5 Memorable Venues for a Corporate Holiday Party
10/27/2023
The holidays are a great time for companies to bring employees together to celebrate and show appreciation for a year of good work. And in Wisconsin, there are plenty of special venues for your corporate holiday party, whether you’re a small or large business. You can plan a rural or urban soiree, have a party in an Italian-themed Christmas village, or make a weekend of it with on-site winter sports amenities. Wisconsin has plenty of ways to make your holiday party memorable.
Top Photo: Round Lake Farms, © AriensCo Hospitality
1. Round Lake Farms, Brillion
Opened in 2021, this new rural retreat is located near Brillion, midway between the Fox Valley and the lakeshore, and surrounded by several wildlife areas. Launched by AriensCo Hospitality, the event branch of the snowmobile and lawn equipment company, the 12,000-square-foot chic-rustic facility was built to host special occasions like corporate holiday parties.
Round Lake Farms has a large gathering room with lake views, a full-service bar, a historic barn silo with a wine tasting room and warm, all-season outdoor seating in igloos. Additionally, the new Ariens Nordic Center, adjacent to Round Lake Farms, features 200 acres of all-season recreational trails built for hiking, cross-country skiing and roller-skiing for guests who want to hang out and spend some time in the snow.
arienscohospitality.com/venues/round-lake-farms
2. Villa Bellezza Winery, Pepin
Looking for a special getaway without the international flights? Host your corporate holiday party in an Italian villa-style venue in western Wisconsin. Villa Bellezza, a working vineyard and winery, is an intimate venue that can still host hundreds of guests year-round. The location, along the scenic Great River Road, offers catering by its Ristorante il Forno, led by executive chef Antonio Cecconi, who learned to cook from his mother in Sardinia, Italy.
Additionally, each Christmas season on the weekends, the venue transforms its piazzas into a European-style Christmas market — a Mercatino di Natale — featuring vendors of arts and crafts within the venue’s arched porticoes.
3. Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee
Visitors to Milwaukee’s lakeshore have come to recognize the iconic Burke Brise Soleil, the movable, 217-foot wingspan exterior of the Milwaukee Art Museum, designed by world-renowned Spanish architect and artist Santiago Calatrava. What visitors might not know is this gorgeous museum can host conferences and parties of up to a thousand guests.
The museum’s Quadracci Pavilion, with more than 25,000 square feet of event space, includes Windhover Hall, a postmodern grand reception space with a 90-foot-high atrium, allowing guests to enjoy views of Lake Michigan. The museum provides catering through its in-house Café Calatrava, on-site audiovisual equipment and services, and access to the galleries for guests.
4. Lakewoods Resort, Cable
Lakewoods Resort is a Wisconsin Northwoods mainstay, having operated along the shores of Lake Namakagon since 1906, when 19-year-old owner Anna Nemec opened her resort to the public. Now operated by the family’s third and fourth generations, this year-round, 300-acre resort offers a special retreat for your corporate guests. Its reception hall can accommodate up to 450 guests, and with lodge rooms, lakeside condos and homes, guests can make a weekend of it.
The resort hosted the 2019 U.S. National Snowshoe Championships, and guests can enjoy snowshoe hiking on the Forest Ridges Golf Course, along the lake or within the nearby Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. Lakewoods Resort also has been named the No. 1 Snowmobile Resort in the country by SnowGoer magazine, with more than 1,000 miles of trails nearby.
5. Chippewa Retreat Resort, Manitowish Waters
The Chippewa Retreat Resort is positioned on the eastern edge of Manitowish Lake, part of a chain of idyllic lakes that draws thousands of visitors annually for its recreational opportunities. The resort hosts events year-round, including both small and large corporate events of 150 people or more. The venue offers on-site catering for small groups and outside catering for larger groups.
The resort also arranges group activities, including snowmobiling, cross-country skiing or, for those who prefer to stay out of the cold, yoga classes. The lodge offers three different dining areas that can be combined into one space, and people can relax around wood-burning fireplaces after getting a drink from the 1933 Art Deco bar, reminiscent of the region’s notorious past as a Prohibition-era gangster hideout.
