You can still vote for your new favorite Sturgeon Bay-built freighter in a statewide contest. Built by Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding and launched earlier this year, the M/V Mark W. Barker was voted into the Coolest Things Made in Wisconsin’s Elite Eight as its fifth seed. The M/V Mark W. Barker was the first Great Lakes freighter built in the United States since the 1980s.
The M/V Mark W. Barker was one of 121 nominated products to make the championship rounds late last month. In the Sweet 16 round, the M/V Mark W. Barker toppled the Aerozen Advanced Performance Coating System produced by Hentzen Coatings of Milwaukee. It will now face the Reedsburg-produced Tomberlin E-Merge Beachcomber.