One year after the first wind phone was installed in Door County, you will soon see one at the top of the Peninsula at Isle View Park in Ellison Bay.  The first wind phone in the area was placed in Sunset Park by the Gregory family of Sturgeon Bay in memory of their mother, Judy.  Keith Mellen, who has a summer residence in Ellison Bay, wanted to memorialize their son Ryan, who he lost from committed suicide 18 months ago.  He reached out to the Liberty Grove Parks Committee and worked out the details of having a wind phone available to people to grieve the loss of their loved one.  Town Supervisor Cathy Ward suggested Isle View Park after Mellen initially chose a different one.   He says the wind phone in Ellison Bay differs slightly from the one in Sturgeon Bay with a "little hearts project."

The Mellen family will install the new wind phone on November 16th at Isle View Park in Ellison Bay. The tradition of wind phones started in Japan in 2010 when a landscaper built a disconnected phone booth in his garden to 'talk' with a cousin he lost. The idea gained popularity worldwide and now has two homes in Door County.