Clipsville, USA
Clipsville, USA Some of the best moments that happened while filming “Main Streets” this year didn’t make it into any episodes, but they do make a hilarious finale to the season. Uncover those miscues, interruptions and favorite things that didn’t make the final cuts...
Greater Lafayette, Indiana
Greater Lafayette, Indiana, is two cities, and we didn’t come only for Purdue University. If we told you we were going to a place where people raise wolves, operate a 1920s farm, frequent a Triple X establishment, and spit crickets, you might question our judgment. But once you watch this episode your only question will be, when can I go there?
Austin, Minnesota
Austin MN is home to Hormel Foods’ world-famous SPAM Museum. But meat lovers like John McGivern also must stop at Knauer’s Meat Market and the Tendermaid Sandwich Shop. Nature lovers can’t miss the Jay C. Hormel Nature Center. And if you plan to visit at the right times, you can be wowed by the Oaxacan basketball tournament or the Austinaires.
Marquette, Michigan
Marquette in Michigan’s U.P. is for everyone! Incredible views, adventure, White fish, Theater. And if you still don’t get the picture, you can get that too!
Decorah, Iowa
Decorah, Iowa, draws in many people with its charm. History lovers with Norwegian lineage come to research at Vesterheim. Students come to learn at Luther College. Gardeners come to be inspired at Seed Savers Exchange. What everyone finds are smiles!
Waukesha, Wisconsin
Waukesha, Wisconsin, is known as Guitar Town because it’s where Les Paul was born. But it’s also home to so much more than that.
Madison, Wisconsin
In Madison, Wisconsin, there’s a famous street that connects the State Capitol to the campus of UW-Madison. State Street has been a pedestrian mall since the 1970’s and is lined with very diverse shops, restaurants and art that make it the go-to place to experience the Madison vibe. John and Emmy love it!
Oak Park, Illinois
Oak Park, Illinois, is only a short ride on the “L” from Chicago, but location isn’t the only good thing about this close-knit community.
Red Wing, Minnesota
Red Wing, Minnesota, isn’t named after the famous shoe company. It’s the other way around. See the world’s largest boot and do some shoe shopping, but also be sure to walk down to the Mississippi to watch the boats, spend time in charming downtown, climb Barn Bluff, and celebrate the return of the bison with the Prairie Island Indian Community.
Michigan City, Indiana
Michigan City, Indiana, surprised John by having so many of his favorite things: Incredible sandy beaches and dunes, the Barker Mansion, beautiful local stores, large-scale manufacturing and of course, delicious food!
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Grand Rapids, Michigan was once known as Furniture City. Now thanks to craft brewers, it’s self-coined as Beer City.
Davenport, Iowa
Davenport is the largest of the Quad Cities and the third largest city in Iowa. It’s where chiropractic began, and music is celebrated. Now it’s home to the most incredible Ethiopian food, a great art museum, and is where work vehicle seats are made. Who knew? It’s also a city John wants to visit again soon.
Springfield, Illinois
In Springfield, Illinois, you could spend a week just taking in all of the incredible Abraham Lincoln history. But then you’d miss the “new” Capitol, horseshoe sandwiches, the Route 66 experience, and cozy dogs. John McGivern and Emmy Fink didn’t miss any of it, so come along for their visit.
Dodgeville, Wisconsin
Dodgeville, Wisconsin Dodgeville, WI, is a close-knit yet welcoming driftless area community built on mining. Dodgeville has some legendary Wisconsin treasures, like Governor Dodge State Park, The House on the Rock and Bob’s Bitchin BBQ. There are legendary...
Goshen, Indiana
Goshen is in Elkhart County, IN. This area makes 85% of recreational vehicles in the US. Dynamax, Janus Motorcycles, Goshen College and Radio Horizonte were surprising. Mexican food is a given here, but Neopolitan pizza at Venturi and Maple City Indian Restaurant? Yum! Add the Old Bag Factory and Quilt Gardens and what you get is joy.
Iowa City, Iowa
Iowa City is an everyone’s town!
Iowa City is a college town. #GoHawkeyes It’s also a literary town, home to Prairie Lights Books and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. It’s a farming town, growing well at Urban Greens and Wilson’s Orchard & Farm. And it’s an innovative town, with one-of-a-kinds like the National Advanced Driving Simulator, Unimpaired Dry Bar and Crepes De Luxe Café.
