epic verona wi tour

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Everything you need to know for an epic day trip to verona, kortnee hass, march 3, 2021, arts & culture | food & drink | outdoor recreation | things to do.

Verona, a town of around 13,000 people located on the periphery of Madison, offers small-town charm and room to roam, while also cultivating businesses big and small. With tons to see and even more to do, Verona is the perfect destination for a day (or weekend!) trip. Below are five things we recommend adding to your bucket list for an unforgettable visit to “Hometown U.S.A.” – Verona.

Self-Guided Epic Tour

Discover Wisconsin Co-Host Mariah Haberman at Epic in Verona

Founded in the basement of a Madison apartment, Epic, a now-mammoth worldwide software company, employs approximately 10,000 people at its headquarters in Verona. But it’s not just its size that makes Epic a topic of fascination. The company’s campus in the beautiful Verona countryside is straight out of a fantasy novel. There are themed buildings that include nods to Alice in Wonderland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the Wizard of Oz, Harry Potter, and more. And the best part? The company welcomes visitors for self-guided tours. The experience is other-worldly, not to mention beautiful, interesting and fun. Tours may be suspended due to COVID-19, but keep checking their website and add this one to your Verona bucket list!

The Greatest City Park You’ll Ever Visit

Photo Credit: Fireman’s Park and Beach in Verona via Facebook

This is not an exaggeration. Fireman’s Park and Beach in Verona has everything you could ever want in a park. Splash pad? Check. Basketball courts? Check. Awesome playground? Beach? Fishing? Bike paths? Check, check, check, check! This place is a dream destination for families of all ages, as well as a popular training spot for triathlon athletes.

Ice Age Trail

Photo Credit: Visit Verona via Facebook // Ice Age Trail

Verona is an official Ice Age Trail Community with approximately 6.3 miles of trails winding through parks, woods and prairie. This kind of trail access offers amazing opportunities to get outside, enjoy nature, and explore new places. Young, old, solo or in a group, a hike on the Ice Age Trail is a fun and free way to enjoy the Verona area. Download a map of the Ice Age Trail Verona Segment before you go!  

Pick Your Brewery

Discover Wisconsin Co-Host Mariah Haberman at Wisconsin Brewing Company

The Verona Area has not one, not two, but three amazing breweries to visit, all offering different experiences. First there’s Wisconsin Brewing Company , known for being dog- and family-friendly, and having a sprawling “backyard patio.” Down the road in Paoli there’s the Hop Garden , nestled on the banks of the Sugar River and adjacent to Paoli Mill Terrace and Park. Frequent live, outdoor music, as well as Sunday Farmers’ Markets make a visit here a truly special experience. Finally, there’s Hop Haus Brewing Company , located right in the heart of downtown Verona. In addition to beer, the Hop Haus serves up great food as well, making it a prime spot to gather downtown.

Treat Yourself Downtown

Photo Credit: Toot + Kate’s Winebar via Facebook

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Review Highlights

“ From the Harry Potter building to Alice in Wonderland, Epic indulges you in an adventure of a lifetime. ” in 5 reviews

“ If you are here for training or UGM, it's definitely one of the best HIS company campus you can find in the U. ” in 17 reviews

“ They have self-guided tours, and the campus is set up like Hogwarts (Wizards Academy), Deep Space , Oz, Endor and more. ” in 4 reviews

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About the Business

Established in 1979. Founded in a basement in 1979 with 1 1/2 employees, Epic develops software to help people get well, help people stay well, and help future generations be healthier. Over 190 million patients have a current electronic record in Epic. …

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We visited Epic Intergalactic Headquarters, the campus for the medical software company. Why visit the headquarters for a software company, located in the countryside about 11 miles south of Madison? They have self-guided tours, and the campus is set up like Hogwarts (Wizards Academy), Deep Space, Oz, Endor and more. We specifically came to see the Wizards Academy and it was incredible. At the Main Entrance they provided us with a map and though they said it should take us an hour, it took close to two hours. It's mind boggling that this is a company's headquarters and there are staircases designed like Hogwarts, a cafeteria designed like the Grand Hall, an entrance to Heaven and Hell, a trip through the stars and many more cool things than I could list. I mean, what kind of visionary/ mad person could envision a hq such as this? The attention to detail is amazing. The tours are free. A company that could infuse humor, creativity, imagination and play into the work day sounds like a place I would like to work. Or at least visit again until I get to see all of the buildings (we got a late start and could only see one). Epic, your intergalactic headquarters are truly EPIC and out of this world.

