Wandawega Blog Archive

10-2 Sat!Attention charm hoarders: The Sportsmans Charm Station is officially here. A century ago, roadside tourist stands, scout craft cabins and souvenir five-and-dime shops all had something in common: souvenir charms. Travelers built their own bracelets (and zipper pulls, lanyards, and good-luck talismans) from tiny mementos.So for our 100-year anniversary, we made our own: inspired by the 1920s camp craft tables. Built into a deadstock 1950s machinists chest (the kind you used to find in Northwoods hardware stores)Decked out to make your own : Lanyards / Zipper pulls / Backpack IDs / Necklaces / Bracelets / Key-fobsIts stocked with a mix of new and vintage finds.mini harmonicas, whistles, pocket knives, game-tags, , travel tokens, and miniature everythings collected over decades of Camp treasure-hunting. @_rawson Charm Bar will be joining us (setting up their stocked charm bar to build your base from & assemble) – guests can pull from Camps collection. Opening it up for our HOLIDAY MARKETDec 6th 10-2 at @bureauoftourism (1429 W. Grand Ave.) * typo on last slide Alongside:@thegoodyvault vintage @heritagebikesandcoffee espresso bar @__all_together_now__ bites @mindysbakery hot chocolate Come make something that feels like it couldve hung off a scout pack in 1925.

December 3, 2025 • Published by Tereasa Surratt • Instagram

Theyre finally here: THE CEDAR COLLECTION..If you have ever wondered what souvenirs your grandparents brought back from road trips, youve found it..For Camps 100-year anniversary, we worked up with one of the Midwests oldest mom-and-pop makers folks whove been carving cedar keepsakes since your great-grandparents were road-tripping in Fords with running boards. The new Camp Cedar Collection looks like the souvenirs they brought home because theyre still made by the same family, in the same way.We made our favorites with them :* Cedar Slice Wall Plaque : A classic Wandawega scene shellacked onto a slice of live-edge cedar. The kind that once hung in every lodge north of Highway 50..* Locking Cedar Treasure Box : Leaping-deer motif. Built for stashes of all ilk. (Weve only found these in antique stores- but collect them like crazy).* The 8-in-1 Log Cabin : A 5×7 handcrafted cabin that moonlights as a: Key Keeper Stash Box Memory Drop Box Tip Box Wish/Intention Cabin Business-Card Drop Box and its original 1940s purpose- a Classic Coin Bank..The story behind the company is what we fell in love with (and all the photos here tell the tale of their incredible family, living the dream)In 1930, John H. Blair moved to Camdenton, Missouri to help build the new highway threading through the newborn Lake of the Ozarks. He and his familyincluding his five sons, who all pitched inopened the Blair Hotel & Caf and built every cedar table and chair by hand. In the slow hours, John carved little cedar novelties to sell in the diner- until the hobby grew into a full-blown factory and the heartbeat of town.After WWII, the Blairs leaned into cedar souvenirssalt-and-pepper shakers, keepsake boxes what would become the roadside classic souvenirs of the Midwest. When gas was scarce, they launched a mail-order business under the slogan FROM THE LOG TO YOU..Nearly a century later, Blair is still at it- still family, still hand-made, still cedar. And now, part of Wandawega history too. Find them on our online camp store, in person at camp for guests, and at our Chicago outpost @bureauoftourism this Saturday 10-2. (Typo on last slide

December 2, 2025 • Published by Tereasa Surratt • Instagram

on Dec 6 10-2 for our holiday party!Just in time for our 100th Christmas :TOURIST SOUVENIR STAND.Because every great American road trip once ended with a pocketful of tiny treasures from a mom-and-pop shopand now, ours does too.To celebrate Wandawegas birthday, were bringing back the classics: the blue-collar, glove-compartment, dashboard-rattling souvenirs that defined Midwestern travel from the 1940s through the 70s. The same kind your grandparents picked up at fishing camps, roadside cafs, and gas-station gift counters from Superior to the Ozarks.Fun fact: Before big vacation stores existed, these miniature keepsakes were made by small family factories across the Midwesteach hand-pressed, flocked, stamped, or cast in batches so tiny that no two were ever exactly alike. Souvenirs werent meant to be fancy. They were meant to be friendly. Accessible, inexpensive, and sentimental just a little proof that you were there.So we curated a dozen all-time-favorite American Tourist souvenirsthe most collected, most traded, most beloved trinkets of the golden age of roadside travel.Opening up for visitors at our Holiday Market Dec 6 10-2 :CAMP WANDAWEGA TOURIST SOUVENIR STAND:These are the simple old school tourist mementos that built Americas road-trip culture. See you at our Chicago Outpost- the @BureauOfTourism

December 1, 2025 • Published by Tereasa Surratt • Instagram

Happy Thanksgiving From our camp to yours.Sifting through Thanksgiving celebrations on this day (some of these photos dating back to the 1940s) we appreciate even more that the most important thing is just being with friends & fam. May yours be filled with both.(And also an adventure of taste thrills as the old wandawega brochure promised).

