If director John Stimpson didn’t already know he had found the perfect spot for his Christmas movie, Mother Nature reassured him during the first day of shooting at a house on the water in Ephraim.
“It was blowing snow sideways and piling up about 8 inches of snow. We went out and we shot a scene right out on the water, and it was just spectacular,” he said. “Happy accidents, I guess, but we couldn’t have scripted it any better.”
Much of making “A Wisconsin Christmas Pie” in Door County across three weeks last March and early April felt like it was meant to be. The natural beauty of the area, the charm of its iconic inns, the uncharacteristically cooperative weather, the endless good eats (pie and otherwise) and a dusting of something that even Hollywood magic can’t conjure up: heartfelt hospitality from the locals.
“That phrase ‘Midwest nice’ is absolutely real,” Stimpson said by phone from the Massachusetts home base of his H9 Films production company. “It was so refreshing and so welcoming for us to come and find that and have that feeling and that reception from everybody, from the hotels that we stayed in, at the High Point (Inn) and at the Hillside (Waterfront Hotel), to all the locations, to the Christkindlmarkt folks up in Sister Bay. The folks at The White Gull (Inn) and Lautenbach’s Orchards … The welcomeness that we felt was wonderful and so warm and genuine.”
Excitement up and down the peninsula over the Hallmark-style TV movie has wavered little since that first call for extras went out in March and so many people responded in the first 18 hours that Destination Door County had to take down the online application. Two recently announced screenings Dec. 13-14 at Door Community Auditorium in Fish Creek for what will be the local premiere of the movie quickly sold out. A third and final one at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 14 was announced Oct. 8. It’s free but tickets are required and will be available beginning at noon Oct. 10 through the venue.
On Oct. 9, a nationwide audience will get its first look at “A Wisconsin Christmas Pie” when it premieres on streaming service Great American Pure Flix. It will then show at 7 p.m. CT Oct. 11, 5 p.m. CT Oct. 12, 7 p.m. CT Oct. 14 on cable channel Great American Family and GFam+, with additional airings after that.
If you could’ve sworn the film was originally called “A Cherry Pie Christmas,” you’re right. It still will be when it becomes more widely available on other streaming services closer to Christmas and when it screens in Door County, Stimpson said, but it’s not uncommon for a network that licenses a film to change the name to highlight the location, as Great American Family did.
The fictional story centers around pastry chef Emma Parker (played by Katie Leclerc), who returns home at Christmas from Chicago to her family’s cherry orchard in Door County, only to learn the farm is on the brink of being sold to developers. Persuaded to enter the town’s holiday pie bake-off, she reconnects with her high school sweetheart, Mitch (played by Ryan Carnes). Together, they discover the recipe for saving the orchard might just be love.
It’s not a stretch to see why such a cozy tale would feel right at home in the quaintness that is Door County, but how the movie found its way there is a pretty good story, too.
Director felt ‘a good mojo’ after scouting Door County
It all started in August 2024 when Stimpson was talking with Staci Griesbach, a Los Angeles-based-singer and songwriter who grew up in Hortonville. The two got to know each other from last year’s “A Very Vermont Christmas,” the Hallmark Channel movie he directed and features one of her original songs, “You and Me at Christmastime.” She was telling him about the inaugural Door County Jazz Festival she was producing for the summer of 2025 when she asked him what he thought about making a movie set in Door County.
“I said, ‘Well, I’m all ears. I’ve never been there. I don’t know much about it.’”
Stimpson did some research after their conversation, saw how beautiful the area looked online and decided to make a trip to scout it out and see for himself. He quickly saw its potential for checking all the right boxes.
“It’s pretty iconic. It’s romantic. It’s rural. It’s gorgeous,” he said. “It just has all the elements that these movies need and want, and it is in a northern climate, which ended up working really well to our advantage.”
As someone who summers on Massachusetts’ Cape Cod peninsula and filmed 2021’s “A Cape Cod Christmas” there with Leclerc, Stimpson could see why Door County is often called “the Cape Cod of the Midwest.” There’s a similar deep affection for both places.
During his drive around the Door County peninsula, the idea started to emerge that the movie should have something to do with the area’s signature cherry orchards and their strong family legacy. He returned again later in the fall and met with Destination Door County and Travel Wisconsin representatives. He left feeling like there was “a good mojo” behind the project and wrote a script over the holidays.
But he also knew there were two crucial questions that loomed large: How is the movie going to be financed? Where is it going to end up in the world so people can see it?
