Little Gems, July 1, 2015

SMALL JUNK

Kona. The real stuff. 100% Kona coffee. Now where are you going to find that in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin? In fact, outside of Watertown and Fort Atkinson, the only place within fifty miles where you can get a cup of honest to God Kona is in Madison. Except for the Geneva Java Coffee Shop, Inc. located at 252 Center Street in downtown Lake Geneva! That’s right, the coffee shop is open. It opened last Saturday and it’s going great guns, with almost only locals frequenting the place because it still lacks a sign indicating that it’s there in the building that used to house Wilson’s Meats. It’s right across the street from Starbucks where you can get a cup of coffee too, but you won’t get Kona. Starbucks is all about the aftertaste whereas Geneva Java doesn’t have any at all to brag about. If you want that smooth stuff grown and picked by a throw away colony of lost natives on the Big Island of Hawaii, then The Geneva Java Coffee Shop is where you must go.

The GJ serves it because that’s the kind of place it is, even though the net cost is thirty bucks a pound without the shipping (the Hawaiian natives are native, not stupid). Maybe the GJ will charge more for the Kona, although they aren’t currently, but then maybe their profit motive is as screwed up as that of the Geneva Shore Report itself. The Geneva Java is open weekdays from 7 a.m. until 6 p.m. except on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays when it opens at 7 and closes at 9. It never closes if people are in the shop at closing time!

The Cowboy Festival. Well, it’s not called that but the phrase seems more descriptive and softer to the palate than the Dawson’s Creek Ranch Double Cash Bash. You drive north on highway 12 from Lake Geneva, get off and onto Highway 43 headed east for a couple of miles to Highway 11. Get off there and go south to the third turn, which is Bowers Road. Turn right and drive half a mile and you’ll be there at Dawson’s Creek Ranch. The rest will be automatic fun.
Friday the 10th, from 5:30 on into the night. Saturday’s fun starts at 8 am, as does Sunday, the last day.

The Hot Dog Stand at Library Park. It’s open and it’s wonderful! This concession stand of the America Legion has turned itself around big time from days of old, when some ancient city leaders of some obnoxious intent had taken it over to be their private hangout. The America Legion stepped up, as it has done through the years of our country’s history in times of way, and rallied the troops to retake the hot dog stand. No troopers run the stand these days. It’s a disabled Navy vet with his wife and kids putting out great food and open all days and hours of the summer. What a delight to have as a part of the community and what a credit to the America Legion chapter local to Lake Geneva.