Door County Pulse Podcast by Door County Pulse Podcast

05.04.2024

Aleah Kidd on the Stories of the 2024 Door Wedding Guide

This year’s edition of Door Wedding is now on newsstands, and editor Aleah Kidd joins Myles Dannhausen Jr. to talk about the stories and trends in the Door County wedding industry.

05.02.2024

"No Community Stays Unique By Accident"

Myles Dannhausen revisits the words and advice of Ed McMahon of the Urban Land Institute, who visited the county 15 years ago and gave his advice on how the county could manage growth while preserving its essential character. Plus, a...

04.26.2024

The Tourism, Housing and Isolation Impact on Community Health

Tourism, housing and isolation rose to the top of areas of concern identified recently by a leadership team while developing the County of Door’s latest Community Health Improvement Plan. Shauna Blackledge, Door County Public Health strategist, joins Debra Fitzgerald to...

04.22.2024

Creating a Shared Vision

Creating a Shared Vision by Door County Pulse Podcast

04.19.2024

How’s the Health of Door County Water?

That’s what we wanted to know for this year’s Peninsula Pulse Sustainability issue. We dig into almost 20-years-worth of data on test results, and research the improvements, programs and practices designed to protect the health of our groundwater, our drinking...

04.17.2024

What's the Big Stink? with Virge Temme

What's up with manure management and how are agricultural land uses impacting Door County water quality? Those questions will be answered during a League of Women Voters public forum scheduled for Tuesday, April 23. A diverse panel of experts has...

04.12.2024

Todd Haleen of Lakeshore Adventures

When Todd Haleen built the new home of Lakeshore Adventures in Baileys Harbor in 2022, he didn’t expect to become the target of social media vitriol, especially after his plans had been met with no opposition in the planning stage....

04.10.2024

Sexual Assault Victim Support with Sophie Sielen

One in four girls and one in 13 boys in the U.S. experiences sexual assault or violence. It happens everywhere, including here. Sophie Sielen, a victim advocate for Door County with the Sexual Assault Center for Family Services of Northeast...

04.05.2024

1111 Mound Street: A Tale from the Life of Melissa Ripp

Tales of Our Lives, the story slam presented each spring by the Women’s Fund of Door County, is coming to the Gould Theater on April 20. Slammer Melissa Ripp joins Myles Dannhausen Jr. to talk about the slam experience, then...

04.03.2024

Expanding Child Care in Northern Door with Cindy Trinkner-Peot and Jen Thompson

There’s more demand for child care than ever in northern Door County, but soon there will also be more capacity. Cindy Trinkner-Peot and Jen Thompson join Myles Dannhausen Jr. to talk about the expansion plans at Northern Door Children’s Center...

03.29.2024

A New Hotel Proposal for City’s West Waterfront

Here we go again. Myles Dannhausen Jr. and Debra Fitzgerald discuss the new proposal to build a hotel on Sturgeon Bay’s west waterfront. Plus, an update on the transfer of operations at Scandia Village, and a brief look at Tuesday’s...

03.27.2024

The Question of Genocide with Paul Cohen

What is genocide and is it a term that describes what’s happening in the war between Israel and Hammas? Debra Fitzgerald is joined by Lawrence University Professor Emeritus Paul Cohen, who talks about writer and philosopher, Hannah Arendt, and her...

03.22.2024

Brett Stousland on the Gibraltar Construction and the Response to A Gun in the School

Gibraltar School will embark on one of the largest and most expensive public building projects in the county’s history this summer. Superintendent Brett Stousland and Project Manager Tim Bickert discuss the multi-year renovation project starting this summer to transform Gibraltar...

03.20.2024

Planting Trees with Jeff Lutsey and the Big Plant

The partners that make up the Big Plant aim to add 10,000 trees to the peninsula landscape in April. Coordinator Jeff Lutsey of the Climate Change Coalition joins Myles Dannhausen Jr. to talk about his path the CCC, the value...

03.15.2024

A Preview of Local Board Races and Shortages at the Coast Guard

Local board, judge, and school board races are on the ballot in Door County on April 2. This week, Debra Fitzgerald joins Myles Dannhausen Jr. to talk about the candidate profiles in this week’s edition of the Peninsula Pulse, plus...

03.13.2024

The Craft Beer Evolution with One Barrel’s Peter Gentry

Peter Gentry’s brewing journey started with his dad and a home brew kit in Madison. It brought him to Door County. Gentry joins Myles Dannhausen Jr. to talk about the growth of One Barrel Brewing Co. and surviving in a...

