If you are thinking of starting a business  in Tomahawk, then you should take a look at this video. The Tomahawk Main Street organization asked both people on the street and current business owners, What kinds of businesses would you like to see locate to downtown Tomahawk?  

2011 Hogsback Cross Attack

The 2011 Hogsback Cross Attack is in the books. For those of you whom don’t know what a Hogsback Cross Attack is, don’t feel bad.  The Hogsback Cross Attack is a bicycle race that is held in Tomahawk’s Bradley Park. It is a timed event that runs through the woods on trails and over manmade obstacles. After the time limit is up the competitors have to complete one more lap, then the winner is announced by the combination of whom is in the lead at the end and how and how many laps they have completed.

The Hogsback race is the brainstorm of Tomahawk resident Justin Lund. Lund was challenged by the city to come up with an idea to help Tomahawk find a way to raise funds to improve the Bradley Park Trail system. Some of the other benefits that the race brings is a better awareness of the beautiful natural areas that are in and around the city of  Tomahawk where people can go to enjoy  themselves and the number of interesting events in Tomahawk that you can both participate in and enjoy as a specator. Justin also credits Liz Millender from the Tomahawk Mainstreet Inc. and by Tamra and Diane from theTomahawk Chamber of Commerce who helped get the word out, provide resources and helped with some organization of the event.

If you wish to see just what a Hogsback Cross Attack is I have posted a short highlight video. I will also be posting another video shortly that will consist of some more footage and interviews with both Justin Lund and several competitors. Next years race has already been scheduled for 9/29/12 so mark your calendars and attend the race.

The face of the Northwoods is about to get a fresh splash of color.  The green, yellow and reds of the fall are now gone, only a pleasant memory etched in our minds and in a few digital photographs we took while mother nature painted her canvas. It is now time for the whites of winter to burst on the scene, but first, the landscape will take on an unearthly hue as the color of blaze orange will dominate the state for a two week period starting this coming Friday.

The Annual Gun Deer Hunt is only days away and with the hunt comes boat loads of tradition. For the past 45 years the town of Tomahawk has taken it upon itself to welcome any and all hunters to the area and what a better way to welcome them than with a free meal. Starting just before noon and running until the food runs out, any hunter, non -hunter, or camp support person can wander down to the end of Wisconsin Ave and stand in line to get themselves a free venison burger! There are raffles going on, tall tales being swapped and a sense of comradarie that can only happens with the help of a small town atmosphere. By the end of an hour you will see Tommy Tomahawk, watch the Mayor flip burgers and hear about the big one that got away at least a dozen times. So if you are hungry and up for a couple of interesting hours stop by the 46th Annual Venison Feed.

If you enjoyed the Venison feed and you still have a taste to find out more about the Tomahawk area and what the traditions of deer camp are all about, you might want to checkout Tomahawk native  Jay Leggett and his colabarator Charles Ketchabaw’s documentary film To The Hunt. The film takes a fun and very in depth look at both the sport itself and the family traditions using several local families and their deer camps as the back drop for the film. So much for my shameless plug for Jay’s new film.

If you can’t make it to the feed the following video will help you get the feel for what it is like. Now get out there and have a safe and successful hunt.

Early Wednesday Morning

Frost on the pumpkin, no wait, that is snow on the pumpkin! Our first snowfall of the year and it wasn’t a light dusting.  I woke up this morning to a deck covered in the white stuff and for the first of many times to come, I had to break out the shovel. To see it snow in the first part of November is not unusual, but to get six or seven inches is a bit much. It wouldn’t have bothered me at all to not see any of the white stuff until the start of deer hunting when it could have made a brief appearance for the hunters sake and then melted away for another three weeks. It could then start again the week before Christmas giving Santa plenty of snow for his sleigh and giving the rest of us a  very white Christmas, as it should be.

Sara Park

As the boys of summer have now been officially put to rest, soon the sights of ice fishing shanties and snowmobiles racing across the frozen lakes will be a common sight. Thus signals the end of Tomahawk’s time as a summer/fall getaway destination.  The good thing about the end of a season is the beginning of another and so with this first blanket of snow begins an amazing transformation into the holiday season and out the out the other end into a winter wonderland where snowballs will fly, snowmobilers will hit the trails and skiers will take to the hills.

First Snow Fall Hwy D

Winter is about to begin and a whole new world will be yours to enjoy, so as the slogan for Nike says; just get out and do it!

Dairy Queen's last days

Cheeseburger, Cheeseburger, Cheeseburger, Chips, no Coke, Pepsi. While not the Olympia Restaurant from the Saturday Night Live Skit, the Tomahawk Dairy Queen, Huey’s Drive In and whatever other names the business has had during its existence, it has left an indelible impression in my mind. It is with a tear in my eye today that I sat across the street watching as the building breathed its last breath.

Since the late 70s this building/business has been serving up ice cream, fast food and memories to generations of people from Tomahawk. I can remember being one of a line of cars leaving the high school parking lot during fourth hour study hall as we used our senior privileges to take a two hour lunch and be the first to get their Special of The Day at the old  Huey’s Drive In. I believe that on occasion there may have been some of us who even broke the speed limit getting there. I also remember when I asked one of my best friends to throw me the ketchup, and he did.

Passing into the Night

Progress happens around us everyday and from the rumors I have heard, new gererations of tourists and Tomahawk youth will have their chance to get a tasty treat and make some memories of their own at a new Dairy Queen Grill & Chill?

