Scandinavian balls of fire, beer, wine, pride: Here's four Door County festivals in June
DOOR COUNTY - The middle of June sees festival season kick into high gear in Door County, with thousands of people coming to the Peninsula for these four popular annual gatherings over the next three Saturdays to celebrate a blazing start to summer, Scandinavian-style, beer and wine, and pride. Here's a quick look at them.
June 15: Fyr Bal, Ephraim
The Ephraim Business Council honors the village's Scandinavian heritage and celebrates the impending arrival of summer with its 59th annual Fyr Bal festival.
Fyr Bal – it's Norwegian for "fire ball" or "bonfire" and pronounced "feer ball" – re-creates the customs of how early Scandinavian settlers celebrated the summer solstice. The highlight of the community-wide festival is the old tradition of a ceremonial lighting around dusk of a large bonfire representing winter, thus making room for summer to take over.
To add to the ceremony's importance, the bonfire is lit by the newly named Fyr Bal chieftain, a village resident honored by the Ephraim Business Council for his or her service to the community. The name of the new chieftain isn't known to the public until the ceremony, and residents consider it a great honor.
The chieftain ceremony kicks off with Scandinavian dances and music outside Village Hall at 8:15 p.m. At 8:30, the chieftain, whose name is still secret at this point, makes his or her way into Eagle Harbor by boat and is presented with a medallion before lighting the bonfire. Fire performers then show their skills on the jetty across from Village Hall, and fireworks cap the festivities at around 9:30.
But Fyr Bal is more than just the fires and fireworks lighting the night sky, as it also fields a full day of live music, food and beverages, an artisan and food market, a used book sale at the library, and activities and entertainment for adults and children. A raffle takes place with drawings held at Village Hall at 8 p.m., just before the chieftain ceremony.
Kicking off the day are pancakes and yoga at 8 a.m. There's the traditional pancake breakfast in Village Hall, and a yoga session will be held at that time on Anderson Dock.
A Fur Ball pet parade starts at 9 a.m., with furry, feathered and scaly paraders gathering on the lawn outside Edgewater Resort. Pets will be judged for prizes in the categories of Best Dressed, Best Personality and Best in Show, with the latter winning with a medallion created by Gemma Lou’s Door County Furbaby Treats.
Ice cream (10 a.m. at Wilson's Restaurant and Ice Cream Parlor) and cherry pie (3:30 p.m. on the stage at Village Hall) eating contests will be held, along with a cornhole tournament and axe throwing (both at 4 p.m., registration required for cornhole at the Ephraim Business Council tent). The ever-popular cake walk takes place at 11:30 a.m. in Village Hall. A benefit for the Northern Door Children's Center is taking place at The Red Putter mini golf course on the north side of the village.
Children's activities and entertainment in the early afternoon include a balloon artist, caricaturist, face painter, T-shirt decorating, an appearance by the Princess Elsa character form the movie "Frozen" and popular children's musician Randy Peterson at Ephraim Shores Resort.
To add to the Scandinavian experience, visitors also can watch wooden shoe carving and demonstrations, as well as glass blowing, at Harborside Park and make a medallion or a flower crown at Village Hall.
A free concert celebrating Ephraim's first European settlers and those who followed, "Around the World in 80 Minutes," is being held at 4 p.m. at Ephraim Moravian Church.
State 42, which runs through downtown Ephraim, will close from from Moravia Street to Cedar Street from 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. for the festival. Those planning to attend can park at the Green Gables Shops and Unitarian Universalist Fellowship on the north side of the closure or Ephraim-Gibraltar Airport on the south side and get complimentary transportation to the festival.
For a full schedule or more information, visit ephraim-doorcounty.com.
June 15: Door County Beer Festival, Baileys Harbor
This year's chance for beer aficionados in Door County to try more than 150 different beers and ciders from 45 Midwestern craft breweries takes place in a new location.
After years on the grounds of Maxwelton Braes Resort, the Door County Beer Festival moves this year to the grounds and historic buildings of About Thyme Farm, a picturesque wedding and events barn in Baileys Harbor. Event organizers said the beer festival should operate more smoothly without the complications and traffic from the golf course, resort operations and condos at Maxwelton Braes.
More than 1,000 guests traditionally attend to sample beverages from craft and microbreweries in Door County and across Wisconsin, along with a handful of breweries from Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan. Besides being able to taste a variety of brews, guests can chat with brewmasters and other representatives who will be on hand. Four food trucks will be on site and live music will be played by the One Man Dan Band.
Door County breweries on hand will be Bridge Up Brewing of Sturgeon Bay; Door County Brewing Co., Hacienda Beer Co. and Sway Brewing, all of Baileys Harbor; Shipwrecked Brew Pub, Mixed Meadia and One Barrel Brewing, Egg Harbor; and Peach Barn Farmhouse and Brewery, Sister Bay.
