Allison Geyer
Jacob DeHaven (left) and Tori Vancil, who will serve as cafe manager, are part of the team transforming the lodge.
When Jacob DeHaven’s mother Norma passed away in 2014 after a battle with pancreatic cancer, he and his brother John wanted to do something with their inheritance that would honor her memory. Both are musicians and they dreamed of launching a project that combined art, music, food and community.
“My mom was an amazing multimedia artist, and she instilled this priority of creative time in us,” says Jacob DeHaven, whose grandfather was the legendary Madison jazz trumpeter Doster “Doc” DeHaven Jr. “We wanted to create a space with her intention.”
In April, after months of searching, the DeHavens bought the Norway Center at 2262 Winnebago St., which had served as the headquarters for Madison’s chapter of the Sons of Norway fraternal order since 1963. It also hosted semi-annual Norwegian-themed brunches, known as Frokost.
The brothers have assembled a team of partners and are renovating the more than 4,000-square-foot building into a music venue and restaurant serving locally sourced food for breakfast, lunch and dinner, plus a bar with craft beer and locally distilled spirits. There’s no official name yet, but the group is tentatively calling the project The Winnebago Arts Cafe — or The Winnie, for short.
“It’s an unbelievably cool space,” says DeHaven, who studied architecture and is serving as general contractor for the project. “We’re basically keeping the outside walls and that’s it — everything else is getting gutted.”
The venue will have a stage and room for about 100 people. DeHaven says the space will be meticulously soundproofed — payng special attention to the wall that abuts a neighboring residence. They’re also adding a new roof that will have 36 inches of insulation. Inside, the sound will be “pristine,” and they’re adding professional moving lights to enhance performances. DeHaven hopes to attract a mix of local and touring artists for shows on Thursdays through Saturdays, and he’s considering trying Wednesday night jazz residencies, film screenings on Tuesday nights and a Sunday night lecture series. “The focus will be on local programming,” he says.
Eventually, the group plans to construct a recording studio and performance area in the basement, which has room for about 300 people. DeHaven, who organizes the annual PRISM music festival and is a founder of the Frameshift Music Collective, says there’s a big need for recording space in Madison. Also partnering in the project is J. Scott Kunkel, the Madison-based music videographer behind Scotify Studios. He plans to launch a series of live video recordings similar to what’s being done at Daytrotter Studios in Davenport, Iowa.
There are still a few hurdles before the space gets up and running — renovations, a fire suppression system, and city approval of their parking lot capacity — but DeHaven says he has had positive interactions with neighbors and is feeling optimistic about what the new venture will bring to the up-and-coming arts district that includes the nearby Arts + Literature Laboratory and Communication, the new all-ages, alcohol-free music venue and collaborative art space. The near east side is also home to North Street Cabaret and Art In, both hubs for local musicians.
“The folks who are involved are all artists,” DeHaven says. “I’m excited about the creative potential of what we’re building here.”
