Oconto Falls’ local businesses team up to energize Main Street

OCONTO FALLS – Melanie Rice’s parents purchased The Flower Shoppe on Main Street in Oconto Falls when she was 10 years old, and she and her husband bought it from her parents about 22 years ago, she said.

“We are very blessed to have great customers who use us for their floral needs and our greenhouse products,” she said. “Not a day goes by that I don’t have a customer say, ‘Wow, it’s so nice in here.’”

However, growing flowers is easier than growing the business. With fresh flowers available at many kinds of retailers, from gas stations to grocery stores, encouraging people to shop for fresh flowers on Main St. is more challenging today than when her parents owned the store.

Rice is among the Oconto Falls’ Main St. business owners who are taking steps to re-energize the shopping district. She is organizing the Grinch Oconto Falls Main Street holiday event from 3-7 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 5. The free event includes a scavenger hunt and other activities on Main Street.

“With the economy being as tough as it is and people looking for something to do, it’s a great event,” said Peter Bruesch, co-owner of the Coachlight Inn with his wife Kimberly.

“It’s amazing how many people show up and participate,” he said, noting many people come from other cities and towns to join in the fun. Bruesch estimated about 1,000 people participated last year by looking for Grinches at about 20 participating Main Street businesses. They return to The Flower Shoppe, 224 N Main St., for a chance to win a prize, such as a gift basket, Rice said. The deadline for completed forms is 2 p.m. Dec. 7 and the winners will be announced Dec. 9.

For activities, the Oconto Falls Fire Department, a food truck and a K-9 demonstration will be at the Coachlight Inn’s location, 248 N Main St., across the street from the public library, Bruesch said. Salscheider’s Antique Bar, located at 126 N Main St., generally offers wagon rides and hot food, he added.
“It’s a way to encourage people to come down to Main Street and visit the local businesses,” Rice said.

To keep the momentum going, Bruesch said the city’s participation in the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation’s Connect Communities program also will provide access to technical assistance and information about available grants. The goal is to bring in new businesses and generate new revenue.

Two new merchants are about to open their doors, Rice said. The Main Course will offer freshly prepared meals while Custom Creations will offer handmade woodworking and gifts, according to Rice. Neither shop could be reached for comment.

“Whenever I see progress, I get excited,” Bruesch said. “The idea is hopefully we get that small business atmosphere going again. It will help bring property values up and property taxes will go up so we can continue to make improvements to Main Street to make it a more vibrant space,” he said.

“We’re coming along. We have new businesses,” said Barb Salscheider, a Main Street merchant leader involved with the revitalization effort and owner of Salscheider’s Antique Bar and Tavern.

About five years ago, Salscheider became concerned enough about Main Street buildings to begin collecting donations to help provide paint and supplies to help property owners maintain their buildings.

Salscheider established a way to encourage customers of the Antique Bar to give donations to the revitalization fund, which were used to paint and fix building exteriors. “I can chip in if you can chip in” was the idea, Rice said.

“I do think every little bit helps. When one person fixes up their building, it’s a domino effect. It will encourage other people to want to fix up their buildings,” Rice said. “Barb Salscheider was the key to just taking charge and going one business at a time to see how she could help.”

Both women are members of the city’s Main Street Committee, which grew out of an informal group Salscheider organized. “Our committee has been very supportive of our small businesses. We’re generally all happy with what we have. Bars across the river are doing well, too,” Salscheider said.

Salscheider also has formed a nonprofit for Caldwell Square, a community green space at the site of a former hotel and restaurant, which was raised after it burned down, she said.

Rice recalls the property sat vacant for years. “It’s just been a blank lot, an empty lot with weeds,” Rice said. “I think my husband went and cut the grass there,” she said, because it needed it.

Then Salscheider decided to do something about the vacant property. “It came up on the auction block, and I bought it,” Salscheider said.

Salscheider also purchased a gazebo for about $9,500 that’s been erected at Caldwell Square. “The square is wonderful,” Rice said.

Salscheider’s vision includes even more. She’d like to see the space used for community events, such as concerts. She wants tables, chairs, benches and lighting to encourage people to stay awhile on Main Street. “We’re getting the power hooked up in the next few weeks. We need that for the tree lighting,” she said. A flagpole and a Caldwell Square entrance sign have been donated, but still need to be put in place, she said.

“It’s come a long ways, and there’s still a long ways to go,” Salscheider said.
What’s needed is more shoppers on foot, merchants agree. “The biggest problem is we don’t have business that requires foot traffic,” said Michael Kallies, owner of MK Photography at 164 N. Main St. “When you don’t have foot traffic, it’s hard to get people to come down here. I’m not really a foot-traffic location. I’m more of a destination studio.”

Rice said events like Small Business Saturday, to be held Saturday, Nov. 30, help to encourage people to shop at local retailers. “There is just a resurgence in people understanding how important small business is,” she said. “We’re the people who are supporting the community. If somebody wants help with a gift basket or a donation, they’re going to come to me, and I’m going to help as many people as I can. The more people who shop with me, the more people I can help.”

When people visit Main Street, merchants like Rice hope they leave with a good impression. Currently, several property owners feel makeshift apartments in storefront locations can detract from their efforts to keep their buildings attractive.

Oconto Falls isn’t unusual with its Main Street challenges, Kallies said. “It’s like any small town in America. We could use some more viable businesses on Main Street,” he said. “Gillett’s Main Street isn’t what it used to be when I was a kid there.”

Kallies said he and his wife moved to Oconto Falls from DePere, but he grew up in Gillett. “I think for it to be a successful downtown, you have to have businesses there and not apartments, but you don’t want to drive anyone away from where they live.” Kallies said.

Some buildings are in such disrepair they need to be replaced, he said. “I don’t know if it drives people away, but it doesn’t make it as attractive,” Kallies said.
Revitalization is a slow, slow process, Bruesch said. “COVID-19 just took a little bit of wind out of the small businesses that were there. We lost five or six businesses. It didn’t help. It just opened up some empty buildings,” said Bruesch, who has lived in the area for about 10 years.

Without business tenants, property owners allowed their storefronts to be rented as apartments, but they weren’t properly converted, Bruesch said. He was asked to join the Main Street Committee, he said. “The purpose of the committee was to try to bring some life back to Main Street and clean up some of the blight.”

Many property owners are on fixed incomes and don’t have the funds to improve their buildings, he said. While some COVID-19 grants provided funds of $10,000, Bruesch felt they didn’t go far enough.

At the same time, inflation has only encouraged more families to seek out big box discounters instead of local merchants, Salscheider said. “A lot of people go to Walmart, Costco, Aldi and Sam’s. Of course, there’s Amazon, too,” she said, explaining what’s happened to steer people away from Main Street.

Young people “are struggling just to make ends meet. They’re looking for bargains. It’s tough. They have house payments, car payments, groceries and day care.”

More people need to join the Oconto Falls revitalization effort, Bruesch said. “The only businesses that have put in tremendous effort are Barb and Melanie at The Flower Shoppe,” he said. “We need an injection of funding to help push things along.”

Rice said Stephanie Holman at Senn Hometown Insurance “is putting in so much effort” on the Main Street Committee and by encouraging businesses to improve their exteriors and interiors.

To make way for more businesses, the city needs more affordable housing, Holman said. “Getting the housing also would help,” she said, referring to a project Newcap is working on with the city to construct a new apartment building with rent at a sliding scale.

Bruesch can envision what Oconto Falls Main Street could look like. “I’m jealous of towns like Shawano or Gladstone, Mich. They have the cutest Main Streets with nice lighting and benches,” he said. “That’s really what I envisioned us getting back to.”