TOWN OF OCONOMOWOC — The items sold at The Weather Vane aren’t what people need, but for many, it’s things they have got to have. The uniqueness of the items, at least for the United States, is what has helped to keep customers traveling down country roads to reach the store on a hill for 46 years.
Owner Jane Tremaine said the idea for the store was inspired by her own travels, in particular Nova Scotia. Instead of simply buying souvenirs for herself, she decided she could bring the handcrafted items back to the Town of Oconomowoc and open a store selling the items. The Weather Vane began as a shop operated out of a garage with her friend. But, it quickly grew.
For 25 years, Tremaine travelled to Nova Scotia to acquire merchandise, and in the process, became friends with many of the craftspeople she bought from.
As her traveling began to include more destinations, her shop’s goods also expanded to include incense smoking men from Germany, pottery from Poland, wooden painted Dalecarlian horses from Sweden and even items made by the Maasai of West Africa.
While Tremaine said she and her husband used to travel to a foreign country once or twice a year and include purchasing items for the store, that stopped completely during the pandemic, but she hopes to resume traveling once again.
Now in its 46th year, Tremaine has decided to scale back on the number of items sold and is reducing inventory of the items that don’t come from Germany or Poland, in particular. Those two countries and their crafts have the highest interest locally and online, she said.
Despite not expecting to stay in business for more than four decades, Tremaine said business is strong.
“We are doing as much now as we were 20 years younger, but this isn’t going to last forever,” she said.
While customers still make the drive to W390-N8233 Pennsylvania St., The Weather Vane has found great success in taking its wares on the road to two seasonal markets: the Oconomowoc German Christmas Market in November where they have two booths and the 10-day Old World German Christmas Market at the Osthoff Resort in Elkhart Lake.
Tremaine said while people don’t generally need a hand-painted Santa from Russia or a German nutcracker man, they appreciate its beauty and like to grow their collection. The same is true for the Polish pottery, which many of her customers get introduced to when a family member is stationed in Germany.
“Once they buy one piece, they want more. It’s functional, and yet beautiful,” Tremaine said.
And for an area rich in German heritage like Wisconsin, these imported items are much harder to find than they once were. Tremaine said The Weather Vane is the only German shop remaining in the greater Milwaukee area.
“It is a place to find things that they won’t find in other places,” Tremaine said. “It’s worth the country drive.”