See all photos from Karyn M. for Epic

To plan for our family's spring break trip to Madison, WI, I researched and read through several family trip itineraries and reviews. Surprisingly, Epic Intergalactic Headquarters did not come up on the radar. Instead places such as Monona, Mount Horeb, and New Glarus repeatedly showed up and I feel like Epic has been snubbed. The only reason I found out about Epic was because a friend visited and she has two cousins who are Epic employees. Epic is truly epic and eye-opening with several campuses and each with their unique themes. They offer free self-guided tours during the week from 2:30 to 5 pm which is not enough time if you want to cover all of the campuses. Groups are suggested to be limited to seven people or fewer because there are people actively working and visitors should be respectful of the work environment. Our group had toddlers and seniors and it was a wonderful experience for all of them. It is a lot of walking and exploring because of the insanely vast space and the signage is not particularly helpful. Some of the fun themes/campuses that we checked out are the Alice in Wonderland, Wizard of Oz, Charlie and Chocolate Factory, and Monster Land. To our luck, we found the Rabbit Hole slide right before leaving the facilities and it was a thrilling and fun ending note for our kids who love slides.

See all photos from Jessica M. for Epic

*DISCLAIMER* I went to their yearly conference, so my experience may be a little different compared to yours if you are going to their campus. I will do my best to stick to stuff that non-conference goers can potentially experience. Before going to Epic's campus for their Users Group Meeting (UGM), I would think that conferences would be boring, where executives and other officials would hold boring meetings about boring subjects in boring buildings filled with bored people. Epic's UGM conference completely changed my perspective on conferences and set a standard from here on out as to how a conference should be. As of 2023, they have five campuses within their property: Wizards Academy, Storybook, Central Park, Prairie, and Farm. Each building within each campus has its own theme, with the campus holding an overarching theme for them. For example, the Storybook campus had a chocolate factory, Alice in Wonderland, Grimm, Oz, Mystery, and Jules Verne building. Each one of the buildings had a central staircase that had the majority of the decorations in the building. Some buildings have covered pathways that connect to each other while others do not, I suggest grabbing a map of the place and planning which building to visit accordingly. I would also suggest wearing very comfortable shoes, as touring the entire Epic campus in dress shoes (me) was not a very fun idea. The staff were very kind and generous when we were around them. We got a tour of the Wizards Academy campus from one of the staff members; he was very knowledgeable of the campus and each surrounding campus as well. Apparently, there are other campuses in the works as well, but they will come in due time. It is definitely a place to come and visit for a day trip. Please do bear in mind that it is still an office space, so if you are accessing the buildings you must be mindful of the staff working hard in their office spaces. The campus was clean, very green (coming from a Cali guy where yellowing grass was considered green), and very expansive. They have cow-themed bikes that you can use that are free so you can go from building to building a little quicker than being on foot. I'm already looking forward to the next conference so I can see that place again!

See all photos from Jan V. for Epic

Slightly confused why this place has such raving reviews. While a good place to take a walk, it's not much beyond that. Not the greatest place for photos, nothing too attractive. If you're in the area, maybe stop by, but don't travel any kind of distance for this.

Such a cool campus to visit - Remember that people are actively working, so be respectful of the area (and quiet if you see folks working) There's lots of awesome themed buildings, indoor & outdoor decorations that really transport you to another world ! It's easy to get lost, so see if you can get a map (I'll attach a very simple one in the images) Check the website for visiting hours, but definitely come here if you're looking for a little adventure! :)

Wear good walking shoes. Fun to see so many themes. (Star wars, Alice in wonderland, willy Wonka, Harry Potter, etc.) Loved exploring. Pics don't do this place justice.

See all photos from Young L. for Epic

This is flat out the best corporate campus I have ever been to, including those from around the San Francisco Bay Area. I have attached a few photos of the campus from a previous visit, and there is just nothing like it that I have seen. All of the buildings have their own theme and it is exceptionally clean from top to bottom. My friends that work there have said great things about the food they offer in the cafeteria, and I would expect nothing less from a workplace that looks like a resort more than an office. There are cow bikes that employees can ride around and everyone on the campus is very respectful of keeping things neat and orderly. Sometimes I wish I worked at Epic just because of how amazing their campus is, but then I remember that winters in Madison, WI are miserable! Just kidding. I will definitely be back to visit if given the opportunity as it is definitely the most stunning corporate location I have visited.

