Generations of ice cream treats and family memories

Rich Palzewic

Staff

September 2, 2024

TOMAHAWK – With the Bearskin Trail in its backyard and Oneida County’s Lake Nokomis nearby – Windmill Ice Cream Shoppe has served as a go-to spot in North Central Wisconsin for an ice cream cone.

Russell Berg – who helps run the Windmill Ice Cream Shoppe’s day-to-day operations – said the shop is also located at the “figurative intersection” of Wisconsin’s dairy background and the tourism industry.

“Being on Lake Nokomis and the Bearskin Trail, we have a unique location,” Russell Berg, who helps run the shop’s day-to-day operations, said. “It’s definitely a huge attraction for people to come and visit us.” 

Berg said the trail – which is named after the Bearskin Creek it follows – was a former railroad line built to export white pine logs from the forests of northern Wisconsin to Midwest cities.

Today, he said the trail is a 21.5-mile recreation corridor between Minocqua and Tomahawk and serves as the backdrop for the equally historic ice cream shoppe.

“There’s a trestle over Lake Nokomis over a channel that’s just a couple 100 feet down the trail,” Berg said. “People get their ice cream and walk down to the trestle and watch the boats go under and see what’s going on.”

A peek into the past

Though his family has only owned the Windmill since 1993, Berg said it has been an ice cream shop since the late-1970s.

“My brothers and I help my mom, Pat, run the daily operations,” he said. “The story of how it came under her and my dad’s ownership is a story in itself.”

At the time of the transition of ownership, Berg said he was a real estate agent in Tomahawk – something that actually helped with the sale.

“My mom was a fourth-grade teacher in Athens for many years, but we were familiar with North Central Wisconsin because we started coming to the Lake Nokomis area in 1974 when her parents – my grandparents – bought a cottage,” he said. “As she was getting closer to retirement, she said, ‘you know, I’d like to move up here and run a business, kind of like the Windmill Ice Cream Shoppe.’”

With his real estate connections, Berg said he mentioned his mom’s wishes to the broker he worked under.

“My broker told me he knew the owners and that they were getting close to wanting to sell it,” he said. “It never went on the market – it was a one-party contract between my mom and dad and the previous owners. I think it was March or April of 1993 when they completed the sale.”

Berg said because his mom taught thousands of kids over the years, “she owns the Windmill for the kids.”

“She loves being at the Windmill,” he said. “She’s not there all the time, but at night, she’s there to clean up and close like I am. She loves watching the kids and seeing their eyes light up when they see the Superman, Cotton Candy or Blue Moon ice creams.”

More on the windmill

With a windmill on top of the building – hence the name – Berg said some people visit simply to see the shop’s unique shape.

Though the Windmill, he said, wasn’t the first building on the 1972 County Road L property – but rather the Nokomis Resort.

In the early years of the resort, Berg said most guests would arrive by rail, which was located about a mile away. 

“The resort would pick them up, and guests would be there for the week,” he said.

As roads improved and people started getting their own cars, Berg said the gas station was built to serve guests.

“The windmill building was built in 1939 and was a Sinclair gas station,” he said. “There is a book that was put out by the Wisconsin Historical Society called ‘Fill’er Up!: The Glory Days of Wisconsin Gas Stations. We were featured in there. We were an example of the architecture in the ’30s where gas stations were popping up all over, and the builders or the owners used unique architecture as a drawing point.”

Berg said the architecture of the building blends perfectly with being an ice cream shop.

What’s offered

At any given time, Berg said there are 28 flavors available for patrons – “we use Cedar Crest and Kemps ice creams.”

“Ice cream shops have to have vanilla, chocolate and strawberry, right?” he said. “We always get asked, ‘what is your No. 1 seller?’ It’s a Kemp’s flavor called Chocolate Peanut Butter Revel – it’s been that way for years. We always carry a coffee flavor, as well as a cheesecake one.”

Berg said other favorite flavors include Cotton Candy, Superman, Butter Pecan, Rum Cherry and Chocolate. 

‘A staff like no other’

Berg said the ice cream is great, but what makes him even more proud is the staff who help run the shop.

“Every year, we get a lot of compliments on our staff,” he said.  “Like a lot of other businesses in northern Wisconsin – which are seasonal in nature – we rely heavily on local high school and college kids who are home for the summer. We’re very deliberate in our hiring – you have to have more than a pulse to work for us.”

Berg said on busy days, there might be seven or eight employees working.

“We very much emphasize the customer service aspect, because quite frankly, people can have ice cream cones at home, right?” he said. “It’s more than the ice cream. Yes, we have 28 flavors – and some are unique – but most people tell us they come for the experience.”

Berg said they see customers who have been visiting for years.

“Grandma and grandpa have big smiles on their faces when they bring their kids and their grandkids and sometimes even a great-grandchild in,” he said. “We’ve had four generations of customers come through and make family memories. We tell (our employees) how you make them feel – not only with how big a scoop of ice cream you give them – will determine if they come back.”

Berg said one college-aged employee has been working at Windmill for eight years.

“She started at 14 and will soon be graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison,” he said.

Though staffing is a challenge, Berg said it isn’t “insurmountable.”

“When the kids go back to school, some retired ladies come in to help,” he said. 

Harvest Day

Berg said the last day of operations for the 2024 season is Sunday, Sept. 29.

Windmill Ice Cream Shoppe, he said, caps off the season with Harvest Day, an end-of-year event.

“I have family members, including my mom, who do farmers’ markets and have big gardens,” he said. “They grow a lot of different vegetables, so on our last day, we set up a huge tent area and have jack-o-lanterns, pies, pumpkins, squash, gourds, etc. It’s late-season vegetables, honey, maple syrup, apples, corn stalks and ornamental grasses.”

Future succession plan

“With my mom getting up there in age,” Berg said the family has discussed a succession plan.

“The plan is for my brothers and I to take it over,” he said. “Several times a year, people say, ‘if you ever want to sell it, I’d like to buy it.’ I tell them, ‘yeah, you and 50 other people.’ It’s a good family business.”

Like any business, Berg said it’s important to have a succession plan. 

“We lost my dad about three and a half years ago, and when my mom became the sole owner, you don’t want to throw the business into a bunch of turmoil,” he said.

Being self-employed as a technology consultant – and also serving as a volunteer firefighter – Berg said he will have the flexibility to help more once his mom retires.

“I’m not at the shop 10 hours per day, but I usually go in the morning to help open or help handle deliveries that come at 6 a.m.,” he said. “I’ll usually stop one time in the afternoon to restock ice cream tubs if needed and then go at night to help close and handle resolving the cash.”

For more information on the Windmill Ice Cream Shoppe, visit its Facebook page.

During its months of operation, the Windmill is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., seven days per week.