The Rotary Club of Sturgeon Bay is going in a new direction in 2026 with its annual maritime-themed fundraiser by offering a once-in-a-lifetime chance to experience the Great Lakes from the perspective of a working cargo ship.
The club is holding a Great Lakes Freighter Raffle that will give the winner and a handful of their adult friends or family a voyage aboard a working Great Lakes freighter for a rare behind-the-scenes look at real-time commercial shipping operations. Proceeds will directly support the Sturgeon Bay Rotary’s local service projects and community initiatives throughout Door County, and tickets are now on sale.
For 33 years, the club sponsored Shipyard Tours, a guided walking tour that gave thousands of guests each May an inside look at Sturgeon Bay shipyards and highlighted how they and the maritime industry impacted the city. Most of those years, several shipyards on the waterfront took part, but the last two tours in 2022 and ’23 focused on Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding, after which it wasn’t able to provide the same access to the facility’s inner workings.
That led the Sturgeon Bay Rotary to switch in 2024 to narrated 90-minute cruises with Door County Boat Tours over a June weekend that highlighted seven unique working waterfront points of interest in the city. Those tours sold out quickly in the first year, but the 2025 cruises weren’t as popular because they were essentially the same as the 2024 tours, United Way of Door County executive director and Sturgeon Bay Rotary past president Amy Kohnle said.
Now, Kohnle and the club are excited about the new fundraiser in partnership with Interlake Steamship Co., an Ohio-based shipping company that has the largest privately held U.S.-flagged fleet on the Great Lakes and transports 20 million tons of raw materials a year. Several of its ships spend the winter at Bay Ship annually for rest, maintenance and repairs.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Kohnle said. “We see freighters on a pretty regular basis here in Sturgeon Bay, so maybe we get a little spoiled seeing them. To be on that freighter, to see the Great Lakes from that perspective, to see and feel what it’s like to pull into a dock at 2 in the morning, to experience what its like on a working freighter, people don’t get to do that.”
The raffle came about because one of the Sturgeon Bay Rotary members has a working relationship with Interlake Steamship, Kohnle said. The company has made donations and offered similar opportunities to other nonprofits for their fundraisers, she added.
The winning lottery ticket wins a 3.5- to 5-day voyage on an Interlake freighter for four to six guests with two or three private staterooms (depending on which ship is taken) and authentic “freighter fare,” along with close-up views of the Great Lakes and the behind-the-scenes looks at the ship’s operations.
The exact itinerary and details of the trip will be worked out between Interlake and the lottery winner, but the winner should have flexibility in their schedule because the timing depends on the fleet’s shipping schedules. The trip most likely will depart from either Duluth, Minnesota, or Marquette, Michigan, depending on the schedule, and the winner will coordinate directly with Interlake. Transportation to and from the departure port is not included as part of the prize.
Also, all participants must be at least 18 years old and the trip must be taken during the 2026 shipping season. Some Interlake ships have walk-on entry to board the vessel but some don’t, Kohnle said, so participants must be able to safely use a 40-foot ladder. Participants also must carry a valid passport because the ship may enter Canadian waters and need to stop at a port in that country.
Tickets are $200 and only 150 will be sold. The drawing date is April 30. To buy tickets or for more information, visit sturgeonbayrotaryclub.org. More information also is available by calling 920-255-0360 or 920-442-0861 but tickets are sold online only.
Contact Christopher Clough at 920-562-8900 or cclough@usatodayco.com.
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This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Sturgeon Bay Rotary raffle has trip on a working Great Lakes freighter
Reporting by Christopher Clough, Green Bay Press-Gazette / Green Bay Press-Gazette
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