Kenosha, Wisconsin: Mars Cheese Castle

No one talked about the bar located in the Cheese Castle, where local barmaids serve beer with a smile and the slight yooper accent you will find in the area. The cherry on top is the giant (HUGE!) crock of sharp cheddar cheese spread that is passed around along with crackers to bar patrons - gratis!

Mars Cheese Castle will be moving west of its current location when they start to widen the I-90/94 interstate. This will not be for another 12 to 18 months from July 2009. Of course this all depends on the Wisconsin DOT and how on-schedule they are.

The Mars Cheese Castle is a large building just off I-94, with plywood crenellations around the top and a huge mouse sculpture on the roof. Inside you can purchase any number of Wisconsin tourist items (cheesehead hats, bratwurst-head hats, cow bells, etc etc), as well as a million kinds of cheese and sausage. My favorite section was the sculptural food section, where you could buy cheddar shaped like cows, beer steins, the state of Wisconsin, and sausages molded to look like things like longneck beer bottles.