‘Little town’ disaster touches many lives
‘Little town’ disaster touches many lives; Visitors, former residents express shock over events
By Kelly McBride, Green Bay Press Gazette
After the initial shock of the explosion Monday in Ellison Bay, Denise Noble had an unsettling realization.
“If it had been a week later, that would’ve been our cabin,” the Waupaca woman said. “I called my sister. She didn’t believe me, so she got online. … (She said) did you know that was your duplex — where you guys stayed?”
For 12 consecutive years, the Nobles had vacationed at the Cedar Grove Resort complex — same week each year, same duplex every time. They were scheduled to arrive there Saturday until they heard the news that two people were dead and the area devastated by at least one explosion early Monday.
Remembering the area as it once was and reflecting on Monday’s events came naturally Tuesday for the Nobles and others with ties to the area. There was shock, sympathy for those who died and nostalgia for what the small community has been.
“When I saw (photos of) the store (sign) laying on the street, I almost cried,” said 62-year-old Janet Grasse Porath, who grew up on a rural Ellison Bay farm. “I could never imagine that something like that would happen.”
Porath, now a resident of Oregon, Wis., knew the tiny community before it was a resort town. She recalls fondly the destroyed Pioneer Store, remembering the days when the 136-year-old building was called Ruckert’s Store.
“They had little stools that you sat on while the storekeeper got your food, got your canned goods,” Porath said in a phone interview. “And, you know, that’s all gone. It was just filled with antiques, lots of original antiques. … It had a long counter. It had a potbellied stove.”
Even after Porath moved to Madison, she’d continue to spend summers during high school in Ellison Bay, she said. With family still in the area, Monday’s explosion hit close to home.
“It’s very devastating,” she said. “I cannot believe that the little town where I grew up and (was) born and raised has been damaged to the extent that it’s been damaged.”
For the Noble family — Denise, husband, Ken, and their three children — vacationing at Cedar Grove had become a much-anticipated yearly event.
Hearing about the explosions Monday, Denise Noble had a hard time grasping what had happened.
“Shock,” she said. “Like, no, that’s the resort we go to. It can’t be happening in Door County … not something like that. My heart goes out to the families (of those) that died.”
Reuniting at Cedar Grove had become a tradition not only for the Nobles, but also for the families they met from all over the country, Noble said. Each year was something of a reunion for them and their children.
“We would have a potluck, depending on if anybody caught any salmon,” she said. “The last couple years have been really good.”
And in spite of the devastation in the area, the family wants to be in Ellison Bay. They’ve changed their vacation plans and hope to stay at Ellison Bay’s Wagon Trail Resort for this year’s getaway.
“It’ll be another memory,” Noble said. “Just a little bit different.”