While many of the breweries on hand will be familiar to beer fans and past festival guests – even though their beers will be new – several new breweries will be pouring. They are Chicago-based Moody Tongue, a brewery/restaurant that received two stars from the Michelin Guide; Cocoon Brewing of De Pere and Humble Forager Brewery of Rochester, Minnesota.
The Door County Beer Festival is open from noon to 4 p.m. at About Thyme Farm, 8425 County F, Baileys Harbor. Parking is not allowed at the site, but free shuttles will run from five locations in Baileys Harbor (parking is available at Recreational Park, 2623 Summit Road, one of the pickup points) and locations in Sister Bay, Fish Creek and Egg Harbor.
General admission is $50 and includes a commemorative 3-ounce tasting glass; $75 for Early Access admission, which gets you into the tasting tents at 11 a.m. Designated drivers admission is $15. IDs are required for all guests to enter; no one younger than age 21 is admitted and no dogs are allowed.
For tickets or more information, including a beer list and shuttle pickup points, visit doorcountybeerfestival.com.
June 22: Door County Wine Festival, Baileys Harbor
The group that puts together the beer fest held the week before follows with their annual wine fest, which like its sibling beverage bonanza also moves to About Thyme Farm. It also adds a couple of new wineries to its participants.
The Door County Wine Festival offers samples of as many as 58 wines from the 10 wineries along the Door County Wine Trail, up from eight wineries the year before. Wineries in Door County and Northeast Wisconsin have been known for years for their fruit wines, notably from cherries and apples, but now are equally known for award-winning grape wines, both from longer-established wineries and more recently established vintners.
The new wineries on the trail, and in the festival, are Anchored Roots Winery in Egg Harbor and Lake Fire in Baileys Harbor. They join Lautenbach’s Orchard Country in Fish Creek; Door Peninsula and Red Oak, both in Carlsville; Door 44 and Simon Creek, both in Sturgeon Bay; Harbor Ridge, Egg Harbor; Stone's Throw, Baileys Harbor; and von Stiehl in Algoma.
Four food trucks will be on hand, and cheese samples will be available from Renard’s Cheese, Hoard’s Dairyman Farm Creamery, Scary Cheese and Ron’s Wisconsin Cheese, with VIP ticket holders getting a chance for special wine-cheese pairings that won't be available with general admission. Live music is by cover duo Open Tab.
Tasting tents will be open from noon to 4 p.m. Tickets are $80 for general admission, $95 for VIPs (a limited number remain), $15 for designated drivers, and admission is limited so advance purchases are recommended. As with the beer feast, IDs are required to enter; no one younger than age 21 is admitted and no dogs are allowed. Also as with the beer fest, no parking is allowed at About Thyme for the festival but shuttles will run from Baileys Harbor, Egg Harbor, Fish Creek, Ephraim and Sister Bay.
For tickets or more information, including parking and shuttle information, visit doorcountywinefest.com.
June 29: Open Door Pride Fest, Sturgeon Bay
All are welcome to this eighth annual celebration of inclusion sponsored by Open Door Pride not just for Door County's LGBTQIA+ community but for all during the national recognition of June as Pride Month.
Running from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Martin Park on South Third Avenue, the festival features live music throughout the day by a variety of popular Door County musicians, including The Coves, Katie Dahl, Zephyr Ciesar, pat mAcdonald, Dorothy Scott, Cathy Grier, Owen Alabado, The Black Bandits, Hype Dance and John Contratto. A deejay also will spin music throughout the day.
Games for young and old will be held, art activities will be offered at the Miller Art Museum's Gallery M3 across the street (including cookie painting), and vendors will be on hand with food, beverages and other merchandise. A 50/50 raffle and silent auction will be held, with items including skateboard decks designed by Sturgeon Bay High School artists, local business gift packages and more.
Open Door Pride also will have its "What's My Pride?" selfie station set up at Gallery M3, where visitors can jot their thoughts on pride on a chalkboard and have their photo taken with it.
Open Door Pride's annual Sandy Brown Award will be announced during the festival. Named for its inaugural winner, who created the Door County Chapter of National PFLAG in 1997, the award honors a community member or business that exemplifies the organization's mission. A Door County artist designs and creates a new trophy for the winner each year.
Another award announced during the fest is Open Door's annual IDEA (Inclusivity, Diversity, Equality and Accessibility) Scholarship, which is offered to a graduating Door County senior who demonstrates a passion for inclusivity, diversity, increasing sensitivity and building community.
Finally, after darkness sets in, the 10-story-tall Jim Kress Maritime Lighthouse Tower at the Door County Maritime Museum will be lit with rainbow colors to symbolize the pride movement.
For more information, visit opendoorpride.org or email info@opendoorpride.org.
Contact Christopher Clough at 920-562-8900 or cclough@gannett.com.
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This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: June festivals in Door County: It's Norwegian fire, beer, wine, pride
