Wisconsin offers travelers a cheese wheel of tasty opportunities - Green Bay Press-Gazette

Former Gov. Anthony Earl in the 1980s dubbed Ellsworth, population 3,200, as Cheese Curd Capital of Wisconsin. The 102-year-old Ellsworth Cooperative Creamery produces 160 pounds of curds every day.

"They're fresh and ready at 11 a.m.," says the creamery's Beth Ingli, while busily distributing samples at this month's annual Wisconsin Restaurant Association Expo in Milwaukee.

Wisconsin produces 2.6 billion pounds of cheese a year. The Ellsworth creamery encourages visitors and has begun working with neighbors to market the hilly, rural area near the St. Croix River as a day trip, especially from April to October.

A flyer encourages visits to the creamery and four other family-operated businesses within 25 miles. In the mix:

Crystal Cave, W965 Wisconsin 29, Spring Valley; acoolcave.com, (800) 236-2283. A farm boy discovered the spot in 1881. Open seasonally, starting March 31, for hour-long tours.

Sailer's Meats, 600 W. Winter Ave., Elmwood; sailersmeats.com, (715) 639-2191. The five-generation butchery wins many state awards for its meats, especially sausages. Closed Sundays.

Vino in the Valley, W3826 450th Ave., Maiden Rock; vinointhevalley.com, (715) 639-6677. Open Thursday through Sunday. Business hours change with the seasons; Italian meals sometimes are served outdoors amid five acres of grapevines.

Flat Pennies Ice Cream, W6442 Wisconsin 35, Bay City; flatpennies.com, (715) 594-3555. Hot dogs to sundaes are served from a Soo Line caboose.

The five represent a combined population of well under 10,000, and these Pierce County businesses are south of Interstate 94.

The cave opens at 9 a.m. For more: tasteandtours.com.

The creamery produces white cheddar curds and four flavored versions: ranch, taco, Cajun and garlic. Other flavors are taste-tested by visitors before moving to large-scale production.

Watch facebook.com/WICheeseCurds for taste-testing details. For more about the creamery, 232 N. Wallace St., Ellsworth: ellsworthcheesecurds.com, (715) 273-4311.

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Think you make the perfect grilled cheese sandwich, or that grilled cheese requires no cooking skill? Get enlightened at the Iowa County Fairgrounds, Mineral Point, during the state's first Grilled Cheese Championship, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 21.

Competition occurs on two levels: professional and amateur. Up to 60 entrants will compete in up to two of four sandwich categories.

In all categories, "interior ingredients must be at least 60 percent cheese," and the cheese must be made in Wisconsin. Each cook gets 15 minutes to prepare an entry.

All competitors pay $10 to $20 per category entered and will use the company's 12-inch fry pans to prepare the sandwiches.

Admission for spectators is free, but registration is advised. For more: grilledcheesewisconsin.com.

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The cheese event is a project of the Iowa County Area Economic Development Corp., which opened the Wisconsin Innovation Kitchen in Mineral Point in 2010 and provides work for 35 people with disabilities. The commercial kitchen prepares ingredients for chefs and helps launch new food products in small batches.

Executive Director Rick Terrien wants to establish similar facilities throughout Wisconsin, especially in marginalized neighborhoods. Next up: north Milwaukee site development.

In Mineral Point, Innovation Kitchen customers include RP's Pasta in Madison (workers prepare a pumpkin-squash filling for ravioli) and Raw Dog Relish in Portage (workers prepare, jar and label the product for retail sale).

Innovation Kitchen also sells its Farmhouse Recipes product line. A gift shop at 851 Dodge St. is open on weekdays. For more: innovationkitchen.org, (608) 341-6797.

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Carr Valley Cheese Cooking School has added "pairings classes" to its popular visiting chef cooking classes. That means cheese-wine and cheese-beer pairings.

For more about the 1?- to 2?-hour classes at 807 Phillips Blvd., Sauk City: carrvalleycheese.com, (608) 643-3441.

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Small-batch and handcrafted gouda from Holland's Family Cheese, Thorp, has won at least 50 national and international awards since the business began four years ago. The cheeses are pressed into 18-pound wheels, and one of the newest versions is the tasty Burning Melange, which incorporates nettles, parsley, chives, celery, dried onion and garlic.

