Advertise on podcast: State Trunk Tour

It’s December, and you probably have holiday shopping on your mind. Kenosha is a great place to road trip to for their downtown holiday markets right now! They also have some great events at their major museums downtown Saturday, December 6th and at other points during the holiday season, PLUS you can interact with REAL reindeer at Paris Deer Park in Kenosha County near Union Grove! Throughout the holiday season and beyond, both the city of Kenosha and Kenosha County offer plenty of fun and interesting places to exlore. We talk with Meridith Jumisko of Visit Kenosha to get details in this tidy 10-minute episode.

The World’s Tallest Glass Tree is once again going up at Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin. It’s the centerpiece of science, art, and holiday fun that can be had the weekends of December 5-7 and 12-14, 2025. Rob Elliott and Jason Mack join host Eric Paulsen for a quick, fun, informative conversation on how they seek to break the world record yet again building this glass tree with the active help of visitors, how you can learn about the infinite possibilities of glass, and it’s all part of an artisan market with crafts, food, and fun activities both weekends. It takes place at Yerkes Observatory along Highway 67 in Williams Bay just off Geneva Lake with a free shuttle from the nearby high school. In less than 10 minutes, find out all about it right here!

Holiday Lights are getting full swing across Wisconsin for the season, and it’s also a great time to see the stars - the real ones in the sky - and take in some amazing shows at Wisconsin’s planetariums! In this episode, we talk with Dr. Teri Gee from the Barlow Planetarium in Menasha about their Holiday shows, including Family Astronomy Night on Friday, November 28th with NorthEast Wisconsin Stargazers (NEWSTAR) and how you can enjoy the shows and science Barlow has to offer throughout the season and all year. Barlow Planetarium is owned by Winnebago County and you can find them on Midway Road just off the U.S. 10/Highway 441 freeway as well as Highways 47 and 114, minutes off I-41 or from downtowns Appleton or Oshkosh. Wisconsin has quite a few planetariums, including the legendary Yerkes Observatory (much more on that in the next episode!) and we have a guide for you on them on StateTrunkTour.com for your road trip pkanning and pleasure. A lot of handy info in under 15 minutes!

In this episode, we preview Marshfield's Maple Fall Fest, which promises tons of tasty fun this weekend, with Visit Marshfield's Matt McLean. Looking ahead, we check out Seehafer Acres for fall fun in the area, the Marshfield Rotary Winter Wonderland holiday lights show with up to 2 million lights and a dazzling array of light, light shows, and a ton of festive activities, running just after Thanksgiving into New Year's. We also cover the remarkable Wildwood Park and Zoo, including the two Kodiak bears that are pretty rare to find in any zoo in the U.S... and they can walk above you on a bridge! Marshfield also holds the magic of Jurustic Park, and the downtown "Jurustic Park Trail" that offers metal art throughout the multi-block walk that can combine with great shopping and dining. And, for creatives, Board + Brush lets you craft your own artistic Marshfield memory. The Upham Mansion offers history and a unique look into 19th century living... on the nicer side!  We also cover the Blue Heron Brewpub, the beer selection at Hop and Grape, the unique Nutz Deep II (quite the eye-catcher on Central Avenue), along with some other shops and restaurants. Just outside Marshfield, Powers Bluff, the Mead Wildlife Area, the Wood County Parks, and the four season fun you can have within minutes of town may surprise you. We cover it all right here. After talking with Matt, Eric takes you on a highlight tour of U.S. 10 from Neillsville past Marshfield to just before Stevens Point, which offers a number of fun stops on a roadtrip across central Wisconsin - including to Marshfield.

August is a busy time in Wisconsin with State Fair and so many other fun events. Sheboygan really gets into it with events like Johnsonville Brat Days, back for Saturday, August 2nd; Bookworm Gardens Fairyfolk Festival August 5th-10th; and then the BIG Mercury Racing Midwest Challenge Friday, August 8th through Sunday the 10th. We get together with Shelly Harms of Visit Sheboygan to discuss these plus the expansion of Food Truck Mondays in town and all the new developments and Instagramable sights along the lakefront and around the city. VisitSheboygan.com has more details on all the events, as does StateTrunkTour.com.  Plus, we tip you off to more fun events around the state as August begins and you prepare for fun road trips across Wisconsin!

