• The Lakeshore
Door, Kewaunee, Manitowoc, Sheboygan Counties
Façade improvement grants awarded
The Door County Economic Development Corporation awarded 19 businesses grants from the Door County Small Business Façade and Property Improvement program.
The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation’s Small Business Development Grants provided $225,000, in addition to $25,000 of seed funding from DCEDC.
The Door County Small Business Façade and Property Improvement program is a competitive application process for Door County businesses with fewer than 25 full-time equivalent employees. The program focuses on façade and other exterior property improvements.
The program will award reimbursement grants of up to $10,000 each, covering up to 80% of total project costs.
“We were delighted with the applications received through this process and are grateful to WEDC and DCEDC’s board of directors for supporting this program,” said Michelle Lawrie, DCEDC executive director.
Upon completion of all projects, DCEDC will assess the viability of a second round of the program.
Manitowoc Chamber offers employee onboarding program
The Chamber of Manitowoc County launched ONBOARD Concierge Services, a new program that assists businesses and potential employees with a smooth relocation experience to the area.
ONBOARD Concierge Services provides a comprehensive suite of resources for new residents, including guided tours of the area, personalized welcome gift boxes, and connections to key community amenities, housing, schools and other local services. The program helps both job candidates and their families better understand what the region has to offer in terms of lifestyle, work-life balance and opportunities for growth.
“Relocation can be overwhelming, especially when moving to a new community for a job opportunity. Our ONBOARD Concierge Services provide tailored support to make that transition as easy as possible,” said Abbey Quistorf, executive director of the Chamber of Manitowoc County. “By offering personalized tours, connecting recruits to local resources and supporting companies with a seamless onboarding experience, we hope to create lasting impressions and help attract and retain top talent.”
Program highlights include:
- Relocation tours: Chamber will provide customized 90-minute tours of the Manitowoc area, showcasing housing options, schools, parks, local businesses and key amenities based on the needs of the recruit and their family.
- Welcome gift boxes: Companies can purchase curated welcome gift boxes to give recruits a warm introduction to the area, filled with local goodies, resources and information.
The program is available to all businesses in Manitowoc County. Companies can request tours, purchase gift boxes and access additional relocation resources by submitting a request form through the chamber’s website.
• The Northwoods
Florence, Marinette, Menominee, Oconto Counties
Revitalize Neopit event helps train students
The annual Revitalize Neopit received media coverage from some fresh, new faces — sixth and seventh graders from the Menominee Tribal School.
“We wanted students to have the opportunity to learn about communications, and see how their perspective matters to the community,” said Sharon Waukau, economic recovery coordinator and member of the Neopit Revitalization Workgroup, who along with Joe Stephenson from the East Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission taught students about planning and economic development.
During this discussion, students gained background information on a needs assessment that was performed last year, in order to gain an understanding of how this assessment was utilized in planning for the future and for events like Revitalize Neopit.
“Seeing how assessments that are performed early on are used to inform decisions made in the future helped students understand how important planning is, and how it impacts the events that they attend for themselves,” Waukau said.
Members of the Menominee Tribal Communications Department also gave students insights into the media’s role in helping support the community. Students learned skills like interviewing tactics, video and audio equipment usage, as well as written communication skills.
Students applied their new-found knowledge of communications at Revitalize Neopit, where they conducted and recorded several interviews with attendees, using questions that they drafted themselves. These interviews were edited together and premiered at a live event.
• West Central
Green Lake, Marquette, Shawano, Waupaca, Waushara Counties
StoneRidge Meats to double capacity in Wautoma
A Wautoma meat and cheese wholesaler that also owns Piggly Wiggly grocery stores is planning to double its capacity; this will result in a store closure.
StoneRidge Meats announced it will close its Wautoma Piggly Wiggly store Sept. 25 and would offer the 56 affected employees jobs at one of its other grocery store locations or with the wholesale business.
StoneRidge owns stores in Winneconne, Kaukauna, Little Chute and De Pere. It also has a cheese processing facility in Coloma.
Owners Duane and Parker Detjens cited growing demand for their wholesale meat products as the reason for the store closure. They intend to use the Wautoma store property to expand the wholesale operation and double capacity from 200,000 pounds of snack sticks and sausage per week to 400,000 pounds.
The existing grocery space will be converted to a USDA inspected production facility with refrigeration, packaging and employee break areas. A 24,000-square-foot addition is planned as well.
The company said the first phase of the expansion will add 50 to 75 jobs and the second phase will add another 50 to 75 jobs.
The business was founded in 2004 with the grocery store in Wautoma and rebuilt after a fire in 2005.
“We made a deliberate decision to expand right here rather than build elsewhere because we believe in the future of Wautoma and Waushara County,” the company said in a social media post.
StoneRidge products are available at retail grocers including Piggly Wiggly, Hy-Vee, Woodman’s, Casey’s and others.
Trail restoration completed in Waupaca County
The Lyman Dayton Trail was restored in the town of Dayton, according to the Community Foundation of the Greater Fox Valley.
A grant from the Jim and Mary Grist Fund for Waupaca is helping fund the project to revitalize the one-mile trail at the Dayton Town Hall.
The goal is to make the trail more accessible and remove invasive plants.
Work began in March 2025, with contractors conducting “forest mowing.” Later this fall, goats will graze the area to naturally control and reduce the regrowth of the invasive species. Volunteers are manually removing smaller invasive plants and maintaining the prairie areas surrounding the trail. Educational signs along the restored trail explain the ecological impact of invasive plants and highlight the benefits of native vegetation.
• Interstate 41 Corridor
Brown, Calumet, Fond du Lac, Outagamie, Winnebago Counties
Appleton airport economic impact nearly $2 billion
Appleton International Airport has a total economic impact of nearly $2 billion on the region, according to data released by Outagamie County officials.
The last economic impact study was conducted in 2015, when Appleton International Airport generated $676 million in total economic impact.
Other comparative measures are:
- The airport supported 7,626 jobs in 2024. In the 2015 study, the airport supported 3,267 jobs.
- The airport generated $1.3 billion of direct business sales. In the 2015 study, the airport generated $432 million of direct business sales.
- The total tax impact of the Appleton airport was $325.4 million, including $205.1 million paid in state and local taxes.
The report includes direct impacts from airport operations and visitor spending, indirect impacts as airport businesses make purchases to support their operations, and induced impacts as airport and tourism sector employees spend their wages in the local economy. The economic impact includes Outagamie, Brown, Winnebago and Calumet counties. It was conducted by the Tourism Economics group within Oxford Economics.
The airport recently opened a $66 million concourse expansion and is renovating the existing concourse and front drive lanes.
Neenah finalizes housing development at former school site
The city of Neenah has finalized a development agreement for the former Shattuck Middle School site that includes 31 residential lots, according to the Neenah News.
Umer Sheikh, owner of Investment Creations, will develop the Courtside Fields Subdivision to the south of the former Shattuck Middle School under the name Shattuck Neenah.
The single-family lots will be about one-quarter of an acre with 70 feet of frontage. There are no design restrictions on the residences.
The developer is required to pay a $1,000-per-acre subdivision fee totaling just over $8,200; $200 per lot for terrace trees totaling $6,200; and submit a $55,800 escrow payment for new sidewalk installation along Elm Street.
The former Shattuck Middle School closed following the 2022-2023 school year and Sheikh purchased the property that August. The Shattuck building has sat mostly vacant, other than the Neenah Joint School District’s Health and Wellness Center, which Sheikh allowed to continue operating from the building.
However, it was recently announced that New Springs Christian Academy will lease a portion of the building to operate a K-8 school.
