Hot Spell Sauna Spending Winter in McKinley Marina

Hot Spell Sauna while it was located at The Cooperage. Photo courtesy of James Shiparski.

Hot Spell Sauna will spend the winter in McKinley Marina.

The business sells private or communal Nordic-style sauna sessions, complete with a cold plunge in the frigid water of Lake Michigan.

Hot Spell Sauna has spent winters, prime sauna season, in various locations since it opened in 2019. First, Zocalo Food Park (636 S. 6th St.), then two seasons at South Shore Park (2900 S. Shore Dr.) and a season at The Cooperage (822 S. Water St.). The company worked with Milwaukee County Parks to set up shop this year in McKinley Marina (1750 N. Lincoln Memorial Dr.), where patrons will have access to heated bathrooms and showers.

The marina is providing access to the lake and access to a new market, said James Shiparski, a partner in the business with founder Jaime Meyer. It will be the first season on the East Side, after spending the past four in Bay View and Walker’s Point.

They are also expanding their hours, with the saunas available from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Once staff are fully trained, the business will be open seven days a week, as well, Shiparski said. Hot Spell Sauna will officially open for business in the marina on Nov. 1., selling $75 minute sessions for $37 or monthly memberships for $66.

Hot Spell Sauna has two wood-fired saunas. Initially, the business focused on private sessions, having only the single barrel sauna. Upon adding the box sauna, the company started offering communal sauna sessions, more in line with the traditional bathhouse, banya and sauna culture of Europe. And they became popular, with a small community growing up around them. Groups of patrons, formerly strangers, started meeting up each week to sauna together, Shiparski said.

“And I think what happens inside of the sauna is the same thing that’s happened in churches or in a pub,” he said. “It’s that you bring people from community together, and the conversations are very honest and open and real.”

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