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Sunshine Country Store & Meat Market We want to introduce you to a place in Wisconsin that makes among the very finest hot roast beef sandwiches in the world. Everything about the place is fresh, upbeat and happy, Susan VandenBrook and Ted Streit included. The store's name, "Sunshine Country Store," tells the whole story. It is located in the town of Suring, Oconto County, a proud community that has won awards for its initiatives to preserve and brag about its rural identity. June 23, 2007
We want to introduce you to a place in Wisconsin that makes among the very finest hot roast beef sandwiches in the world. It's the Sunshine Country Store and Meat Market at 718 Main Street in Suring, Wisconsin, Oconto County, population about 650. Suring sits on the 45th parallel, putting it halfway between the North Pole and the equator. What does that mean, "halfway?" We'll address that at the conclusion of this article. After having passed through so many towns littered with the signs of the "Great Neon Way" of fast food, fattening franchises, we decided we were going to stop and have a down-home sandwich in a local restaurant. It was Sunday, and it was Father's Day, so given Suring's small size, we worried we would not find such a place.
Off on the right we spotted the Sunshine Country Store and Meat Market. The first bit of good news was that the store was open. The second bit was that it advertised brats, burgers, steaks and chops, and all kinds of other meats, so we figured there was a fighting chance to get a freshly made sandwich.
The front of the store is filled with all kinds of grocery items one would expect. Here you see Ted Streit, who handles the meat section in the back, but by the time I caught him with the camera, he had drifted out to the front. Ted is from Edgar in Marathon County. Ted is the one who assembled the greatest hot roast beef sandwich known to mankind for us.
This of course is the meat counter, to the rear of the store. You see Susan VandenBrook, the owner, behind it. I had, about an hour earlier, called my wife from the road asking her to buy some New York strip sirloins back in Wausau to celebrate Father's Day. Had that call not been made, I would have bought one of each cut behind the glass here! Beautiful looking meats, and a very mouth-watering and patriotic presentation. Everything about the place was fresh, upbeat and happy, Susan and Ted included. The store's name, "Sunshine Country Store," tells the whole story.
We want to give you a better look at Susan. She made the hot roast beef. This ought to be enough to qualify her for sainthood! If you look off her left shoulder, you can see a crick pot. That's where the good stuff was brewing. Susan said that she and Ted cater and do benefits, in addition to running the store. She also raises her own chickens, brings in fresh eggs, and also brings in fresh lamb from the sheep she raises. At the time I walked in, Susan was planning for a Brat Fry at the nearby Riverview Fire Department on June 29, 2007. The proceeds will be going to the local tornado relief fund. Susan expected that our Badgers would devour 1,500 brats and burgers at the Brat Fry! There will be a street dance outside the town hall as well, starting at 6 pm. "Super cell" thunderstorms with wind gusts exceeding 60 mph and at least three tornadoes swept through Onconto and nearby Marinette, Langlade and Forest counties on June 7, 2007.
The Riverview Fire Department, shown here courtesy of the Peshtigo Times, and Town Hall were both damaged. One more thing. Suring is small, but, like so many small towns in Wisconsin, it is neat. The Oconto River flows through. Route 32 takes you over it. As we left town on 32, we saw a wonderful old bridge over the river that has no road entry or exit. Instead, it is surrounded by park, you can walk over it, and it has a great mural handing on one side you can view while you walk across.
We later learned this is the Suring "Bridge to Tomorrow," the winner of the Wisconsin Rural Partners Top Rural Development Initiatives for 2004. The program is designed to identify, highlight, and share innovative models, practices and programs that have a positive impact on rural Wisconsin communities. The Suring project was top-ranked for 2004. It was a community beautification project. Suring school students planned and implemented the project with help from the Arts Vitally Enrich Community (AVEC) and other local organizations, namely two local artists and dozens of local residents. Here are some closer looks at the mural. Your editor had been driving a long time and was too lazy to walk across, so you have to look through the bridge structure.
Left half
Right half The bridge was built in the 1930s and was in rough shape when the students took on the project. It bridge was the primary entry to and exit from the community. It was scheduled for demolition and replacement as part of a road improvement project. The bridge was moved to some unused and undeveloped public space. People enjoyed the effort so much, the community developed the space into a park that now serves as a location for festivals and other community events. The mural depicts community life. Now, the entire area is a delight and a source of community pride. Bravo Suring! At the risk of beating this bridge to death in a roast beef story, we came across two aerial shots that depict the bridge serving the road, and another the bridge serving as a park.
In this 1998 aerial image from Terraserver-USA, you see the bridge connecting the road over the Oconto River. That's the western edge of Suring on the right.
In this color aerial provided by Mapquest, you can see a new, very unexciting bridge has been built connecting the road over the Oconto, and the old neat bridge moved to the side. You can see the park along with a place to park your car just to the right. This citizen, for one, is glad the kids and town saved the old fella. Suring is at 45 degrees latitude, halfway between the North Pole and the Equator. What does that mean?
The yellow dot shows the approximate location of Suring, Wisconsin. The pink dot north of Canada shows the approximate location of the North Pole. The red line over South America, which realluy ought to have curvature in this diagram, is the approximate location of the Equator running through that continent. Lines of latitude are circular lines around the Earth that are parallel to the Equator. The Equator divides the Earth into Northern and Southern hemispheres. Technically, latitude is an angular measurement in degrees from zero degrees at the Equator to 90 degrees at the North Pole. So 45 degrees is halfway. In terms of distance, 45 degrees northern latitude is also halfway. Each degree of latitude is about 69 miles apart. Therefore, Suring is about 3,105 miles from the North Pole and from the Equator. For rough calculations, many people like to think of each degree of latitude as being 60 miles apart. Each degree has 60 minutes, Therefore, for ease of calculation, each minute is about one mile from the next. You would not want to fly an aircraft or sail a boat using that math, however! |
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