"This is one for the record books." That's how the Town of East Troy put it on Sept. 22, announcing that the Beulah Heights waterway was scheduled to reopen by the end of Friday, Sept. 25. The Town asked boaters to post photos of their first trips through the new culvert and signed off with "Happy Boating." Five days later, on Sept. 30, the Town Board's advisory wake-surf zones for Lake Beulah expired.
So the lake got its route back after the boating season was mostly over, and the rules for the next season ran out the same week. That makes this fall less of a wind-down than usual. The next few months will decide what next summer on the water looks like, and that work happens on land, at Town Hall and around the East Troy village square.
The closure that was supposed to end by July
The Beulah Heights culvert project was planned as a spring job. In its February–April progress report, the Town said it had accepted the RLP Diversified Inc. proposal at $387,716, bought the culvert itself for $88,000, and expected the project to be done by June or July 2026. The Fall 2026 issue of Protect Lake Beulah's LakeViews newsletter lists what happened instead:
- March 9. The Town received one bid, and a consultant recommended awarding the job to that lone bidder.
- April 27. The culvert bridge closed for replacement.
- June. Crews found a steel and concrete bridge buried under the culvert bridge they were replacing.
- June 26. Unstable soil stopped the digging so the roadway edges and neighboring driveways would stay intact, and sheeting had to be installed for safety.
- July 23. A gas line at the culvert was struck. Beulah Heights Road was shut until the Fire Department and WE Energies said it was safe.
- July 31. Crews found an active spring, which forced a new plan for the project.
After demolition, the newsletter adds, a temporary road was needed. By the Town's Sept. 4 update, Beulah Heights Road was open evenings and weekends, with the bypass roadway still in use for backfilling and pulling out sheeting. The Sept. 18 update said crews were still removing the temporary roadway and that restoring the side walls came next. The Sept. 22 notice set the reopening target and said Miller would place the gas line when its schedule allowed, working with Lynch.
As of this writing, the most recent Town notice still gives Sept. 25 as a scheduled date, and no later update confirms the reopening. If you plan to take a boat through before it comes out for the season, check the Town's news page first. Either way, the channel spent nearly all of the 2026 boating season closed, so much of the lake's back-and-forth traffic took other routes this summer. That's worth keeping in mind as the Town reviews how the lake was used this year.
The rules that lapsed on Sept. 30
The Town Board adopted Resolution 2026-11 on June 8. It set up two recommended Wake Enhanced Sport Zones, one in the Long Lake section and one in the Big Lake section. Each covers water deeper than 25 feet and more than 500 feet from shore. The zones were mapped from a sonar survey contracted by the Lake Beulah Management District. That survey was done in early April 2026 to chart the lake bottom before new weed growth came in.
Outside those zones, the resolution recommended "but not mandated" that boaters skip ballast tanks, ballast bags, fins and continuous running at transition speed. According to Protect Lake Beulah, the Board also recommended no wake surfing on Mill Lake. The resolution ran through Sept. 30, 2026. Section 4 states that nothing in it keeps the Board from later adopting an ordinance if it decides one is warranted.
Steve Huening is writing his last letter as president of Protect Lake Beulah after 35 years on the lake. He counts wake surfing as one of only two lake issues in his time that reached national attention and state legislation. The other was Well #7. His assessment of the summer is direct:
"To date however, reported, recorded and observed behavior suggests that compliance with those advisory recommendations has been disappointingly poor."
He writes that once the season and the Board's review period are over, town officials can decide whether the advisory approach worked or whether stronger, enforceable safeguards are needed. No review date or draft ordinance has been posted yet. Until one is, the advisory stands as the lake's only formal record of what the Town asked boaters to do in 2026.
What else goes into the Town's review
The Town has more 2026 data to work with than in earlier years. The Lake Beulah Management District put out 93 permitted buoys this summer. Its map explains that between the shore and those buoys, usually about 200 feet out, boaters are generally limited to slow-no-wake speed. At Wilmers Landing, the public launch got a new kiosk for the 2026 season. It takes cash and credit cards, prints a receipt for the dashboard, and is staffed by Citizen Service Officers. The district's spring newsletter listed kiosk hours as Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Other lake work is done for the year. The district's aquatic-plant harvesting was scheduled to run from June 15 to mid-September. On Aug. 4, 300 northern pike, about a year old and 8 to 10 inches long, were stocked from the Divine Word shoreline. On Sept. 12, the district posted that the DNR had confirmed blue-green algae from photos taken near the Seminary on Friday, Sept. 11. The district said it didn't know whether the bloom was limited to that spot. That notice describes one day in September and says nothing about the lake's current condition.
