The Creamery rises to new heights with boutique, unique events

Matthew Day

Staff

October 28, 2024

DOWNSVILLE – It’s a boutique, it’s an event space and it’s an apartment complex – but for the Laurent family, it’s home. 

It’s The Creamery – the historic building at E4616 County Road C in Downsville that Sheri and Adam Laurent said they “stumbled upon” in 2019. 

“We were living in Madison, and we were driving to Minnesota to visit some friends,” Sheri said. “Adam saw a Facebook ad for it, and we toured it on our way back. We got out of the building, and said, ‘what just happened?’” 

Adam said he also thought highly of the building. 

“We kind of just fell in love with the building,” he said. 

The Laurents said the more they learned, the more strongly they considered buying the 14,000-square-foot building in the Red Cedar Valley. 

“It was built in 1904, and it did run as a creamery from 1904 until the 1950s,” Adam said. “It opened as a restaurant (The Creamery Restaurant & Inn) in 1985 and ran as a very successful restaurant until 2010.” 

The Laurents said they decided to purchase the property – while retaining the name The Creamery – with their initial intentions limited to maintaining its five apartment units, as well as converting a living space for themselves. 

Looking back on their five years of ownership, renovations and improvements, Sheri said the rest of their plans for The Creamery have evolved since they began hosting private events, utilizing what had been the main dining room of the former restaurant, as well as the outdoor patio and backyard. 

“Once we had (the event space) renovated, we were basically open for events, and we had weddings,” Adam said. “We had our wedding here, actually, in 2021.” 

The Creamery has now hosted more than 80 unique events, the Laurents said, including weddings, parties, showers, meetings, memorials or whatever else is requested. 

The couple said the building’s atmosphere is low-key yet upscale – “timeless,” with “industrial-glam” decor – well suited for a wide variety of local events and bookings from Menomonie, Eau Claire, Durand and beyond. 

“It’s an open event space, so we love to hear people’s visions for what their event needs to be,” Sheri said. “We’ll make it work.” 

The owners said their confidence has grown along with their willingness to explore the property’s potential, as Adam manages renovations and maintenance and Sheri focuses on business operations and interior design.

“He’s like the Chip to my Joanna,” Sheri said of Adam, referring to the Gaines couple from the “Fixer Upper” television series. “I have a hard time hiring out (contractors) because I’ll tell him, ‘you don’t know plumbing’ or ‘you don’t know electricity – you can’t do this.’ And he’ll just say, ‘watch me’ – and he does it.” 

Both owners said The Creamery has inspired them to master many new skills, culminating in the addition and operation of The Creamery Boutique – which opened in spring of 2024 – featuring an array of apparel and gifts. 

Though before the boutique Sheri said she had “zero background in retail,” Adam encouraged her to pursue her passion for clothing and decor. 

“He knew I was unhappy in my corporate job,” she said. “He gave me the push that I needed.” 

Sheri said while on maternity leave following the birth of their second child – and as the return to her corporate job loomed – they decided to work together to open the boutique. 

“She had the vision for it,” Adam said of the collaboration. “She basically showed me a couple of photos of her vision, I built it and that’s kind of how it went.” 

Continual evolution 

The Creamery Boutique is now open Thursday through Sunday each week, the Laurents said, with Sheri now managing two part-time employees – The Creamery’s first – and the merchandise. 

The couple said The Creamery’s overall viability is bolstered by the boutique by offering regular hours of operation beyond their events, as well as cross-promotion with the event space.  

Another benefit, Sheri said, is the increased opportunity for more interaction with visitors from near and far, who often harbor sentimentality for the building. 

“We saw people driving through every single day who wanted to get into the building – who had memories here, got married here, got engaged or had dinner here,” she said. “So, we knew people wanted to get into the building.” 

Adam said when it was The Creamery Restaurant & Inn, people would come from the Twin Cities all the time to stay because it was a destination.

“There are still people who come from the Twin Cities, and a lot of times they don’t even know that the restaurant’s closed,” he said. “They’re passing through and stop and (see) we’re a boutique now.” 

Sheri said since opening the boutique, “we’ve made a lot of connections within the community.”

“We live here, but everybody else has their memories, so they also feel entitled to a little part of it,” she said.

Sheri and Adam said they respectively hail from the Madison and Manitowoc areas and never got to experience the former restaurant.  

However, they said they’ve gained immense respect for its legacy – whether by way of the endless glowing reviews from past patrons or by reading the old menus they’ve discovered featuring locally produced ingredients – well predating today’s prevalence of “farm-to-table” fare. 

The Laurents said it became clear to them – even in light of their entrepreneurial bravery – that it would be futile to attempt to revive the restaurant. 

