7 of the 16 “Coolest Thing Made in Wisconsin” finalists are made in Northeast Wisconsin

(WSAW)
Published: Sep. 28, 2022 at 8:55 PM CDT

GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY) - Voting starts Thursday, Sept. 29, on the 16 finalists to name the “Coolest Thing Made in Wisconsin.”

This is the 7th year of the contest put on by Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce and Johnson Financial Group. CLICK HERE TO VOTE.

Voters slashed a list of 121 products made around the state in the first round of voting. The second round of voting starts a bracket-style competition, which will winnow the 16 finalists to four, with the winning product to be named during an event in Madison on Oct. 19.

Products made in Northeast Wisconsin won 3 of the last 6 competitions, and the area’s streak has a strong chance of continuing: 7 of this year’s 16 finalists are made here, and only two of them are going head-to-head in the first brackets.

The competitors are:

Pierce Manufacturing (Appleton): Volterra Pumper EV fire truck vs. Minocqua Popcorn & Puffs (Minocqua): Gourmet popcorn

ETC Inc. (Middleton): Source Four LED Series 3 vs. BethRick Inc. (Oshkosh): Great Plate

Plexus Corp. (Neenah): Quidel Savanna vs. Wisconsin Lighting Inc. aka WiLL (Fond du Lac): WiLLsport Outdoor Lighting System

Columbia Vehicle Group (Reedsburg): Tomberlin E-Merge Beachcomber vs. Komatsu (Milwaukee): P&H 4800XPC Electric Rope Shovel

Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding (Sturgeon Bay): M/V Mark W. Barker vs. Henzen Coatings Inc. (Milwaukee): Aerozen Advanced Performance Coating System

HoopMaster (Germantown): Mighty Hoop vs. Ariens (Brillion): Mammoth 850

H&S Manufacturing (Marshfield): LOADMASTER 2X vs. Robbins (White Lake): Sports Flooring

Krier Foods (Random Lake): Jolly Good Soda vs. KI (Bonduel): 600 Series folding chairs

Voting in the second round ends at 5 P.M. on Tuesday, Oct. 4. CLICK HERE TO VOTE.

The 8 surviving finalists will be announced the next day, then the third round of voting begins Thursday, Oct. 6.