EPHRAIM, Wis.-The owner of Chef's Hat Cafe has heard the joke plenty of times: If you don't want to wait for a restaurant table on Fourth of July weekend in Door County, go to Ephraim.
After all, how many people want to celebrate the holiday without a little beer or wine?
Ephraim is believed to be the last dry community in a state where beer is part of the collective heritage, more than 100 wineries dot the countryside, and the brandy old-fashioned is the unofficial state cocktail.
But that's about to change.
The people of this hamlet overlooking Green Bay in Wisconsin's thumbnail voted overwhelmingly in April to allow the sale of beer and wine, popping the cork on 160-plus years of municipal sobriety.
Now Todd Bennett, who has owned Chef's Hat Cafe since 2003, is hoping diners who usually traveled a few miles in either direction from Ephraim will come to his place. And they will certainly be welcome during the busy Independence Day holiday, when Door County traffic is bumper to bumper.
"We always did a very good breakfast and lunch, but our slowest time was at dinnertime," said Bennett. "I think it will put Ephraim back on the map again for a dinner spot."
Founded in 1853 by Moravian settlers, Ephraim's year-round population of 288 swells to thousands in the summer. Twice before, the town rejected the idea of allowing alcohol. But this spring local businessman Hugh Mulliken submitted 100 signatures for a referendum, even though he needed only 25.
And this time Ephraim citizens, in effect, raised their glasses and said "Cheers!" The beer referendum passed 127-98; the wine referendum sailed through 152-73.
"The net profit of a restaurant is highly dependent on the sale of alcohol," Mulliken said recently in his office. "It would be pleasant if you could walk into a restaurant here and order a glass of beer or wine."
Mulliken, who served on the Door County Board for a dozen years and is an elder in the Ephraim Moravian Church, doesn't own a restaurant in town and said he does not personally benefit from the change, though his wife owns the Lodgings at Pioneer Lane, a bed and breakfast in Ephraim. He could not vote in the referendum because he lives in a neighboring community.
"I think time will tell. It will be a more positive impact on Ephraim. It isn't like we have homeless people walking through town," Mulliken said.
Tony Beadell, whose wife's great-great-grandfather Ole Larsen helped found Ephraim, is disappointed in the change.
"This came up on very short notice and a lot of people were unaware of it, especially those people who were out of town for the winter. I'm sure they'll be surprised that the traditions and the character of their village will be dramatically changed after 150 years," said Beadell, a Mequon investment manager who owns a home in Ephraim.
"I think a lot of people unfortunately take Ephraim for granted; it's really a little gem. It's like a beautiful marble statue that people like to chip away at bit by bit," said Beadell, lamenting the fact his community will become "just another bar stool in Door County."
The Village Board is figuring out how to issue beer and wine licenses, something pretty much every municipality in Wisconsin has done for decades. The village's attorney is drafting an ordinance that will be discussed at the next board meeting, and this month representatives from the state Department of Revenue will give a presentation to the community, said Ephraim Administrator Brent Bristol.
Charles Peterson, a resident since 1973, voted in favor of wine, but backed away from beer because he's worried it will lead to an increase in people drinking on the streets.
Still, he's comfortable with the change. "It was an act of great interest in town," he said as he headed out for a daily stroll. "Some people don't like it, but I think it's good for the community."
Beadell, a member of the Ephraim Historical Foundation, remains a bit indignant.
"I suppose one of the benefits is that people come from all over to see the sunsets in Ephraim," he said. "I think by serving beer and wine we'll extend that sunset into the wee hours of the morning."