Smiley's Bar & Grill

To give you some background about Smiley's we will have to start at the beginning, before the restaurant. 

Stanley R. Skrzypkowski purchased the land surrounding Smiley's Bar & Grill from his father. It was all farmland when he made this purchase. He continued farming on the land for many years. During this time he had an idea and began to plant Christmas Trees, along with many other style of trees.  Once the trees began to mature he also planted flowers and other landscaping plants.  He then started selling flowers, plants, shrubs, and trees of all kinds and called his business Tree Acres Nursery.

When his son Larry was older, they decided that along with the Nursery they would begin to sell sod.  Sod is a rolled up section of grass about 1 foot wide by 6 foot long and almost 2 inches thick.  It included about an inch of dirt so a person could unroll the sod in sections of their yard that the grass had died or became brown.  A person could re-finish a whole yard with sod.  This became a very popular item and was selling by the semi-load.  Together they changed the name of their business to Tree Acres Nursery and Sod Farm.

The business was growing and two very large greenhouses were added.  There were many employees year-round that did everything from watering the plants and flowers to cutting and piling the sod with a harvester. They also had people to shear(trim and shape) Christmas trees, prune the plants and flowers, pull weeds and salespeople to work with the customers that came to buy the plants.  Larry and Stanley also still had farming stuff to do, including grow beans, corn, and other vegetables with the new nursery plants.  Together they became one of the biggest and best in central Wisconsin.

Larry married and his new wife Doreen began to learn the business from Stanley and his wife Helen.  She became a very important addition to the team.

One day Larry got an idea to build a Golf Course.  This idea came from close friends and sod customers.  They said, "Larry you have some of the most beautiful grass in Wisconsin, have you ever thought of letting people play golf on your land here?"  This idea somehow hit home in Larry.  So he began to research local golf courses and put together a new business plan.

Construction of the first nine holes and driving range began in 1990 and was completed in 1991.  They added another nine holes in 1994, and were so busy that they added another nine holes, and built a huge new building, which included a restaurant in 1998.  This new restaurant was called Smiley's Bar and Grill, the name came from Larry's wife.  Her nickname from running these businesses was "Smiley", because she was always friendly and smiling with the customers. By the time Tree Acres became 27 holes, Stanley was retired and the Nursery and Sod farm was closed to use the land for the golf course.

Smiley's food is all homemade and the taste proves it.  Smiley's has the best fish fries and is home to one Big As* Steak in Central Wisconsin.  They had a beautiful space for parties, but the size of the party room was only big enough for 120 people.  The party business was growing, but the room was just too small.  Something had to be done.

Eventually, the right price came along to purchase the land that was Tree Acres Golf Course.  This purchase would have made the restaurant business go through the roof.  The land was sold, but due to unforeseen circumstances, things just didn't come together.  During these couple of years, Smiley's began to remodel the inside to make a party room that can now hold 300 people.

The Party Room and beautiful outdoor gardens have drawn in several weddings in the first year (2010) and has booked many more for the next year (2011) already.  We would love to see all of you and give you a tour of our banquet room. We are very happy with the results. We would love the opportunity to make your party's dreams come true.  This is our promise:  We here at Smiley's will guarantee you fantastic food at a fair price, with down home service that will make you feel like a part of our family.  THANK YOU and we hope to see you soon.

One Set Up for a Beautiful Wedding Party Here In Smiley's New Banquet Hall