Three in Ozaukee vying for Coolest Thing honor

Three Ozaukee County businesses have products in the running for the designation The Coolest Thing Made in Wisconsin.

Cedar Valley Cheese in the Town of Fredonia was nominated for its hand strung string cheese.

Two Belgium firms were also nominated — Sharon-Cutwell for its wave-point drills and Starla’s Seasonings, Dips and Mixes for its Key Lime pie fruit dip, seasoning or cheesecake mix.

  Last year, Jolly Good soda, made in Random Lake by Krier Beverages, was named the Coolest Thing Made in Wisconsin.

Other winners have included everything from motorcycles and military vehicles to robots, beer, snowblowers and generators.

“It’s awesome,” Kevin Schiebel, chief financial officer for Cedar Valley Cheese, said of the company’s nomination. “It’s quite the honor to be recognized.

“Our employees are excited about it; our farmers are excited about it; and our patrons are excited about the chance to vote for us.”

This is the third time the company has been nominated for the honor, he said. The first time, Schiebel said, they made it to the final eight, but  the last time they didn’t make it to the knock-out round.

“This year, we’ll see,” he said.

One-hundred-forty-eight items have been nominated for the Coolest Thing Made in Wisconsin, a contest  sponsored by the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce in partnership with Johnson Financial Group.

The contest is intended to showcase the state’s $73.1 billion manufacturing industry and its high-tech, high-skill and high-pay career opportunities.

“Declaring a winner isn’t the actual goal,” WMC President and CEO Kurt Bauer said recently, noting that the state’s manufacturing sector accounts for almost 20% of Wisconsin’s gross domestic product and employs 480,000 people, almost one of every six workers.

The contest also highlights unique things created in the state, Bauer said.

“Many Wisconsinites are surprised to learn the things that are made right in their backyards,” he said. “The truth is our manufacturers are incredibly innovative with the products they create.”

That’s certainly true of the local nominees.

Town of Belgium precision-cutting tool manufacturer Sharon Cutwell has transitioned from tool sharpening and catalog manufacturing to specialized aerospace work.

It “struck gold” in the mid-2010s by designing the Wave-Point Drill, which lasts twice as long and is twice as fast as the then-standard drilling composite materials, company President Jeff Prom told Ozaukee Press earlier this year.

The Wave-Point Drill, which the company is nominated for, helped the company break into the aerospace market, he said, noting the company designed drill bits for Boeing and started a research and development division soon after.

Sharon-Cutwell’s drill bits are used to make the 250,000 micro holes in each Boeing 737 plane engine, Prom said, noting they are punches, three a second, by four robots that together can complete one engine in six hours.

Cedar Valley’s string cheese is made using “an authentic Italian recipe that’s tried and true,” Schiebel said. “It’s all hand strung. I think it helps with the stringiness.

“But the milk is the most important thing. The farmers in this area are the best in the world.”

Cedar Valley Cheese, one of the state’s largest cheesemakers, was founded in 1947 and has occupied the corner of Highway 57 and Jay Road ever since.

The company makes about 50 million pounds of cheese each year, primarily Italian cheeses, Schiebel said, using about 1.5 million pounds of milk each day.

“It’s a larger operation than most people realize,” he said.

The cheeses are sold nationwide, Schiebel said, with most of the company’s cheeses used in Italian restaurants and pizza parlors.

The byproducts created by cheesemaking are sold, he said, noting the cream is used by other firms to make butter and the whey is processed into protein that’s used primarily in sports energy drinks and pharmaceutical products.

And Starla Batzko’s seasonings company took second place at the Wisconsin State Fair in 2018, in the herbal blends category for its Key Lime pie fruit dip mix.

She told Ozaukee Press in 2019 that she and her brother Phil Shlamp were airbrushing items for their mother’s crafts but when she developed carpel tunnel syndrome she began looking for another business opportunity. 

She enjoys wild game hunting and began making seasoning mixes, and that eventually led to Starla’s Seasonings, which are made with natural products and don’t have MSG, gluten or added sugar.

“I love flavor, and it’s tough to find a good natural choice,” she said.

The first round of voting for the Coolest Thing Made in Wisconsin ended Tuesday, and the top 16 products will  go on to compete in “Manufacturing Madness,” a bracket-style tournament culminating with one champion. The 2025 Coolest Thing Made in Wisconsin will be announced on Oct. 23.

For more information and to vote, visit www.madeinwis.com.