2009 mars cheese castle is a cheese shop in kenosha wisconsin . located along interstate 94 the shop is popular among wisconsin visitors and has been called a cheese landmark one of wisconsin s most recognizable cheese stores and an icon for generations of i 94 travelers . 1 2 3 while the store is best known for its cheese it also sells sausages and other foods as well as wisconsin souvenirs such as cheesehead hats . 4 the store is the oldest cheese shop located at what the milwaukee journal sentinel called wisconsin s most visible cheese interchange ; the junction of interstate 94 and wisconsin highway 142 had three cheese shops until 2009 when it was reduced to two . 2 contents 1 history 2 see also 3 references 4 external links history edit mario ventura sr. opened mars cheese castle in 1947 . the shop s name was inspired by its owner s as the name mario comes from the roman god mars ; the castle part of the name was inspired by a castle in italy owned by ventura s mother . kenosha artist george pollard designed the store s logo ; the project was pollard s first job . 4 the original store which featured a large beer bottle on its roof burned down in 1957 ; a new store was built nearby . 5 in 2011 a project widening interstate 94 forced the store to relocate 50 yards 46 m away from the freeway . the new store over twice as large as the previous building was designed to more closely resemble an actual castle ; it features a watchtower holding the store s wine and an entrance which resembles a drawbridge . 6 a special statute passed by the wisconsin legislature allowed the store to keep its 80 foot 24 m sign at its new location despite a state law prohibiting signs that tall . 7 mars cheese castle has attracted a number of celebrity visitors . rock band weezer held a record signing at the store in 2001 and al hirt al mcguire john f. kennedy and johnny cash have all visited the store . 4 u.s. vice president joe biden also stopped at the store while campaigning for the 2012 presidential election . 8 see also edit franks diner references edit hajewski doris march 6 2011 . castle beckons shoppers iconic cheese retailer lowers drawbridge on new home . milwaukee journal sentinel . a b herzog karen april 7 2009 . gouda bye freeway alters cheese interchange road project forces store to close another to move . milwaukee journal sentinel . iconic cheese castle in wis. shoved aside by i 94 widening . chicago sun times . august 19 2010 . a b c carlozo lou september 14 2001 . mission at mars cheese . chicago tribune . blaze destroys cheese castle . the milwaukee journal . february 12 1957 . retrieved march 25 2013 . pang kevin april 10 2011 . wisconsin royalty in new digs mars cheese castle gives up some charm to live up to its name . chicago tribune . state budget provision protects mars cheese castle sign . associated press . october 29 2007 . tau byron october 26 2012 . biden visits cheese castle . politico . retrieved march 25 2013 . external links edit official website coordinates 42 36 53 n 87 57 15 w 42.6147 n 87.9543 w 42.6147 ; 87.9543 retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title mars cheese castle & oldid 740468592 categories buildings and structures in kenosha wisconsinvisitor attractions in kenosha county wisconsinroadside attractions in wisconsinhidden categories coordinates on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 21 september 2016 at 07 23 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view