Things to Do in Sheboygan

Dedicated to fostering social change by bringing the community together, the YMCA of Metropolitan Milwaukee engages denizens through a host of activities, events, and educational programs. The organization's focus can be distilled into three parts, the first of which promotes the development of area youth via programs that help them realize their potential. Secondly, a commitment to bettering the community's health manifests itself in everything from group exercise classes to youth sports teams. Thirdly, YMCA volunteers take the reigns of social responsibility as they organize local initiatives that focus on empowering children with disabilities and promoting workplace wellness. Trained staffers also helm a variety of childcare programs that boost literacy and help develop skills, and the Y's Camps Matawa and Minikani grant city dwellers and runaway trees a much-needed reunion with nature.

Snugly situated on a historic 1881 farm once known as the Schwabenlander Homestead, Mulberry Lane Farm takes its name from an ancient mulberry tree that once served as a favorite playplace for the Schwabenlander children. In those days, the 100-year-old tree was so esteemed that the children were not allowed to climb it while wearing shoes. Because of this rule, it wasn’t uncommon to find Lawrence, Harry, Norbert, and their nine other brothers and sisters swinging from its boughs, their shoes respectfully lined around its base.

Today, children still play in the shadow of that mulberry tree thanks to the founders of Green Meadows Farm, the Keyes family. Close friends of the last of the Schwabenlander boys, the Keyes adopted the farmstead and its original brick farmhouse into their petting farm empire in 2005 but gave it its own identity to honor the legacy of the original owners. Guided tours lead groups around the farm on foot and by hayride, where kids and adults are encouraged to interact and swap salad recipes with the goats, chickens, sheep, and rabbits that call the farm home. Along the way, visitors can learn how to milk cows and ride ponies or practice catching a chicken, then swing by the barn to snuggle kittens and Otis, the 900-pound boar. Before departing, visitors each receive a free souvenir in the spring and summer, and those who come in the fall have the chance to pick their own pumpkins from the 6-acre pumpkin patch.

Hillside Farm sprawls across 22 acres of the hilly Kettle Moraine region and is home to a talented training staff with a combined 80 years of experience in English riding, dressage, and hunter and jumper. When leading lessons, they pair students with compatible horses choosing from a fleet of 20 lesson horses and 14 polo steeds. While every rider dreams of galloping into the sunset, the trainers first instill the vocabulary and basic skills necessary for riders to feel confident and natural when on horseback. The school also specializes in polo, teaching students fundamental skills before players can advance to strategic lessons. The farm even hosts a polo league.

Hillside Farm’s onsite boarding facilities rehabilitate local horses or board leased horses for regular riders. The staff takes pride in its treatment of animals, using nutritionally rich Nutrena SafeChoice feed and practicing nonviolent training methods that avoid physical or emotional abuse.

Being a health-conscious foodie can be a challenge, because it’s not always easy to determine the history of how and where food is produced. The owners of Armstrong Apples Orchard and Winery have created such a narrative for their clients, growing fruit deeply rooted in their commitments to community and homegrown produce.

Sixteen years ago, they planted their first apple orchard, calling on friends and neighbors aged 8 to 80 for help. Since then, the farm has expanded and now grows 14 varieties of apples, peaches, pears, and grapes, which they serve fresh, baked into pies and turnovers, and pressed into their award-winning wine. Of these libations, apple wine is the owners' specialty, and it ranges from the very dry—best paired with meat—to the cinnamon sweet—best paired with Halloween costumes.

In addition to fresh fruit, baked goods, and adult beverages, the farm boasts entertainment for kids and adults alike, including a playscape and a zorb ball, which is a 12-foot high hamster-ball-like contraption that guests climb inside to travel across an open 5-acre field.

Munich, Germany, has plenty to offer by way of Bavarian beer, cuisine, and music—but so does Glendale, Wisconsin, site of the Bock Bier Festival. For two days, visitors flock to the Bavarian Soccer Club Complex of Heidelberg Park, where they dance to live German musicians such as Austrian Express and Johnny Hoffman. To replenish their energies, they can dine on German sausages from the kitchen or American snacks such as coleslaw and nachos. German maibock beer washes everything down in 16-ounce cups, 1-liter glass steins, or pitchers. Parking is complimentary, so visitors can dance the night away without pausing to deposit more bratwurst in the meter.

Five trails descend down the slopes at Highlands of Olympia, ranging from the beginner-friendly bunny hill to the East Bowl, a black diamond that challenges advanced skiers to face the biting winds as they carve through the incline. The mountain also features a terrain park where snowboarders grind over rails and boxes, and tow ropes pull inner tubes up the hill before they are released for a speedy 1,000-foot-long descent that covers a 60-foot vertical drop. A half-hour’s drive from downtown Milwaukee, Highlands packs a day’s worth of entertainment into the neatly packed snow, from the onsite bar and restaurant to lessons in which instructors impart the secrets of picking up ham-radio signals with outstretched ski poles.