Event to share resources and market analysis data, feature Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch as guest speaker
By Kellen Olshefski
SLN Staff
For the Elkhorn Economic Development Alliance, the group’s new Project Elkhorn on March 8 is a chance to bring together area businesses and kick off a campaign to better Elkhorn; for business owners, it’s a chance to tell the group exactly what they need.
Project Elkhorn is slated to kick off at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday with an event at the Monte Carlo Room here in Elkhorn.
With more than 100 people already registered to attend, EEDA President James Duquette Duquette said they’re anticipating a great event.
“Everyone’s invited, so everyone has a chance to see what we’re about and get involved,” he said. “It’s been great and a lot of people are excited about it. We’ve gotten a really good response and I think it’s going to be a great turnout.”
Duquette, who is an Elkhorn-based attorney with the Seymour, Kremer, Koch, Lochowicz and Duquette law firm, said in bettering Elkhorn’s business climate, there needs to be some cohesion amongst local businesses, something the group hopes the event will accomplish.
Duquette said the reason behind the event is really to put a face to the entity, to introduce it and its resources to the businesses and people of Elkhorn.
“EEDA’s just a bunch of people,” he said. “We’ve got excited volunteers and we have assistance from the government … we want the by and now from the community and the businesses. That’s the whole purpose of this event.”
Duquette said through the event they hope to introduce local existing and new businesses to the numerous resources available through the alliance such as Gateway Technical College, the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and City of Elkhorn Finance Director James Heilman, who will talk about the revolving loan fund available for business growth and expansion in Elkhorn.
“So, there are resources that people don’t even know are available, but they need to know they can come to us for that,” he said.
Additionally, Duquette said the event will include a presentation of data from a market analysis of Elkhorn, conducted earlier this year by Redevelopment Resources, which he said has some good takeaways.
“Really, that data tells us what the city has, what it can have and what the community can’t have,” he said. “If you poll the community and ask them what does Elkhorn need and they might say Walmart, Target or Fleet Farm.
“But, I think that data tells us that’s a pipe dream. So, let’s focus on the stuff we can attain. That’s a better use of resources.”
As for what the EEDA would like to get out of the event, Duquette said he’d like to see the alliance form some goals with community businesses, try to figure out what they really want to accomplish and what they want out of the EEDA body.
“Maybe it’s the downtown revitalization, maybe it’s improving the marketability of lots in the industrial park,” he said. “Do the people and the businesses in Elkhorn want something downtown, a fountain, a different parking arrangement.
“Nobody’s going to be left out … we want people to buy in so we can gauge an interest from the community, the businesses and even the citizens.”
With Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch speaking at the March 8 event, Duquette hopes her stories of similar-sized communities and their successes will be an inspiration for those in attendance at the meeting and motivate them to help to revitalize Elkhorn.
“She has the information,” he said. “She’s a very smart woman, she has the experience and resources to tell us about other similar communities where she’s seen things like this work and what it takes to make things like this work.
“We want her to come and inspire. We don’t expect her to be able to point to all of the resources, but she is not just an engaging and entertaining speaker, she’s very smart and she’s going to be able to show us places where this has worked.”
Duquette said the alliance plans to gauge the success of this event and the support of the community. Providing it goes over well, he said he can see the group holding other similar community-wide events to continually engage the business community.
“We want citizens to be involved and supportive as well, but who were serving directly is the different businesses,” he said. “We certainly want to do something every year to make sure we’re continuing to provide a need that’s actually there and not just doing what we want to do or think we should do.”
The EEDA will also be hosting another event on May 14, the Elkhorn Downtown Open House event. Look to future issues for more information on this event.
