Living in Door Co (Manitowoc, Sturgeon Bay: lease, find a job, restaurants) - City-Data Forum

ben242000 · 11-10-2008, 05:11 AM

I know it is a mostly tourist town and could be a tough place to find a job. Does anyone here currently call Door Co their home, an what do you do for work?

Owensmomma · 11-15-2008, 07:54 PM

We've lived in Door County for a little over a year. Hubby and I are self-employed: I'm a writer, and he's a woodworker. We moved here after escaping from the State-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named (i.e., we're FIBs).

There is some work here. In the summer, there are lots of jobs at the restaurants and resorts. Not so much in the cold months though. Right now, Palmer Johnson (yacht builders) is looking for people with specific skills. But the job ads are thin and probably won't pick up until next May, when the tourists come back.

My recommendation? If you're thinking of moving here, rent, don't buy. Give yourself time to see if you can find a job that will pay the bills. We love it here, but we're not making enough to cover the bills so we may try somewhere else once our lease is up. That said, we'll always love DC.

Aylalou · 11-15-2008, 07:55 PM

What is FIB?

Geechie North · 11-16-2008, 10:08 AM

FIB=

Flatlander. Illinoisian.

Anyway, about Door Co:

Employment is the issue; always has been since we allowed shipbuilding to go abroad.

Right now Bay Ship (e.g., "Bayboat") and Plamer Johnsons (PJ's) power the tepid economy.
Bayboat just got sold to an Italian conglomerate.
Not good. at least under Manitowoc Corp. they knew where Sturgeon Bay is.

PJ's was sold to another foreign conglomerate a few years back. They are currently laying off, but what's really troubling is that the official teason for that is, "There are only aluminum hulled boats to be bid on, and we have no expertise in that."

Which is, of course, a blatant lie. Anyone who knows the company from back when the Kelseys had it knows that their speciality was aluminum hulls.

As for tourism, every year since about 1999, the $$ derived from tourism has declined.
Why?
From my view, two reasons:

A. Lake Michigan dropped by about 1' in the 1990's, and has never come back. That may not seem like much, but it equates to about (varies) a 20 yard retreat in waterline, and that's really changed its character. Couple that with the invasion of exotics (another international trade issue), and you've got a, " Brand new lake ever since the Quagga Mussels arrived.", as a DNR rep put it.

As Lake Michigan goes, so does Door County's appeal.

B. The "tourist trap" character of the place. It might have worked for the Dells, but it does not work in a place where (supposedly) "Nature Smiles For Miles and Miles".

That was their old Chamber of Commerce slogan, fyi