The Shitty Barn is the greatest place to see and listen to live music. It is situated in the small…read moretown of Spring Green Wisconsin. They attract local musicians travelling between gigs in larger cities. The barn is an old pig barn with magical acoustics, great sound and not a bad seat in the house. The audience is quiet and attentive. They come to hear the music. We saw a band called Cribshitter. Man, were they fun. There's a nice selection of local beers and a food truck. What more could you ask for?

Everyone that has been to the Shitty Barn loves it and now I know why. Bring your favorite picnic…read morefood, grab a beer, place your folding chair in a line to the entrance in order of arrival, (simple and organized), then enjoy an intimate show with 80-100 others. Proof of vaccine or negative test required and masks on indoors. We saw the Ratboys and Wild Pink which were Excellent!! A true gem of a venue. Thank you to the owner for keeping this establishment open, supporting live music, and making folks in the area very happy. Just go.

Large festival honoring the cheese history in Green county Wi. Every even year on the 3rd weekend…read morein September.Hundreds of people from around Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin. Fried cheese curds, Swiss entertainers, large parade . Good family fun.

Monroe Cheese Days, how to describe it for someone who's never been? It's a festival celebrating…read moreMonroe's claim to fame: cheese. More specifically, locally made cheese and limburger cheese. Local beer is a big part of it too, but that's not the star of the show (and for good reason because Minhas brews are less than good). There's live music, most of which is fantastic (pro tip: check out the beer tent down by Minhas, that's where you'll find some great music, especially later in the afternoon and evening). There are some fun Swiss cultural experiences to be had from the stage on the South side of the Square thanks to the Alphorn players, yodelers, and accordion players. As for food, the cheese curds are stupid good. Yes the line is long, and yes you should do it anyway. I only wish they'd offer an additional ticket where you have the option to pay an extra $.50-$1 to pair funky cheese sauces and aioli dips with your curds. These curds certainly don't need sauces, but it'd add to the whole foodie experience. A few notes for first-timers: -Get the cheese curds. You can't possibly participate in a Cheese Days celebration without eating these cheese curds. I promise they're the best you've ever had. -There are two beer areas: one surrounding the square, a second at the beer tent. The beer used to be restricted to beer tents only, now you can wander each respective area. -Music at the Beer tent is a must. -The beer stand on the square offers different brews than that at the Beer Tent down by Minhas, so try something from both areas. Don't expect to love the Minhas beer though. -Check out the hospitality tent ahead of time for events you want to participate in. They're free. I recommend the cheese and beer pairing class. It's lead by a Master Cheesemaker.

This past weekend I attended the Great Taste of the Midwest for the first time, and also…read moreparticipated in the Funk Factory Geuzeria Pre-Party. After having a blast at both events, I can say I won't be missing any future ones! Perfect weather in a large space of Olin Park in Madison, WI with nearly 200 breweries pouring almost 1400 beers. Many breweries have their brewers there pouring flagships and some of the rarest beers you can try.  Funk Factory Geuzeria Pre-Party | The biggest of the Great Taste Eve events is the FFG & Friends Pre-Party where Funk Factory and some of the greatest names in Mead and Beer pour beers you wouldn't be able to have on a normal basis. Some highlights for me: Won't You be my Neighbor by 1840 Brewing A Flanders Red packed with tart cherry flavors, oak tannins, and a malt reminiscent of fresh baked sourdough bread. IOWA8 by Funk Factory Single barrel Lambic spontaneously fermented for 2.5 years. Super complex tart, barnyard, and fruity notes. Sepulchral by Eighth State Brewing A Baklava inspired Imperial Stout with Ji-Roz Baklava, Toasted Walnuts, Roasted Pistachios, Brazilian Vanilla, and Cook's Island Vanilla. Tasted like liquid Baklava, but not syrupy or thick (appreciated). Great Taste of the Midwest | I tried MANY beers and it would be impossible to list them all (thanks Instagram word limit), but I will call out some of the highlights for me: Toppling Goliath Stouts (Assassin and Mornin Delight)  Two bucket list stouts. Mornin Delight tasted like a beautifully balanced mocha and Assassin had tons of bourbon / fudgy chocolate flavors. Revolution Straight Jacket (2018) One of the smoothest and most complex Barleywines I've ever had. Notes of stone fruit, toasted coconut, molasses, and vanilla. McFleshman's Brewing 10 Paces Kriek A Lambic aged in French Oak Cabernet barrels for 1-3 years referemented on a blend of tart and sweet cherries for 6 more months.  The Explorium Brewpub's Blueberry Cheesecake A Berliner Weisse with lactose, vanilla, toasted almonds, and late season Michigan blueberries that tastes exactly as you would hope - blueberry cheesecake. Alarmist Turbulent Dynamics Everything you could ever want in a Hopped Lager.

