Boats, sausages, accessibility and art: Four Labor Day weekend events in Door County
DOOR COUNTY - Labor Day weekend means the last chance to enjoy summer in many parts of the country. But in Door County, Labor Day weekend is just a warmup for the next couple of months.
That's because the Peninsula keeps the fun going into late October with a string of community festivals, continuing theater shows and concerts, recreational activities and much more.
To help put a bow on the 2022 "summer season" and lead residents and visitors into fall, Door County plays host to a number of festivals and special events featuring boats, sausages and beer, guiding lights and art over the long weekend. Here's a quick look at them.
Marina Fest, Sister Bay
Sister Bay Marina hosts its annual salute to boaters and entertains the public with its 27th annual Marina Fest, taking place Saturday through Monday over the Labor Day weekend.
This festival was created to pay tribute to the marina, which was rebuilt in 1993. The village had such a strong response to the event the first year that it was made into an annual event featuring the food, fun and other activities that are so well-known to Door County community festivals.
The biggest highlights of the festival arguably happen Saturday with a vintage boat show, a pedal tractor pull and toy boat building for children, pancakes for breakfast and fireworks at night, including two cruises from which people can view the fireworks.
Of nautical interest, the vintage boats are on display from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. Also that day, children can build their own boat between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. and the two fireworks cruises will depart into the bay of Green Bay at 7:45 p.m. before the color-filled explosions light the night sky at about 9 p.m.
The cruises are aboard the double-decker boat Norra Dorr (call Door County Boats at 920-421-4444 or visit doorcountyboats.com for reservations) and the popular tall ship Edith M. Becker, a 23-passenger, 65-foot schooner (call Sail Door County at 920-495-7245 or visit saildoorcounty.com).
Also, the Door County Maritime Museum is selling tickets Saturday and Sunday for the raffle of a wooden boat that will take place at about 4 p.m. Sunday.
For the landlubbers, children can build their own toy boats from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and play carnival games or in a bounce house until 6 p.m. all three days. Also for kids Saturday, the pedal tractor pull is for ages 4 to 12 and has sessions from noon to 1:30 p.m. and 4:30 to 6 p.m. (registration opens at 11 a.m.). Both adults and kids can take a stained glass mosaic making class Saturday as well.
A farmers market and craft fair runs all three days until 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, and 4 p.m. Monday. The Door County Library's Sister Bay-Liberty Grove branch holds its annual used book sale at Village Hall from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday. Live music plays all three days, and a food court will be in the pavilion at Marina Park next door. The pancake breakfast is hosted by the Sister Bay-Liberty Grove Fire Department from 7 to 10:30 a.m. Saturday.
Sister Bay Marina is at 10733 N. Bay Shore Drive, Sister Bay. For more information, call 920-854-4457 or visit sisterbaymarina.com.
Sausagefest, Egg Harbor
Family-friendly craft brewery One Barrel Brewing Co. started its annual sausage-laden celebration in 2019 to mark the end of summer and lead into fall, and it's back again.
Sausagefest is pretty much just like one would expect, especially when it's held at a craft brewery. Pizza Bros. at One Barrel, the brewery's in-house pizza maker, is wheeling out its food truck for the festival to serve hot dogs, brats, kielbasa, chorizo and andouille, with people able to pick and choose their own toppings.
Plus, Pizza Bros. will have its pizzas available, along with beer, of course. The festival also includes live music all four days.
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Sausagefest starts at 11 a.m. Friday, Sunday and Monday and 10 a.m. Saturday at One Barrel Brewing Co., 4633 Market St., Egg Harbor. For more information, call 920-868-5262 or visit onebarrelbrewing.com or facebook.com/obbcdc.
The Ridges Sanctuary, Baileys Harbor
The state's first protected land trust (established in 1937) holds two accessibility-related events over the Labor Day weekend to celebrate nature for all.
First up, at 3:30 p.m. Friday, is a dedication of The Ridges' new Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant boardwalk that extends accessibility to the Baileys Harbor Range Lights on the sanctuary grounds.
The accessible boardwalk connects the Upper and Lower Range Lights, 153-year-old paired lights off the Lake Michigan shore that are the only navigational aids of their kind still in operation on the Great Lakes, according to the sanctuary. Instead of a single lighthouse beacon that makes boats aware of their proximity to land, range lights are a pair set at different heights. When a navigator aligns the range lights one on top of the other, that indicates the ship is on course for safe passage into the harbor.
The boardwalk not only allows visitors to navigate the corridor between the two buildings, it also connects The Ridges' Cook-Albert Fuller Nature Center and Hidden Brook boardwalk to the sanctuary’s rustic trails.
The dedication will be held at the Upper Range Light. Parking will be directed to the lot on County Q, although guests also can park at the nature center on State 57 and take the half-mile walk along the boardwalks.
Saturday, the sanctuary continues its 2022 Gallery Series with an artist reception in the nature center for "A Brush with Nature," a retrospective show by Door County artist Jan Comstock, and "Natural Abilities, Exploring Environments" by 12 artists with disabilities from Arts for All Wisconsin, a Madison-based nonprofit organization that provides programs in the arts for disabled people of all ages.
The works in the “Natural Abilities, Exploring Environments" exhibit were inspired by the natural environment around the wider Great Lakes region and celebrate diversity in nature, body and mind. A wide array of styles and subject matter are presented, from healing waterfalls, electrifying storms and elusive animals to whimsical landscapes and both real and imagined ecosystems.
The reception is from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, with artist remarks at 10:30 a.m. The exhibits will run through Oct. 15.
The Cook-Albert Fuller Nature Center at The Ridges is at 8166 State 57, Baileys Harbor. For more information, call 920-83902802 or visit ridgessanctuary.org.
Gills Rock ArtFest/Charlene Berg Memorial
This popular art festival and artist demonstration has been a fixture at the tip of the Peninsula for the past 21 years, but this 22nd edition takes on a special meaning.
As before, artists (18 this year) who work in many different media – pastel, collage, assemblage, watercolor, oil, jewelry, mosaics, encaustic painting and clay – will display their latest work from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday on the grounds of Gills Rock Coffee. Some artists give demonstrations of how they create their work during the event.
But Saturday evening brings a memorial to Charlene Berg, the former owner of Gills Rock Coffee and what was Charlene's Gallery Ten, which was located on the coffee shop's grounds, and founder of the ArtFest. Berg died in December, and friends, acquaintances and the public are invited to gather at 5:15 p.m. for a memorial party and hear stories about Charlene at the coffee shop. The party will have a clown theme and guests are encouraged to dress for the occasion, with the first 175 receiving a clown-themed swag bag.
Gills Rock ArtFest runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday outside Gills Rock Coffee, 12625 State 42. There is no charge to attend. For more information, call 920-868-0198 or visit the "Gills Rock Coffee" Facebook page.
Contact Christopher Clough at 920-741-7952, 920-562-8900 or cclough@doorcountyadvocate.com.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Boats, sausage, accessibility, art featured in Door County Labor Day
