Photo courtesy of AriensCo
When it’s completed in December, the 200-acre Ariens Nordic Center will feature a year-round trail network and competition courses for cross-country skiing, biathlon, roller-skiing, running and hiking, and areas for paved roller-skiing in the off-season.
Calumet County Community Economic Development Director Mary Kohrell says the largely rural county is getting economic boosts both big and small as 2022 enters the home stretch. That includes the highly anticipated December completion of the Ariens Nordic Center in Brillion, a world-class biathlon competition venue and public recreation facility adjacent to AriensCo’s Round Lake Farms.
Sean Becker, general manager of Ariens Nordic Center, says the center is not only an extension of AriensCo Chairman and CEO Dan Ariens’ vision to attract more visitors and residents to Brillion, but also an extension of the company’s longtime sponsorship of U.S.A. Biathlon.
“The U.S. Biathlon National Team continues to be a great resource for us, and they are looking forward to visiting us soon,” Becker says. “In fact, we are planning an open house for the community on Sept. 30 and will be hosting a ‘Try Biathlon’ event on Oct. 1. Several members of the team will be here for that weekend.”
Upon completion, the 200-acre Ariens Nordic Center will feature a year-round trail network and competition courses for cross-country skiing, biathlon, roller-skiing, running and hiking, as well as opportunities for paved roller-skiing in the off-season. An on-site pond will enable snowmaking at the facility.
“Ariens Nordic Center is an example of creating a reason to come to Brillion to play, stay and may even inspire people to move to Brillion to be closer to the action,” says Monica Ariens, managing director of AriensCo Hospitality. “We are expecting to draw visitors year-round who we hope visit local restaurants, stores and hotels.”
Kohrell says Faith Technologies Incorporated’s (FTI) Lakeside Vision Center in Stockbridge is another example of exciting, innovative growth in the community. The 19,000-square-foot technology center along the shore of Lake Winnebago is powered entirely by clean microgrids, making the development completely independent from the local utility grid. Officials say it will serve as an example for others to learn about renewable energy, and tours with interactive experiences are available.
The facility is part of an overall 40-acre development; long-term plans include an off-grid residential community in Stockbridge.
“In our 50th anniversary year, FTI is proud to look back at what we’ve done, but we’re even more excited about what our past success will contribute to the next 50 years,” says Mike Jansen, FTI CEO and chairman of the board. “We know that resilient, renewable energy is critical to our environment, and we’re committed to providing valuable energy solutions for our customers and partners.”
Small standing tall
While the work of large companies like AriensCo and FTI may certainly capture headlines and imaginations, Calumet County has also embarked on a project this year that aims to lift up rural small businesses. After receiving funds for small business relief, Kohrell says she enlisted the support of WWBIC, the Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation, to help deploy microbusiness grants. WWBIC operates statewide and serves more than just women business owners; Colleen Bies, who serves as WWBIC’s Northeast Wisconsin regional project director, says the organization’s mission is to help small business owners who are either women, minorities, veterans, or low income individuals in starting, running or growing their businesses.
“I started [my job] on a Monday last May, and by Tuesday I was on the phone with Mary [Kohrell],” Bies says. “It was wonderful; I loved working with her. We literally helped push 69 small businesses forward, and that just feels great.”
Kohrell says she sought out WWBIC’s services in part because the organization has a history of working with small businesses that are similar to those in Calumet County. Because most of the county is not entitled to Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds like the City of Appleton or City of Neenah, for example, the funds are a much-needed boost for small contractors, retail stores, restaurants, service providers and light manufacturers from small rural communities like Chilton, Stockbridge and Harrison.
“The hardest part when you’re trying to reach this rural audience is it’s difficult to find these business owners because not all of them are on social media, not all of them have a website, not all of them are up-to-date on marketing,” Bies says. “We ended up printing out flyers we had made and physically taking them into these communities and handing them out — and that was really how we got out there.”
Although some businesses were happy to just take the grant money, Bies says the legwork allowed her team to engage new businesses with WWBIC’s services — a win for the organization’s broader mission. In total, 69 CDBG microbusiness grants of up to $12,000 were handed out through the effort, all to non-entitlement communities in Greater Appleton — including 21 within Calumet County.
“Rural communities need thriving small businesses,” Bies says, “because those are the ones catering to people who are their neighbors, people that live with them, people from the same town, and people that can build community.”