“We kind of nixed the idea of a restaurant because we didn’t want to compete with what they used to have,” Sheri said. “We didn’t know (how to run) restaurants, and it didn’t really pique our interest to start a restaurant, especially during COVID-19.” 

“We would never be able to replicate how good it was,” Adam said.

To better accommodate guests – including outdoor enthusiasts passing through by bicycle or kayak – the Laurents said The Creamery also sells a variety of beverages and light snacks.

As they continue to serve contemporary customers with reverence for the building’s past, Adam and Sheri said the Downsville community has provided consistent encouragement. 

They said the Thomas family, who owned the former restaurant, are among the local residents who have supported the current iteration of The Creamery. 

“We feel honored and blessed to be able to take care of this building and present it to the public,” Sheri said. “I want to have people excited to come in this building and be proud of what we’ve done.” 

Sharing their home 

Between their own family, the apartments’ tenants and a given day’s guests, the Laurents said though “it’s a balance” to so often play host, it’s one they cherish. 

Beyond the building’s soundproofing – originally installed to protect the apartments from the clamor of the dinner crowds – they said not only do guests willingly abide by a 9:30 p.m. cutoff for noise, but the space is plenty large enough to foster separation. 

They also said the accommodation can at times be mutual, as guests share the space with the Laurents. 

“It’s a family business,” Adam said. “You might encounter two kids and a dog.” 

Sheri said her kids also roam around the boutique half the time.

“My son is (often) in his walker flirting with the ladies,” she said. “Our daughter is two and a half, and she’s (often) got a shopping bag and she ‘helps’ me. We’re full-time parents and full-time boutique and business owners.” 

The familial experience, they said, is increasingly enriching. 

“As (our children) get older, it’s going to get more and more fun to get them involved,” Adam said. 

Sheri said the venture provides a unique childhood for them – “that part I’m really excited about, too.”

“They get to see both their parents being business partners and entrepreneurs,” she said. “Then this building is their oyster, so they can run around and have this huge space.” 

And it’s not just humans adding to The Creamery’s merriment, the owners said. 

“We didn’t know this when we bought the building, but we have chimney swifts that come,” Adam said. “We have a 55-foot smokestack that they actually nest in.” 

Between May and August, the couple said, each night at sundown, a flock of hundreds of the birds “circle in a tornado style” for about 10 minutes before settling into the prominent chimney. 

The International Union for Conservation of Nature  (IUCN) declared chimney swifts a “vulnerable” species in 2018 – one step from designation as endangered – due to precipitous population decline.

According to the IUCN, chimney swifts do not perch like normal birds, instead clinging to vertical surfaces such as their namesake – though widespread disuse and/or capping of chimneys has devastated the enigmatic birds’ numbers. 

The Laurents said they quickly came to appreciate what the chimney swifts added to The Creamery, opting to aid the birds’ plight while marveling at the seasonal flock. 

“We had to do some repair work on the chimney, and we chose to keep it open instead of capping it because (the flock) is just such a cool feature of our building,” Sheri said. “We’re going to create some evening events where (guests) socialize and then get to watch the swifts dive down.” 

Whether sharing their residence with guests winged or otherwise, the Laurents said with the welcoming nature of The Creamery, they aim to reciprocate what they’ve personally experienced in Downsville. 

“We are blown away by the positivity and support that this community has provided,” Sheri said. “They’ve made us feel really at home. We couldn’t ask for a better place to raise our family and own a business.” 

What’s up for Downsville

The Laurents said though they’re settled in at The Creamery, they won’t soon settle for the status quo they’ve established. 

“Our vision is to start hosting more of our own events,” Adam said. “I think we need to get creative – and that will be the fun part of the business.” 

He said “low-key” live music, movie nights, bingo, puzzle nights and an ice rink are some of the ideas they’ve brainstormed, as well as charitable events. 

“We’re going to have a bake sale, and the money and proceeds are going to go to the Downsville (Community) Museum,” he said of one such example. 

Regarding the property’s seemingly endless renovations, the owners said they’re considering expanding the possibilities of The Creamery’s kitchen, but they’re taking things “one day at a time.” 

After all, they said, part of them can still hardly believe they ever bought the place. 

“At the time, we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into,” Sheri said. “We look back on photos and we say, ‘what were we thinking?’” 

Adam said they still think about the decision. 

“I’m not saying it was the smartest decision that we’ve made – buying the building,” Adam said. “But it’s been interesting.” 

Even if they still share an occasional bewildered laugh at their decision, the couple said, it’s been proven a wise choice, time and again, with each special event guests have experienced at The Creamery. 

“We feel very honored that they would choose our space,” Sheri said. “It’s exciting, especially now that we have a business (the boutique) alongside the event space.”

Visit creameryinn.com for more information.