See all photos from Oak Z. for Epic

A really fun walk through; however me and my mom got lost and kept walking through the halls of employees and we felt so bad! I think next time itll be a lot better :) We only had enough time to walk through two buildings in the fantasy campus; we didnt realize just how large the whole campus was!! Definitely a fun visit

I recommend strolling through the Epic campus since it is eclectic and full of whimsy. The buildings have different themes and they spared no expense replicating the intended styles. Whether walking outside during COVID or inside when things open up, it's a few hours worth spending.

How is this still a hidden gem?!?!?! I cannot believe more people don't know about this place. We were there for 1.5 hours and were only trying to see the Harry Potter area but were so enthralled with everything we passed along the way that we are already dying to go back to see more. It's just the most insanely incredible campus I've ever seen or could even fathom. I wish they had literature on this place in like a gift shop, which I recognize is not their purpose, but wow, just wow, the artistry, craftsmanship, creativity and innovation that are behind this place is just mind blowing and I want to know and see everything about it. Like my kids are already asking when we can go back to see more. I would say that in order to really see everything, you should plan about 4-5 hours here. Had I known, I would have packed my family a picnic and planned to spend the whole day just wandering inside and outside all the nooks and crannies. I was so mesmerized by everything I was taking in that I neglected to really take any photos. Even if I had taken photos, it wouldn't have done this place justice. It's just something you have to see for yourself because words can explain. It far exceeded my expectations and even surprisingly blew my husband away and he's a super difficult person to impress so I guess that is saying A LOT! The name just sums it all up. This place is EPIC!

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Willy Wonka and the Medical Software Factory

The engineers at Epic Systems work on a campus full of childish whimsy but also sit in on open-heart surgery. Is this the indulgence of an oddball founder, or a better way to run an I.T. company?

By Kate Kelly

In the farm country of southern Wisconsin, 12 miles from Madison, is one of the nation’s biggest tech companies — and almost certainly the quirkiest. The woman who controls it is a septuagenarian coding savant , its campus contains a human-size rabbit hole and an elevator to hell, and in all probability your personal medical records are on servers running its software.

Epic Systems is a health care services provider with $2.7 billion in annual revenue. Its mathematician chief executive, Judy Faulkner, is a billionaire recluse who hosts P.T. Barnum-esque gatherings for clients. Those clients — big hospitals and health systems around the United States and more than a dozen overseas markets — are served by customer-service representatives known as BFFs. Every month, employees are compelled to gather in a subterranean chamber for two-and-a-half-hour staff meetings that have been likened to a megachurch experience. Workers are discouraged from ordering business materials on Amazon or living more than 45 minutes away from the office, in order to shorten commutes and keep Epic’s wealth in the local economy.

Epic’s software is ubiquitous in doctors’ offices and operating rooms, and companies like Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet regularly hoover up its young engineers. Yet most people outside of the Madison environs, I’d be confident to say, have never heard of the company.

I certainly hadn’t. I cover Wall Street, not health care or technology, and when I came across the privately held Epic this year I was consumed with questions. Who was this publicity-shy yet spectacle-loving C.E.O., and how did her theme-park sensibility coexist with the mundanity of health care billing protocols? Was Epic’s odd culture a magnet for talent and clients, or was it an indulgence that kept the company from growing even bigger? In August, I traveled to Wisconsin to see what this 1,100-acre Midwestern behemoth might be hiding.

Cookies and tree houses

When I arrived in Epic’s hometown, Verona, two beaming receptionists at the Fairfield Inn tried to offer me something called the “Epic discount.” When I said I couldn’t accept anything of value from the company, they clarified that the special rate was a gesture of gratefulness from the hotel, on account of the huge proportion of guests who come to do business with Epic. It is by far the dominant player in Verona, where the population of 10,600 is comparable to the company’s head count of 9,800.

Epic’s headquarters were a short drive away, down a meandering road through countryside dotted with Queen Anne’s lace and farm equipment. I drove past a giant Tin Man, the first indication of the campus’s fairy-tale aesthetic, and into guest parking, in one of the campus’s few aboveground lots.

