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By Peter Laun and the Elkhart Lake Historic Race Circuits Preservation Society.

After WWII, open road racing gained popularity all over the United States due to the influx of European sports cars purchased by American veterans who had experienced the thrill of road racing overseas. The driving force behind the growth of the sport in America and the main organizer of these races was The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA). A Midwest course was deemed necessary for racers, and Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin was chosen as the site. In 1949 the Milwaukee chapter of the SCCA and the Chamber of Commerce of the Village of Elkhart Lake planned the first road race at Elkhart Lake, scheduled for July of 1950. These open road races lasted from 1950-1952, when they were deemed too dangerous for spectators and drivers.

By Bill Wangemann Sheboygan deserves its reputation as a conservative city, quiet and law abiding. But here are some stories from the past that have been swept under the rug or lost overboard. Venture into the mists of the Lake Michigan Triangle that have swallowed boats, planes and entire tribes. Investigate speakeasy shootings, safes burgled by a flyswatter, poisoned Christmas candy and the hoax that had militiamen firing on their own cattle. Or just sit down with some bizarre anecdotes about a hometown you though you knew, from the town’s first baseball game to the man freed from jail by a jug of whiskey to the deputy sheriff who had to enforce Nicholas Hoffman’s first bath in fifty years.

By Brian Leahy Doyle In Encore! The Renaissance of Wisconsin Opera Houses chronicles the histories of ten Wisconsin opera houses and theaters, from their construction to their heydays as live performance spaces and through the periods when many of these stages went dark. But what makes these stories so compelling is that all but one of the featured theaters has been restored to its original splendor.