2018 was my first year attending the Great Taste of the Midwest, and I have to say it was quite an…read moreexperience that no craft beer lover should miss. For those that are not familiar, Great Taste of the Midwest is the second longest-running craft beer festival in North America. GTMW brings together over 190 brewers in a scenic location overlooking Lake Monona while providing some great views of downtown Madison and the state capital. Ticket sales can be challenging, as they are typically released the Sunday after Cinco De Mayo at select locations in Madison, however if you do not happen to live in or near Madison you can enter their mail order lottery for tickets. Should you be lucky enough to secure tickets you will encounter a massive selection of craft beer, great food, and fun entertainment. One of the best things about GTMW is that despite the size the festival never felt like it was too busy, lines were tolerable and I never seemed to wait more than 5 minutes max for a refill, although most brewers you could easily walk right up to without a wait. Most of the 190+ vendors are setup and spread out across 6 massive tents, with each holding anywhere from 20-40 brewers. In addition there are several larger brewers with their own smaller tents scattered around the festival too. My favorite tent/vendor had to be the 0.005K Endurance Run tend from New Holland Brewing Company, finally a race I can enjoy, lol. The food selection was good, however the highlight for me was the bacon on a stick, which was thick cut back served on a stick. Seriously it does not get much better than that. Food prices were very reasonable too. The entertainment was scattered around the 6+ tents, and seemed to lean more towards folk music which seemed to pair up nicely with the festival. Overall I enjoyed my time, and look forward to attending another Great Taste of the Midwest in the future.

Great day for the festival. Games, tournaments, food and beverages. Even desserts featuring Sassy…read moreCow ice cream. Canoes and kayaks available to rent for a donation to the Maunesha River Alliance.

As an out-of-stater, we heard how great the sweet corn is and had to check it out ourselves. We had…read moredesignated Saturday night to the festival, after hearing they only serve the corn on Sat-Sun from 12-7 due to the lengthy steaming process. We found free parking, very close to the entrance. It's $1 per person to enter, 6 and under free. Strategically, the rides and games are the very first things you see. I am quite impressed with this area, because there's so many options. Tickets were $1/piece and most rides were 3 tickets. My kiddo absolutely loved it and we only spent $20. Expensive but fair considering we are at a festival. Now, I had nooooo idea what I was getting into with the sweet corn. First off, I've never heard of a tote of corn but the two lines stretched faaaaar to grab a tote. We skipped the tote line and grabbed two single ears from a much shorter line. $2/piece gave us some quality corn. They sent us behind to the buttering station and I was all, "WTF IS THIS?" It's literally several tables stacked together where you shuck your corn and roll it into a huge pan of butter. So unsanitary but when in Rome.... Next was the salt tree. Salt. Tree. Again, what sort of redneck device is a salt tree? Idk but it was a-maz-ing. Shakers on shakers on shakers of salt. I'm still laughing about this crazy corn experience. The corn was great, rides were fun for the kiddo. We were very impressed! The festival seems to be pretty commercialized with lots of business booths but that's to be expected. I'm not opposed to going back if we happen to be in town!

The Sun Prairie Sweet Corn Festival is an annual event held for a few days each August. I lived…read morein nearby Madison for 4 years, and that was how I discovered and attended the Corn Festival. There are many attractions: (1) First, there is the sweet corn, which is cooked with steam, and which can be purchased in a small open-air building. Near this building is a rotating clothes hanger, where strings are tied to various parts of the clothes hanger, and at the end of each string is a salt shaker. This salt shaker "tree" is a novelty that is interesting and a little bit funny, and pictures of it have been published in the Wisconsin State Journal. Of course, the sweet corn is delicious. (2) Another attraction is being in the middle of a friendly crowd. Did you ever notice that the bigger the crowd, the more people there are ?!?!? (3) Next to the fairground is a museum where you can find exhibits relating to midget race cars, where the exhibits include trophies and photos. Next to the museum are parked midget race cars, and children and other visitors can touch them and admire them. See, my attached photographs of these race cars and of the exhibits in the museum. At the Corn Festival, you can watch these midget race cars racing on an oval track starting at seven o'clock in the evening. (4) The Corn Festival includes a carnival. See, my attached photographs of a boy and a girl, each holding a huge wooden mallet over their heads, and swinging it at the lever of the "high striker" game. This mallet is sometimes called a "carnival mallet," and the name for this game, which results in a bell going "DING," is the "high striker game." GENETICALLY MODIFIED CORN. The website of the Sun Prairie chamber of commerce states that, the "corn is not genetically modified." But this is not correct. It is a proven fact that about 9,000 years ago, farmers in Mexico created corn (also known as, maize). Corn does not exist naturally. Corn was created by the genetic modification of teosinte. Teosinte was modified to alter four genes, where the result of this modification was conversion of teosinte (not edible) into the abundantly edible and yummy genetically modified plant that is known as corn and maize. This is all explained in a video called, POPPED SECRET: THE MYSTERIOUS ORIGIN OF CORN. The video is narrated by Neil Losin, and we learn that the scientists responsible for discovering that corn is genetically modified teosinte were: Nobel Prize winner George Beadle, John Doebley of University of Wisconsin, and Delores Piperno of Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Additional info is available from, e.g., Yang, Holland, Doebley (2019) Proc. Nat'l. Acad. Sci. 116:5643-5652; Horowitz, Doebley (2004) Genetics. 166:1-10; Wang, Doebley (2015) Genetics. 200:965-974; Lukens, Doebley (2001) Mol. Biol. Evol. 18:627-638. CONCLUSION. And so, what I suggest while enjoying your day at the Sweet Corn Festival in Sun Prairie is spending a moment of silence to show respect for the farmers living 9,000 years ago in Mexico - - - they are the ones who created corn. Corn is the most famous and beloved of all of the genetically modified food crops.