There was virtually no security. I walked past a sculpture of Humpty Dumpty, set on a wall and typing away on an Epic laptop, past the warning against carrying concealed weapons (Wisconsin allows them in most public venues), and into reception. I was asked to sign an old-fashioned guest book, given a “Hello! My name is” sticker and a few pages of directions, and told I could wander the campus’s 25 buildings and numerous footpaths on my own.

The design theme was childish even by the standards of technology start-ups, where ball pits and scooters are common. I paused at the Cavey Den, a hollowed-out treehouse with stumps for seats and children’s books, then rocked on a rocking horse and ate a cookie from a jar, wondering what time was set aside for naps. There was a long series of clay slabs with handprint impressions from longtime employees, and walls and walls of art sourced from Wisconsin-area artists: a dragon perched in an iron bird cage; expanses of blue and purple stained glass; a clock featuring manicured poodles and Cupid; an old-timey circus ad painted on canvas.

The diversions went beyond art. At the Black Dragon cafe, which was next to an informal band-practice area, a sandwich board advertised oatmeal for 75 cents and bacon for $1. Along the Indiana Jones tunnel, decorated with vines and a golden idol, the sound of dripping water and roaring animals played in a constant loop. A conference room named after a Star Wars planet was reached via a rickety swinging bridge. All around me, young workers in shorts and band T-shirts hurried past. (The company’s dress code is that when visitors are on campus, wear clothes.)

The next morning, I woke up feeling off: a throat infection I’d been treating with antibiotics seemed to be getting worse. Verona, while long on breweries, day cares, artisanal pizza and jumbo mortgages, lacks an urgent-care clinic, so I drove into nearby west Madison for some attention.

The clinic I found was, naturally, running on an Epic system that logged me in, took my information and tracked my health statistics. The nurse’s assistant who saw me had visited Epic during her training, as do many medical professionals who work with its technology as part of their jobs.

Epic’s reach is, well, epic. Its systems contain records for more than 50 percent of United States medical patients. It is a major software provider to big health systems like Memorial Sloan Kettering, the Mayo Clinic, Cedars-Sinai and University of Utah Health, as well as scores of doctor’s offices and smaller clinics. Its applications handle functions both complex and straightforward, from the emergency room to the bills sent to patient homes. They calibrate drug dosages, monitor vital signs, match blood types, anticipate infection symptoms, and keep tumor measurements. Epic software is elemental to everything from transplants to cesarean sections.

Once you know what Epic does in health care, you see it everywhere. When I left the urgent-care center, diagnosed with a gnarly case of strep, the summary printout I was given was branded on one corner with Epic’s insignia.

Coders who don’t mind a little blood and gore

The next day, back at company headquarters, I sat in one of the less Montessori-style conference rooms with Steve Dickmann, 72, the chief administrative officer. He became animated when explaining some of the more functional, less fantastical features of the space. “The whole campus is designed to promote productivity, creativity, comfort,” he said.

There was a philosophy behind everything. All employees have offices, because studies show that workers in open floor plans get interrupted frequently. Stairs promote socialization, but buildings can’t be more than three stories, because workers are reluctant to climb more than a flight or two. Every conference room must have windows so that visitors don’t feel hemmed in during days and days of training.

The overriding mission, Mr. Dickmann said, was to ensure the safety of patients at facilities that use Epic software. If health care programmers make mistakes, he said, “bad things can happen.”

Epic’s coders often leave campus to embed in operating and recovery rooms, where they watch nurses ripping the tops off blood bags and surgeons opening up people’s chest cavities. It’s an experience that young engineers are unlikely to get at, say, Facebook or Snap, working on algorithms that tailor ads to demographic groups or insert rainbow vomit into photographs.

Programmers regularly faint at the sight of beating hearts, scalpels and bodily fluids. “There were people that would pass out in the hallway” of hospitals, said Aaron Webb, who worked at Epic for 10 years as a software developer. He watched “hundreds” of surgeries, often with his team in tow, before moving to Seattle, where he now works for a business that matches companies with storage space. “But if you can’t understand what your users are going through, you’re not going to design a good system.”

