Take a walk into the past during these unique offerings

FOR THE GAZAETTE

STEVENS POINT – Looking to take a trip back in time? The Portage County Historical Society has announced its summer tour schedule. From walking tours to pub crawls and brewery tours, there are many opportunities to interact with local history this summer – not in an archive or book, but at the actual places history took place.

The most frequent tour will be the Historic Downtown Stevens Point Walking Tour, occurring almost weekly this summer. The walking tour, which starts and ends at the Stevens Point Visitors Center at 1105 Main Street, shares the story of how a small logging storehouse became the city it is today, while enlightening attendees with stories of the people, events, and architecture of Stevens Point’s past and present.

Also returning this year is the History Pub Crawl series. “These typically sell out very quickly,” says PCHS Executive Director John Harry. The pub crawl tours bring guests to four establishments this year and give guests the more scandalous and salacious stories of Portage County’s past. This year’s tour stops include Guu’s on Main, the Top Hat Bar, Caravan Wine Shop, and Great Northern Distillery – all in Stevens Point.

Finally, another popular offering returns this year – the Point Brewery History Tour. The tour brings the history of the brewery to life, and is led by Executive Director John Harry, who wrote a pictorial history book about the brewery in 2019. “This is not your ordinary Point Brewery tour,” says Harry. “Some of the places you’ll see in the brewery people who work there don’t even know existed.”

This looks to be an active summer for the Portage County Historical Society with these tours, on top of regularly-planned educational programming and the Heritage Days Music and History Festival at Heritage Park in Plover June 17-18, as well as a new concert series – Firehouse Fridays – at the Historic Firehouse No. 2 on Strongs Avenue in Stevens Point, sponsored by the Legacy Group with KPR Brokers. Anyone wanting more information or tickets can go to pchswi.org/events.

Any questions can be directed to PCHS Executive Director John Harry at [email protected].