WAUPUN — Several Waupun businesses, organizations, and business leaders were presented awards last week at the Waupun Business Alliance banquet for achievements recognized in 2025.
The event was opened with an introduction from Joe Venhuizen, vice president of Envision Greater Fond du Lac. This was followed by speeches from Envision Greater Fond du Lac CEO Sadie Howell and City Administrator Kathy Schlieve on developments made in Waupun over the last year, putting an emphasis on Waupun being a “red carpet” community as opposed to a “red tape” community, encouraging business development in the community.
Following the presentations, the Waupun Business Alliance presented awards for outstanding achievements. These awards included businesses, nonprofit organizations, and individuals who have made a significant impact on the community of Waupun in 2025.
The awards were as follows:
Best New Business — Hoyahophousebrewing
Best Redevelopment — Jud’s Bowling & Bar
Special Recognition — Ignite Small Business and Startup Support for Ignite Rural
Community Impact Award — Jeff Collien
Community Impact Award — Waupun Hockey Association
Business Legacy Award — SSM Health Greater Fond du Lac
Business Legacy Award — Ballweg Implement Co., Inc.
As each winner was announced, the business leaders were invited to the podium to speak.
Best New Business — Hoyahophousebrewing
City Administrator Kathy Schlieve announced the first award for Best New Business went to Hoyahophousebrewing, which opened January 2025 and has become a regional draw. Hoya celebrated their first anniversary earlier this year.
Hoya is operated by Michelle Brown and her son Jarrett Mack, who serves as the brewmaster and head bartender of the brewpub. Michelle Brown was invited to speak about their business journey. She began by thanking everyone for believing in their mission.
“When we first thought of this whole project, it was one of those things where there are a lot of breweries in the area—so how do we stand apart from all of those businesses?” Brown said. “And they’re amazing businesses, but we wanted to be different. So for our family we wanted to invest in the little things. So from the moment you walk into our brewery, how you feel, what you see, the quality of our beer, the quality of our cocktails, the employees that greet you, how they take care of you, how they take care of our facility. All of those little things, hopefully, transform into how we feel about the community and surrounding communities—it’s super important to all of us.”
“So when we got the business up and running, one of the questions we heard quite a few times is why would we invest all of this money, all of the time, into a business here in the small town of Waupun, and why wouldn’t we do something like this in a bigger city?” she said. “For us, it was easy. In times right now where we’re running a million miles a minute, and things are going so fast, and sometimes the world seems to be going cold, we wanted to bring it back to the community, bring it back to family—and how you do that is by bringing people back together in your small community.”
“We want to go back to the days where community was central, and this is our little contribution to this absolutely amazing and vibrant community,” she said. “And we are just getting started—we’re so excited to be a part of downtown and to be able to watch it grow and be the place that people not only want to consider a destination for shopping and restaurants and that sort of thing, but actually want to build here, to live here, because we have so many things to offer.”
Best Redevelopment — Jud’s Bowling & Bar
Jud’s Bowling & Bar was then recognized with the Best Redevelopment Award, opening a full service restaurant kitchen. Kathy Schlieve commended Jud-son for adapting their business model and persisting through the challenges that all businesses in the bowling industry have encountered for many years.
Glenn and Jamie Marwitz were then invited to speak. Jamie Marwitz opened by thanking God for giving them the opportunity for this, and her family for supporting their mission.
“Without all of you, we couldn’t do this today,” Jamie said. “It means so much to have all of you behind me. With my two sons, and my two best bartenders—it is the future that counts for all of us. They’re young and they’re dedicated. I’ve been coming here for a lot of years now, and I said to them when we were nominated, that they need to experience this, because you’re the future, and this is what I want for the future. I want them to know that’s what the future holds for Waupun, and that Waupun has a lot to hold for you and the future.”
“It’s a bowling alley, it’s a bar, and it’s a food joint now, but it has a lot to offer for everyone,” she said. “I appreciate everyone that dedicates their time and effort and everything you do for us. And I appreciate this award so much, so thank you so much.”
Special Recognition — Ignite Small Business and Startup Support for Ignite Rural
A video was then presented about the Ignite Rural program that was launched in 2025, and how it helps local businesses become more successful and help entrepreneurs get started with their ideas.
Following the video, a Special Recognition Award was given to Raina Lyman, Senior Director of Economic Development at Envision, for leading the Ignite Rural program.
Lyman was then invited to speak further on how Envision helps advance local business, and the journey they had gone through with the entrepreneurs over the several week program and business pitch contest held last November in the Waupun City Hall Auditorium.
“Thank you for investing in Envsion, thank you for investing in the Waupun Business Alliance,” Lyman said. “If it wasn’t for all of you here, I wouldn’t be able to do the work that I do, none of us would be able to.”
She then honored the two prize winners of the Ignite Rural Business Pitch event, Kurt Wismer of Rewired Dynamics for the GRiTedu program and Kaitlyn Kenealy for the Into the Woods Wellness food truck. She then gave a shoutout to the event judges, and thanked the Waupun Area School District for allowing the use of their facilities for the workshop events.
Plans are already in the works for future Ignite Rural events.
Joe Venhuizen then introduced the Waupun Business Alliance advisory council, who participated in the selection of the award recipients.
