Dry times over for Wisconsin town
Residents of Ephraim, the last community in the state to bar alcohol sales, vote to allow beer and wine.
EPHRAIM, Wis. — The owner of Chef ’s Hat Cafe has heard the joke plenty of times: If you don’t want to wait for a restaurant table on Fourth of July weekend in Door County, go to Ephraim.
After all, how many people want to celebrate the holiday without a little beer or wine?
Ephraim, Wis., is believed to be the last dry community in a state where beer is part of the collective heritage. More than 100 wineries dot the countryside, and the brandy old-fashioned is the unofficial state cocktail.
But that’s about to change.
The people of this hamlet overlooking Green Bay voted overwhelmingly in April to allow the sale of beer and wine, putting the cork in 160-plus years of municipal sobriety.
Now Todd Bennett, who has owned Chef ’s Hat Cafe since 2003, is hoping diners who usually traveled a few miles in either direction from Ephraim will come to his place. And they will certainly be welcome during the busy Independence Day holiday, when Door County traffic is bumper to bumper.
“We always did a very good breakfast and lunch, but our slowest time was at dinnertime,” Bennett said. “I think it will put Ephraim back on the map again for a dinner spot.”
Founded in 1853 by Moravian settlers, Ephraim has a year-round population of 288 that swells to thousands in the summer. Twice before, the town rejected the idea of allowing alcohol. But this spring, businessman Hugh Mulliken submitted 100 signatures for a referendum, even though he needed only 25.
And this time Ephraim citizens, in effect, raised their glasses and said “Cheers!” The beer referendum passed 127 to 98; the wine referendum sailed through 152 to 73.
“The net profit of a restaurant is highly dependent on the sale of alcohol,” Mulliken said recently in his office. “It would be pleasant if you could walk into a restaurant here and order a glass of beer or wine.”
Mulliken, who served on the Door County Board for a dozen years and is an elder in the Ephraim Moravian Church, doesn’t own a restaurant in town and says he does not personally benefit from the change, though his wife owns the Lodgings at Pioneer Lane, a bed and breakfast in Ephraim. He could not vote in the referendum because he lives in a neighboring community.
“I think time will tell. It will be a more positive impact on Ephraim. It isn’t like we have homeless people walking through town,” Mulliken said.
Tony Beadell, whose wife’s great-great-grandfather Ole Larsen helped found Ephraim, is disappointed in the change.
“This came up on very short notice and a lot of people were unaware of it, especially those people who were out of town for the winter. I’m sure they’ll be surprised that the traditions and the character of their village will be dramatically changed after 150 years,” said Beadell, an investment manager who owns a home in Ephraim.
“I think a lot of people unfortunately take Ephraim for granted; it’s really a little gem. It’s like a beautiful marble statue that people like to chip away at bit by bit,” Beadell said, lamenting that his community will become “just another bar stool in Door County.”
The Village Board is figuring out how to issue beer and wine licenses, something pretty much every municipality in Wisconsin has done for decades. The village’s attorney is drafting an ordinance that will be discussed at the next board meeting, and this month representatives from the state Department of Revenue will give a presentation to the community, Ephraim Administrator Brent Bristol said.
(Mulliken knows of four Ephraim businesses that plan to apply for beer and wine licenses: Chef ’s Hat Cafe, Old Post Office Restaurant, Joe Jo’s Pizza and Gelato, and the Summer Kitchen.
Larry Krause, co-owner with his wife of the Old Post Office Restaurant since 1975, knows he’s lost business over the years when customers scanned the menu and saw no alcohol options. Some would get up and leave; others simply wouldn’t come back.
“The big question was, ‘Can we get a beer with our fish boil?’ Obviously people were not happy when we told them no,” Krause said. “It will make us more competitive and increase our revenue and make our customers happy.”
Krause and Bennett don’t intend to change their menus, but they are thinking about where they’ll put beer coolers, beer mugs, wineglasses and other equipment. They’re also contemplating which brands to sell. Both said they were content with just beer and wine — not hard liquor.
“I don’t want a full bar, which comes with a whole set of headaches,” Bennett said.
Charles Peterson, a resident since 1973, voted in favor of wine, but backed away from beer because he’s worried it will lead to more people drinking on the streets.
Still, he’s comfortable with the change. “It was an act of great interest in town,” he said as he headed out for a daily stroll. “Some people don’t like it, but I think it’s good for the community.”
Beadell, a member of the Ephraim Historical Foundation, is a bit indignant.
“I suppose one of the benefits is that people come from all over to see the sunsets in Ephraim,” he said. “I think by serving beer and wine we’ll extend that sunset into the wee hours of the morning.”