Verona, WI for Open@Epic 2026

I was recently back in Verona, WI for Open@Epic. Flying out from Seattle and into Milwaukee. Why Milwaukee? It was faster and cheaper to take the direct flight there and drive a rental over to Verona than to fly directly into Madison, and I enjoyed driving through the farm fields on a beautiful fall day. If it was the dead of winter, I'd have probably stuck to the airports.

As is tradition, I stopped by Culver’s for some chicken strips and fried cheese curds. Last year, I'd discovered their honey mustard sauce was a dead-ringer for the sauce served at A&W in Canada, and so I was excited to get to enjoy it again this year. I was sad to find they’d changed their honey mustard sauce since last year. The new sauce is much too sweet and doesn’t do as good a job coating the strip. Still good, but not as good.

The event itself was useful, showing off what's new from an integration standpoint. Last year was their first year, and I found it more developer-focused. This year, they seemed to stick to a higher level of discussion and rarely got into technical details. What they announced was trending in the right direction (interoperability).

The Epic campus itself is opulent and feels more like a large city park surrounding multiple themed theme park hotels than actual office space. The vibe is weird to walk through; it is obviously the result of a singular vision, but it still feels slightly unnerving.

I also got to spend a bit of time in downtown Madison. It’s a vibrant city and has a thriving city core area. It’s notable just how many of the ads you see in the area are healthcare-related. Epic entirely underpins the local tourism industry. Checking into my newly built hotel; I got to speak with the hotel manager who shared that this was their second location, and almost all the revenue comes from Epic events and trainings.

Whenever I visit the Midwest, I notice how much cheaper entrée prices at restaurants are than on the coasts. Some combination of lower rent and the market bearing price increases less, I think. The quality is good, and local places will have their own institutions. A coworker who used to live here recommended Tornado Steak House, and the food was wonderful. In you find yourself in Madison, check it out!

I was only in town for 2 nights, so I didn't have time to explore the area as much as I'd liked. Spending a bit more time in Wisconsin in October is now on my ever-growing want-to-visit list. But even for those few days, it was nice to spend some time back in this beautiful region. And of course, I grabbed a Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cement Mixer from Culver's on the drive out.