Also in the farmstead cheese shop (closed on Sundays) are European ? especially Dutch ? products. For more about this enterprise, operated by Netherlands natives Rolf and Marieke Penterman at N13851 Gorman Ave., Thorp: hollandsfamilycheese.com, (715) 669-5230.

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Fifty is the magic number for Madison-based Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream this year. The family-owned business has begun a 50-week celebration of its golden anniversary by featuring 50 products.

"Throughout the year, we'll have random days ? 50 days ? when ice cream cones will cost 50 cents for 50 minutes," says Dave Deadman, vice president. Stay tuned to the company's Facebook page: facebook.com/chocolateshoppeicecream to learn when this happens.

The official birthday party, at the company's three Madison stores, is June 16. Expect Happy Birthday ice cream ? which tastes and looks a little like angel food cake with blue butter cream icing and specks of colored candy ? to be served.

New products include Bang!, a caffeinated ice cream. It comes in four flavors (mint with cookie and chocolate chunks; chocolate with peanut butter cups and ripples; espresso with chocolate chunks and fudge swirls; and dark chocolate with Heath candy).

One scoop contains the amount of caffeine found in an average energy drink. The caffeine comes from a natural stimulant, guarana seeds from Brazil.

Madison stores are at 1726 Fordem Ave., 555 S. Midvale Blvd. and 468 State St. For more: chocolateshoppeicecream.com, bangicecream.com, (608) 221-8640.

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Area businesses connect at Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce's Business Expo 2012 - Green Bay Press-Gazette

N.E.W. Printing of Appleton was among the first-year participants at the Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce's Business Expo.

Like others, N.E.W. Printing was looking to make connections with potential clients in the Green Bay area.

"We've been pretty steady," said Daniel Woolf, an account executive with the commercial printer "But we've had to do a lot of legwork to stay where we are at."

He said the market seems to be showing movement with some businesses allocating more money to their marketing budgets.

"From our point of view, things are starting to turn around," Woolf said. "Back in 2008 and 2009 it was pretty tough. It hasn't been an immediate turn around, but it's slowly picking back up."

More than 175 businesses attended the annual event held Wednesday at the KI Convention Center in Green Bay. Networking and promotion are among the main focuses of the expo, which also included educational seminars on topics such as providing customers with a "winning" experience and best practices for using social media.

Jamie Strohmeyer of Green Bay struck out on his own with Green Bay Floor Restore in April after his previous employer eliminated his job.

The expo offered his startup business a chance to get its name in front of potential customers ? as well as networking with other businesses from the area.

"Being the first year, I can't complain. I'm paying my bills and covering my overhead," Strohmeyer said with a laugh. "But I'm constantly working it. That's what brings me here, to get my business out to people and let them know what I do."

Green Bay Floor Restore specializes in cleaning indoor and outdoor hard surfaces like tile, natural stone, grout and carpet.

Strohmeyer said he was confident he'd find jobs directly linked to the expo.

"If I get 10 leads out of this and two of them turn into jobs, it pays for itself," he said. "Even if they don't call you today, or next month or the month after I want them to remember who Green Bay Floor Restore is.

"It's always staying in front of that customer somehow," said Strohmeyer, the sole employee of the business.

Established expo businesses also made a return this year doing the same thing as the new additions ? getting their names in front of potential customers.

"It's a good way to get our name out and remind people we're around," said Christie Dvorachek of Biebel's Catering & Rental in Bellevue.

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Area businesses connect at Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce's Business Expo 2012 - Green Bay Press-Gazette

N.E.W. Printing of Appleton was among the first-year participants at the Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce's Business Expo.

Like others, N.E.W. Printing was looking to make connections with potential clients in the Green Bay area.

"We've been pretty steady," said Daniel Woolf, an account executive with the commercial printer "But we've had to do a lot of legwork to stay where we are at."

He said the market seems to be showing movement with some businesses allocating more money to their marketing budgets.

"From our point of view, things are starting to turn around," Woolf said. "Back in 2008 and 2009 it was pretty tough. It hasn't been an immediate turn around, but it's slowly picking back up."

More than 175 businesses attended the annual event held Wednesday at the KI Convention Center in Green Bay. Networking and promotion are among the main focuses of the expo, which also included educational seminars on topics such as providing customers with a "winning" experience and best practices for using social media.

Jamie Strohmeyer of Green Bay struck out on his own with Green Bay Floor Restore in April after his previous employer eliminated his job.

