The Windmill Ice Cream Shoppe, an iconic Northwoods institution


By Joel Waldinger | January 15, 2025

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Its Dutch-style windmill has become a pop culture icon in Wisconsin’s Northwoods. Owner Pat Berg says it’s a landmark for sure, a fantastic building with lots of stories.

Russell Berg, the family historian, will tell you the windmill was originally part of Phil’s Lake Nokomis Resort. The building dates to 1939, when it was originally built as a Sinclair gas station. Over the years, it has been a gas station, candy shop, information booth and, sometime in the mid ’70s, it became an ice cream shop.

The Berg family built its own history with the Windmill and can serve up stories and ice cream all in one scoop. Pat and Charlie Berg bought the windmill in 1993.

Now, for several generations, the Windmill has been a Berg family tradition. Rodney Berg worked beside his mother scooping ice cream. Now the grandkids work side by side with grandma, elbow deep in the cold stuff. With more than 100 flavors in rotation there’s always a favorite in store.

The family likens Fourth of July weekend to the shop’s Super Bowl, with lines out the door all day long. It’s the busiest holiday in the Northwoods, and the Windmill can go through 70 to 80 five-gallon tubs of ice cream in a day.

It’s what Pat Berg always envisioned for the Windmill. Ice cream put this tourist attraction on the map at the intersection of Wisconsin’s dairy and tourism industries, offering the best of what the state has to offer.

Joel Waldinger

Joel Waldinger

Joel Waldinger is a reporter for the “Wisconsin Life” project and considers a sunset over the “big island” on Manson Lake to be a perfect ending to a day of fishing and fun in the Northwoods. 
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