It is great to see this small town slice of Americana live on, but it is with a tear in my eye that I bid the old lady next to the river a fond adu.

Just in case you haven’t had time to get out and enjoy the fabulous fall colors we have had here in Tomahawk, I have posted a short video that will give you a taste of why this is the best time of the year in Tomahawk and the Northwoods.

Wisconsin River

Tomahawk, Harrison, and the surrounding areas have four distinctive seasons. Winter is cold and clear but it has it’s moments. Looking out over a field of freshly fallen snow has such a pristine look. So soft and  quiet, life just seems to be standing still.  Spring is when April showers bring May flowers and the awakening of life anew can be seen spreading across the land. Summer is the busiest time of the year as plants and animals grow into adulthood, boys and girls hit the beach running and sitting around a campfire telling tall tales becomes the norm.

But Fall is the Best Time of the Year! The feeling of a warm sun shining down on a flannel shirt warms the soul. The air is crisp & fresh and the green, yellow and red leaves paint a portrait of living art. Tomahawk in the fall is one of the most beautiful places on earth.

Willow Flowage

Nothing beats hoping in the car on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon with no particular place to go, football on the radio and the fall colors in windshield. Take a trip down Highway 107 along the mighty Wisconsin River or drive out County Trunk D in the Harrison Hills. Wherever you go the scenic canvas will be spread out in front of you. For a real treat take County Trunk A to Highway 17, through Rhinelander to County K onward to Y and up to the Willow Flowage. You’ve heard the saying “Back door friends are the best”? Well, during the fall, back country roads standout above the rest. If you’re tired of driving, put on an extra sweater and take the boat  out one last time. Seeing the  colors from Nokomis, Mohawksin or any one of our many lakes is a sight that is worth the extra effort.

Bradley Park

If your from down South, head up North. If you live here, take an afternoon to see the fall colors, because fall in Tomahawk Wisconsin is The Best Time of the Year!

You’ve gotten to the end of another long week and you just don’t feel like cooking supper. But hey, it’s Friday night and you live in Tomahawk Wisconsin or maybe you are just up vacationing! Friday is fish fry night here in Wisconsin and you can go to any one of Tomahawk’s restaurants or taverns and find a delicious, reasonably priced fish dinner.

You’ll find baked, broiled and fried fish. The restaurants range from upscale establishments to basic diners. Most taverns and even churches also partake of this Friday night ritual. The dinners commonly include potatoes done a variety of ways including baked, French fried, or potato pancakes, coleslaw with a mayonnaise or vinegar-based dressing, fresh bread, and of course plenty of beer.

Serving styles range from buffet, family style, by the plate and if you are truly dog-tired you can get yours to go. The fish itself comes in many varieties: perch, walleye, bluegills, Atlantic cod, haddock and during certain months of the year smelt.

Deep Fried Fish Dinner

Not only is a fish fry a reasonably priced meal, but it is a Wisconsin event where strangers break into conversations with locals at the bar and  friends, family and neighbors mingle while talking about the week that was. The Friday night fish fry is an escape from the long week.

Tomahawk and Harrison have many places to enjoy the tradition; like the Happy Snapper, Pine Tree, Silver Birch, Bootleggers, Billy Bob’s, Rivers Edge, Nut Zee’s and many more.

Whether you live here or vacation here, get out and enjoy the tradition. As the evening comes to a close you’ll hit the dusty trail with doggy bag in hand satisfied and content knowing that the weekend is officially begun.

Walking Trail Bridge

Bradley Park is roughly 105 acres of what the Tomahawk Area was like when it was first settled. The Bradley Company bought the land in 1910 for less than one hundred dollars an acre. Can you imagine what that land would go for now? With an abundance of Wisconsin River Frontage, towering White Pines and  walking trails it is a wonderful place to spend an afternoon.

The park opened in the early 1920′s. Over the years Bradley Park has been used for Fourth of July celebrations, band concerts, family reunions and camping. An enclosed  28′ x 49′  field stone picnic shelter was constructed in the middle of the park about a half mile south of the entrance during the 1930′s.

Stone Picnic Building

The shelter  has 8 large picnic tables for seating and serving, two fireplaces with firewood stored inside the building and has been updated throughout the years to include electricity.

Just a short walk to the south of the main shelter you will find a bathroom building, two nice sized parking lots and another open air shelter with picnic tables. These buildings are always open to all park users  whether the main shelter is rented or not.

Bradley Park is just one of many such areas in and around Tomahawk where you can stand on the shore and wet a line, take a quiet walk down one of the nature trails or grab the picnic basket and enjoy lunch in the great outdoors.

If you would like information about renting out the main shelter,  you can call the Tomahawk City Hall at 715-453-4040.

Whether you are thinking about moving into the area, vacationing here or you used to live here, there isn’t much video out there on the world wide web of the Tomahawk area. Some of these videos you will find on this blog in the near future, will include talking and getting to know several of the many interesting people whom live here. Next I will show and tell  you of  places to go in and around the area that you can enjoy with your family and last but certainly not least, I will bring you some glimpses of the many area wide events that happen here in the Northwoods of Wisconsin thus giving you a visual reference to see with your own eyes what Tomahawk and the  surrounding area have to offer. Taste of Tomahawk 1

Now all you have to do is sit back, relax and click on the highlighted text and we will show you  a bit of what the town looks like and how some of our residents enjoy themselves throughout the summer.