This is a small Renaissance Faire, just a couple of days in early October. The admission price is…read morewithin almost everybody's budget and there is plenty to do/see for everyone. They have a great deal this year - $12 for both Saturday and Sunday. I know with some of the bigger Ren Faire's, there are some ticket holders that are turned off by the R-rated humor and other crude goings-on. I did not find this the case here, but I couldn't attend each and every performance, so mileage may vary. The food is pretty good and varied. The web site talked about a beer garden, but I didn't see any evidence of that. A couple of New Glarus Brewery tap beers were sold, along with another booth manned by Bos Meadery. A check of the web site before you go can give you a great rundown of all the food and vendor offerings. As inexpensive as the ticketing is especially for kids, a couple of cautionary notes. Being that this is a small fair, there are ropes and cords tacked to the ground which makes it easy to trip over. The other is that if the ground is uneven and downright muddy in some spots, so pushing your stroller through the muck would be a chore, I would imagine. Parking is free, but you have to walk down a steep pathway through a forested area to get to the faire itself. They do have heavy duty golf cart that gets those with mobility issues back down to the parking lot. They could use a few more Port-A-Potties, but I don't know where they could place them.

From the owner: A Gathering of Rogues and Ruffians comes to New Glarus October 12 & 13…read moreRenaissance Faire offers fun for everyone at a friendly price. Green County WI, September 16, 2013: $5 doesn't buy much anymore, but on October 12 & 13, 2013 from 10am-6pm it will gain you admission to one of the most entertaining events to be found in Green County. A Gathering of Rogues & Ruffians - A Renaissance Faire will once again be taking over the Wilhelm Tell Grounds at W5199 Hwy W in New Glarus for a different kind of historical play. This is not only a great opportunity to learn about life in the Renaissance times by visiting with a variety of re-enactors but a fun way to spend a fall weekend.

It's been several years since I've been to Sunrise Orchards. We were in the area and decided to…read morestop in. It was busy with Applefest going on in Gays Mills, but the retail building and grounds are large enough it didn't feel too packed. I forgot how good their apple cider donuts are. Do I dare say the best I've ever had!!! The outside is crispy and the inside light and fluffy. I don't typically like Honey Crisp apples, but the Honey Crisp cider is delicious.

This is a fantastic orchard and a very popular place! It was packed but lines moved fast. You can't…read moremiss the apple cider slushies, the donuts, and the caramel apple. For more of the products you eat there, they have an honor system where you put your dollar in the bucket and grab your slushy or donut. They have the best and fresh apple cider donuts. I also bought some fresh cheese curds and they even have fried ones outside. A great stop!

After coming for the last 15 years, this was the worst one! Only 1/3 of the vendors, no farmers…read moremarket, and very few food vendors. What a waste of our girls weekend! Thank goodness for decent weather so we could do other things. will probably switch to the Warren cranberry festival next year. This one was a total disappointment!

This used to be the locals after-summer celebration, but word has spread! This year's celebration…read moreis September 18 - 20, 2009 (always two weeks after Labor Day). It's a great weekend with a Maxwell Street Days sale all through the downtown, an arts & crafts show in the park, and great food everywhere you look. Oooh, don't forget the parade on Sunday - they have a ton of great marching bands in it. All in all, a great way to kick off the fall season. Beware - parking is a bit dodgy - get there early, or be prepared to walk a bit.

Newsweek has named this classical outdoor theatre the best in the country, and they aren't wrong…read more Neither are the over 100,000 people who attend a play there each year! They have actors who could easily be performing in New York or Chicago, but they chose to come back to rural Wisconsin every year for a reason. Top notch people who run this theatre, along with talented people in all aspects of the productions here make it an absolute joy to be sitting in the audience. Pack a picnic to enjoy in the woods before you head up to the beautiful, scenic theatre, where you are guaranteed to love what you see! The concession workers are amazing too-you can really tell that everyone who works at APT takes pride in what they do to keep people happy and coming back again and again!

How do you separate and rate the material, the actors, the facilities and front of house? How can…read moreone rating represent all aspects of such a multifaceted endeavor? Well, it helps if everything is top notch. While I'd been to the nearby House on the Rock as a kid, it took many years for Shakespeare to embed himself so deep into my interests that I'd drive ~3 hours into the wilds of Southern Wisconsin just to see a play. In case my preamble didn't show my hand, it was all worth it. That said, there were thunderstorm and tornado warnings as I made my trip. Calling the office informed me that they aren't the type to cancel shows. Wild weather did delay the start (and derailed many a picnic dinner), but the show was held, the complimentary bug spray was used, the seats were wiped down (I brought towels to supplement the paper towels they handed out), and an incredible evening under the bats was had. I saw their Midsummer. It was a revelation. I can't wait to go back next summer for As You Like It (I imagine I'll love it).