New proprietors plan to keep kitschy fashion at Baraboo’s Willowood Inn
An incorrect flip marked a turning point in Angie Lowe’s and her family’s lives.
Her husband, Aaron, was taking her out to eat at the Barn Restaurant for Mother’s Day but made a wrong activate the way back home to Reedsburg. His spouse noticed a “For Sale” sign at the Willowood Inn on Sauk County Highway DL.
“‘I ought to have this vicinity’ — I instructed my husband that,” she stated.
By February, the Lowes owned the 16-room hotel near the entrance to Devil’s Lake State Park. They retained the quaint-themed guest rooms adorned by preceding proprietor Linda Johnson, who moved to Florida.
“That’s what we favored about it, the paintings she put into it to make it how it’s miles,” Angie Lowe said. “She placed quite a few heart and soul into it.”
The unique portion of the resort was regarded then because the Dream Lodge Motel was built in 1955. It extended with numerous cabins in 1972, and a new office was constructed in 2012.
Johnson renamed and converted the inn, redecorating each room in step with a subject — lighthouse, western, iciness wonderland — in a kitschy retro style. Lowe stated she became interested in it because, as a traveler, she books rooms at family-owned hotels over chains.
Regular clients go back yearly to enjoy the motel’s precise charms, its perspectives of the Baraboo Bluffs, and its peaceful solitude a mile from the bustling park. Lowe expected ninety percent of her clients to be repeat guests. “I assume it’s plenty greater private,” Lowe said. “No room is the equal, and it feels like domestic.” The bookkeeper-turned-innkeeper receives help from son Austin, who facilitates maintenance, and Joshua lives on the resort. Her mother and aunt help with laundry. “We all had something to make contributions,” Lowe stated.
Willowood, named for the assets’ towering willow trees, has reservations on the books through October. Lowe stated that the maximum number of guests — households, hipsters, Devil’s Lake site visitors — are drawn with snapshots on the hotel’s website.
“It attracts a certain kind of people,” Lowe stated. “You can’t appreciate it until you truly get here.” She aims to promote the hotel by linking it to nearby antique shops, restaurants, and herbal regions. “Next year, we’ve got to work on that,” Lowe stated. “It depends on capitalizing on everything else Baraboo has to offer, and there are loads.” Lowe wanted to work for herself and didn’t regret becoming an innkeeper and housekeeper. “What introduced me here changed into a passion for assisting people in creating memories,” she stated. “When I saw this area, I stated, ‘This is the perfect opportunity.’
“We’re looking forward to being here a long term.” As a communication scholar, I believe there are those moments when it is instructive to bracket our partisan views to analyze the rhetorical strategies and messages of political candidates. Doing so might help us understand why some politicians are persuasive, and others aren’t.
