Now & Then, Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! Thank you for being here! We are so thankful for your engagement over the many years we’ve been at this! Your knowledge, thoughts, comments, ideas, corrections, concerns, and yes, respectful disagreements make this a pretty good job! We’re also thankful for our sponsors who have found value in reaching out to YOU and supporting DevilsLakeWisconsin.com & Skillet Creek Media. So again, Happy New Year! Thank you for being here!

Backstory?

It’s New Year’s Eve, and I’m feeling the mood to reminisce so if you are interested… Here’s a bit of backstory about DevilsLakeWisconsin.com, Skillet Creek Media… and your host!

Over the years as a local, I’ve had many tourism-related jobs in the area. From bartending at Cascade Mountain to guiding tours at the International Crane Foundation & Wollersheim Winery. In fact, I could have not started Skillet Creek without the moral support of Bob Wollersheim… But that’s a story for another day!

Back In The Day

Way back in the early 90s, I spent 3 seasons working in visitor information at Devil’s Lake State Park. In 1996, DevilsLakeWisconsin.com first went live! (Yep, pushing 30 years online!!) What I learned in my time at the park is that the most important thing we can do for the park and park visitors is to slow down and communicate. We need to listen hard and really hear what locals and visitors wanted and needed from their park and nature in general really. Devil’s Lake is much more than a tourist destination… I also realized that we could do much better on that front!

Communication is a tricky thing. It’s far too easy to get caught up in the concerns of the day, getting impatient, telling folks what you want to tell them or getting what you want from them, and all the while forgetting why you’re there in the first place! My goal has always been to answer questions, open doors, educate, advocate, help where I can, and just treat visitors as I would any guest in my own home. I always figured the benefits would come later…

My other interest as a Baraboo resident has been in protecting the landscape and wildlife that we share this part of Wisconsin with. It’s funny how eco-tourism can quickly forget the “eco” when chasing $$… We do our best to encourage balance on this front.

I realized that here too education & connection was key. From bats to benches the more folks learn, the more they want to help us advocate to protect and care for the amazing places that make Sauk County special! When we protect these spaces, we protect ourselves. We also ensure a long-lasting outdoor economy. Good stuff. And the thing is, because this project started out as a hand-coded hobby, we’ve never had to lean into some other agenda. We have always been free to be an advocate for the people, land & critters that have been here long before us while being forthright when answering your questions.

Times Have Changed

Internet? Internet!?

Way, way back in the 1990s, it was difficult to convince most folks that the “internet” would ever become a thing. Early developers were all self-trained. I taught myself hand-coding HTML & Java on a Packard Bell 486 which I bought at the local Walmart for my kids. Slowly that code turned in a few websites including this one, DevilsLakeWisconsin.com. Like many other folks around the country back then, we did our best Don Quixote act and got to work chasing those windmills!

It was quite some time before folks opened up to online travel guides.. but when they did come around, the floodgates sure opened!

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Today, DevilsLakeWisconsin.com hosts a crazy number of visitors every year and we are just one of many voices competing for your attention. I think that those of us who’ve been around for so many years, feel a bit like an old oak tree now surrounded by a sea of maples. The savanna is now full of fast-growing branches reaching out for their share (and sometimes your share!) of the sunlight. The lesson of those old oaks is that even though the world keeps changing around them, they just keep on, keeping on!

Looking Foreward To A Happy New Year!

So as we look forward to 2023 here at Skillet Creek Media, we’re pretty thankful just to be still out on the trail, exploring right along with you. We can’t wait to see what is hiding around the next corner! We’ll be right there with you to help out any way we can, keep you informed, and fight the good fight for our parks, our wildlife, and our amazing landscapes. That’s just what we’ve always done.

Thank you again, to our visitors and our sponsors! We hope that you and your families have a safe and happy year ahead with lots of new adventures! And remember, whatever comes along.., be an oak!

Peace!