October's agenda moves to land
The first public meeting of the off-season isn't about the lake. On Monday, Oct. 19, at 5 p.m., the Town will host an information meeting at Town Hall with the engineering firm Ayres about the Beach Road Bridge Construction Project. Residents can ask questions, Board members are expected to attend, and the notice says no Board action will be taken. The Town's spring progress report calls this the ETRR Beach Road Bridge Project. It says WisDOT accepted the Town's preferred bridge height of 18 feet, 2 inches, and that the project is moving forward. Anyone who sat through this summer's culvert work will likely have questions about the schedule.
The rest of October is on the social calendar, much of it close to the water:
- Friday, Oct. 2. East Troy First Fridays: Fall Fair at Village Square Park, 2881 Main St., with Wire & Nail, food trucks, makers' booths and family activities.
- Sunday, Oct. 4. St. Peter's Fall Festival at 1981 Beulah Ave., with a homemade chicken dinner and activities after the 9:30 a.m. Mass.
- Saturday, Oct. 10. The East Troy Fall Beer & Wine Walk checks in at Village Square Park. Stops include East Troy Brewery at 2905 Main St., Sauced Pizzeria at 2886 Main St. and Al Smith's Saloon at 2878 Main St.
- Fridays, Oct. 9, 16, 23 and 30. East Troy Railroad Museum Trick-or-Treat Trains leave at 5 and 6 p.m., stop at Jim Byrnes Memorial Park, and return to the East Troy Depot at 2002 Church St.
- Tuesday, Oct. 20, and Saturday, Oct. 24. Alpine Valley Resort hosts its Great Puzzle Challenge: Haunted Edition in the Pavilion from 6 to 9:30 p.m., then its Spooky Scramble Golf Outing from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The Chamber's own pages list two different start times for both the Fall Fair and the Beer & Wine Walk, so confirm before you go. The museum's dinner trains filled up early. Oktoberfest on Oct. 3, the Sweetest Day train on Oct. 17 and the Harvest Colors Lunch on Oct. 21 were already sold out by late September. The Adult Halloween train on Oct. 31 is listed at $160.
Dec. 5, and a drive-in that stays open
The holiday calendar has one crowded night. On Saturday, Dec. 5, the East Troy Railroad Museum's Christmas Parade Train leaves the Elegant Farmer at 5 p.m. and brings Santa to the East Troy Village Square around 6:30 p.m. for the tree lighting and the debut of East Troy Lights. The same evening, Alpine Valley Resort holds its own Christmas Tree Lighting from 5:30 to 10 p.m. behind the main building at W2501 County Road D. It's also hosting its 9th Annual Beerfest in the Fireside Room, with details still to come. If you want to see both lightings, you'll need to plan the evening ahead.
Around that weekend:
- Santa's Special Evening Trains depart at 5 p.m. on Nov. 28 and Dec. 4, 11, 12, 18 and 19. This year Santa's Workshop moves to the Castle at the Salvation Army Camp.
- Daytime Christmas trains run Nov. 28–29 and Dec. 5–6, 12–13 and 19–20 from the East Troy Depot, leaving at 9 a.m., 10:30 a.m., noon, 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. There's no 3:30 train on Dec. 5.
- At Alpine Valley, the Holiday Porch Pot Workshop is Nov. 29 in the Edelweiss Room. Dinner with Santa is Dec. 11. Breakfast and Pictures with Santa runs from 8 a.m. to noon on Dec. 12 at the Bistro. Cookie decorating is 6 to 8 p.m. on Dec. 15, and a Winter Sign Workshop is 6 to 8 p.m. on Dec. 18.
Main Street also has a small change of its own this winter. Gus's Drive-In at 3131 Main St. has opened every spring since 2003 in a building that housed an A&W Root Beer in the 1960s. Season 24 is its first year-round season, and Gus and Jess Athanasopoulos are keeping it open through the winter: "Just burgers, gyros, fries, shakes, and smiles. All year long."
When the Town Board takes up the wake-surf question, the result will shape what next season on Lake Beulah feels like from your pier. Linda Tongé has followed this lake for more than 50 years and is happy to talk through how these decisions affect lakefront ownership. Schedule a Consultation whenever it suits you.
