The county is everything. The lake, the roads, the farms, the factories, the villages, the bars, the schools, the music, the food, the weird stuff, and the places that are gone.
Sheboygan lakefront, Blue Harbor area · Aug 27, 2020
Not just scenery.
On New Year's Day, people wade into the lake. One came in a full polar-bear suit.
Get there →Not just scenery. It's our eastern wall, our weather, a workplace, a playground and a hazard. On New Year's Day people wade in. One came in a full polar-bear suit.
The 'Malibu of the Midwest.'
Sandcastles and surf at the Dairyland Surf Classic on North Beach.
Get there →People have surfed Lake Michigan here since the early 1950s. Surf clubs started in the 1960s. Tourism calls it the "Malibu of the Midwest."
It guides boats in.
Get there →It guides boats in. It's also one of the city's best-known pictures: weather, weddings, tourists, photographers.
A village of 941 with a race track known around the world.
Road races ran on public county roads here in the early 1950s. Road America opened just south of the village in 1955.
Get there →A village of 941 (2020 census), incorporated in 1894. Road races ran on county roads here in the early 1950s. Road America opened just south of the village in 1955. I've photographed a lot of racing out there.
Home of Sargento.
Walldogs mural painters worked into the night here in June 2011.
Get there →Home of Sargento, founded there in 1953 and still headquartered there. In June 2011 the Walldogs painted murals late into the night.
A local place known around the world.
Racing history and recurring event culture, just south of Elkhart Lake.
Get there →A local place known around the world. Racing history, engineering and big weekends.
The world's first museum just for art environments is here.
The world's first museum dedicated entirely to art environments.
Get there →In June 2021 the John Michael Kohler Arts Center opened the Art Preserve, the world's first museum just for art environments. 56,000 square feet, more than 25,000 works by 30+ builders.
May be gone, not verified Demolished.
Demolished. Some of the memories outlived the building.
118,034 people and 28 municipalities.
28 municipalities to wander, including Sheboygan, Plymouth, Sheboygan Falls, Kohler, and Elkhart Lake.
Get there →Institutional layer: 25-member board; chair Keith Abler (2026); administrator Alayne Krause, who also directs the SCEDC Foundation. Thomas Wegner (supervisor since 2008; chair 2016-2020) is the county's JRB representative.
Sheboygan County, Wisconsin: population 118,034 (2020 census), county seat Sheboygan, 28 incorporated municipalities including Sheboygan, Plymouth, Sheboygan Falls, Kohler, and Elkhart Lake. Created 1836 and organized 1846; named for the Sheboygan River. The county government layer above the city's, sheriff, courts, JAG grants, planning. Institutional layer: 25-member board; chair Keith Abler (2026); administrator Alayne Krause, who also directs the SCEDC Foundation. Thomas Wegner (supervisor since 2008; chair 2016-2020) is the county's JRB representative. The county amended its UWGB Sheboygan Campus agreement in March 2026 (Resolution No. 24; substance unretrieved) and co-funds the revolving loan fund and Forward Fund with SCEDC.
EVERYTHING BUT GOLF
No golf here yet. It has to earn its way in.
All photos: Michael Brunette. Places and dates come from his captions, folders and camera data. Nobody is named.