Meredith Jumisko from Visit Kenosha joins host Eric Paulsen for a look at Kenosha's Homecoming Car Show, hosting classic cars and showcasing the city's amazing history of automobile manufacturing. AMC - American Motors - cars take center stage but many other classics will be on display. It's part of the larger event that also includes a cruise-in, a parade, a Gremlin event, a Block Party. Swap Meet, and even Sunday's racing over at Great Lakes Dragaway (and yes, Eric mimics the classic commercials they used to run.) On top of that, the annual Taste of Wisconsin runs Friday, July 27th through Sunday the 29th at HarborPark, so it's an amazing two-fer when you Visit Kenosha! After, we highlight a few other events in Kenosha and coming up around the state, plus a quick look at Highway 21 from Oshkosh over to Coloma, as an example of the magic you'll find along different highways across the Wisconsin. More on the Homecoming Car Show: https://statetrunktour.com/event/kenosha-homecoming-car-show/  More on Taste of Wisconsin: https://www.visitkenosha.com/events/annual-events/taste-of-wisconsin/ Link to Visit Kenosha here: https://www.visitkenosha.com/ Link to State Trunk Tour here: https://www.statetrunktour.com/ 

Flag Day is a national holiday, celebrating the United States flag every June 14th. But did you know it started in Wisconsin? We learn the history with Dave Janik, President of the Waubeka, Wisconsin-based National Flag Day Foundation, as well as discuss the annual celebrations in town commemorating Flag Day and discover the often under-the-radar Americanism Center Museum that you can visit in town any time of year. Plus, a busy mid-June weekend is in store. Along with Flag Day, we have events around the state to share from Milwaukee's Lakefront Festival of the Arts to Door County's Steel Bridge Songfest. A 5-minute Weekend Preview begins this episode ahead of our conversation with Dave Janik. All in this episode of the State Trunk Tour Podcast!

Kenosha is Wisconsin's 4th largest city, right in the state's SE corner smack dab between Milwaukee and Chicago. This dynamic city has flavors of both Wisconsin and Illinois, with Lake Michigan fun, a dynamic downtown, and unexpected gems to boot. Museums showcase Kenosha's history from Wooly Mammoths to dinosaurs as well as the making of cars, mattresses, underwear, tools, and more. It's still a manufacturing powerhouse and the area plays as hard as it works. It features the Nation's Oldest Velodrome - a mecca for bike racing - as well as natural wonders from Lake Michigan beaches to inland parks with prairies, springs, and forest to explore. Craft breweries, college and semi-pro sports, classic delis, food trucks and festivals around food, cars, marathons and more offer options a'plenty. A vibrant and diversifying restaurant scene means Kenosha has palate-pleasing options from across the world, whether you want a fusion of foods from distant continents or a good old fashioned amazing cheeseburger and a shake from a classic drive-in. Starting with Kenosha Restaurant Week and then getting into everything else, we talk with Meridith Jumisko from Visit Kenosha to cover it all.  VisitKenosha.com has more!

Real Racine is now Visit Racine County... but the whole county is real. Real fun with a lot of real options! In this State Trunk Tour Podcast, we cover everything Racine County with Cari Greving, Executive Director of Visit Racine County. We generally go from west to east, giving love to the small towns and their surprising array of things to see and do (much of it walkable), through the countryside with everything from wineries to barn quilts to observatories that are literally astronomical. We check out the lakefront with lighthouses, light shows for the holidays, and lit architecture both in and out of the City of Racine. Water fun on Lake Michigan or inland rivers like the Root and the Fox. New boutique hotels, restaurants, the classic Racine Zoo, and even a spot you can pick up an Indian Motorcycle and experience a road trip a whole new way. Be sure you check out Racine County's Visitors Center too, along Highway 20 just west of I-41/94. We cover it all with Cari in this episode of the State Trunk Tour Podcast. You WILL find yourself wanting to plan a few visits, maybe around a variety of themes!

