Wandawega Blog Archive
Sweater weather is my fav time of year. Time to burn some leaves while its still nice out. Someone who always gets it right and inspired us if one of our favorite guests @lizmariegalvan and her beautiful family …. when they spent some time with us in the lakeview cabin. If you dont know Liz… be prepared to lose yourself for the next hour +in her feed – its so gorgeous I cant even begin to describe it. The home she has created, her business, book, brand… life . #goalsFeatured here:Our lakeview cabin (3rd shot)AFrame Cabin (2nd pic)Sterlingworth cabin (1st image)
SIPPL’S MAPLE SYRUP…custom canned for Camp!
It’s here! Our Camp Wandawega Maple Syrup, from the sugar maples of Wisconsin, (canned just a few hours north of camp at a family owned sugar bush in Burnamwood, Wisconsin pop. 800). Finding these original lithographed cans was fun! The design dates back to 1951 (when canning syrup was a new method)… some of our design inspiration shown below. In an effort to promote it to farmers, Quebec’s Ministry of Agriculture held a province-wide call for packaging designs. This winning entry went into production and has been lithographed ever since. Production today is streamlined with state-of-the-art tubing systems, jars, bottles…
Updated! Wow did these sell out fast JUST RESTOCKED another dozen this morning (our in-house private stash) and next shipment of 50 arrive mid week. Its here! Newest collab camp store addition Our Camp Wandawega Maple Syrup, from the sugar maples of Wisconsin- canned just a few hours north of camp at a family owned sugar bush in Birnamwood, Wisconsin pop. 800. Finding these original lithographed cans…. (and a sugar house to import them and then custom small batch cans for us) took us months of tracking syrup industry suppliers & equipment manufacturers all over Canada & the US. Lithographed Syrup cans are an art from a bygone era (some of our favs slide 6)The design dates back to 1951 (when canning syrup was a new method). In an effort to promote it to farmers, Quebecs Ministry of Agriculture held a province-wide call for packaging designs. This winning entry went into production and has been lithographed ever since. Production today is streamlined with state-of-the-art tubing systems, jars, bottles and tins – we worked with our small, family-owned partner to get the original canning machine so we could use these old school cans, and the original method. Each of our cans are lidded by hand, just like they where in the beginning. We fell in love with the detail: The can was originally designed to leave a blank spot where producers can affix their own distribution labelwhich is exactly what we did. Ours label tells the backstory: Sippl’s Amber Maple syrup, specially canned for Camp Wandawega. The can is still proudly French Canadian, but the contents are Wisconsin liquid gold. Our favorite details: With every can, we include our camp church key opener, and a cap to seal it after cracking it open. (Save the can, we’re now using them now at camp for everything from silverware caddies to planters)DETAILS:* Lithographed tin, made by the same Quebec company since 1951* Customized with our camp prohibition tax seal & stamped.* Linen bag (with some camp swag, last shot)* Leather tie camp souvenir church key opener* 18oz. of Amber Grade liquid gold canned for Camp Wandawega by Sippl’s SugarbushPhotos 1,2,9 @nathanmichael
Giving away the details (For those hunting for the devil hiding in the details. We made these for you.)They just arrived and because we love sharing new things in the camp store, were gonna pick a handful of comments left here and wrap these babies up in some camp swag to send to their new homes. Many folks are surprised to hear that Bandanas were popular advertising giveaways for industrial companies starting as far back as the 1920s. (Zoom into the 9th shot here for some of our favorite examples). So to honor this (and our roots running back to 1925) we created our version to be as authentic as possible to that era and purpose. We asked our friend Jon Oye to illustrate each camp building in the old pen line style of the period.Just like this place – there are little surprises tucked into the design…hiding in all of the little corners. You cant see them right away- and most folks may never find them. Some may never look. But we know theyre there, and we love to surprise people. Next time youre here, look in the back of your rooms bottom dresser drawer. Or the top shelf of your closet. We like to find those souls as curious as we are, people who like to hunt. Because devils (and angels) are always hidden the details.DETAILS: +18×18 inches with finish whip stitch edging +Printed in water based inks (OG method vs modern silkscreening)+You pick navy or red+Comes gift boxed, and bagged in linen pouch +100% cotton, pre-washed for soft texture (Update : The 12 winners from the calendar giveaway last week have been picked! They are getting boxed up this weekend : ) wrapping presents and shipping them to strangers is our new favorite thing.
Its a happy week here at camp! We just got a couple surprise features that popped up in the new Departures Gift Guide and the @crateandkids Catalog. Thanks @departuresmag for supporting small family rural businesses.
Calling all saints and sinners!Your vice has arrived.(The box just hit our doorstep)There has been a long tradition of gambling here at Camp Wandawega,dating back to our rathskellar during prohibition. So we thought it was about time that we made it official and got our own deck of cards. (These are inspired by the Sportmans sets from the 1920s).The faces are the first advertising photo of camp, taken from the lake in 1925, when the Wandawega Hotel first opened its doors to saints and sinners. The Joker card features our own camp Mascot, Frankie. Enjoy responsibly. (we just added them to the campstore this morning)DETAILS:+ Standard 52-card deck with linen finish, + Each box sealed with luck (and Wisconsin Gamers gold seal)* Illustrations by @marina.kozak & Jon Oye
The new @CrateAndKids holiday catalog just came out! The camp canoe is still being made all these years later (inspired by our old blue favorite here at camp).Our little plush version has been dragged around camp for years- as a dog bed, kids bed, bunny bed, teddy bear collection bed, laundry basket and temp bassinett. It was the brain child of @chelleko and her team in the Land Of Nod days (the canoe is still available along with the treehouse and treehouse figurine set).First photo : @campwed
Going to good homes. 2021 is looking to be a good year! So we want to start celebrating earlier- By giving away our latest little camp swag kit – they will go to our guests (and were also mailing out a dozen to people randomly selected from comments here).The OG farmers almanac calendar, made for Camp Wandawega.Up until a few decades ago, every roadside cabin court, greasy spoon and seed store in the Midwest had one of these hanging behind the front desk. They were the original go-to for advice on everything from how to get a blood stain out to when to plant your beans. With 4,900 bits of information, you can get your conversion tables, breeding charts and first aid counsel all in one place. The Calendar Company has been making these advertising calendars for over 143 years. They started in Greeneville, Tennessee (scroll through to see their old factory & presses).Unchanged all these years later, theyre still a wealth of info from daily fishing guides to planting gardens by the signs, sun rise and sun set times, and weather. Were obsessed with the little unchanged details – from the tin strip at the top to the fact that they havent modernized their fonts. Ours just arrived, and are the un-fancy, utilitarian, old school originals. Just what we hoped for.Its comforting to discover that some places still make things like they used to.Mailing out a dozen this week tucked in a little box of swag- so drop us a line here, well pick randomly from comments below. (Were also putting them on our campstore this morning, too).
