Home-buying Expo, Tour to Showcase Shorewood Available Housing Stock

A expo with realtors, lenders, home inspectors and representative from the village and schools, followed by a tour of available homes, is slated for May 11.

Shorewood will host a Spring Home Buying Expo and Tour May 11, to help streamline and ease the house-hunting experience in the village.  The event starts at 10 a.m. at the Village Center, 3920 N. Murray Ave. (lower level of the Library) with an expo featuring realtors, lenders, home inspectors and representatives from the village, schools and the business district. A special presentation will be held from 10:45-11:30 a.m. when various community representatives will briefly describe the benefits of Shorewood living. Then from 12-3 p.m. there will be a self-guided tour of more than 25 Shorewood homes for sale. Programs, with a map and listings of all properties offering an open house that day, will be available at the expo.  “This new event …

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Shorewood Lands Bird City Designation

Shorewood joins 65 Wisconsin cities, village and towns designated as a Bird City, proving its commitment to creating healthy habitats for birds.

Shorewood joins 65 Wisconsin cities, village and towns designated as a Bird City, proving its commitment to creating healthy habitats for birds. Modeled on the “Tree City USA” program, Bird City developed 22 criteria across five categories, including habitat creation and protection, community forest management, limiting hazards to birds, public education and recognition of International Migratory Bird Day. If a community meets at least seven criteria, it becomes an official “Bird City." The Milwaukee Audubon Society partnered with other Wisconsin conservation organizations in 2009 to launch Bird City with an initial planning grant from TogetherGreen, an alliance between the National Audubon Society and Toyota. The village is among a new …

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Winter Storm Caused Closings, Traffic Backups

The winter storm that sat over the Milwaukee area on Tuesday and Wednesday dropped far more snow than originally predicted, leading to school closings and treacherous road conditions.

Updated 10 p.m. Wednesday Updated 9:15 p.m. The winter storm that started Tuesday and ended overnight Wednesday into Thursday was originally predicted to leave little impact.  But conditions were just right for the storm to grow, and it ended up dumping wet, slushy snow that closed schools and made roads dangerous for several days.  Patch media partners WISN 12 News said this storm didn't follow the predictions. Computers and humans alike had originally predicted two to four inches of snow from this system, which earlier had buried the Plains states in a fresh blanket of snow. However, some uncharacteristic lake enhancement took place late Tuesday afternoon, driving snow totals much higher. "A humbling storm for all meteorologists in …

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WATCH: 'Around the Corner' Featuring Shorewood

Miss the free showing or when it aired on TV? Milwaukee Public Television has made the full episode available online.

If you weren't able to make the free showing or forgot to tune to Milwaukee Public Television on Thursday when it first hit the air, don't fret — the second season premiere of "Around the Corner with John McGivern," featuring Shorewood, is available online in its entirety. Emmy award-winning actor John McGivern leads unique field trips through Wisconsin towns and neighborhoods discovering their secrets and history. In all of the episodes he bumps into local historian John Gurda, who shares fascinating historical gems about town settlers, buildings, parks and neighborhoods. When McGivern visited Shorewood this summer, he ran into Gurda in Hubbard Park. He also chats with business owners at Goody Gourmets, Benji's Deli, Vanity Fur and …

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Remembering 2012 in Shorewood through Photos

Take a trip down memory lane with some of our favorite photos from 2012.

It has been said that a photo is a worth a thousand words.  Photos have the power to tell a story, and we told many this year. That's why we're looking through a few of our favorites from 2012. If you think we forget something from 2012, let us know in the comment section, or add your own photo. 

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SHOP Celebrates 5 Years in Shorewood

The mother-daughter duo of Mary LeBlanc and Liz Sumner say their East Capitol Drive women's clothing shop has been a great success.

Liz Sumner's dream while in business school at the University of Chicago was to become a small business owner. The Shorewood native followed her passion for fashion and settled on a boutique for women in the village named SHOP, with her mother Mary LeBlanc. Five years later, the two are celebrating their success.  The mother-daughter team gave themselves a little under a year to accomplish their goal of opening a clothing store. In October 2007, they achieved their goal and are proud of their store. “Owning a store provides a great sense of pride and accomplishment,” LeBlanc said. “Liz and I work very hard.” “It was the right idea at the right time; we both thought it was a good time to do something together,” Sumner said. Sumner and …

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The Shorewood Insider

If You Can't Say Anything Nice...Come Sit by Me

Etiquette expert, Margery Sinclair, returns to Shorewood Saturday to give local children a lesson on proper dinner table manners and protocol.

Margery Sinclair has been consulting and citing cultural rules of etiquette since she was a little girl, when she received Amy Vanderbilt's "Complete Guide to Gracious Living." "I didn't realize it was a reference guide," she said. "So I read it cover to cover, and so was well-prepared for a private audience with the Pope and also what to wear to dinner on the first night of a transatlantic voyage by boat."  Saturday, international etiquette guru Sinclair will return home to Shorewood — having lived and raised her son here — to lead 21 lucky local children in a private lesson in etiquette from 10:30 a.m. to noon.  The special class is part of Shorewood's "Stop, Shop and Restore" running the same day.  Her new book, titled, "A Year of Good …

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Shorewood Won't Regulate Little Free Libraries

Village doesn't plan to follow Whitefish Bay's lead at this point in regulating the free book boxes.

Although Whitefish Bay has become the first municipality in the country to keep Little Free Library boxes out of front yards, Shorewood — which has also seen the phenomenon — has no intentions to regulate them at this time, the village manager said. Village Manager Chris Swartz confirmed that Shorewood has an ordinance preventing general structures in front yards, similar to Whitefish Bay's. Swartz said most municipalities have them. “Everyone has a similar type ordinance about structures in front yards,” he said. “It’s common and dates to the 1960s and 50s.” However, Swartz said he believes that “ordinances should be cultivated based on need and debate a bit,” and in Shorewood, no one has complained about the boxes, which have sprouted up…

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The Shorewood Insider

The Great Wall of Elements East

How the making of Elements East forged together craftsmen and community to bring the newest location of the store offering unique interiors and antiques.

To the joint propietors of the new Elements East in the new Ravenna project in Shorewood, getting the store open by Thanksgiving weekend required the collaboration and energy of a group of artisans and project managers.  It opened Nov. 19, just in time for the Black Friday shopping weekend. The original proprietors of the Elements East store were Alicia Urban and Therese Armbruster. That store was on Silver Spring, and drew customers from Chicago, Madison, Racine, Mequon, Cedarburg, and beyond, with their special artifacts and personal service. After losing the lease last year, Urban found this new space, and the group has been waiting to get in and create their vision.  In the meantime, a sister store opened in Delafield, at 631 Genesee …

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Village to Hold Budget Hearing Monday

Officials slated to vote on proposed budget which would mean an increase of $37 on the property tax bill for owner of a $300,000 home.

Village officials will hold a public hearing on the 2013 budget 7:30 Monday night during their board meeting. The Village Board will then consider adopting a budget for next year, among other items on the agenda. Under the proposed budget, the owner of a $300,000 property would see the village's portion of their tax bill rise by $37. The tax levy is estimated to increase by $185,056 or 1.8 percent from last year.  The meeting will take place at Village Hall, 3930 N. Murray Ave.

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