The expo offered his startup business a chance to get its name in front of potential customers ? as well as networking with other businesses from the area.

"Being the first year, I can't complain. I'm paying my bills and covering my overhead," Strohmeyer said with a laugh. "But I'm constantly working it. That's what brings me here, to get my business out to people and let them know what I do."

Green Bay Floor Restore specializes in cleaning indoor and outdoor hard surfaces like tile, natural stone, grout and carpet.

Strohmeyer said he was confident he'd find jobs directly linked to the expo.

"If I get 10 leads out of this and two of them turn into jobs, it pays for itself," he said. "Even if they don't call you today, or next month or the month after I want them to remember who Green Bay Floor Restore is.

"It's always staying in front of that customer somehow," said Strohmeyer, the sole employee of the business.

Established expo businesses also made a return this year doing the same thing as the new additions ? getting their names in front of potential customers.

"It's a good way to get our name out and remind people we're around," said Christie Dvorachek of Biebel's Catering & Rental in Bellevue.

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3M sees opportunity as libraries ramp up e-books - Green Bay Press-Gazette

ST. PAUL, Minn. (WTW) — Millions of Americans now own Kindles, Nooks and other e-readers. And libraries are taking notice, expanding their collections of e-books they can loan to patrons.

That trend has 3M's attention. The company has a long history of serving libraries. And 3M sees a big business opportunity in helping libraries build, manage and lend their collections of electronic books, Minnesota Public Radio reports (http://bit.ly/xP8d7X).

The St. Paul Public Library next month will begin a formal trial of 3M's "Cloud Library" system, along with 10 other major public libraries around the country.

For the past month, Stephanie Harr of St. Paul has been a volunteer tester of the 3M system. She reads a lot of books while getting her caffeine kick at the Swede Hollow Cafe on St. Paul's East Side. All she needs to get a book from the St. Paul library is her iPad and an Internet connection.

"So, this one is available. I just hit the check-out button. That little blue bar shows it's downloading into my device," Harr said. "So, when that's done, I can read it."

Harr has had an e-reader for about two years and is glad to see the library expand its e-book collection.

"As a dedicated library user, I wasn't used to paying for books. So, as soon as the library started having e-books, I was on board right away."

Harr says she prefers the sign-up process and book browsing features of the 3M system to a competing service the library had used last spring. But she says otherwise the two services are pretty much the same.

From a business standpoint, 3M is behind. The company has been serving libraries for over 40 years, providing them with devices and software to check out physical books and protect them from theft. But an Ohio company called Overdrive already provides e-book services to 18,000 libraries in 21 countries.

Still, 3M sees an opening.

"Being a company with a strong technology history, we have an opportunity to really come in and innovate and create the best platform for libraries to lend e-books to a community," said Tom Mercer, who is leading the marketing efforts for 3M's Cloud Library service. At this time, e-books are just a small part of library collections. But Mercer says those collections will grow and libraries will need help managing them.

"We see a very large opportunity as libraries shift their spend from physical material to digital material," he said. "By about 2015, a third of all books sold will be digital in the United States."

With the 3M Cloud Library service, library patrons can read e-books on many portable devices including 3M-branded e-readers that libraries can loan to patrons.

But OverDrive has a head start and company spokesman David Burleigh says it's growing fast. "We had about 35 million checkouts through the system thorough all our libraries in the network last year, which was up from about 15 million the year before," Burleigh said.

Overdrive won't comment on 3M's intentions, but Burleigh says there's good reason to be bullish about the business opportunities to help libraries with e-book collections.

In Minnesota, most public libraries will stock e-books by mid-June, according to state librarian Nancy Walton.

The St. Paul Public Library started its e-book collection last April and now has about 4,500 e-books to lend.

Digital library manager John Larson expects e-books will eventually account for 10 to 20 percent of the St. Paul's book lending. There are advantages for both patrons and libraries, he said. E-books can't be damaged or lost. And patrons don't have to worry about returning them. "You don't have to worry about any overdue fines. It just automatically disappears at the end of the loan period," Larson said. "And you don't have to come to the library to pick them up. It just comes straight to you. If you've been waiting for it on hold. If it's available, you can check it out on the spot."

But that convenience may be offset by the refusal of some publishers to license their e-books to libraries. Still, there seems little doubt there will strong demand from libraries for e-reader technology. Market analysts at Forrester Research estimate that about 70 million Americans will be using some kind of e-reader by 2016.

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Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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