Wisconsin
Small Bites: The unassailable allure of the Wisconsin cheese hut
It’s time to reimagine your road snack game.
This is our newsletter-first column, Microtones. It runs on the site on Fridays, but you can get it in your inbox on Thursdays by signing up for our email newsletter.
“Small Bites” is about exploring the broader world of food and drink in Madison through approachable and specific experiences.
Summer in the Upper Midwest is equal parts sitting by a lake and spending time in a car to get to said lake. Where I grew up in Minnesota, we had three massive suburban lakes within a 10-minute drive. But don’t assume those lakes are good enough. There are better lakes if you head north (or northeast, into the part of Wisconsin vacationland annexed by Twin Cities Money sometime in the early 1990s). My family would drive up to a Minnesotan vacation spot near where my mom grew up, just outside of Moorhead, and the best we could hope for was some Doritos or a skinny beef stick from the gas station. Pickings were slim, or rather, Slim Jim.
It wasn’t until I was older and heading to college in Chicago that I got to experience the Wisconsin cheese hut. Rising in the distance along the various truckstops of I-94, just cresting over the green tree tops, I could see the red lettering on yellow background perfectly: CHEESE. Inside, the store was jam-packed with various cheddars and goudas, shrink-wrapped or waxed, all proudly in a line to represent America’s Dairy State (California has not—and will not—ever claim the cultural title). Aside from the cheeses, most cheese huts have a wide variety of meat sticks, jerkies, and sausages, and the experience feels more like a grocery store than a road trip fuel-up destination. Especially with all the stacked cases of New Glarus beer.
But I’m old now. College was 20 years ago. A bag of chips eaten at the wrong time of day in a moving vehicle might ruin my stomach. Don’t get me wrong: a vacuum-sealed bag of cheese curds and some landjäger aren’t health foods. But they are real food. And that can make a difference for an aging gastrointestinal tract. So I say this: it’s time to stop treating the roadside cheese hut as a tourist stop or cultural artifact and embrace them as a quick way to grab tasty snacks.
Back in December, my partner and I drove down to Miami to visit family. And deep in the middle of Georgia, we finally saw the much-lauded cult-favorite gas station/rest stop/compound known as Buc-ee’s. It was about three-to-four times the size of the Love’s across the interstate with hundreds of gas pumps and a carnival-sized convenience store. Inside, you could find a central hub where hot sandwiches were pumped out at rapid speed (including some head-turners like the hot pastrami). Deeper in, a weary traveler would find themselves lost in aisle after aisle of packaged snacks. A veritable snack haven. A snacker’s paradise.
We left with some fudge (wait, why?), Beaver Nuggets (just caramel puffcorn), and habañero mango hot sauce (again, why?). All three items had the Buc-ee’s logo on them, but I think it’s clear that Buc-ee’s doesn’t have a facility producing all these foodstuffs with original recipes. It may be a one-stop snack adventure, but I struggled to find anything unique or culturally relevant inside that Buc-ee’s that might suggest I was in a specific region of the United States. Banality, thy name is Buc-ee’s.
Flip that against a roadside cheese hut, and you’ll see what I’m talking about. You might find some award-winning Sartori Cheese varieties like Merlot BellaVitano or MonteAmoré Cheddar. Or you can even pop into Carr Valley’s own retail location just off of I-94 in Mauston. The company’s cheesemaker, Sid Cook, has won “more national and international awards than any other cheesemaker in North America,” as Carr Valley’s website puts it. There are other incredible smaller-but-world-class creameries like Uplands (home of the second-most decorated cheese in US history) and Saxon that have incredible renown and are commonly spotted at these cheese huts. And whatever dairy’s cheese curds you may find while browsing Ehlenbach’s Cheese Chalet in DeForest, it’s important to remember that fresh packed curds are hard to find outside of dairy-rich regions. I’m not suggesting that Wisconsinites take cheese curds for granted, but manna from heaven, if constantly falling out of the sky, is hard to value properly.
