Oconto mini golf course, ice cream shop set to open for season
OCONTO - The Ruins Adventure Mini Golf & Ice Cream opens for the season on Saturday, April 29, offering outdoor fun for all ages and super-premium ice cream made in Wisconsin. The 18-hole golf course and ice cream shop are open on the weekends in May, September and October, and daily from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
Mini golf is one of the few recreational activities that everyone can enjoy together, regardless of age and ability. Families and friends can enjoy a little friendly competition on the Mayan Civilization-inspired course at 150 Howard Lane. The mini golf course is located a half-mile from the intersection of Highway 41 and 22 – easy off the highway and easy to spot on the northeast side of Oconto.
Open seasonally since 2015, The Ruins Adventure Mini Golf features a few challenging and trick holes, with interesting elevation changes and water hazards. Vibrant colors, lively music, tropical thatch accents, and beautiful landscaping add to the atmosphere on the course. Water is everywhere in this tropical landscape. Golf balls float in the water hazards, so the unlucky golfers can rescue their balls and continue their game. The ADA-compliant outer loop of The Ruins Adventure Mini Golf course is wheelchair accessible.
Saturday nights are especially popular at The Ruins Adventure Mini Golf, for Glow Golf. Blinking, color-changing LEDs, rope lights, and glow-gear provide the illumination for golfers. With the overhead lights turned off at the golf course, golfers use only glow-balls to play golf. Glow Golf closing times vary depending on the season and length of day. Spring and summer Glow Golf goes from dusk until 11:30 p.m.
On Saturdays in September and October, The Ruins switches from Glow Golf to Haunted Holes Glow Golf, a Halloween-themed night golfing event with creepy decorations around every corner – starting at dusk until about 10:30pm.
New this year, The Ruins Adventure Mini Golf & Ice Cream will celebrate Ice Cream for Breakfast theme days, debuting on Mother’s Day, May 14, and continuing most Sundays in the summer. The breakfast-inspired menu includes waffle-bacon-maple ice cream sundaes, glazed donut ice cream sandwiches, and holey moley donut hole sundaes. The Ruins will also serve mimosas and free coffee on Mother’s Day. Plus, all moms get to golf for free on Mother’s Day and receive a free plant, and dads get to golf for free on Father’s Day.
Also new this year is a kindness-themed mural, still in the planning stages. Owners Tina and Bryan Bruckner plan to paint a kindness mural on the west wall by the upper deck. The upper deck provides a great view of the course and also serves as a venue for private parties and celebrations. The Bruckners scattered positive messages and inspirational quotes around the course, and the mural is just one more way to provide an uplifting message.
Select food and drinks are available at the mini golf course, and golfers can also have food delivered from Oconto-area restaurants. The Ruins serves Madison-based Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream, an award-winning, super-premium ice cream. The Ruins also serves soda, beer, wine, flavored water and slushes.
A round of golf costs $7.50 per person for 18 holes. The second 18 holes costs $3 for credit card purchases and is free for cash purchases. Additionally, The Ruins offers group discounts of 50 cents off for groups of 10 or more and $1 off for groups of 20 or more. Discounts are valid only when purchased as one transaction.
Golfers don’t have to travel too far to test their short game and experience a bit of Mayan Civilization. The Mayan-themed décor gives The Ruins Adventure Mini Golf & Ice Cream its fanciful character. The friendly competition, time outdoors, and delicious ice cream make the mini golf course fun for all ages. Three generations can easily compete on a fairly level playing field. Plus, families and friends have lots of photo opportunities to capture the fun memories.
The Ruins Adventure Mini Golf & Ice Cream is open, weather permitting, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. weekends in May, September and October. In the summer, the course is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. The hours can changed, based on the weather, so check Facebook for the latest updates.
Samantha Boucher is the tourism director for the Oconto County Economic Development Corporation.
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This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Ruins Adventure Mini Golf & Ice Cream in Oconto set to open for season
