries, sweet and tart cherries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries. The area’s 10 apple orchards are popular fall destinations.

Any of the Eau Claire area’s dozen apple orchards will make a satisfying fall outing. One favorite is Ferguson’s Orchards, a center of agri-entertainment with apple picking, a pumpkin patch, corn mazes, haunted houses, wagon rides and petting zoos. The Glass Orchard is a combination apple orchard and glass studio with glassblowing demonstrations and hands-on sessions that can be arranged for your group.

More fall festivity awaits at Shihata’s Orchard, a third-generation family operation set among the bluffs of the Mississippi River in Prairie du Chien. It features the area’s largest pumpkin patch, its only u-pick apple opportunities and plenty of family fun from mid-August to late fall. Customized small-group visits include a wagon ride, tour of the packing house, goodies and time to explore the Apple House retail shop. A half hour to the northeast, on a hill known as Orchard Ridge, five orchards flank Highway 171 in the Kickapoo River Valley community of Gays Mills, known as the Apple Capital of Wisconsin.

Several Wisconsin orchards have gotten into the beverage business. On the grounds of Brightonwoods Orchard in Burlington, west of Racine, ÆppelTreow Winery & Distillery welcomes groups for tours and tastings of its apple and pear wines, hard ciders, dessert wines, brandies and sorghum whiskey. The estate grows more than 150 varieties of apples, plus grapes; its name is an Old English word meaning “apple true.”

In Door County, which once grew 95 percent of the nation’s cherry crop, your group can tour the orchards and vineyards at family-owned Lautenbach’s Orchard Country Winery & Market. They can taste cherry, apple and other wines and ciders made from fruits grown on the 100-acre estate in Fish Creek, and even compete in a cherry-pit spitting contest. Lautenbach’s top-selling product is the honeycrisp apple wine. (The winery is in the restored dairy barn.) Bakery items include cherry donuts, muffins and strudel.

Occupying an 1800s schoolhouse in the Door County town of Carlsville, Door Peninsula Winery, Wisconsin’s largest winery, makes 70 wines from grapes, apples, cherries and other fruits.

Most popular are the Blackberry Merlot and Cherry Mimosa, an “applewine” combining cherry wine and sparkling apple cider. Sister company Door County Distillery, in the same building, produces apple and cherry brandies, cherry rum, cherry vodka and award-winning gins, along with other spirits, including mead made from Wisconsin wildflower honey. Drinks can be enjoyed in lounges and the outdoor patio. Wine tastings at the bar are free, while spirit samples are $2. Group tours shed light on the products, processes and company history. The Door County Wine Trail between Lake Michigan and Green Bay counts eight wineries.

Greater Green Bay abounds with breweries and wineries. Parallel 44 Vineyard & Winery in Kewaunee, east of Green Bay, invites wine lovers to tour the vineyard and production area while sampling wine along the way. Von Stiehl Winery in Algoma, 38 minutes east of Green Bay, is Wisconsin’s oldest licensed winery and maintains historic aging cellars in a limestone building dating back to 1868. Some of the 40-plus wine varietals are made from cherries and grapes grown in Door County. Von Stiehl’s Cherry Bounce blends cherry brandy and cherry wine.

Beer fans in Green Bay satisfy their thirst and their palates at places like Badger State Brewing Company, Copper State Brewing Company, Titletown Brewing Company, Noble Roots Brewing Company and Stillmank Beer Company. The latter is best known for Wisco Disco, a hoppy amber ale with a touch of lactose, a perfect complement to Wisconsin cheese.

In Baraboo, 20 minutes from Wisconsin Dells, wine enthusiasts flock to Baraboo Bluff Winery, Balanced Rock Winery and Broken Bottle Winery. Wisconsin Dells Trolley Tours arranges group excursions to area wineries and breweries.

Bailey’s Run Vineyard & Winery, nestled in the rolling hills of New Glarus, commands one of the most scenic views of any winery in Wisconsin. It makes 30 different kinds of wine, serves Neapolitan brick-oven pizza, flatbreads and other food, and features live music, both indoors and outdoors, on weekends year-round.

For sipping and savoring in the Mississippi River Valley, the Coulee Region Craft Beverage Trail meanders north, south and west of La Crosse. It includes four breweries, 10 wineries and a distillery (La Crosse Distilling Co.). Some of the wineries are located in the federally designated Upper Mississippi River Valley American Viticulture Area (AVA).

