Door County Pulse Podcasts

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 been assembled and the event will be moderated by Virge Temme – who chairs the League's natural resources committee and who led the six-month research project. She talks with Debra Fitzgerald to give listeners a sneak preview of their findings.

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. He joins Myles Dannhausen Jr. to discuss what he hoped to accomplish with his building, why he designed it the way he did, and to clear up some misconceptions about the building.

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 Wisconsin, ought to know. She deals with the reality of these statistics every day. Here, she talks with Debra Fitzgerald about her organization's support, prevention and education efforts – and how people can help during this month of Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Prevention and Awareness.

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 Ripp shares one of her stories from her college days in Madison.

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 as they enter the final phase of a $3.6 million capital campaign.

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 local elections.

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 brilliant book, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, in the context of today’s war. Cohen will host a Björklunden Zoom seminar book discussion on the topic: “Is Evil Really Banal: Hannah Arendt and The Question of Genocide,” April 4 - May 2.

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 School. Then, Myles Dannhausen Jr. talks to Stousland about the school’s response to a student who brought a gun into the school building last week.

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 of trees and how to make a difference one root at a time.

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 the latest on broadband funds making their way to the peninsula and staffing shortages at the Coast Guard.

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 turbulent industry.

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 the tavern’s place in Fish Creek and how the town’s historic charm is at the heart of its tourism draw.

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 Jr. to talk about the effort to bring downhill skiing back to Door County.

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 of us prefer not to face: senescence, or the process of deterioration as we age, and who we'll be in our final years. The public can meet the artists and view the show March 1. See the Peninsula Pulse for more.

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 to Myles Dannhausen Jr. about how parking minimums shape our cities, our architecture, our streets and even our ability to provide the affordable housing we all say we want.

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 Bay Fire Department has a new person at the helm and the city police department asks for the OK to put cameras up in 10 spots in the city.

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 closing, another expanding and the opening of a shiny new center. Kohnle and Molly Gary, the Child Care Community Coordinator for United Way, join Myles Dannhausen Jr. to talk about the state of child care on the peninsula.

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 areas of human development and relationships, talks about the work being done in Door County to combat social isolation and loneliness.

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 film and the joy of browsing the shelves of movie rental stores back in the day.

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. talks to her about building a retail brand, what she learned working at Al Johnson’s and behind the bar, and what’s next.