Aspen Brunner was just 16 years old when she started a sourdough baking business.

When you’re 16 and home-schooled, some of your time is flexible, Brunner said. She used that flexibility to start her home-based micro bakery, The Rustic Oven. She started baking sourdough bread in her mother’s kitchen in Cecil, using her great-grandmother’s Hoosier cabinet.

A store specializing in hand-crafted beef jerky, homemade sausage and hand-cut steaks has opened in the Town of Stiles.

Wisco Meats opened a retail store in the plaza next to the A&W restaurant in Stiles, 5068 U.S. Highway 141, offering a wide selection of premium meats, homemade sausage and beef jerky. The store is an offshoot of the Wisco Meats’ jerky-making shop and wild game processing facility in Coleman.

A new sports bar called Pack it in Pub, N6185 County Road D, Tilleda, is open for business and looking, as their name implies, to pack it in just in time for the Green Bay Packers season.

Owners Holly and Darold Suda remodeled The Wright’s Place, a time-honored establishment in the small town.

Finally Fresh is a new produce market in Shawano, the first permanent market in the city in recent memory.

Casimir’s The Sweet Spot opened June 28, just in time to satisfy summer ice cream cravings in Pulaski and neighboring communities.

Located at 759 S. St. Augustine St. in Pulaski, the family-owned and operated shop serves Cedar Crest ice cream, smoothies, soft drinks and a variety of freeze-dried candies.

Banner Banks, headquartered in Birnamwood, is expected to merge with Bank of Sun Prairie later this year.

BOSP Bancshares Inc., the holding company of Bank of Sun Prairie, and Banner Bancorp, Ltd. the holding company and sole shareholder of Banner Banks, have entered into a definitive agreement where BOSP Bancshares will acquire all of Banner Bancorp, Ltd.’s ownership interest in Banner Banks.