His movies are typically done independently and then licensed for distribution, allowing H9 Films to own the intellectual property and be able to participate in subsequent sales down the road, generating revenue that helps to finance future films. Some of his previous films have been sold to the Hallmark Channel, Lifetime, AMC and Great American Family.
In Massachusetts, where H9 has done most of its movies, there’s a tax credit for films shot in the state that provides for 25% of the budget. Wisconsin didn’t have such an incentive to encourage in-state film production, but Stimpson was able to work with the state, Travel Wisconsin, Destination Door County, private investors and other entities to come up with a grant to help fund the project.
It was a move that helped spark film tax credit legislation in the state and the establishment of a Wisconsin Film Office to draw in future TV and movie productions. Beginning next year, production companies will be eligible for a 30% tax credit for work in Wisconsin.
“It’s the beginning of what might help spur more and more film production in the state of Wisconsin, which is fantastic,” Stimpson said. “I’m so proud that our little movie encouraged that along to become a real thing for local filmmakers and to draw other filmmakers to the state to make their movies, because it’s a beautiful place.”
Hillside, Bayside and Thyme among many gracious hosts
Stimpson and the cast stayed at the Hillside Waterfront Hotel in Ephraim during filming. The historic property is the backdrop for many of the scenes, and owner Diane Taillon found herself recruited for the role as a grandmother.
“It was just so comfortable. We were spoiled,” Stimpson said. “We were really, really spoiled. Just the hospitality we were shown was just outstanding.”
It was like that wherever they went.
Thyme Restaurant & Catering in Sister Bay did the production’s catering, and Stimpson said he loved it so much he had dinner there on his own a half-dozen times. He spent six weeks in Door County before the rest of the crew arrived for shooting and had the chance to discover all kinds of local favorites, including “Smilen” Bob’s Barroom Chili at the Bayside Tavern in Fish Creek. Sometimes he would just go in and sit at the bar and get chatting with people who had heard about the movie and wondered how they could be in it.
“Instant friends,” he said.
“It just speaks to, first of all, to what nice people there are out there, but more importantly, how enthusiastic and how proud of the place they live these people are,” he said. “This place means a lot, you can tell, to the people who are local and that shows, and it’s so cool and it’s so great.”
The production employed an all Midwest-based crew from Chicago, Milwaukee, Green Bay and nearby areas. It was a fun opportunity for a crew that doesn’t get the chance to work on full-length films as often as others elsewhere in the country.
“Boy, was I excited and impressed by the caliber of talent that’s out there, and we didn’t sacrifice a thing using the local folks,” Stimpson said. “We were able to come up with a beautiful-looking movie.”
The weather, minus a thunderstorm that postponed filming of a fish boil scene, delivered on not just that one grand snowfall but several smaller ones during the shooting schedule. Still, Stimpson worked his magic by adding a few visual effects to make the snow fall just as he liked and to fill in some patchy spots.
As a veteran of the holiday TV movie genre, Stimpson hears all the time from people about how much they love those kind of films and how they’re a guilty pleasure. He’s flattered and honored to be able to provide that kind of entertainment, he said. He also has a pretty good feel for why it’s so popular.
“People know what they’re getting into when they start watching one of these films. They know it’s the holidays. They know it’s a romance. They know it’s going to be a happy ending,” he said.
“There’s a lot of stuff going on in the world and in our country that’s not much fun right now, particularly these days, and I think for people to have a little escape at the holidays with their family and be able to forget about the rest of the craziness that’s going on and just think about their own family and their own Christmas or holiday traditions … I mean, I hope that’s what it is.”
Stimpson hasn’t been back to Door County since principal photography wrapped in early April, but he looks forward to returning in December to be part of the Door Community Auditorium screenings.
“Nothing is more fun for a filmmaker than watching their movie with a packed house and an enthusiastic crowd, and I know that’s what we’re going to get,” he said. “First of all, I know people are going to love it, because it’s a warm, heartwarming, lovely movie, but the hometown crowd in particular … I think they’re going to be really enthusiastic about it.”
Kendra Meinert is an entertainment and feature writer at the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Contact her at 920-431-8347 or kmeinert@greenbay.gannett.com. Follow her on X @KendraMeinert.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: For director of ‘A Wisconsin Christmas Pie,’ filming in Door County came with ‘Midwest nice’ baked right in
Reporting by Kendra Meinert, Green Bay Press-Gazette / Green Bay Press-Gazette
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
