WAUPUN — The City of Waupun may soon become a “Main Street Community” in a partnership with the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation.
A progress update was presented by members of the Waupun Main Street Cohort board to the Waupun City Council at the Special Common Council meeting held May 26, 2026.
The meeting was attended by Brooke Straks (Wind and Unwined), along with Gary DeJager (Brooke’s Shoes) and Michelle Brown (Hoyahophouse), representing the Main Street Cohort program and presenting the next steps for the City of Waupun.
The Wisconsin Main Street Program is offered by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) that provides information and resources to municipalities involved in the program statewide.
According to City Administrator Kathy Schlieve, the City of Waupun has participated in the Wisconsin Main Street Program as a “Connect Community” since 2016, but have been looking into upgrading into a full Main Street Community since joining the program. The Cohort group is the precursor to this change, with Waupun being one of four communities currently involved in the program.
“Being a ‘Connect Community’ is an on-ramp to the whole program with the final destination being designated a full Main Street Community,” said Brooke Straks.
This would open up new opportunities for the community in terms of informational and technical assistance from the WEDC. Several events have been held over the last few years in partnership with this program, including the development of the downtown food truck alley which was designed and funded by a “vibrant spaces” grant from the WEDC.
However, before Waupun can be recognized as Main Street Community, the cohort will need to organize and hire a full time director. They will also need to completely fill the board, fill five committees, do surveys on local businesses, measure strengths and weaknesses in the community, and develop a plan for the organization with input from community members.
“One of the goals is to try to keep our entrepreneurs here in town to open businesses and bring their families to Waupun,” Straks said. “And also bringing our entire community together; a lot of past focus has been on promotions and downtown events and it has a bit of disconnect between the rest of the community and the downtown group. So our whole mission statement and program is about bringing everybody together from a communitywide standpoint and not just our downtown district.”
Straks mentioned that they were largely looking at approaches to the program in Ripon and Lake Mills, both of which have desirable and vibrant downtown business districts. In Lake Mills’ case, they merged their Chamber of Commerce with their Main Street Program as both a business development center as well as tourism.
This was followed by a broad overview of the organization, their roles, and the outline of plans for the year. This included committees such as Economic Vitality, which would help local business development and search out and encourage local talent, and Design and Beautification, which would plan public art and events.
The board has already formed but are still looking for individuals to fill key roles. The cohort program ends in June and a final application will be sent to the WEDC in July.
City Administrator Schlieve said the next step is a memo of partnership between the new board and the municipal government, and a director would need to be hired as one of the requirements of the program.
Schlieve noted that there are many benefits to having a full time staff member for this role, and that it’s becoming more common as best practice in other communities looking to advance local business and tourism.
“We’ve been running on the backs of volunteers who are busy running their businesses, and that takes most of their resources, so oftentimes events don’t get planned with enough advance notice,” Schlieve said. “It’s just not as effective as it could be—having a full time staff could change that.”
The floor was then opened to questions from the City Council.
Alderman Dan Siebers asked if the BID board was all in favor of the project, which Schlieve said they seemed to be. Siebers then asked if the office for the new Main Street Program could be shared with Envision to reduce cost. Schlieve said there would be a connection between them, but that they’re distinctly different organizations. Envision has a lot more resources for regional business development, while this would be more about local tourism. Siebers asked if there would be a duplication between Envision and Destination Lake Winnebago.
Alderman Siebers asked who the proposed director reports to, which Schlieve said would be the board of the organization. Mayor Bishop noted that this is a mostly grassroots group made up by downtown business leaders.
Alderman Pete Kaczmarski asked about the funding sources for the organization and how large the annual budget would be. Schlieve said the organization’s funding would largely come from room tax revenue, as its use is restricted to tourism related items—so it’s difficult to predict the budget as it depends on how much comes in.
Alderman Kaczmarski asked if they would also fundraise from donations. Straks said that other communities with the same program have received large donations from local businesses, and that there were also fundraising options such as the Wine Walks and other downtown events.
Schlieve said that they wanted to expand to all of Waupun, as opposed to “Discover Downtown Waupun” and change to “Discover Waupun” to include all businesses in the community.
A more detailed overview of the project was included in the meeting agenda packet.
An informational meeting was previously held in January for business owners to learn about the program and the benefits it brings to the community.
