Things to Do in Stoughton

As a member of the National Association of Consumer Shows, Showtime Productions, Inc. has hosted some of the largest and most well-attended trade shows in the Midwest. The Rockford Home Show, for example, has been going strong for more than 30 years, and Showtime partners with Landro Productions to organize boating and fishing and camping and travel shows that have attracted outdoor enthusiasts for more than four decades.

Many of their events are held at the Indoor Sports Center, a 60,000-square-foot complex where visitors have plenty of room to walk past rows and rows of exhibit booths. Convention guests refuel with burgers, tacos, and other casual bites while watching the action below from the second-floor Skybox Restaurant and sports bar.

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.

Between the dark, black walls at The Lazer Maze, green beams of light stretch from one wall to another, striking anyone willing to venture through their neon labyrinth. Levels of difficulty vary as beginners and pros nimbly crouch, tumble, and Macarena over and under laser beams, trying to beat the best time. The staff also equips a 3000-square-foot party room with party lighting, music, fog, and bubbles for birthday parties and other social events.

J&J Tumbling, Trampoline, Dance & Swimming's team of athletic instructors strives to create a fun, enjoyable learning environment where kids and adults can master skills in a variety of sports, including cheerleading, swimming, and gymnastics. Within the facility's spacious gym, parents watch from the balcony as their offspring spring on five Olympic-sized trampolines and flip onto the surrounding safety mats and foam pits. A 50'x28' saltwater pool kept at a toasty 89 degrees sections off into four lap lanes where swimmers practice their breast strokes and water-walking lizards train for relay races. The sturdy hardwood floors of their dance studio weather the fiery footsteps of students learning ballet, jazz, and hip-hop gesticulations. J&J's fitness classes keep adult exercisers in fine fettle with workout routines such as lap swim, aerobics, yoga, and Zumba.

Dells Watersports, a boating haven founded in 1979 by Steve and Kathy Zowin, creates adventures aboard its high-speed and leisurely paced watercraft. Atop the waters of Lake Delton, inflatable tubes bounce over waves as they’re pulled by rental ski boats, and rental waverunners heed the stop signs held up by mermaids. Taking more leisurely trips, kayaks and canoes carry groups on scenic floats by sandstone bluffs, white pine trees, and the Timme Mill dam. Back on shore, staff members man a full-service marina department stocked with boating equipment. Dells Watersports also maintains sister facilities for watercraft rental at Mirror Lake, Castle Rock Lake, and inside all the world's fishbowls.

Though Ted Davis sits in the back of a green New Standard Model D-25 biplane, he won't be taking a nap. Originally built in 1929 to perform stunts and give rides—or barnstorming, as it was known—the D-25 can host up to five people on every flight—four passengers in the front and Davis, a certified commercial pilot, at the rear controls. Today, its hunter-green fuselage has been fully restored and carefully maintained to comply with modern FAA standards. In this steed, Davis, who has logged more than 5,500 flying hours since his first ascent at age 16, continues the barnstorming tradition, escorting passengers on bird's-eye views of the Wisconsin landscape as Icarus struggles to keep pace with his homemade penguin wings.