Outside of Elkhorn, the seat of southern Wisconsin’s Walworth County, Laura and Ben Johnson’s Duesterbeck Brewing Company occupies a 150-year-old family farm. Inside a new barn that replicates the original one, the taproom serves small-batch beers like Duesterbeck’s Crop Duester cream ale, Duesterbeck’s Pig Farmer pale ale and Duesterbeck’s Roosterbeck amber ale. Or try Duesterbeck’s Nutty Bill’s, a peanut butter porter, or The Old Girl’s Sticky Buns, a dark stout packed with cinnamon, maple and vanilla. The limited food menu includes pizza and soft hot pretzels. Weeknights feature trivia and bingo, while live music is on tap every weekend.

In nearby Lake Geneva, Topsy Turvy Brewery has recently taken up residence in a circa 1910 former church, offering a front patio and beer garden out back for enjoying brews named after a Wisconsin invention or bit of history. Geneva Lake Distilling & Studio Winery, also in Lake Geneva, makes a variety of red and white wine, plus gin, bourbon, moonshine, rum, whiskey and vodka. Adorning its tasting room are paintings by co-owner Kathy Johnson, who also designs the bottles’ award-winning labels.

Lakefront Brewery in Milwaukee offers one of the most entertaining brewery tours in the country. Filled with facts and lore sprinkled with plenty of jokes, the 45-minute experience includes two 16-ounce pours and a souvenir pint glass. Lakefront’s spacious Beer Hall restaurant has 18 taps dispensing beers like the Hazy Rabbit IPA, Bumble Bear brown ale and Riverwest Stein amber lager; the root beer is made with pure maple syrup. On the menu are salads, sandwiches, sausage flights, Bavarian-style soft pretzels and beer-battered cheese curds. Lakefront was the first brewery in the nation to be certified organic and the first to produce gluten-free beer. (Milwaukee once had more than 80 breweries, earning it the nickname “Beer City.”) At Sprecher Brewing Company in nearby Glendale, tour participants get four beer samples and unlimited craft soda, including Sprecher’s nationally famous root beer.

Capital Brewery in Middleton has been turning out some of Wisconsin’s best-known beers since 1984. Guests can relax over a Wisconsin Amber, its biggest seller, in the Bier Stube, Grain Room or outdoor Bier Garten. Capital’s tour program, halted for a while, starts up again in spring of 2023.

Stevens Point Brewery, at the same location where it started in 1857, invites visitors to tour the historic facility and sample its famous Point beers in the Hospitality Room. The beer garden has outdoor games, and the gift shop sells not only beer but the company’s Point gourmet sodas, Tea Runner hard iced teas and Ciderboys hard ciders.

Museums, historical attractions, restaurants and special events recognize ethnic groups who came from the Old World to settle in America

Pride of heritage runs deep and wide in Wisconsin, where the largest and smallest of communities demonstrate ongoing devotion to their European roots.

Ninety percent of the state’s population is of northern European descent. Many of the beloved foods, traditions and ways of life that immigrants brought to Wisconsin during the mid-1800s continue as reminders of cultural identity today.

The official state pastry, kringle, is a flakey oval with fruit or nut filling. Wisconsinites love the labor-intensive treat from Denmark because Racine bakers made it their specialty generations ago. The Lake Michigan city also is home to Wells Brothers, in the same modest neighborhood since 1921 and arguably the oldest Italian restaurant in the state.

Most prevalent, statewide, is German ancestry. About 40 percent in Wisconsin say they are of German descent. That means authentic German meals, beer and events are easy to find.

One of the Midwest’s largest and longest-running Oktoberfest celebrations began in La Crosse in 1961. Staged for four days at two fest grounds in late September and early October, Oktoberfest USA features carnival rides, wiener dog races and two parades.

The Milwaukee area abounds with Oktoberfests, but the big one is in Glendale on September weekends and the first weekend in October in Heidelberg Park at the Bavarian Bierhaus.

German food? Schnitzel, rouladen, sauerbraten and sausages are on the menu at Dorf Haus in unincorporated Roxbury, 25 miles northwest of Madison’s lively Essen Haus, where oompah music and polka dancing are business as usual on Friday and Saturday nights.

A mural depicts the Rhine riverbank’s Lorelei Rock at Lorelei Inn in Green Bay, where German beer was on tap years before becoming fashionable. At OB’s Brau Haus, Appleton, imported German ingredients are used to brew beer locally. Al and Al’s Steinhaus, Sheboygan, began as a corner neighborhood tavern that grew to add German-specialty dining decades ago.

