Wilson's ice cream parlor is a longtime favorite stop in the scenic town of Ephraim, where classic Door county buildings cling to the hillside. Credit: Journal Sentinel files

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At least for now, the strongest beverage on the menu at the Chef's Hat Cafe in Ephraim is espresso.

Over at the Old Post Office Restaurant, an Ephraim venue known for its fish boils, coffee is the drink with the most kick. Same goes for Joe Jo's Pizza and Gelato in Ephraim — coffee packs the biggest punch — although its menu lists some non-alcohol beers.

Ephraim, a picturesque village near the top of the Door County peninsula, is a dry town — believed to be the only alcohol-free community left in Wisconsin.

But that could change this spring as voters decide whether it's time to end Ephraim's 163-year-old prohibition on alcohol sales.

Last week, the village certified petitions seeking to put two referendum proposals on the April 5 ballot. One, in essence, asks whether the sale of beer, for consumption on the premises or packaged, should be allowed in the village. The other asks whether it should be OK to sell wine in restaurants.

To proponents like Hugh Mulliken, an Ephraim businessman and commercial property owner who started the petition drive and quickly collected enough signatures to put the referendum on the spring ballot, serving beer or wine is just a matter of keeping up with the times and could promote new business in Ephraim.

"I think the businesses of Ephraim, like a restaurant, are hampered by not being able to serve beer or wine with their supper," Mulliken said. "I think that's pretty much expected."

But to opponents of the beer and wine proposals, such as Ephraim Historical Foundation member Tony Beadell, alcohol isn't necessary to enhance the local economy and would, he said, undo "the collective wisdom of thousands of villagers over multiple generations."

"We take the cultural past seriously," Beadell said.

Residents have tried twice before to change the ban on alcoholic beverages in Ephraim, a village with a population of about 300. They failed each time. In a 1932 referendum, the idea of allowing alcohol was voted down 78 to 54. In 1992, residents voted 141-50 to keep Ephraim dry.

"Things change," said Mulliken, who gathered about 100 signatures for each referendum question.

Mulliken said he might consider opening a grocery store if he could sell beer along with food and other items.

If the proposals win approval, licenses would be issued by the village so restaurant owners would be able to serve beer and wine, just like their competitors in other Door County communities.

"Don't want a tavern. Don't want hard liquor. Just want what would commonly be served with a meal today," said Mulliken, who runs the Lodgings at Pioneer Lane — an inn, he notes, that can't even offer up alcoholic beverages as part of a honeymoon package.

But Beadell, a Mequon investment manager who owns a permanent home and log cabin in Door County, likes the no-alcohol tradition brought to Ephraim by its Moravian-faith founders in 1853, even though he himself isn't a teetotaler.

"Everybody who's ever come to Ephraim and wanted to do business as a restaurateur knew the ordinances well in advance. It wasn't like somebody changed them on them. They came into town knowing that they couldn't serve beer or wine or hard liquor," Beadell said.

Beadell added: "We are slow to give into the social ebb that has overwhelmed so many other tourist destinations. We champion our past, but encourage thoughtful change."

Mulliken said he actually found more residents interested in signing the petitions, but he stopped collecting signatures when he almost tripled the number required to put a referendum on the ballot. With two referendum questions, it's possible voters could approve licensing both beer and wine sales, reject both or approve only one.

Whether 100 signatures on petitions will translate to actual votes when election day rolls around is anyone's guess. But someone will be toasting the outcome with some type of beverage.

"There are people on both sides of the aisle on that one," Ephraim Village Administrator Brent Bristol said. "You sit down and they could explain their side of it for hours on end."