What’s a bag of jalapeño kettle chips when you can just peel and eat an entire summer sausage like a banana? Who has the power to judge you for holding a brick of Hook’s Two-Year Cheddar like a sandwich, taking bites out of the corner while you drive on to your destination? These roadside cheese huts are more than just supplies for eventually: they’re repositories for gustatory delight in the here and now. Forget stopping for a frozen custard: there’s a tub of Merkt’s and a bag of pretzels that are calling your name from Humbird Cheese in Tomah. Sure, you can get your fill of high-end cheese from the kind folks at Fromagination when you get home to Madison. But why not indulge in the good stuff while you’re on your way out to an adventure? There’s some really good string cheese out there that I’m sure you’ll want to dig into once you get past Stevens Point.
It’s no secret that Madison is becoming more and more developed everyday. New apartment buildings are needed to meet Madison’s current housing crisis, but they often come at the expense of unique restaurants and businesses. As Dane County continues to grow, more and more of the city will become steel and glass. Just know that when that starts to happen, you always can run away to a roadside cheese hut to dip back into a bit of Wisconsin’s Germanic and Nordic roots. What are you waiting for? Grab a half-pint of mozzarella balls and eat ‘em like a bag of popcorn. Sure can’t do that at any rest stop in Georgia.
Wisconsin coach Kelly Sheffield shares his biggest spring takeaway
Wisconsin coach Kelly Sheffield shared his biggest takeaway from the spring following the Badgers’ four-set win over Northern Illinois.
MADISON – Kelly Sheffield has coached All-Americans, national players of the year, national champions and future Olympians in his 13 years as Wisconsin volleyball coach.
So Sheffield’s unique praise of Decelise Champion – a star pin-hitter from Puerto Rico who committed to the Badgers last fall – carries a lot of weight.
“Her highest-end potential is certainly as high as about anybody we’ve ever brought in,” Sheffield said. “She’s got a lot of work to get to where she’s capable of, and that’s on us as coaches and on her to help reach those dreams and goals. But when you’re watching people around her age, she’s different.”
That work is beginning earlier than initially expected after Wisconsin announced that Champion will reclassify from the 2027 recruiting class and join the Badgers as a freshman for the 2026 season.
Champion – currently 16 years old and turning 17 in September – will arrive with a resume that includes experience on Puerto Rico’s senior national team and the elite Italian club Volleyro Casal de Pazzi. That’s all while being strong enough academically to earn a GED degree and the necessary NCAA waiver for a few missing core classes.
“What made it really a lot better is that all of her grades at the different schools she’s been at have been fantastic,” Sheffield said. “She’s an excellent student. Was crushing it at a really, really good academic school in Italy in her third language.”
The timing of the June 12 announcement accounted for the second-last open roster spot for the 2026 season, but Champion and UW’s efforts to make the reclassification possible go back much earlier than that.
“We’ve known she’s wanted to do this since February,” Sheffield said. “We told our team in February that was the plan. And then we didn’t let anybody know publicly until she was done with her season. She just didn’t want to be a distraction for her team.”
Badgers have even more competition at pins
Wisconsin already had plenty of competition at the pin-hitting positions before Champion’s move to the 2026 class.
Grace Egan had a major role on the 2025 Final Four team, and Eva Travis had an impressive spring after transferring from UC-Santa Barbara. Others include Grace Lopez, Madison Quest and the highly-touted freshman duo of Halle Thompson and Audrey Flanagan.
Even with the upcoming addition of one more pin-hitter – and one with such a high potential – UW did not lose any players in the spring transfer portal cycle. Even the idea of someone leaving seemed outlandish to Sheffield.
“If they’re just going to get up and leave because somebody came, I would say that that person is probably chicken s—,” Sheffield said.
Sheffield’s praise of Champion’s proposal obviously does not come with a guarantee of playing time either at the crowded pin-hitting positions.
“I would say, yeah, she does have a chance of being out on the court for us this year,” Sheffield said. “But we’ve also got some other really talented people that play the pins.”