November 27, 2025 • Published by Tereasa Surratt • Instagram

Just dropped.Tree ornaments used to be tiny works of art. Ours still are. The year this place opened – 1925- glassblowers were already perfecting this craft. Nothing about the process has changed. HOW THESE ARE MADE BLOWS MY MIND:A glassblower blows molten glass into a clay mold to make the share- then the ornament is silvered on the inside (using a chemical bath that makes it glow) All the details are then hand-painted and glittered one layer at a time (and there are MANY). Then theyre fired again to cure the paint.Its a super intense, skill-based craft (one mistake and it shatters). Thats why they feel less like a Christmas tree decoration & more like a tiny heirloom.To celebrate our 100th Christmas at camp, every ornament in our Centennial Collection is tagged with a tiny engraved badge, wrapped in our lake map, boxed & sealed with our anniversary badge. Were releasing 11 designs, in limited quantities. Were admittedly partial to old stuff, but we still believe the most beautiful things are always the ones made slowly, worth keeping. Just launched a limited edition on our just updated online camp store,And weve set the other half of the inventory aside for holiday party on Dec 6th from 10-2 at @bureauoftourism 1429 Grand Ave- see you there!

November 26, 2025 • Published by Tereasa Surratt • Instagram

Wait.Autumn – were not done with you yet.(Was gonna post this before snow hit Forgot – now Im sad for all these leaves dropping all at once and didnt squeeze In enough cider/ pumpkin patches Fleeting.

November 23, 2025 • Published by Tereasa Surratt • Instagram

Not that you need another reason to come to our Holiday party & market on December 6th, but heres one anyway: FREE CAMP STAYS.Everyone who swings by can fill out a raffle ticket. No purchase necessary. See you soon

November 21, 2025 • Published by Tereasa Surratt • Instagram

Weve been called worse (scroll to see what the other journalist said)Well take it. Cause hes not wrong. Our Centennial bourbon IS a prop – made to commemorate 100 years of stories, one ballsy prohibition legend, and a century of questionable decisions made around campfires. (Were burying a time capsule with this bottle to mark this birthday) We hope that someday, somebody will dig it up, take a swig & learn that there was a place called WANDAWEGA, built in 1925. And that an immigrant named Anna peck went to prison for selling whiskey out of pints like the ones stashed in her piano.Gratitude to @ChicagoReader & @MikeSula for including our scrappy little bottle in the same roundup as Chicago icons like @Letherbee (check out their newest release thats also in this story).Cheers to all the props out there like us – the kind that make camping better, the game pocket in your hunting vest fuller & help us all celebrate lifes milestones.EXCERPT:Elkhorn, Wisconsins meticulously restored house of ill repute, Latvian church camp, and potential Wes Anderson film set introduced this cutesy ass pocket filled with four-to-six-year-old bourbon; its meant to commemorate the glass pints that, as the story goes, Wandawegas Madame Anna Peck hid from the Feds in her piano. Its a blend of juice from Indianas mega-industrial MGP distillery, and Owensboro, Kentuckys historic 140-year-old Green River Distilling Co. Its aged partly in Owensboro and partly in Pilsen at CH Distillery, where its also blended and bottled. Yes, its a bit of a prop. You can pull it out of your knickers and knock it back like youre one of those snacky Wandawega models. But with a high corn mash bill, it has a smooth, creamy texture and honeyed caramel notes, and Id be just as chuffed to pour it from a fifth.Most importantly, the cover of this issue: ICE IN OUR DRINKS, NOT ICE IN OUR STREETS – Were always gonna raise our glass to the immigrants who help make Chicago the great city that is.@Foxtrot inventory sold out pretty fast (more at camp).MORE MADAME BACKSTORY: link in profile

November 16, 2025 • Published by Tereasa Surratt • Instagram

FALLs here.(And also my excuse to mainline coffee & Baileys while pretending to be a responsible adult with 12827 projects to wrap before the end of our 100th season).Outtakes from the @topdrawershop takeover shoot.(And one of our warmest collab products – our wool & leather camp slippers)

November 15, 2025 • Published by Tereasa Surratt • Instagram