03.06.2024

Cheers to the Bayside Tavern with Bobby MacDonald

Bobby MacDonald of the Bayside Tavern talks about why the family embarked on a refacing of the building to restore its historical look, his parents’ unusual business relationship, and the evolution of the Bayside Alley Shops. They also touch on...

03.01.2024

Could Potawatomi Get A Ski Hill Again?

The ski hill in Potawatomi State Park hasn’t been open in a quarter century, but a Sturgeon Bay man hopes to resurrect it with a little fundraising, some motivated volunteers and a lot of work. Dana Wangerin joins Myles Dannhausen...

02.28.2024

The Art of Senescence with artists Ellen Holtzblatt and Mary Porterfield

Chicago-based artists Ellen Holtzblatt and Mary Porterfield join Debra Fitzgerald for a conversation about their two-person show at the Miller Art Museum: Vestiges of the Tide. Both artists contemplate a topic in their work that brings awareness to what many...

02.14.2024

How Parking Explains the World with Author Henry Grabar

Journalist Henry Grabar joins the podcast to discuss his book Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World. Grabar says that parking policies at the town, village and city levels impact much more than where we put our cars. He talks...

02.09.2024

Big Projects in Sister Bay

Sister Bay has a long list of projects on its docket in the years ahead. Debra Fitzgerald and Myles Dannhausen Jr. discuss what’s up first and take a look at the housing study the village unveiled last month. Plus, Sturgeon...

02.07.2024

A Child Care Progress Check with United Way

In 2019 Amy Kohnle and United Way of Door County decided to tackle the vexing child care shortage. In the five years since then, the sector has experienced the lowest of lows and the highest of highs, with one center...

02.05.2024

Paul Salm on the Medicine Hiding in Plain Sight

Loneliness in America has been called an "epidemic" and "public health crisis" by U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, but he also said there's medicine hiding in plain sight: social connection. Door County UW-Extension's Paul Salm, who works in the...

02.02.2024

Chris Opper on the Door County Short Film Festival

The 15th Door County Short Film Festival is coming Feb. 16 and 17. Founder Chris Opper joins the podcast to talk to Myles Dannhausen Jr. about how he picks selections from more than 100 submissions, what makes a great short...

01.26.2024

The Colors of Jennie Bexell of Spot and Sip

There is nothing about Jennie Bexell that isn’t colorful. From her hair to her clothes, from the interior of her thriving retail stores and her latest restaurant, Sip, to her conversation, there is nothing bland about her. Myles Dannhausen Jr....

01.19.2024

What's Up in Madison with Rep. Joel Kitchens

Debra Fitzgerald talks with Rep. Joel Kitchens (R-Sturgeon Bay) about some of the legislation that passed in 2023 and some of the big-issue legislation on the docket right now, including a medical marijuana bill and a bill that would put...

01.12.2024

Gibraltar Scraps Utility Fee and Businesses Changing Hands

Myles Dannhausen Jr. and Debra Fitzgerald talk about Gibraltar’s decision to scrap its Transportation Utility Fee. Then they discuss another wave of business sales, including the Wild Tomato.

01.05.2024

Peregrine Falcons and Power Plants

The relationship between electric power plants and peregrine falcons is helping to preserve a bird that was nearly extinct less than 30 years ago, and still remains endangered in Wisconsin. Debra Fitzgerald talks with the man responsible for the successful...

12.30.2023

Alcohol Bill Puts Wedding Barns in Limbo

When the legislature passed a bill overhauling alcohol rules in Wisconsin in December, it was hailed as a grand compromise. But wedding barn operators were left on the sidelines. Myles Dannhausen Jr. talks to Debra Fitzgerald about how the law...

12.23.2023

The Top Stories of 2023

From big developments to big fires, Myles Dannhausen Jr. and Debra Fitzgerald dig into the stories that made the year.

12.18.2023

Lead and Arsenic in Door County Soils

As Crossroads at Big Creek undertakes a project to clean contamination on its property from former pesticide mixing sites, Debra Fitzgerald talks with Bill Schuster about historic orchard management practices and the legacy they left in Door Soils. Schuster not...

12.15.2023

A New Place to Play in Baileys Harbor with Kari Baumann

Kendall Weisgerber loved a great playground. When she died at age six in 1991, her family and the Baileys Harbor community built a playground in her memory. On Saturday, they opened the revamped Kendall Weisgerber Memorial Park with an incredible...

12.08.2023

Art With Helen

With the latest exhibit at the Miller Art Museum in Sturgeon Bay as the springboard – Newfangled, which presents artworks from the museum's permanent collect that illustrate the Modernist period – Debra Fitzgerald receives a spectacular primer from a...

