APPLETON, WI (WTAQ) – A three-day celebration of the unique geologic feature in northeast Wisconsin will begin on Friday.
The public is invited to take part in Living on the Ledge, a festival of experiences related to the Niagara escarpment and the Wisconsin Ledge AVA.
“It makes me humble and proud to see what this has grown into,” says Steve DeBaker, owner of Trout Springs Winery. “People are realizing that there’s something going on here in northeast Wisconsin.”
DeBaker is the father of the Wisconsin Ledge AVA, one of just 3 in the state. It’s a distinct and federally approved wine grape-growing region distinguishable by geographic features as defined by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau.
It’s that distinguishable geographic feature, called the Niagara escarpment, which allows for the fertile landscape that will be what is enjoyed by many wine drinkers, and other culinary product consumers. DeBaker spent 7 years to be able to get this recognition.
“Basically it delineated just under a quarter of a million acres of land that put us on the same plateau as some of the great grape-growing regions in the world like Napa Valley and Sonoma Valley,” DeBaker explains. “We had to prove that we were a special area, because of our micro-climates that we have, the different bodies of water surrounding us, the hydrology, the wind. All these thing came into how they gave us this special appellation of origin.”
The three-day event kicks off on Friday, October 7, from 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Fox Valley Technical College in Grand Chute. The award-winning Culinary Arts program will host a cooking competition involving four FVTC students led by Chef RC Schroeder. Schroeder and Chefs Mike Balistrieri and Scott Finley will then treat guests to a four-course meal paired with wine from Trout Springs Winery.
Cost for that event is $50 per person with advance registration and payment due by Monday, October 4. Proceeds from the dinner will support the FVTC Culinary Program Student Competition fund.
Then on Saturday, October 8, the University of Wisconsin-Fox Valley in Menasha will host a full day of workshops from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Topics include mushroom hunting, a cheese carving demonstration, landscape and plein air painting, a ceramics workshop, beekeeping basics, bats of the Niagara escarpment, sustainable grape-growing, a winemaking and wine tasting roundtable, beer brewing and tasting, fossil identification and historic surveying techniques.
Cost to attend is $10 per person with additional charges for the art instruction sessions, along with winemaking and beer brewing workshops. General admission is $10 per person in advance, $12 the day of.
Saturday evening will also feature two Wisconsin film premieres, “The Great Ledge,” by Daniel Larson and “The Niagara Escarpment,” by Dr. Roger Kuhns. Cost is $5 per person in advance, $7 at the door.
On Sunday, the public will be able to participate in three “Ledge Tours” in the region led by area experts. You can find our more information here.
