PARADE PHOTO COURTESY OF DOOR COUNTY MUSEUM & LIGHTHOUSE PRESERVATION SOCIETY; MARINA PHOTO COURTESY SKIPPER BUD'S; CENTERPOINTE MARINA PHOTO COURTESY OF STURGEON BAY VISITORS CENTERMatt, are the second generation at the helm
of their family business, which also has a
location in Waukegan, Illinois.
“The people who lost their jobs at PJ were
able to fi nd new opportunities at the shipyard,”
he says. “The Door County Economic
Development Council did a great job helping
them make the transition.”
Repurposing shipyard property has been a
common theme. A few years after Peterson
Builders finally closed its doors in 1998,
the former East Side yard that produced
so many World War II submarine chasers
transformed into CenterPointe Marina.
Then, in 2013, CenterPointe purchased
Great Lakes Yacht Services (the long-ago
Palmer Johnson “south yard”) so it could be a
full-service boatyard in its own right.
So much has changed; yet, in a way,
nothing has. This is still very much a working
waterfront. Bay Ship teems with massive lake
freighters and working vessels of every stripe,
while a busy squadron of tugboats juggles all
the ins and outs. Off -duty tugs lie quietly on
the West Side near Sawyer Park and the Door
County Maritime Museum, along with the U.S.
Coast Guard vessels that call the city home.
“Sturgeon Bay was named the 15th Coast
Guard City in 2014,” says Amy Paul, the
museum’s executive director. “Everyone lovesseeing the Selvick tugs, our restored 1919
tug John Purves and the popular Chicago Fire
Boat. We’re proud of our heritage here.”Creatin boate’ have
Sturgeon Bay has long positioned itself as a
boater’s hub; clearly, word has gotten out. The
Great Lakes Cruising Club chose the city for
its annual rendezvous on July 9 to 13, which
means hundreds of boaters will be headed this
way this summer. They won’t be disappointed.
“Sturgeon Bay has done a fantastic job with
waterfront development on both sides of the
bay,” Felhofer says. “People are realizing that this
is some of the best boating in the country, with
Green Bay and Lake Michigan both accessible
in about 15 minutes. We’ve been discovered.”
Several marinas off er transient slips in
town. SkipperBud’s operates two of them.
SkipperBud’s Harbor Club Marina is at the
western foot of the 1930 Michigan Street Bridge,
a rare schwerzer-type overhead counterweight
bascule bridge that was placed on the National
Register of Historic Places in 2008. There's also
SkipperBud’s Yacht Center at Quarterdeck
Marina, also on the West Side. According to
Mike Gisch, sales manager, SkipperBud’s can
accommodate vessels from 30 to 70 feet.
This end of the bay bristles with docks.
Nearby are the Sturgeon Bay Yacht Club and4th of July ParadeCenterpointeSkipper Bud's"Peopl ar ealizin tha
thi i om o th bes
boatin i th countr,
wit Gree Ba an Lak
Michiga bot ac essibl
i abou 15 minute. W ’v
bee discovere.”
LAKELANDBOATING.COM | JULY 2017 57POC_SturgeonBay_JUL17.indd 57 5/25/17 12:12 PM