Wisconsin Dive Bars can be found everywhere in the state and lately they've been getting the love nd recognition they deserve. Jared Schutz is a Wisconsin dive bar authority, having catalogued over 700 visits so far on his Wisco_Dive_Bars_ accounts on socials and his WiscoDiveBars.com website, which maps them all out. With several thousand visits to go, State Trunk Tour Host Eric Paulsen joined Jared for a candid conversation on the dive bar culture, uniqueness, and value to their local communities. We discuss how Jared got started tracking and sharing these dive bars, how Busch Lights came his rating scale, which bar caused him to give the most negative rating and why, how this endeavor has led him to multiple partnership and even his own brand of vodka, and of course we discuss some specific dive bars and the road trips that lead you there. In this episode, definitely a "part one" of multiples, we focus on dive bars in western Wisconsin. Locations from Kenosha to Superior and near Dubuque up to Door County also get shout-outs in this comprehensive study one of Wisconsin's most precious resources. Dive in and enjoy this episode with Eric and Jared and prepare to plan your road trips to explore these Wisconsin dive bars!

Host Eric Paulsen is joined by Matt McLean from Visit Marshfield to preview the Central Wisconsin State Fair, which kicks off August 20th through the 25th. National artists performing live, rodeo, demolition derby and all the other fun Fair activity (including the "Kiss A Critter" contest), food, kids' events, and more. We also preview some of the great events leading into fall and winter including Maple Fall Fest and the Rotary Holiday Lights with LITERALLY MILLIONS of lights at Wildwood Park. Regardless of season, shopping in downtown Marshfield is pretty sweet, with unique boutiques, a great independent record store (with Dave's Guitars right there), plus a new candle company, ice cream shop, and more. Activities at Wenzel Family Plaza and the new Van de Hey Waters, a bevy of good restaurants, and art and history installations make for tons of fun activities in Marshfield. Outside of town, you can enjoy Jurustic Park and a variety of creameries and cheese factories, outdoor recreation at Powers Bluff and numerous state natural areas, golf, nature parks, and even one of Eric's favorite signs in the state - that tells you what the road is NOT. Also covered? Some good places to stay and of course where to catch local brews. We cover it all in this episode of the State Trunk Tour Podcast!

With the 2024 Summer Olympic Games underway, we're here to talk about the Olympics – and Milwaukee and Wisconsin. As in, could Milwaukee host an Olympic Games? Even if it could. why? What’s in it for the city and the greater region? Answers exist in a fascinating book called Greater Than The Games, Volume 1: MKE2028, created by broadcaster Jay Sorgi. He began researching the topic out of curiosity. Unearthing more information led to the belief that Milwaukee could not only host the Olympic Games, but the additional investments to fully prepare for such an endeavor - given the right planning and execution – could drive positive, transformative change for Milwaukee and the entire region. Far-fetched, you say? It’s not. In Greater Than The Games, Volume 1: MKE2028, Jay lays out how Olympic bids work; how some cities used it to propel themselves to the next level while others were left with debt and white elephants; the remarkable wealth of venues, facilities, and resources within reasonable distance of Milwaukee already, and how additional investments for venues, housing, transportation and more can be properly repurposed after the Games to bring the city and region to the next level for the future. Listen to this conversation, read the book, and watch the Olympics; you might find inspiration not just for Milwaukee, but for yourself. You can find the book on Amazon here!

We preview the last weekend of June in this episode and then dive deeper into Sheboygan, where Eric Paulsen has a discussion about upcoming events with Shelly Harms from Visit Sheboygan. The 4th of July celebrations coming up kick off Wedmesday the 3rd with live music on City Green (part of the weekly Levitt AMP Concert Series happening all summer) and the Venetian Boat Parade, plus more events capped off with fireworks on the 4th. August kicks off with the much-heralded return of Brat Days (fitting, in the Bratwurst Capital) and the resurrected Coho Derby on Lake Michigan with celebrations along at Deland Park. The Sheboygan Midwest Challenge brings speedboats to Sheboygan the following weekend with plenty of action, plus a trolley can take you from South Pier and the Harbor District, through downtown and all the way up to Bookworm Gardens and 3 Sheeps Brewery for ease of getting around - all day long for just $1! Discover more about Sheboygan's vibrant downtown and South Pier areas, find out why the kids will also love a road trip there, find out some great places to stay, and be sure to hit Highways 23, 28, or 42 to get there. Oh, and remember: StateTrunkTour.com has not only events and fun resources, but updated listings and showtimes for drive-in movie venues across Wisconsin all season long!

