Apple River tubing carries on 2 years after teenager’s death

The tubing businesses along the Apple River in Somerset, Wis., worked in recent years to scrub the river’s reputation for debauched excess, appealing to more families while building out campgrounds with waterslides, playgrounds and swimming pools. Gone were the beer can trash targets, and in were messages about safety and cooler checks. And then a fatal stabbing in 2022 changed all of that.

The attack that killed Stillwater teenager Isaac Schuman was captured on a video and shown during the trial that sent his assailant, Nicolae Miu, to prison. The case drew national attention. So, too, did Apple River tubing.

Two years on from that fatal day, the river’s tubing businesses have fought to recover their reputation, with one operator shutting down for good this summer and, in an auction last week, selling off their prime riverfront property.

But tubing will live on, said other operators, including one who’s expanding next year amid a period of strong growth for the local economy.

That’s the larger picture for Somerset and St. Croix County. The region has seen new houses erected, new businesses arriving at the local Chamber of Commerce meetings, and more interest from the Twin Cities as development pushes east across the St. Croix Crossing bridge. St. Croix County is often cited as the fastest-growing in Wisconsin, while Somerset saw its valuation double in the past five years, according to Bob Gunther, economic development director for the village.

“Things are great,” he said of the local economy. The valuation number totals up the houses, commercial buildings and other structures in the village, amounting to $486 million today. Five years ago it was $240 million.

‘A beautiful, natural river’

Even with a buoyant local economy, it wasn’t enough to save the Hideaway Campground, a longtime tubing operator with nearly 100 acres for camping and picnicking along the Apple River just southeast of Somerset.

Owner Michael Kappers was embroiled in a permit dispute last year with the village over unpaid tubing license fees. Kappers, who is also Village Board president, owed $4,880 for the unpaid license and late fees, the village argued in a civil complaint filed in St. Croix County Circuit Court. The court eventually ruled in favor of the village and ordered Kappers to pay $2,382.89.

Now, Kappers is facing criminal charges after the St. Croix County District Attorney’s Office earlier this summer charged him with rape and battery. A woman alleged she was forced to have sex with Kappers and was given an unwanted back massage that left her injured, according to the complaint. Kappers disputed the allegations in a statement to the Minnesota Star Tribune. The case is ongoing.

Kappers took to social media in the days before the auction of his tubing business and said the industry was dying out completely. He wasn’t immediately available Friday for comment.

While it’s true that Somerset doesn’t support the number of tubing businesses it once did, the surviving outfits say they plan to carry on, and one’s expanding next year with a new campground.

“I want to get it back to the times when everyone was welcome here and felt safe,” said Steve Kaufman, owner of River’s Edge Apple River Tubing and Camping. Set on a gentle bend of the river, his campsite has a spot for people to launch their two- to three-hour tubing journey downstream, camping spots for people who want to stay overnight, and waterslides, mini golf and a large outdoor stage for life before and after time on the river.

In the past, it wasn’t uncommon for 15,000 people to go down the river in one day, he said, but now a good day would see 1,500 people. It’s a different group of people today than it was in the past, he added. Now it’s more about families spending time together — his 91-year-old mother, Rose, went tubing with him one day. “We’re not here to get inebriated,” he said.

Kaufman, who also booked about 40 weddings at his spot this year, said he plans to expand next summer with the opening of a new campground on a site closer to downtown Somerset. It’s the same spot where tubers exit the river.

“This is a beautiful, natural river,” he said. “It’s not deep, there are no strong currents.”

It’s a similar story at the Apple River Family Campground, where seasonal employee Curtis Larson said the campground has had big numbers of visitors. The campground expected a huge turnout for the upcoming Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson show at the Somerset Amphitheater, he added.

“We’re up over last year,” he said, even with a slow start to the season when the first few weeks of summer were rainy.

The Somerset tubing businesses help boost the local economy, too, with campers and tubers hitting local stores to stock up before they get to the river. The local Kwik Trip manager, Allison Howard, said tubing always has been a big thing for the store.

“They’ve got their swim trunks on and the sunscreen and they’re ready to go,” she said of tubers. The amount of tubers dropped after Schuman’s death, she said.

Somerset Town Board Supervisor Tim Witzmann said that’s been a longer-term trend than just the past two years, with fewer tubing operators in general in Somerset, but with a different focus, too, on families and camping rather than partying.

“Demand for tubing in the area has lessened over time,” he said. “The demographics of tubing has changed a bit, it’s becoming more of a family thing. The numbers are down a bit but the businesses that are there are doing quite well.”

Another way to look at it, Witzmann said, is to compare the concerts at the Somerset Auditorium. Ten years ago it was more hard rock acts, and today it’s Luke Bryan, Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson. The demographics of the town and its economy are changing, he said. That’s anecdotal, but it’s part of a trend that’s seen property valuations rise. Voters feel good about the economy, too, having recently passed school referendums that will add a new auditorium to the high school. And new businesses are opening on Main Street. In short, “things are going really well,” he said.

Chris Ferguson, owner of the Somerset printing company Bywater Business Solutions, said he and other members of the Chamber of Commerce want more land to start a second industrial park in Somerset. The first one is full thanks to medical device maker SMC, the manufacturer Preco and online retailer Big Bad Toy Store.

“For a small village, there are a lot of big industrial companies, which provides a great tax base,” he said.