The outside and right-side hitters already on UW’s spring roster will have at least one key advantage over Champion in her freshman season – time.
Egan, Lopez and Quest are returning players (although Egan and Lopez spent their spring recovering from injuries). Travis, Thompson and Flanagan all enrolled in time to spend the spring with the Badgers and impressed in UW’s spring matches.
Champion’s arrival, on the other hand, will follow her participation in an Olympic-qualifying event for Puerto Rico. Sheffield expects that to be Sept. 2, which is the day before fall classes begin and already after UW’s first four matches of the season.
“She’ll be drinking out of a fire hose early on, no doubt about it,” Sheffield said. “Even though she’s been playing with her senior national team this summer, it will be a lot of things coming at her in her secondary language at 16, so there’ll need to be some patience along the way.”
His advice to Champion when she was on campus earlier in June was to “be where your feet are.”
“When she’s with her national team – even though we will have started our preseason, playing matches – don’t worry about us here,” Sheffield said. “Be where your feet are. Be the best you can be for your team there. … Then when you get here, you’re not thinking about your national team.”
Champion’s NCAA eligibility clock starts earlier
Champion’s reclassification comes with the drawback of beginning her NCAA eligibility one year earlier in her volleyball career.
Had she stayed in the 2027 recruiting class, she theoretically would have begun her college career shortly before her 18th birthday and exhausted her eligibility at age 22. Instead, she will begin her college career shortly before her 17th birthday and likely exhaust her eligibility at age 21.
Those scenarios take into account the NCAA Division I Cabinet’s unanimous approval on June 23 of a new eligibility model that will give players five seasons of eligibility in five years. (That replaces the current system with four seasons, redshirts and other waivers.) The NCAA noted that its decision is not final, however, until the meeting concludes on June 24.
“We’re certainly excited to have her this year, but if you kind of think over the course of five years, it’s probably worse for us that she comes a year early,” Sheffield said. “You expect her to be better at 20 and 21 than what she is at 16 or 17. … It really wasn’t something that we were pushing for, but she was ready.”
Of course, volleyball at age 16 or 17 looks different for someone like Champion who has been competing against much older players as a senior national team member and studying halfway across the world from her hometown of Dorado, Puerto Rico.
“When you talk to her, she doesn’t come across as somebody who’s 16,” Sheffield said. “She’s very mature, very easy to talk to, very driven. She’s independent. … She’s had a lot more life experience than most people her age, and that certainly comes across when you’re around her.”
Wisconsin
Cult-classic filmed in central Wisconsin returns to big screen, with enhancements, this weekend
STEVENS POINT, Wis. (WSAW) – A giant spider isn’t actually invading central Wisconsin this weekend.
But an enhanced, big-screen version of the cult-classic 1975 film The Giant Spider Invasion is crawling back into local theaters — and it’s bringing some central Wisconsin nostalgia with it.
The movie was famously filmed in Merrill and Stevens Point, and the updated 2026 release adds enhancements designed for a modern theatrical experience.
What’s new in the 2026 enhanced version?
Executive Producer J.B. Thompson says the team took the original 1975 film and enhanced it for the big screen in 2026, giving audiences a refreshed way to experience a movie that’s long been a Wisconsin oddity — and a point of pride.
Actor and Producer Dan Davies is featured in newly filmed scenes created specifically for this updated release.
Stevens Point’s role in the original film
While much of the film is associated with Merrill, Stevens Point Mayor Mike Wiza says Point also played a major role in the production — another reason the film’s return matters to local history buffs and movie fans alike.
Why does this movie still capture attention 50 years later?
Whether it’s the over-the-top creature feature story, the uniquely Wisconsin filming locations, or the nostalgia of seeing familiar places on screen, the group says the film’s staying power is real — even five decades later.
Screenings this weekend
The enhanced version of The Giant Spider Invasion is set for local screenings this weekend in Central and North Central Wisconsin. To purchase tickets for showings in Stevens Point, Marshfield or Waupaca, click here.
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