Time

Description

Two Options to tour Fort Atkinson Area

4:30 pm

Bus Tour of Fort Atkinson Area

Hosts: Rebecca Houseman, City Manager and Sarah Weihert, Public Relations Executive Assistant for Fort Atkinson

Meet at 4:15 pm, Bus Leaves Country Inn & Suites, 650 Doris Dr, Fort Atkinson, WI 53538

5:00 pm

Walking Tour of Downtown Fort Atkinson

Our Walking Tour will give you a feel for how our downtown's history connects to today's initiatives. It will highlight businesses of the past and present, some of the infrastructure changes, and there might even be a few laughs along the way!!!

Hosts: Shauna Wessely, Executive Director, Fort Atkinson Area Chamber of Commerce

Meet at  the Fort Atkinson Area Chamber of Commerce. 244 N Main St, Fort Atkinson, WI 53538

6:00 pm

Welcome Reception | PaddyShack Golf & Game Lounge, 201 S Main St, Fort Atkinson, WI 53538

Enjoy appetizers and drinks

7:30 pm

Bus Returns to Country Inn & Suites

Thursday, May 1 Schedule | The Riverstone Event Center 
1905 Central Coast Ln, Fort Atkinson, WI 53538

Time

Topic & Session

Speaker(s)

7:30 am

Registration & Continental Breakfast

8:15 am

Welcome to Fort Atkinson

• Kenyon Kies, WI Rural Partners President
• Rebecca Houseman, City Manager, Fort Atkinson & Jefferson County Leaders

8:30 am

• Nova Jiongco  (Crimson Salon & Spa)
• Philip Jones (Jones Dairy)
• Rachel Pattermann (Pete's Tire Service & Pattermann Realty)
• Chris Scherer (2020 Evolve)
• Ana Vega (Fort Johnson Farms)

Conversation Facilitator:
Alli Thompson, Fort Atkinson Area Chamber of Commerce

9:00 am

9:15 am

Jefferson County Welcomes Onego Bio: Understanding the Selection Process of the Site

Onego Bio, a food ingredient company that produces egg protein powder through fermentation, will be the second tenant at Jefferson County’s Food and Beverage Innovation Campus. This session will discuss Baker Tilly and Onego Bio's process to identify the flagship Manufacturing Facility's U.S. location and why Jefferson was ultimately chosen from a multi-state search down to a single site.

Learn how your community can become more competitive in attracting similar projects like Onego Bio.

Chris Urchell, Senior Manager, Baker Tilly

10:10 am

Join us for a panel discussion featuring rural community representatives discussing local success stories for initiatives leveraging state grants to achieve local goals. Panelists represent communities that have leveraged one or more WEDC programs to help stretch local funds and implement projects that support economic growth. 

Strategic use of Brownfield funding can assist rural communities. Addressing problem sites can be perceived as risky, but using the available programs and tools, municipalities are able to address problem properties and put them back to productive use.

Jason Scott, WEDC Regional Director & Brownfields Specialist

Vernon County has been a recipient of the WEDC’s new Small Business Development Grant, a program that encourages communities and economic development partners to invest in their small businesses.  The program supported by this grant, Elevate Vernon, is designed to not only provide direct grants to small businesses in Vernon County, but to address barriers to entrepreneurs and to enable them to invest their time into improving their business. 

Larkin Breckel, Economic Development and Marketing Coordinator, Vernon County

Greg Grohman will discuss the impact of CDI & Vibrant Space grants in Waupaca’s downtown revitalization.

Greg Grohman, Grant Writer, Waupaca City/School District/Chamber

11:00 am

Break - Visit Exhibitors

11:15 am

Boost Fort Atkinson: A Challenge for Local Communities

Dr. Choton Basu, Professor, UW Whitewater, Entrepreneur, Consultant, Innovator 

Rose Mansavage, Winner of Storefront Pitch Competition

Shauna Wessely, Executive Director, Fort Atkinson Area Chamber of Commerce

12:00 pm

Lunch

Top Rural Development Initiatives (TRDI) Presentation

1:00 pm

Community Visioning in East Central Wisconsin: A Case Study 

Discover how small communities are leveraging community support, regional programs, and innovative projects to create lasting impact in Wisconsin. This session will highlight successful outcomes that continue to build local momentum for unique placemaking efforts.

Melissa Hunt will moderate the discussion, providing key insights on post-pandemic community and economic development trends. Melissa Kraemer-Badtke, Executive Director of ECWRPC, will outline the Small Community Technical Assistance Program, its funding sources, and its impact.

A community representative from an ECWRPC-funded project will share firsthand how the program has benefited their community. Chris Silewski, Ayres Associates, will discuss this initiative and other programs that have contributed to advancing placemaking efforts.

Noah Wiedenfeld, New Richmond City Administrator, will highlight a local project and its broader impact on the community.

Melissa Hunt, President & CEO, Wisconsin Economic Development Association

Melissa Kraemer-Badtke, Executive Director of ECWRPC

Chris Silewski, Landscape Architect, Ayres Associates

Noah Wiedenfeld, New Richmond City Administrator

1:45 pm

Break - Visit Exhibitors

2:00 pm

Collaborative Leadership for Economic Growth:
Creating the Greater Dunn County Director of Economic Development Position

This session will detail the creation of the Greater Dunn County Director of Economic Development position, a role born from a collaborative initiative involving the City of Menomonie, Dunn County, the University of Wisconsin-Stout, and local development corporations.

The position was created in response to challenges identified at a countywide economic development summit, and it addresses business retention, entrepreneurship, and workforce housing. Participants will learn how this model—combining financial and strategic resources across public and private sectors—can be adapted to meet economic development needs in other rural communities.

Adam Accola, Director of Economic Development, Dunn Economic Development

Seth Hudson, Innovation in Dunn County & Executive Director for Corporate Relations and Economic Engagement, UW-Stout

2:45  pm

State View: Michael Welsh, WEDA Lobbyist & PW Government Relations Group, LLC