Wedges Creek pizza nights were three generations in the making

NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD

TRIBUNE PHONOGRAPH

Surprise storm clouds were beginning to gather over the crowd that had assembled at Wedges Creek for an evening of pizza and music. The coming rain, while necessary for the nearby fields just beyond the secluded glade, was not ideal for the combined outdoor concert and dining experience. The band that was playing that evening, Armchair Boogie, a bluegrass group out of Madison, eyed the coming storm with concern.

Luckily, the nearby barn-turned-wedding-venue had been redesigned as an answer to such bad weather scenarios. What was potentially problematic was the fact that the band would need help to move all their equipment to the new space before the heavens opened up. Even with the aid of the Wedges Creek staff, it looked to be a difficult task.

“As the band made an announcement that they needed some help, everybody just lurched out of their chairs, grabbed all their stuff and we got them into the venue as quickly as possible,” Jeff Volovsek, the owner of Wedges Creek, recounted. “Everyone was really quick to help out and we got them in just before the rain started coming down.” While it was packed inside, the show went on, with many stopping by afterwards to tell Volovsek that it had been one of the best concerts they had been to. One of the parents of the band members agreed, noting that the old, wood timber construc-

Owner Jeff Volovsek firing up some appetizers in one of Wedges Creek’s custom brick ovens.

NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD/THE TRIBUNE PHONOGRAPH tion of the space made for a unique sound experience. An evening of fun still to be had, thanks in part to the helping hands of the customers.

“It was great to see how people came together to help us out,” Volovsek said. “It’s a real community.”

It is that kind of atmosphere, one that breeds such a sense of community through music, food, and an appreciation of nature, that Volovsek is seeking to create at Wedges Creek, a sawmill-turned-event-hosting venue just west of Greenwood. The marriage of these aspects guided by a focus on creating a family friendly environment creates an outdoor dining experience that is more than just a trip to the restaurant.

The current iteration of Wedges Creek is the product of three generations of Volovsek’s family. His grandfather had initially run a small farm on the land before the focus eventually shifted to logging. A sawmill, which still remains on the property, was built in the 1980s and was run by Volovsek’s father, the barn for the cows being repurposed as a machine shop. The property is now in the midst of its third evolution, using its rustic charm and ample space to create a fun, multi-purpose event center.

Wedges Creek’s current main draw is its pizza night events, which feature handmade pies cooked in the custom brick ovens and then served outdoors, often paired with music performed live by various bands and artists. Guests are offered options that range from the standard pepperoni to the more adventurous margherita or specialty pizza of the month, made with handmade dough and utilizing fresh produce from local farms or the garden on site whenever possible. In addition to the pizzas, there are a handful of tasty sides and dessert pizzas to choose from. Open fields for frisbee or other sports, playground equipment, and a sand pit give kids a variety of outdoor activities to pursue while parents can unplug, listen to music and relax.

The transformation from inactive sawmill to event center was not one that happened overnight, nor did it exactly take the path that Volovsek may have initially envisioned. An initial venture into using the land as a campground in order to try to keep up with the taxes and building maintenance built little traction over the first ten years, with the lack of lakefront access and additional amenities making it difficult for it to stand out from the competition. Adding to the difficulty was the fact that Volovsek and his family were still living and working in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, leading to lengthy drives back and forth on weekends.

After seeing some brick oven pizza farms in western Wisconsin bring families together, Volovsek wanted to create that same type of outdoor atmosphere and experience at Wedges Creek Hideaway. He designed and helped build the first oven in 2013 and it turned out to be exactly that, opening the door for a variety of opportunities.

Volovsek, an engineer by trade, had no prior culinary experience.

Continued on page 20

Main dining area and stage where bands from across the Midwest have come to play. (right) Playground and sand pit where kids can play while waiting for their food.

continued from page 13

However, he took time to teach himself, experimenting for a few years with different recipes and techniques and consulting with several different chefs to collect their ideas on the matter. After some time perfecting the pizza product, conversation turned to perhaps trying to open it to the public.

“It was kind of a slippery slope into ‘hey, we have a brick oven, what if we just open it a few Saturdays a month?’” Volovsek said of the business proposal. “And my wife was like, ‘are you nuts? We live two hours away and we didn’t going to school for this!’ She was right, but the fire was literally already started with pizza experiments that were popular, so with a little convincing in 2017, a soft opening was tried with a new family business and it went pretty well.”

The campground coupled with the delicious pizza seemed to be an excellent combination, offering a unique outdoor dining experience that was well received. As word began to spread, the business continued to evolve. New varieties of pizza were brought to the table and bands were found to play live music during the events. What once started out as small affairs, where 20 to 30 pizzas were made over the course of an evening, has turned into Fridays where they might see over 250 guests, sometimes with bands that have crossed state borders to perform.

One of the biggest challenges that Volovsek faced during this journey, other than the initial obstacle of the logistics and paperwork necessary to get the restaurant up and running in the first place, was adapting to this growth. A second oven was eventually added to keep up with demand and after the Volovsek family had opened with only themselves as the staff, it very quickly became an impossible task to manage alone. Finding employees for seasonal work can be difficult and comes with its own sets of challenges but is also something that Volovsek finds that building teams very rewarding. Summer internships for local students where they get to see a bit of how the business is run and take on responsibilities in the kitchen is a good fit.

“You’re giving kids an opportunity,” Volovsek said. “You are instilling a work ethic within them and elevating them to take on new challenges. And that’s one thing we do well out here, I think, is mentoring and elevating their confidence so they can go on to take their next steps in life. We’ve had a lot of past employees come back and they love checking in and seeing how things are going and it’s always great to see them doing well.”

While the pizza nights certainly remain Wedg-