Epic works its more than 5,000 programmers hard. Middle-of-the-night technical crises, stress-related illness and employees weeping from exhaustion in airport lounges are not uncommon, say former employees. Long hours are expected. One piece of company lore has it that during a construction project, Ms. Faulkner questioned a plan to install motion-activated light switches, noting that employees might be sitting still at their desks for such long stretches that they’d frequently find themselves in the dark. (The sensors were installed, and she was proved correct.)

“The volume of work at Epic, regardless of what role you’re in, is very high,” said Jacob Lewis, who was a technical writer at Epic before he left in 2014. He later sued the company over unpaid overtime. His case, a class-action suit that hinged on the obligation to sign an employee agreement that forced workers into arbitration, rather than litigation, was combined with similar cases and was heard by the Supreme Court last year. The workers lost .

This combination of chaotic, stressful client visits and isolating, mundane office work might explain the company’s Disney dimension. Epic is a place where wedding music plays on a campuswide public-announcement system when new clients are signed. Dry-cleaning services are found at the “New York Sock Exchange.” Employees can hurtle down an “Alice in Wonderland” slide into a room with miniature furniture. They are encouraged to visit a conference room encased by waterfalls and a shark pond when in need of inspiration. (The shark is fake.) Internal awards for outstanding work are named after Jack Bauer and MacGyver.

The benefits of disattention

A few hours after my sit-down with Mr. Dickmann, I was granted an audience with Ms. Faulkner herself. We met in her personal conference room, a place of warm earth tones, steaming hot tea and personal memorabilia, including a copy of the prayer “Desiderata” with faux-burned margins mounted on a wall. “I think we save many, many, many lives a year,” she told me.

Ms. Faulkner, who bears the same shy, distracted demeanor as Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, was wearing a long-sleeved T-shirt and a crocheted cardigan. She is soft-spoken and literal in conversation. But once a year, at her annual client meeting, she dresses up as the Mad Hatter or a wizard and gives an inspirational talk to an audience of thousands. This year, the theme was camp: She dressed up as a park ranger and told a story about catching frogs with her bare hands on a hiking trip and eating them for dinner.

Born in 1943, Ms. Faulkner said she taught herself to code in a week, using a Fortran textbook, during her undergraduate years at Dickinson College. As a graduate student in computer science at the University of Wisconsin, she conceived a prototype for Epic while sitting in her living room one day in the mid-1970s.

“The sun was shining, I was disattentive, I was just sitting there and suddenly it all came to me: Here’s how you build it,” she said. “And I remember running into the kitchen, grabbing a pad of paper and just writing code, code, code, code,” she said. While she went on to teach computer science for a period, she kept coming back to the idea, and in 1979, in a Madison basement, she founded what would become Epic: a start-up called Human Services Computing. Today, some of Epic’s foundational programming still bears Ms. Faulkner’s initials.

Ms. Faulkner is now 75, and over the last four years, the company she built has grown an average of 14 percent a year, according to revenue figures it shared with The Times. She has instructed her heirs (she has three children) and stock-holding employees, who together constitute a majority of the company’s equity holders, that they must always vote their shares in favor of keeping Epic private. They must also ensure that Epic is run by an executive who already works for the company, and that that person is a software developer.

That decision-making may not occur for a while. It’s “more likely that I’d die than that I’d retire,” she said.

We talked about her “10 commandments” and other principles for doing business, which are hung in most public spaces around campus and discussed in detail at the monthly staff meetings. Ms. Faulkner said that staying private ensures the company can make decisions without public shareholder pressure — such as forgoing revenue when a client’s facilities are damaged by severe weather and it can’t afford to pay software maintenance fees for a time. Avoiding both debt and budgets is another Faulkner goal. But she leaves the enforcement of these principles to lieutenants, preferring to focus on software and customer relations.

“I look at our financial information maybe for a minute a month,” she said.

One criticism that has dogged Epic is that its software sometimes won’t connect with that of competitors, meaning that patient information can’t move around as seamlessly as it should. The company has chipped away at the problem in recent years, but much remains to be done.

“The problem isn’t the lack of effort, it’s the lack of standards,” said Jim Turnbull, the chief information officer for the University of Utah system and a longtime Epic client. “Until the federal government and all the vendors recognize that we have too many standards, I just don’t think it’s going to be possible to completely interoperate,” he said, using the industry term for connectivity.

