The Silvercryst Supper Club & Motel in Wautoma is a uniquely Wisconsin establishment that traces its history back more than 130 years ago. Inside you’ll find carved wood scenery, a huge old-school bar, Victorian lakefront dining room, woodland-themed dining space and a lakeside resort complete with beach, motel rooms, live music and a history of gloriously dated entertainment.
The Silvercryst started as a log resort in 1897 and grew into the supper club and motel complex it is today. Its giant fiberglass roadside steer, Boris, arrived in 1967, while decorative carved scenes were added to the bar in the late 1970s or early 1980s. The property has also hosted a bizarrely broad lineup of classic Wisconsin resort diversions over the decades, from boat parades and beauty pageants to ski shows, rowboat races and beach performances. And then there’s the pizza, which has reportedly been made from the same homemade recipe since 1955. The old traditions have changed, but the combination of supper club, lake resort and roadside kitsch remains.
Today, you can still eat dinner overlooking Big Silver Lake, grab a drink in the lounge, listen to live music, hang out on the sandy beach or stay overnight. It’s the kind of Wisconsin institution where a giant steer in the front yard, a tiki shack by the water, a supper club with decades-old carved scenery and a pizza recipe that has been unchanged since the 1950s all somehow make perfect sense.
