A flavored water dispenser, bacon, work boots and a limited edition snowblower.
Those four products are this year's finalists in the Coolest Thing Made in Wisconsin contest, run by a state manufacturing group. Voting in the contest continues through noon Thursday.
Without trying to bring on an early snowfall, we begin our closer look at the finalists with a trip to the Ariens Corporation.
While many other outdoor power equipment makers have shut down, or shifted production overseas, Ariens has been making the machines since 1933 at its factory in Brillion, just east of Appleton. First there were soil tillers, then the company added lawnmowers, snowblowers and other products.
Managers thought: why not celebrate that longevity?
So, production workers made the Ariens 90th Anniversary Sno-Thro — a limited edition model — only 1,933 have been made.
At the company museum this week, product manager Nik Krueger said this Coolest Thing finalist has 35 features that set it apart from the company's other snowblowers, as well as a different paint job.
"The white and orange paint scheme with the chrome accents is definitely the first thing you notice. The coolest callback we have on this machine is the Tecumseh Power Snow King branding on our engine, which calls back to nearly 3 million Ariens Snow Thros that were built with Tecumseh power engines," Krueger explained.
Those engines were made in New Holstein, at a plant the Tecumseh Corporation closed nearly 20 years ago. A licensing deal is allowing the Tecumseh name on an Ariens-built engine.
Krueger said the new snowblower has plenty of other modern features, like the ability to throw snow 55 feet, heated grips and an LED headlight.
So, is Krueger hoping for a snowy winter?
"Oh, in my line of work, I always hope for lots of snow, and any opportunity to use an Ariens Snow Thro," he said.
Water — in liquid form — is the centerpiece of another finalist in this year's Coolest Thing Made in Wisconsin contest.
The product is Bevi Bottleless Water Dispensers, made by the Neenah-based Plexus Corporation at a plant in Appleton.
Kristine Groholski, senior director of brand experience at Plexus, said after water is piped into the dispenser, which is a soda fountain like product meant for business customers, micro-dose cartridges go to work upon request.
"Employees will go right into the break room, they will grab a glass, put it under the machine and then through a very simple touch screen, they'll make their flavored water combination. So, they'll select their flavor of choice— whether it be blackberry, cucumber, lime, mango, orange — there's lots of different flavors. They can add whether they want it to be natural water or sparkling water. And the combination of all of those things combined produces over 40,000 different water combinations," Groholski told WUWM.
Groholski said you can even add vitamin C to the water. The cool thing about the dispenser, she said, is if people have reusable glassware or cups, it's a win for sustainability.
"Since installing machines at Plexus, just as a simple example, since early 2023, the company has saved nearly 120,000 plastic bottles, and that's counting every day," Groholski said.
Groholski added the Bevi Bottleless Dispensers are installed at more than 5,000 companies across North America.
The other two finalists in this year's Coolest Thing Made in Wisconsin contest are Applewood Smoked Bacon, made by the Nueske Co. in Wittenberg, and American Heritage Tobacco Safety Toe Work Boots, made by the Thorogood Co. in Merrill. Thorogood is part of Weinbrenner Shoe Company, which began in Milwaukee 130 years ago.
You can go to madeinwis.com to vote, but do so before noon on Thursday.
