WAUPUN — More than 130 local and regional community leaders attended the first annual Waupun Business Alliance banquet, held Thursday March 23rd. The banquet served as the first annual meeting of the Business Alliance, which is the brand-new successor to the Waupun Chamber of Commerce and subsidiary to Envision Greater Fond du Lac.
The banquet began with a networking hour with dinner served at 6pm. Presentations began at 6:45pm and were given by several speakers including Evision Greater Fond du Lac director Joe Venhuizen, Waupun City Administrator Kathy Schlieve, Tyler Schultz from Werner Harmsen, Teresa Ruch from Discover Downtown Waupun, Nick Rusch from RadioPlus, and Mayor of Waupun Rohn Bishop. Also in attendance were all members of the Waupun City Council, State Senator Joan Ballweg and Alan Ott from Congressman Glenn Grothman’s office.
The speakers discussed various topics including Envision Greater Fond du Lac’s mission, business trends, regional demographics, and the events organized by Discover Downtown Waupun (formerly known as Waupun Downtown Promotions) and Waupun Festivals. Awards were announced for the best local businesses as a way to acknowledge the work they’ve accomplished in the last year.
Winners of awards included Mr Storage for best redevelopment project and multibusiness space, All-Phase HVAC LLC for best new development project, Stone & Suede for best public-private partnership, Imagine That! Art Studio for best new business. A plaque was also presented to Central Wisconsin Christian School for the celebration of 75 years of high quality Christian education, presented by Mayor Rohn Bishop.
“I hope you all have put some thought into what’s been presented, and consider your own role or your organization’s role in the journey that we are all on,” Venhuizen said in his conclusion. “I told you here my roots are here in Waupun, and I am darn proud of this community—and you all should be too, that some of those great success stories could be recognized this weekend.”
“We have a bazillion business owners, we have committed nonprofits, we have enthusiastic public officials, and we have a strategic plan for our communities to pursue. So please, in this momentum let us not forget that the engine of progress is powered by the fuel of collaboration. We are not a downtown versus an east end, or a west end versus a business park, we’re not a private school versus a public school, we are a community. We are a business alliance of Waupun.”
