Wisconsin is home to countless artists, and many have settled in the tiny town of Stockholm.

In this Wandering Wisconsin, we go to the small Pepin County town that draws in huge crowds of shoppers.

Sarah: When you come to visit the tiny Village of Stockholm you can obviously take your pick on where you want to start with the shopping or you can even take one of the village's bikes for a spin around town and you never know what you might find.

"It's a unique experience that people discover every day," says Colleen Flynn, a cafe owner.

Whether you're discovering an outdoor cafe, kicking back as the fountains flow, or on a mission to shop, Flynn says you'll enjoy it.

"It's like stepping back in time where we were slower and we do take time and actually talking to the visitors where they're from and what they want to do," Flynn added.

Flynn and Alan Nugent are two of the 25 merchants who have migrated to this Lake Pepin town.

" It started with a few artists, some of them are still around," Nugent said.

It's a movement that's been happening for decades.

"It had a storied and exciting past started in 1850s kinda started fading away in the 1950s/1960s in the 70's a few artists started discovering the location again the breathtaking beauty, the bluffs, there was something special about it, so they started opening a few galleries moving to town and it saw an amazing renaissance in the 1980s and 1990s and again around 2000 a real resurgence."

Now it's one of Travel Wisconsin's top five shopping hot spots.

Nugent adds, "not too bad for a town of 97 people. It's very much a well known place for artists to end up, so it's pretty incredible."

If you pop into the shops, you'll meet accomplished artists and budding business owners.

Nugent adds, "you'll find beautiful oil paintings that capture this place, you'll find potters, you'll find jewelers, you'll find print makers some of the finest artists in their fields."

And he says Stockholm isn't standing still. "We're in the process of reopening Stockholm Opera Hall as a performing arts center, it just keeps going, the interest in the arts and excitement in the arts is unbelievable."

The art is all around you in Stockholm, from paintings to pottery, but the beauty stretches outside the shops as well.

"Yes art is very important in the village but we compliment that with the natural and cultural beauty in the area.
The Great River Road driving down is a beautiful drive, birds on migratory routes, the river and the lake here. We have a 750 ft pier that juts out onto the lake," Flynn adds.

The merchants say plan to make a day or weekend of it, get some ice cream and pie and watch the world go by in one of the town's flower gardens.

Sarah: Stockholm has several events and art fairs going on throughout the summer.

Click here for more infomation on Stockholm.