The World's Tallest Glass Tree is going up right now at Yerkes Observatory along Highway 67 in Williams Bay, Wisconsin. Under the inspirational guidance of Rob Elliott and glass maker Jason Mack, this endeavor is in its second year. They take donated glass from all over, spin it onto a pole, and create a 31-foot tree that will get topped with a huge star on December 17th in an event that you MUST see - especially if you want to see a world record happen! In this episode, head State Trunk Tour Guide Eric Paulsen sits down in the studios of WLKG raido in Lake Geneva to discuss how this whole thing and the public events that include tree construction (which you can participate in) and a vendor market with over 20 artisans and others that can help you get your holiday shopping done while getting inspired. Learn how glass gets made, how it's recycled, and how it is spun into a 31-foot tall Christmas Tree, right there in the front yard of Yerkes Observatory! This tree is constructed with donated glass from around the area. People are welcome to come and bring their empty glass bottles, jars, and they'll melt that glass down right on site with a portable furnace and spin it into the tree's construction. You can even help - and learn. Tree construction is underway, and these next few Friday-Sunday weekends (December 1-3, 8-10, and 15-17, 2023) you can join in. The BIG event is the topping of the tree on Sunday, December 17th! If you've ever wanted to learn about glass blowing, get your own custom glass-blown ornament, or contribute to a world record being set - all while checking out the beautiful Yerkes Observatory abutting Geneva Lake - THIS is the time. They'll even have a specialty beer made by nearby Deusterbeck's Brewing that specifically commemorates the tree! They're also working with Enlightened Brewing out of Milwaukee and the classic Seipp's Beer out of Chicago, which offers their beer at Black Point Estate nearby for some special releases, too. We cover all of this, plus stories and even the challenges of trying to make it a Guinness World Record. Hit Highway 67 between U.S. 14 and Highway 50 in Walworth County, you'll find Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay. The events you can attend run Dec. 1-3, 8-10, and 15-17 - and on Sunday, December 17th they have their MAIN event, when they present the finished tree and top it off with the beautiful star. Find out more on StateTrunkTour.com and directly at WorldsTallestGlassTree.com!

Marshfield, Wisconsin's "Hub City," continues to grow and offer more for visitors to experience. It starts with Central Avenue, the main artery offering some fantastic shopping, great restaurants and more to explore along with the Jurustic Park Downtown Walk. Within blocks, a wide variety of other attractions abound year 'round. This city of 20,000 is anchored by Marshfield Clinic, a world class medical center that has attracted a diverse population and gives the town bigger city vibes. In this episode, Eric Paulsen talks with Matt McLean from VISIT Marshfield about all of this, plus the upcoming Maple Fall Fest that, coupled with Blue Heron Brewpub's Oktoberfest, will prove to be a great place to visit the weekend of September 16 & 17, 2023. Maple Fall Fest will feature amazing food, drinks, kids activities, games, baby goats to pet, even pumpkin bowling and Nerf-style ax throwing. There will be performances from the Main Street Conservatory of Dance, grilling fun with Mad Dog & Merrill, even Wildwood Zoo Tours. And yes, lots of maple. The Zoo is a major feature of Wildwood Park, puncuated by two Kodiak bears in a large, 40,000 square foot natural area complete with a pond and an overhead bridge. A variety of other animals can be viewed and learned about at this free zoo, too. We also discuss the Chustnut Center for the arts, the Heritage Museum, Wenzel Family Plaza, Visual Arts Gallery, Upham Mansion, and nearby attractions including Powers Bluff, the Nasonville Dairy, and upcoming events like Marshfield's Winter Rotary Holiday Lights. Wenzel Family Plaza hosts an ice skating rinks in the winter months, too! It came up in conversation that Marshfield recently hosted the World's Longest Meat SnackStick, a creation of nearby Wenzel Farms. This, coupled with the fact that the city has the World's Largest Round Barn, led to some spontaneous ideas. We discuss it all in this episode of the State Trunk Tour Podcast. Find out more on StateTrunkTour.com and VisitMarshfield.com!