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.

A player waits silently behind a tree, holding his breath as a group of enemies comes into view. Slowly, his finger moves to the trigger of a paintball marker. He pauses momentarily, then steps from his hiding place to paint the sky in acrylic salvos.

Wyldside Paintball's fields use the area's natural terrain to set a stage for friendly battles. Sporting different names such as Outback and Pines Field, the simulated battlegrounds surround teams in dense forests, felled trees, and man-made walls. Outside the forest, colorful ammo soars over more open landscapes at an Xball field. Wyldside Paintball also employs a legion of referees to ensure safety, fair play, and the absence of performance-enhancing Trojan horses.

At most golf courses, players look out onto dew-kissed fairways or swaying trees and, for a moment, have their breath stolen by the picturesque landscape. At Baraboo Country Club, those moments arrive seemingly at every turn.

With unrivaled views of the bluffs at nearby Devil's Lake State Park and water features formed by Draper Creek in play on nine holes, Baraboo Country Club’s scenery enchants golfers as they traverse the 18-hole course. The inventive layout makes the most of its surroundings, as showcased on the club’s signature hole—the par 5 8th—where drives must carry a water hazard down a tree-lined fairway that dog-legs left on its way to a blind green that, like all of the Club’s putting surfaces, reads a slick “10” on the stimpmeter and doubles as a dance floor for squirrel wedding receptions.

Golfers can prime swings for upcoming rounds with a 10-stall driving range, practice bunker, and putting green, while a full-service pro shop lets golfers replace worn-down gloves or disloyal sandwedges. A wraparound bar with granite countertops awaits at the Fore Seasons Restaurant and Lounge, which serves a menu of classic sandwiches and weekly specials.