Green Bay WBAY News: Vote now: Coolest Things in Wisconsin narrowed to bracket of 16

GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY) – Wisconsin produces a lot of cool things. It’s time to vote on the coolest to give one company bragging rights for 2021.

Voting is now open in the Coolest Thing in Wisconsin contest organized by Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC) and Johnson Financial Group. For food and drink lovers, it might be a difficult choice between New Glarus’ Spotted Cow, Jolly Good Soda — or a glass with an airplane propeller to put them in — Kwik Trip’s Glazer Donuts or Brakebush’s Signature Crispy Fillet.

For people who enjoy the outdoors or entertainment, you might choose among teardrop travel trailers, archery or clay targets, Skee-Ball, a Mercury Marine outboard engine or the Sea-Doo Switch, or, for pilots, an integrated flight display system.

Heavy industry is also represented, including Caterpillar’s Cat Electric Rope Shovel, Broadwind’s 140-ton Navy Crane (see our coverage of that here), and Drexel Building Supply’s Off-site Construction residential building, or the WiNDR for making medical disinfecting wipes.

Bracket-style voting is underway at www.madeinwis.com. Here are the eight first-round match-ups:

  • Cat Electric Rope Shovel (Caterpillar Global Mining, Milwaukee) vs. Spotted Cow (New Glarus Brewing Company, New Glarus)
  • Glazer Donuts (Kwik Trip, La Crosse) vs. Power-Stop Archery Targets (American Excelsior Co., Sheboygan)
  • V12 600hp Verado Outboard Engine (Mercury Marine, Fond du Lac) vs. Brakebush Signature Crispy Fillet (Brakebush Brothers Inc., Westfield)
  • WiNDR (Absolut Manufacturing, Ashland) vs. Skee-Ball (BayTek Entertainment, Pulaski)
  • 140 Ton Navy Crane (Broadwind Heavy Fabrications, Manitowoc) vs. Off-site Construction Residential Building (Drexel Building Supply, Campbellsport)
  • Aircraft Propeller Glasses (BenShot, Appleton) vs. Jolly Good Soda (Krier Foods, Random Lake)
  • Sea-Doo Switch (BRP US Inc., Sturtevant) vs. 611 XP Clay Target Machine (MEC Outdoors, Mayville)
  • Badger Pro + Flight Display (Astronautics Corporation of America, Oak Creek) vs. Camp-Inn Travel Trailers (Petenwell Industries LLC, Necedah)

First-round voting ends Tuesday, Sept. 28, at 5 P.M., then the Top 8 Coolest Things Made in Wisconsin will be determined and a new round of voting begins.

This is the sixth year for the competition organized by WMC and Johnson Financial Group. Previous winners include Oshkosh Defense’s military Joint Light Tactical Vehicles and the Sea Salt Caramel Pecan Kringle from Uncle Mike’s Bake Shoppe.

To read more go to: www.wbay.com.

Coolest Thing Made in Wisconsin