Carr Valley Cheese Co Inc — Local services in Wisconsin Dells

Before you judge the story below, please know I finally decided to leave this review after reading at least one other family had almost the VERY same experience yesterday. Also, there are a significant number of one-star reviews that all have two things in common: Carr Valley Cheese and a curmudgeon of an old lady!

Imagine your family is invited to come in to a community of businesses--an out-of-town tourist heavy community--to celebrate Halloween. The community advertises that any shop with an orange pumpkin posted in the window is a sign the shop has decided to participate in the annual tradition of "trick or treat," i.e. handing out candy to kids. The invitation clearly states that parents are to accompany their young people in any of the stores, but the "pumpkin sign" means "come on in and get some candy!"

One would imagine that this sweet gesture is one of building immensely kind goodwill for both the individual shops and the community at large. Hey! Perhaps this activity will even lead to some sales, eh?

Now imagine your family (mom, dad, and five kids) arrives to this community, all dressed up and excited to see all of the shops never seen before. (Oh yeah! Also to get some candy!) The very first shop you decide to visit is Carr Valley Cheese. You see some families in front of you with kids happily exclaiming, "Trick or treat!" Your kids get in line behind the others, and watch as everyone gets a piece of candy. Then it's your oldest child's turn. Yes, he's very tall. Yes, he's a teenager. However, two of your other children are also teenagers, but not quite as tall. The woman behind the counter proceeds to give each of your kids a piece of candy, but denies the oldest one because . . . well . . . he "appears too old."

One would imagine that this evil gesture be met with an actual "trick!" (This is TRICK or treat, after all!) At the least, however, one would think that such a gesture of denial in front of the child's entire family and other patrons would be met with intense feelings of BAD will.

Yes! That was the result. That, and this one-star review I promised her for being quite ignorant of her function, her purpose, her surroundings, and the reputation of her own business.

A funny side-note: You will see a review from another person yesterday who said her 15 year old daughter was denied for also "appearing too old." My daughter--who was one of the children NOT denied--is also 15 years old; however, the "old hag" (as another patron describes this lady who works here) had no problem giving my daughter a piece of candy. Why? Probably because my daughter is on the shorter side of the height department.

Additional thoughts: The woman claimed that if she gave candy to "older kids" (without ever defining what constitutes an older kid) then she would have no candy left for the "younger kids." This makes no sense, as even if she had clearly defined rules for age restrictions, she would still run out of candy at some point (she didn't have very much, as she pointed out) and would therefore still have to turn away "younger kids" because she ran out of candy giving it to all the other "younger kids."

Final thoughts: We are blessed to have five extremely healthy children in spite of current statistics for things like autism, which I've heard is now as high as one child out of every thirty-two in the USA. What if my oldest was on the more adverse end of the spectrum? I understand and have seen that many of these children can "act out" when faced with negativity or broken expectations with an otherwise seemingly petty act of getting a single piece of candy. Sadly to say, I was the one triggered more than I should have been. I let her know she made a very poor decision; however, this woman really should pay attention to her attitude towards her patrons and the public.

You meant to build goodwill with your community and failed MISERABLY--achieving the opposite effect. It's Wisconsin, and there are PLENTY of places to get good cheese. Wisconsin Dells Carr Valley Cheese will not be one of...

The tale of the forbidden cheese curds.

I visit this store annually when I'm in the Dells. When I was checking out, I asked the elderly lady what was in the refrigerator in the lobby. She sounded so offended that I called it a refrigerator and corrected me in a condescending tone. "That's not a refrigerator, that's a freezer!" I ignored her attitude and asked what was in the freezer. She said cheese curds. I was excited because we were hoping to take cheese curds home, and rushed over to the freezer to grab a bag. She hurried over and closed it when I opened the door and was like, "You can't open that!" I was taken aback, and was like "you said you sell cheese curds?" She was like, "We make them! You can't go in there." So...maybe don't have a freezer in the lobby where you sell other cheeses, or simply put a sign on the freezer stating, "employees only." When we left, my fiancèe and I were laughing at how awkwardly angry she was at seemingly nothing. Read the other reviews. This lady is a notorious hag. There are many cheese shops in the area. Don't ruin your experience by going...

Clean and welcoming store with great selection of cheese products, as well as dry goods like pastas, soup and dip mixes. We had cheese curds twice in Wisconsin, here, and supposedly some voted "best cheese curds in Madison", and Carr Valley curds were definitely #1. We were offered sauces, but truly no need. Squeaky, delicious and quickly devoured! We were traveling so we didn't buy any cold cheese but they did have refrigeration boxes available we saw. We will definitely return when we make it back to...