Community Impact Award — Jeff Collien
Venhuizen announced the first of two Community Impact awards, which was presented to Jeff Collien for his work in restoring several properties in downtown Waupun. These included the two buildings of Club Fitness, the two buildings of Wind and Unwined, and across the street the current home of radio station WFDL The Source.
Collien was then invited to speak.
“We were never here to make a lot of money and to live in a big house on the hill, driving fancy cars—we’re here to help others,” he said. “Life is all about ‘we’ not ‘I’. Craig always brings up the mall thing I say—we’re all in a mall, we all own our businesses in a mall—we don’t work for ourselves we work for the mall. When I snowblow downtown it’s not because I want recognition, it’s because I believe we’re supposed to help eachother because that’s what makes life better.”
“Because of it, yeah I’m not living high in a hog in a nice house because I give away a lot of my time to other people, but I believe that’s what we’re meant to do,” he said. “And I feel if we all start doing that, this would be a much better place to live in the whole world—and Waupun is that place. Because there’s a lot of people I deal with day after day that are willing to help me too. So it’s not just me helping others, and it’s not just downtown—it’s all of Waupun. There’s a lot of good things in Waupun, and I hope if we keep up that ‘we’ mentality we will all become that number one destination.”
Community Impact Award — Waupun Hockey Association
Venhuizen then presented the second Community Impact Award to the Waupun Hockey Association for the rink floor repair which had been completed last year after fundraising $900,000 for the project over three years. The Waupun Ice Arena hosts over 200 games every year including six hockey tournaments, bringing in hundreds of families and teams from out of town.
Tyler Loomans, vice president of the Waupun Hockey Association, then thanked Envision for the honor of being recognized for the Community Impact Award.
“Waupun Hockey was built on the foundation of members who just wanted to see their kids do something they loved to do and volunteered their time and resources to make it better,” Loomans said. “They built an association from the ground up, based on a vision and determination. 100% funded through volunteer time and donations, which built the foundation for Waupun Hockey.”
“Like the original project that was done in the 1970s, the floor repair was completed through 100% raised funds and donated work completely funded 50 years later. The friends and family of Waupun Hockey logged over 600 hours of volunteer time during the construction phase and hundreds, if not thousands of hours in additional prep, setup, and fundraising time to complete the project.”
He thanked the volunteers and their families during the planning and execution of the project, for the managers who allowed volunteers to take time off for the project, to the contractors who donated labor and material for the project, and for those who personally donated and assisted in fundraising, and City staff.
Venhuizen then introduced the Business Legacy Award, which was being presented to two organizations.
Business Legacy Award — SSM Health Greater Fond du Lac
The first of these is SSM Health Waupun Memorial Hospital, which was originally opened in 1951, and has had significant development over the last several years and serves over 17,000 patients per year.
Nicole Gill, vice president and clinical administrator for Waupun Memorial Hospital and Ripon Community Hospital, spoke to accept the award.
“The recognition is especially meaningful as we are celebrating our 75th anniversary this year,” said Gill. “Since the earliest days in the 1940s when the local leaders and School Sisters of Saint Francis first came together to bring a hospital to Waupun, the community has continuously shown its generosity, commitment, and its belief in accessible and high quality faith-inspired care.”
“Tonight, I’m proud to stand here representing the generations of caregivers, volunteers, and community partners whose dedication built the foundation we stand on today,” she said. “To our caregivers, past and present, thank you for your unwavering devotion to serving friends, neighbors, and families with skill and with heart. And to the Waupun community, thank you for your advocacy, your trust, and your steadfast partnership for three-quarters of a century. It’s a privilege to help steward this legacy into the future, and together we will continue honoring our history while advancing a mission that has always centered on healing, hope, and community.”
Business Legacy Award — Ballweg Implement Co., Inc.
The second Business Legacy Award was presented to Balweg Implement, managed by Tom and Joan Ballweg. Ballweg Implement was founded in Markesan in the 1970s but moved to Waupun in 1998 when they purchased Molly Implement on the west end of Waupun.
“The question came up, how do you last 50 years in business,” Tom said in his speech. “The first thing is to establish a business you really enjoy so much you don’t have to go to work every day, you just have to participate in your hobby. The second—and these aren’t necessarily in order of importance—is find a really great life partner to work your hobby—thank you Joan.”
“Find and develop really great employees, and treat those employees better than you treat yourself. Provide a product that is exceptionally high quality and is respected by virtually everyone. Always attempt to provide the best possible customer experience, even when you don’t feel like it. If you have 300 days a year that are very good, don’t focus on the 65 that aren’t. Stay healthy, and don’t forget to pray. These are all very simple, but very complex.”
“We all want to thank the community,” he said. “There was a comment before about red carpet and not red tape. Trust me, being in our business, there’s a lot of red carpet in this area and not much red tape. We belong to some business groups and they talk about the red tape they go through, and we do not experience that here in the Waupun community. It’s amazing how proactive and pro-business this community is and we want to thank you for that.”
Along with their respective awards, each award winner also received a letter of commendation from the office of Congressman Glenn Grothman.
In addition to these awards, City Administrator Kathy Schlieve announced that Blue Heron Antiques, run by Melanie Williams in downtown Waupun, was the winning finalist for the WEDC’s Main Street Makeover Contest, which would include professional design services and a cash prize of $10,000 to be used to upgrade the facade of the building at 309 E Main St.