The 1902 Mader’s, in downtown Milwaukee, is the city’s oldest restaurant. Mader’s serves beer by the glass boot and repeatedly ranks among the city’s best destinations for ethnic dining. Old World reminders – ornate woodwork, stained glass, sense-of-place paintings and murals – are abundant at Kegel’s Inn in suburban West Allis, a longtime restaurant and beer hall with seasonal outdoor beer garden.

Traditional German-influenced architecture can be found throughout Milwaukee. Downtown’s magnificent 1894-1896 Milwaukee City Hall building, a prime example, is the only American city hall constructed in the German Renaissance Revival style and with its 393-foot clock tower is an iconic part of the city’s skyline. The massive municipal building was shown in the opening credits of the TV series “Laverne & Shirley,” which was set in Milwaukee.

As winter nears, the annual International Holiday Folk Fest draws thousands to State Fair Park, West Allis, for an indoor celebration of nations that includes much of Europe. Children and adults dance onstage in attire traditional to their native land. Students are rewarded for visiting booths that teach international culture and history. Shoppers buy Polish pottery to Ukrainian Easter eggs, nibble on French crepes, Czech dumplings, Italian cannoli.

The European Village and Streets of Old Milwaukee exhibits at the Milwaukee Public Museum capture the history of the European people that settled and populated Milwaukee in its early days. Furnishing the re-created homes and shops at the European Village are folk art, costumes, musical instruments and other artifacts that represent 33 cultures, including Austrian, Belgian, Croatian, Irish, Polish, Ukrainian, Welsh, Hungarian, Portuguese, Latvian, Lithuanian, the list goes on.

Another Milwaukee gem is the Grohmann Museum, touted as having the “most comprehensive art collection dedicated to the evolution of human work.” Most of the 1,700-plus paintings, sculptures and works on paper are European (from 1580 on), with most of the paintings by Dutch and German artists. The art is arranged by work themes, such as medical, mining, farming and metal processing. The Grohmann Museum is on the campus of MSOE University.

Several historical sites in Wisconsin pay homage to European roots, too. At Norskedalen Nature & Heritage Center (the name means “Norwegian Valley”), 20 miles southeast of La Crosse, museum galleries and preserved buildings reveal how long-ago immigrants lived and worked. Groups can enjoy a catered Norwegian meal and hike the miles of trails through wooded bluffs.

Pendarvis preserves the relics and buildings of Cornish lead miners in Mineral Point, a small community whose historic district was Wisconsin’s first on the National Register of Historic Places.

On the 600-acre Old World Wisconsin campus, near Eagle, are 60 historic structures that were relocated, restored and staffed with living history interpreters; many buildings were the work of Danish, Finnish, German, Norwegian and Polish immigrants.

A melting pot of nationalities is engrained into the Door County peninsula’s identity. Al Johnson’s Swedish Restaurant, Butik and Stabbur is a favorite stop for travelers to Sister Bay – especially since goats graze on the sod-topped roof during much of the year. On the menu: thin pancakes topped with lingonberries, grilled sandwiches served on limpa bread, pickled herring, Swedish meatballs.

Ephraim was settled by the Norwegian Moravian faith community, and volunteers lead guided history tours that explain how the past is a part of present-day life. Signs of Icelandic history are evident in architecture and museums on Washington Island; a short ferry ride away is Rock Island State Park, whose Boat House library is richly furnished with elaborate, hand-carved furniture made by Icelandic and Scandinavian ancestors.

Elsewhere in Wisconsin are hamlets that make up for their small population with a huge respect for their motherland. One nickname for Hurley, in the far north, is “Little Finland,” and this is where the National Finnish American Festival Cultural Center is a keeper of heritage.

Stoughton, in Dane County south of Madison, hosts a mid-May, multi-day Syttende Mai festival in honor of Norwegian independence. What else? A local bakery makes lefse all year, fiddlers perform with Norway’s national instrument (the Hardanger) and Livsreise thrives as a Norwegian heritage center that tells the story of Norwegian immigration to Wisconsin from 1825-1910. High schoolers perform in a Norwegian dance troupe, the Edvard Grieg men’s chorus is nearly one century old, and a state rosemaling association arranges classes, exhibits and sales.

Also south of Madison is New Glarus, home to the Swiss Center of North America, which tells and preserves stories of Swiss immigration in the U.S. and Canada. The Swiss Historical Village & Museum chronicles Swiss pioneer life in 14 artifact-filled buildings, including a settler’s cabin, school, blacksmith shop, bee house and church.