The day after meeting with Ms. Faulkner, I took a final tour of Epic with its head of media relations, Meghan Roh, who was hired in 2017 as the first person ever to occupy that position. We went down a slide connecting the ground floor of a building called Heaven, with a white interior, to a lower level with an elevator whose floors were marked Devil, Satan, Lucifer, Beelzebub and Mephistopheles. (When you press a button, you hear audio of an imaginary demon saying, “Please come in. It’s nice and toasty in here.”)

Underground is also where you’ll find Epic’s auditorium. Built partly to preserve the sightlines on campus and minimize water and waste runoff, the gathering place hosts the Verona high school’s annual graduation ceremony as well as Epic’s monthly staff meetings, at which attendance is required. On the way in, employees are served popcorn and coffee, an homage to an earlier point when the company used movie theaters for large meetings, and shown a reel of pictures of recent staff weddings, newborn babies and beloved pets. Then they hear presentations on new products and priorities, matters of company philosophy, and new “armies” being formed for employees to brainstorm software-based solutions to epidemics like the opioid crisis and maternal morbidity.

Workers who fully commit to Epic — who survive the long hours and grisly sights — are treated to a remarkable perk. After five years, they get a sabbatical, including round-trip airfare for two to travel somewhere they’ve never been for a month, plus a per diem for meals and lodging. (They get another sabbatical after 10 years, 15, and so on.)

Epic is constantly scanning the undergraduate ranks for new hires. Rather than sticking to engineer incubator schools like M.I.T. or Stanford, it scouts institutions like Carleton College in Minnesota and Clemson University in South Carolina. Candidates take online tests to gauge their problem-solving skills and, if they pass muster, are whisked to Madison for an on-campus interview and tour of the area.

Once on board, employees take a multiweek training course that includes basic business etiquette as well as Epic-specific skill building. Officials preach a flat structure in which it’s never O.K. to turn down colleagues for help. They also teach a tactic called “badgering” — remember, it’s Wisconsin — or the art of being persistent but not maddening.

Epic’s broad recruiting strategy and perks help draw people in, but over time, it’s the cultures of both Wisconsin and Epic that help keep people there.

“The only reason I left Epic was so that my family could move out West,” said Mr. Webb, the former Epic programmer. “Every day was different. And it was fun. And just being able to go see the impact you were having, that was really, really cool.”

An earlier version of this article misstated how patients' medical records are handled. They are accessed by software that runs on Epic servers; they are not stored on Epic servers.

How we handle corrections

Kate Kelly covers Wall Street, its political influence and inner workings. She previously worked at The Wall Street Journal and as an on-air reporter at CNBC. She is the author of the best-selling book “Street Fighters.” More about Kate Kelly

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A Fantastical Adventure: Explore Epic Headquarters in Verona with Your Kids for FREE!

• By Amanda Chavez
• April 28, 2024

Located just 11 miles southwest of downtown Madison, the Epic Headquarters in Verona is a fun adventure for families looking for things to do with kids near Madison! 

The massive campus is a modern-day epicenter of innovation and creativity. As one of the world’s leading healthcare software companies, Epic is known globally for its cutting-edge technology and visionary approach to healthcare solutions. This whimsical hidden gem offers self-guided tours of its Verona campus through styled rooms, corridors, hallways, elevators, gardens, and more that seem straight out of a fantasy storybook.

The themed buildings include inspiration from Alice in Wonderland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the Wizard of Oz, Harry Potter, and more, including:

• Emerald City
• Wizards Academy
• Deep Space and Observatory
• Iconic Carousel from Ella’s Deli

Tours are FREE! Plan for about 3 hours of exploration, and it’s wise to grab a meal beforehand. Comfortable walking shoes are a must, as there’s quite a bit of ground to cover. Consider packing a picnic lunch; there are plenty of picturesque spots outdoors to enjoy it. You’ll also want water bottles. Please be aware that there is nowhere to purchase snacks or drinks.

Once on campus, follow the signs for visitors and park in the visitor lot (under the solar panels).

Stop by the registration desk to pick up a map for a self-guided tour.

The campus is typically open the following hours, but please confirm on their website or call ahead before visiting to find out about closings due to special events.