12.06.2023

Christkindlmarkt and the Evolution of the Offseason with John Nelson

It’s the final weekend to check out Christkindlmarkt in Sister Bay and John Nelson joins Myles Dannhausen Jr. to tell you what’s new on the grounds this year. Then they talk a bit about the evolution of Sister Bay from...

12.01.2023

Real Estate Taxes in a Market Gone Wild

An unprecedented number of Door County municipalities are going through market updates and revaluations given the meteoric rise in the real estate market, especially residential homes. This year, Baileys Harbor, Gibraltar, Union. Sister Bay and Liberty Grove have gone through...

11.29.2023

A New Child Care Crisis and Gibraltar Says No to Road Tax

Myles Dannhausen Jr. and Debra Fitzgerald discuss the sudden closure of Zion Early Childhood Center and what it means for the families of the 60 children there. But first, a look at the vote by Gibraltar voters to say no...

11.24.2023

What Winter Reveals

Myles Dannhausen with an essay on life in winter on the peninsula, with some words from the late writer Norb Blei.

11.22.2023

The Rebirth of Baileys Harbor with Writer Ben Jones

Ben Jones joins the podcast to talk about his recent story about the reinvention of Baileys Harbor. He talks with Myles Dannhausen about the evolution of the town from the sleepy, “quiet side” to a bustling food and drink hub...

11.17.2023

The Holiday Season Kicks Off

Sturgeon Bay is kicking off the holiday season with Christmas By the Bay, then the rest of the county joins in the cheer next week. Myles Dannhausen Jr. and Debra Fitzgerald run down everything going on for the season, plus...

11.15.2023

The Making of Ridge and Swale with Director Brett Kosmider

It took over 100 hours of footage, 43 interviews and 1,400 hours of editing to create Ridge and Swale, the documentary celebrating the legacy of conservation in Door County. Myles Dannhausen Jr. talks to director Brett Kosmider about the film,...

11.10.2023

Child Care Progress and Big Money for Local Budgets

It’s municipal budget season and several communities have big expenses on the docket that will trickle down to their taxpayers. Myles Dannhausen Jr. and Debra Fitzgerald break down a couple of these budgets and why its so hard for municipalities...

11.08.2023

Clearing New Trails in Egg Harbor

A plan for new multimodal paths to connect Egg Harbor to Fish Creek is taking shape with the help of the National Park Service. Community Planner Christopher Morgan and Landscape Architect Patrick Lydon of the National Park Service join the...

11.03.2023

The Aftermath of the Rowleys Bay Resort Fire

Jewel Peterson Ouradnik is the 11th child in a family of 12 kids who grew up at Rowleys Bay Resort in Ellison Bay, which was purchased by her parents in 1970. A fire the day after Labor Day weekend destroyed...

11.01.2023

To the Bar with Cocktail Expert Anders Erickson

Anders Erickson got his start behind the bar at the late, great T. Ashwell’s in Ellison Bay. Twenty years later he has turned his cocktail skills into a thriving cocktail channel on YouTube where he has nearly 500,000 subscribers and...

10.27.2023

When Curly Lambeau Roamed Gibraltar’s Sideline

In 1959 legendary coach Curly Lambeau was finished roaming NFL sidelines, but football was never far from his mind. Retired to his cottage in Fish Creek, he showed up at a Gibraltar Vikings high school football practice and was soon...

10.25.2023

A Housing Trust Model from Fishers Island

Fishers Island is a community of about 400 people off the coast of Long Island that has faced some of the same housing shortfalls for residents that Door County is grappling with. But in 1987, residents of the island came...

10.24.2023

The Devil’s Element with Dan Egan and Mark Holey

Pulitzer-nominated author Dan Egan joined Mark Holey and Myles Dannhausen Jr. for a special Fish Tales lecture series event at Crossroads at Big Creek on Oct. 16. Egan, the author of Phosphorus: The Devil’s Element. They talked about the vital...

10.18.2023

Door County's Citizen Scientists

What's a citizen scientist and why are they so important to Door County conservation and land protection organizations? Debra Fitzgerald finds out from Paige Witek, community conservation coordinator for the Door County Land Trust, and Tony Kiszonas, director of research...

10.13.2023

Fall Fest, a Room Tax Report and the Latest on Egg Harbor’s Highway Project

Myles Dannhausen Jr. and Debra Fitzgerald dive into the news of the week with a brief look at Fall Fest and a deeper dive into the latest room tax numbers and what those returns say about the state of tourism...

10.11.2023

How Vail is Making Housing Affordable

In the third part of our series on the affordable housing shortage, Mia Vlaar joins the podcast to talk about the variety of approaches the Town of Vail, Colorado is using to build its affordable housing stock. She talks to...

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