New Glarus, a town of only 2,266 residents, is large enough to turn festivals into something special because of a vjodlerklub (choir of yodelers) and meters-long alphorns (used to call home cattle, long ago). Other annual offerings include Heidi and Wilhelm Tell festivals (in June and September, respectively). Noticeable all year: alpine chalet architecture, walnut and almond horns at New Glarus Bakery, rich fondues and rosti potatoes at Chalet Landhaus.

Belgium, population 2,421 and in Ozaukee County, is home to the Luxembourg American Cultural Society, a combination museum, genealogy center and headquarters for cultural programs/assistance. Luxembourg’s grand duke and prime minister have visited. The motherland trusts only this facility in the U.S. to assist with dual-citizenship requests, and about 3,000 families were assisted from 2009 through 2022. One family surname is honored during Luxembourg Fest Week in August, which turns the event into somewhat of an international reunion.

Regardless of community size or the part of Wisconsin visited, much remains to recognize history and homelands that are far beyond the state’s borders.

Savvy group leaders can spice up their Wisconsin itineraries by taking their travelers to time-honored annual events and mesmerizing holiday light extravaganzas

Christmas, a season of holiday cheer, may be the most festive time of the year, but every month on Wisconsin’s calendar brims with festivals and special events that bring out community spirit. These happy happenings spotlight local heritage, culture, food, musical talent and artistic achievements. Most of all, they are just fun.

For its summer-long slew of big-time festivals, Milwaukee is nicknamed the “City of Festivals.” The best-known parties take place at Henry Maier Festival Park, a 75-acre expanse of landscaped grounds and walkways fronting Lake Michigan where nationally known celebrations represent Milwaukee’s diverse ethnic make-up. August’s four-day Milwaukee Irish Fest, with 100 acts across 16 stages including plenty of Celtic and Irish music, claims to be the largest celebration of Irish culture in the world, Ireland notwithstanding.

July’s three-day German Fest, featuring beer, brats, sauerkraut, dumplings, smoked pork chops and the entertaining dachshund races, puts on one of the largest German heritage fetes in North America. The lakefront park is also home to early June’s Polish Fest, the biggest such event in the U.S., and Mexican Fiesta in late August. At other Milwaukee locations, French culture sparks Bastille Days in mid-July, while Festa Italiana is a September favorite.

The Wisconsin State Fair, which runs for 11 days in August in the Milwaukee suburb of West Allis, presents the best produce, livestock and baked goods the Dairy State has to offer, along with pig races, carnival games and rides, 30 stages with free entertainment, and a main stage featuring national touring acts. Fairgoers feast on foot-long corn dogs, deep-fried cheese curds, corn-on-the-cob dripping with butter and the decadent Original Cream Puff, a fair staple since 1924.

Food is always a big lure of any fair or festival, but some fests focus on a signature Wisconsin taste treat. To kick off summer in Madison, the World’s Largest Brat Fest takes place on Memorial Day weekend, with sales of 4 million bratwursts benefitting local charities. Crowds enjoy carnival rides, midway games, music and fireworks.

Just before harvest time on the last full weekend in September 2023, the Warrens Cranberry Festival will observe its 50th year in the “Cranberry Capital of Wisconsin.” There will be parades, arts and crafts, a farmer’s market, flea market, 100 food stalls, dozens of contests and walking tours of a cranberry marsh. Vendors serve specialties like cranberry smoothies, cranberry funnel cakes, pancakes with cranberry syrup and deep-fried cranberries on a stick. Wisconsin leads the nation in cranberry production, and the tart berry is the official state fruit.

In downtown Wisconsin Dells, mid-September’s Wo-Zha-Wa Days Fall Festival is one of the state’s largest festivals. (Its name means “fun time” in Ho-Chunk.) Celebrating the end of summer and beginning of autumn, the three-day extravaganza features an arts and crafts fair, antiques flea market, live entertainment, a street carnival and a Sunday parade.

Cedarburg Wine & Harvest Festival, also in mid-September, brings merrymakers to downtown Cedarburg for wine from Cedar Creek Winery, Miller Coors beer products and foods like cranberry turkey wraps, apple bratwurst and grilled cheese sandwiches.

Highlights include a juried art show, classic car show, grape stomping contest, the Wisconsin Giant Pumpkin Growers Weighoff and the wildly popular Giant Pumpkin Charity Regatta with boats carved from 600-pound pumpkins.