• Saturday – Sunday: 10 am – 3 pm
• Monday – Friday: 2:30 pm – 5 pm

Epic Corporation Tours , 1979 Milky Way – Verona, WI 53593  

Information: 608-271-9000

Pro Tip: Finish up your day at the park! Fireman’s Park and Beach has a fantastic park, splash pad, and beach area! 

Amanda Chavez

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Attraction:

Verona, Wisconsin : Epic HQ

Software company populated its private campus with odd buildings, statues, and unique artifacts, from a carousel to an elevator that goes to Hell.

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Visitor Tips and News About Epic HQ

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They actually encourage roaming, which is quite odd in a corporate building. If you go in to the main building (clearly marked) they will give you a map and lots of advice. Very friendly staff! You will only see a small part of the campus, it is massive. Such a strange experience to just wander around. One of my favorite attractions to date.

Blues Brothers, Ella's Deli carousel, an elevator to Hell. I wandered around one small section of the campus and it took two hours. There is so much to see, and I've started comparing it to the House on the Rock .

The Blues Brothers are standard catalog issue, but Ella's Deli carousel is one-of-a-kind.

Healthcare software company. Free self-guided tours available. Tons of artwork in the themed buildings: a slide inside one, a giant banana to ride on in another.

They are rumored to have some items from Ella's Deli . I saw some dinosaurs when driving around the Epic HQ campus, but didn't get to stop and check everything out. Looks amazing.

One of the buildings is a castle. Another building is a farm. Another building is a sheer cliff. There are dinosaurs and tree giants in the woods.

A healthcare software company's sprawling campus provides a public facade that many visitors find disarmingly charming.

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Epic Tour (Madison Hadassah)

3:00PM - 4:00PM  

Epic Systems 1979 Milky Way Verona, WI 53593 (608) 271-9000 https://www.google.com/#q=epic+systems+public+tours

Contact Corliss Karasov (608)770-6521 [email protected] https://www.facebook.com/HadassahMadison/

Madison Hadassah Walking Tours go to Epic Free indoor tour. Wheelchair and walker accessible. Everyone welcome. Reservations required: email ( [email protected] ) or call (608)770-6521

EPIC medical software company has created one of the strangest, largest, and most expensive workplaces in the US – right here, on the outskirts of Madison. Epic Campus is like a fantasy-land with a Hogwarts Castle, a Farmhouse, an Indiana Jones movie set and a voyage to the stars and beyond. The tour is one hour. Plan to stay longer to explore.

To get there, either 1. Meet 30-45 minutes before tour at Tuvalu Coffee House and Gallery, 300 S. Main St. Verona (608)845-6800. We’ll guide you into Epic’s Zodiac parking lot and to meeting point at entrance. OR 2. Drive directly to Epic. Contact us for a map and directions. Park in the Zodiac surface parking lot (and handicapped parking area). Meet at entrance of Andromeda Building. Look for blue and white Hadassah sign.

Check Madison Hadassah facebook page updates on the adventure. We may add new dates if there is enough interest. http://www.facebook.com/HadassahMadison/

Sponsor: Madison Hadassah

Verona, Wisconsin

Epic Farm Campus

Visitors driving up Epic’s long, meandering driveway are immediately struck by the first buildings they see: a classic Wisconsin dairy farm, complete with an iconic farm house, red barn, stable and machine shed.

While appearing ‘normal’ from a distance, the structures are massive, housing more than 319,000 square feet of interior space and 960 offices. The Farm Campus, which was completed in 2013, is a striking departure from the contemporary office buildings found on Epic’s Campus 1 and 2.

Cuningham perfectly situated the buildings into the landscape to maximize daylight and to ensure that views to the landscape are maximized. Meticulous attention to detail was also given to the interior design of the Farm buildings and farm theming was carried throughout the interior spaces. Whimsical agriculture-inspired design details include a pig flying from a hayloft and bright blue model cows. Porch swings on a wrap-around farmhouse allow employees to work quietly while enjoying views of the spectacular landscape in front of them.

A skyway resembling a covered bridge connects the barn with the machine shed building. The window-lined skyway includes window seats and niches for working, as well as small group break out spaces.

Client: Epic

Market: Workplace

Size: 346,500 Square Feet

Scope: New Construction

Services: Architecture, Interior Design, Landscape Architecture, Master Planning

Delivery Method: Negotiated Contract

Key Project Contacts: Nina Broadhurst

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