Menomonee Valley, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
The Menomonee Valley in Milwaukee Wisconsin is becoming a vital and
happening place.
In Milwaukee WI’s Menomonie Valley, the Harley Davidson Museum,
Palermo’s, Potowatomi Casino and BBC Lighting are well known and always fun. But there’s more happening here. Do you like pickled foods? Bay View Packing is for you. Art? Warehouse Art Museum is unreal. How about eating and drinking? Twisted Fisherman and Third Space Brewing got you!
Escanaba, Michigan
Escanaba, Michigan, has “Yooper” culture all their own.
You can taste it in the delicious pasties at Dobber’s and in the sweet wines at Leigh’s Winery. You can hear it in Ludington Park when the nearly 100- year-old City Band plays. You can feel it in the great outdoors while you fish with Beaver’s Lures or watch the sun rise at Terrace Bay Inn.
Winona, Minnesota
Winona, MN, is a city of 26,000 very lucky people, built on a Mississippi River sandbar.
At Willet Hauser, artists make stained glass. Watkins Co. employees make tons of vanilla, and the crew at Wenonah Canoe make – guess. Sugar Loaf Bluff is paradise for climbers, Yarnology is home for knitters and NOSH is heaven for John, because he’s an eater!
Fort Wayne, Indiana
John knew it‘s home to Vera Bradley and Sweetwater. But he didn’t expect a Diocesan Museum, a huge Public Library, the most perfect Children’s Zoo or Coney Island Hot Dogs. What a great city!
Woodstock, Illinois
Woodstock, Illinois, may have been put on the map by the movie Groundhog Day, but it’s what John McGivern finds in real life that deserves the spotlight.
Amana Colonies, Iowa
Amana Colonies, Iowa Iowa’s Amana Colonies are not Amish! Come meet the past while enjoying right now. Iowa’s Amana Colonies lived communally until 1932. Today their innovative past and welcoming hospitality draw visitors by the thousands. John McGivern is reminded of...
Holland, Michigan
Get ready for all things Dutch,and much more. John McGivern clomps around in wooden shoes at Windmill Gardens, satisfies his sweet tooth at Nelis’ Dutch Village and DeBoer Bakery, cherishes his wooden bowl from the Holland Bowl Mill, and is enthralled at the only Delft factory in North America.
Bloomington, Minnesota
Bloomington Minnesota is home to the Mall of America, and the behind-the-scenes tour was full of surprises for John McGivern.
The rest of the city was also full of surprises. He didn’t expect to find a ski-jump, the largest bicycle products distributor in America, the first tap room in Minnesota and a goat farm!
De Pere, Wisconsin
De Pere, WI is sometimes called a suburb of Green Bay, but don’t say that to anyone who lives there.
Lincoln Square, Chicago
Chicago’s Lincoln Square neighborhood boasts a main street straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting. John McGivern enjoys the German roots still present, but also finds many ethnicities in this diverse neighborhood.
Sister Bay, Wisconsin
If you googled popular Wisconsin tourist spots, Sister Bay would definitely be at the top of the list. Sister Bay was named after the unincorporated Sister Islands just off the horizon in the bay.Its endless shoreline has been a hotspot for tourists since the late...
Kalamazoo, Michigan
n 1900, Kalamazoo was the celery capital of the world! No kidding. The nearby “mucklands” –which must not exist where I live-are perfect for growing celery! Earlier, in the second half of the 1800’s, Kalamazoo was known as paper city. The Bryant Paper Company here in Kalamazoo became largest Michigan manufacturer of book paper. And by World War II, a score of local mills made Kalamazoo the largest paper producer in the nation.
Le Claire, Iowa
Le Claire is a storied river town, a classic Mississippi River port that boomed in the mid-19th century. The old river pilot homes are still here, which are testament to the fact that river pilots were needed because here is where the river makes a sharp turn to the...
Indiana Dunes
Formed more than 10-thousand years ago by glaciers, the area was first home the Miami and Potawatomi tribes. The area quickly thrived thanks to its location to not just Lake Michigan, but also rivers –helping the fur trade and eventually steel production, flourish. But water wasn’t the only mode of transpiration that brought in commerce. Railroads brought in goods and people.
Today, the Indiana Dunes are a hot spot for visitors in the Midwest and beyond.