Held in the Mississippi River town of Prairie du Chien, the 46^th annual Prairie Villa Rendezvous (June 15-18, 2023) is the largest buckskinners and fur trade reenactment in the Midwest. This year’s crowd-pleaser will observe the 350th anniversary of a momentous journey, as Prairie du Chien is one of the main stops on the current-day voyage retracing the 1673 Mississippi River expedition by French explorers Father Jacques Marquette and fur trader Louis Joliet.

Rendezvous activities will include bow and black-powder shoots, a primitive cooking contest, and demonstrations of pottery making, weaving, blacksmithing and bead making.

Also in Prairie du Chien, the Victorian mansion complex Villa Louis, once home to a premier Standardbred-training facility, showcases the competitive sport of traditional carriage driving on the weekend after Labor Day. The Villa Louis Carriage Classic features driving in arena and obstacle classes.

For the Door County Lighthouse Festival, you have a choice of spring and fall weekends (mid-June or late September). Focusing on the Door Peninsula’s maritime heritage, boat excursions visit the 11 historic lighthouses, some of which are otherwise inaccessible.

Every summer, Baraboo’s Big Top Parade & Circus Celebration honors the town’s circus heritage. The old-fashioned parade (June 24, 2023) stars ornately carved wagons and exotic animals from Circus World, the nation’s leading circus-themed attraction. Other weekend festivities include big-top shows at Circus World and events at Al. Ringling Theatre in downtown Baraboo.

Some of Wisconsin’s festivals are downright quirky. Take Sputnikfest in Manitowoc, for instance. On the weekend after Labor Day each year, the town’s Rahr-West Art Museum celebrates the September day in 1962 when a 20-pound piece of the Russian spaceship Sputnik IV landed on the street in front of the museum. Revelers come for the food, entertainment, sci-fi trivia contest, and Space Debris and Alien Pet costume contests.

Another offbeat festival is the US Open Chainsaw Sculpture Championship in August at the Wisconsin Logging Museum in Eau Claire. Guest carvers from around the world put on a show as they compete to make works of art from wood.

SPREADING HOLIDAY CHEER

During the holiday season from Thanksgiving through December, give your tours some extra sparkle by tapping into one of Wisconsin’s many Christmas light shows. These nighttime spectacles can be enjoyed on foot or inside a warm vehicle, or perhaps via trolley or horse-drawn carriage. Some shows are free admission, but cash or food pantry donations are appreciated.

For the 12th year in 2023, the nightly Making Spirits Bright display of electric artistry will transform the winding roads of Sheboygan’s Evergreen Park into a winter wonderland.

Choreographed to holiday music, twinkling outlines in the light-festooned woodlands may range from a gingerbread house to the Eiffel Tower. On Friday and Saturday nights at the Quarryview Center, across from the park, visitors can board the trolley for their tour and will find concessions, entertainment and Santa Claus.

In La Crosse, Rotary Lights at Riverside Park, looking to its 29th year in 2023, offers musical entertainment, ice skating, free s’mores and a live Nativity production. Guests can walk or drive through the fantasyland of 3 million lights, and, on select nights, take a hayride or carriage ride.

Green Bay Botanical Garden stages WPS Garden of Lights, a nature-inspired spectacular that includes an icicle forest, glistening flowers and a 60-foot-long, walk-through caterpillar. The Holiday Light Show at Rotary Botanical Gardens has brightened the season in Janesville for 27 years. At Wildwood Park & Zoo in Marshfield, Rotary Winter Wonderland offers walking and driving routes, with horse-drawn wagons providing an option. Glowing with 750,000 lights adorning more than 120 trees, Celebration of Lights is a 22-year Oshkosh holiday tradition.

The 1.2-mile drive through Menomonee Park is enhanced by colorful reflections from Lake Winnebago. Paine Art Center and Gardens, occupying a historic estate in Oshkosh, enchants groups with self-guided and guided tours through mansion rooms elaborately decorated with scenes from The Nutcracker fairytale, not to mention 70 Christmas trees. Marking its 17th year in 2023, Nutcracker in the Castle will run from mid-November to early January.

Groups also enjoy sparkling interactive displays in three downtown parks comprising the Milwaukee Holiday Lights Festival from mid-November to New Year’s Day.

Not only are Wisconsin’s parks decked out for Christmas, but so are its historic homes. For example, Milwaukee’s Pabst Mansion, the 1892 home of beer baron Frederick Pabst, gets all gussied up for the holidays, adding festive decorations to accent its Gilded Age splendor. From late November to early January, self-guided tours are offered daily, while special evening tours from Thursday to Saturday include live holiday music and drinks for purchase like spiced wine and hot pecan whiskey cider.