Phillip Bock

USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin

JOHNSONVILLE - A 12-minute documentary focusing on summer sausage evolved into a glimpse into the history of Johnsonville and the early employees who made it what it is today.

"The documentary really started out with a summer sausage focus, but as I started doing the research and talking to various people about summer sausage, it dawned on us that there is a lot bigger story to be told and that summer sausage could be our vehicle to talk about company history," said Brittany Wagner, the project manager for the documentary project.

Johnsonville Sausage released the documentary on its website this week. Along with the documentary, Johnsonville unveiled an online store to purchase summer sausage and merchandise online at www.SummerSausageStory.com.

"Because summer sausage is often requested by consumers in areas that don't carry it, we've made it available to be ordered online for the first time," said Stephanie Dlugopolski, Social Media Manager at Johnsonville Sausage.

The documentary opens with aerial footage of the plant before transitioning to employees, both current and retired, who share stories from the company's history. The common thread throughout the stories is summer sausage, a popular product that has remained mostly unchanged in 70 years.

"It's a fun way to showcase one of the star points of Wisconsin, being the sausage capital," Dlugopolski said. "It's the story of a big product that's been around for a long time coming from a small town told by the people who are really passionate about the process they use and the science behind it."

Filming for the documentary began in October. While Wagner, a granddaughter of Johnsonville Sausage founders Ralph F. and Alice Stayer, set out to make a documentary about sausage, she quickly found the story of sausage was tied to the history of Johnsonville and its founders.

"One thing we learned from this process is there are a lot of stories that need to be told," Wagner said. "After two months of working on the project we could probably make three 12-minute follow up videos. I'm sure in the future we'll want to present some of these amazing stories, not just about summer sausage, but Johnsonville."

In the video, the employees share stories about working at the Johnsonville Riverside alongside the founder — and dig into the history of Dynamite Bill, who blew up ice jams on the river near the Riverside plant to prevent flooding.

"We had so many favorite stories. There is just a bank of awesome stories," Wagner said. "The more people see it and talk about it, you hear their side of the story from their perspective. People have just been blown away."

The documentary also features Beth Dippel of the Sheboygan County Historical Research Center.

"We hope it also is going to expose people to the story of Wisconsin and the great sausage that's made here," Dlugopolski said.

Reach reporter Phillip Bock at pbock@sheboyganpress.com, 920-453-5121, or @bockling on Twitter