Holly De Ruyter grew up in Oneida – about 20 miles from Green Bay – and spent many family celebrations at a nearby supper club called The Colonial House.

De Ruyter has fond memories of sipping kiddie cocktails and lounging in the plush bar chairs.

"A supper club is a lot more interesting place to explore than a normal restaurant," says De Ruyter. "But as a kid, I didn’t realize how special the supper club is. I thought it was what people do everywhere."

After high school, De Ruyter moved to Chicago to attend Columbia College and, adapting to life in a new state, realized a plethora of signature Wisconsin traditions, including the supper club.

"There are a lot of restaurants in Chicago, but supper clubs – as well as fish fries – are interesting things that happen pretty much only in Wisconsin," she says.

De Ruyter considered making a documentary about Wisconsin supper clubs in the early years of her college education, but because she did not own a car, came to the conclusion it would be too difficult to do the necessary traveling.

Six years ago, she found herself in a relationship with a man with a car – this man is now her husband – and she decided it was the right time to start the supper club documentary.

This spring, De Ruyter debuted her 57-minute film, "Old Fashioned: The Story of the Wisconsin Supper Club" as part of the "Dinner, Drinks, Entertainment" program at the 2015 Wisconsin Film Festival.

All three of the screenings sold out, and De Ruyter is currently working on showing the film in other cities, including Milwaukee.

People can stay on top of screening developments via the Facebook page.

Milwaukee’s Ron Faiola has a book and film with a similar title, "Wisconsin Supper Clubs: An Old Fashioned Experience," but the two are not related.

In De Ruyter’s film, numerous supper club owners from all over the state are interviewed, from Ullman’s Ding-A-Ling in Mercer to The Butterfly Club in Beloit to The Hob Nob in Kenosha County.

"Supper clubs aren’t always easy to define, but you know one when you see one," says De Ruyter. "Each one is different, but they have certain common elements."

These commonalities usually include steak and seafood (although most of the menus have expanded greatly in recent years to accommodate dietary restrictions and healthier eating habits), cocktails like the Old Fashioned and ice cream drinks, a relish tray and a strong sense of community.

"The state still has so many of these awesome, unique restaurants that are a huge part of communities," she says. "We need to make sure we are supporting them because once they’re gone, they’re gone for good."

When De Ruyter started to locate supper clubs six years ago, she did not find much information on the Internet and had to resort to the Yellow Pages, word of mouth and driving around.

"I was literally paging through phone books and looking online for a restaurant that sounded like it might be a supper club," says De Ruyter. "Supper clubs are funny. To this day, I still learn about supper clubs in an area I spent a lot of time in. You don’t discover them until you stumble upon them or someone tells you about them."

De Ruyter says she is pleased with the outcome of her film and the positive support from viewers. Her one regret was that she couldn’t include more supper clubs in the film.

"I wish I could have included every one in the state. Each one is unique and interesting in its own way, but eventually I had to call it," she says. "It was an incredibly challenging and fun project. I really enjoyed it."