Revitalization plan lights up Lena

LENA – White café lights strung diagonally across Lena’s Main Street have lit up the downtown and lifted up the community – all at a low cost.

“People have commented how refreshing it is to drive into Lena and see the lights and a well-maintained community,” said Jodi Marquardt, Village of Lena clerk/treasurer.

The illumination is part of a five-year plan to revitalize the village, which has seen its population hover at about 540 for the past 10 years, down from 564 in 2010, according to the Census Bureau.

The lights are about as inexpensive an improvement as one could imagine, yet they’re effective at defining an area and luring people to it, said Jayme Sellen, executive director of Tourism & Economic Development Corporation for Oconto Region (TEDCOR).

“The lights cost about five hundred dollars. Volunteers put them up. The electricity is like ten bucks a year,” Sellen said. As an improvement, it reverberates in several ways. “People like to be in communities that have a certain vibe that makes them feel safe, and lighting is a component of that,” she said.

Oversized flower pots with colorful blooms also have dressed up the downtown, she said. They’re components of a plan the village wants to build from during the next five years, Marquardt said. Plans for improvements to a pocket park on East Railroad Street and a three-mile walking trail will give residents and visitors new places to enjoy.

The efforts are largely being funded through grants, donations and business investments made possible with low-interest microloans from the village. The village has received two grants to help with its efforts, including a matching grant for up to $32,000 for the pocket park, Marquardt said.

An improved ice rink is scheduled to open at the pocket park this winter on new asphalt, while the space will also be used for pickleball and basketball courts during warmer seasons, Marquardt said. “In the winter, we’ll have it lined and flooded for the ice rink,” she said.

The village also received a $45,000 rural community grant through TEDCOR, Marquardt said. The grant paid for Retail Strategies, a Birmingham, Ala., consulting firm, to create a five-year plan for revitalization, Sellen said.

“Lena is definitely a community where people are vested in improving where they live,” Marquardt said.

A group of parents approached the village with a desire for more ball diamonds for their kids to play on a couple of years ago. Two new diamonds were paid for through grants and donations, and kids were playing on them this year, she said.

The improved ice rink should be in place this winter, she said. In the spring, new trees, park benches and garbage cans will beautify the park, she said.

A three-mile handicapped-accessible walking trail on village and school property also is in the works. A public survey suggested renewed interest in walking trails. “The walking trails have been requested for years in the village,” Marquardt said. While the main purpose is walking, the trail will be open to bicyclists, she said.

With the park improvements underway, the community became excited about other possibilities, said Retail Strategies Consultant Jeremy Murdock, who worked with Marquardt and Sellen for about a year. Murdock visited the community and held listening sessions, he said.

Retail Strategies provides training materials on a variety of business topics to the municipalities it works with to strengthen local businesses.

“Everybody knows what they want: historic properties restored, shops and restaurants filled and a calendar of events that will draw people downtown,” said Murdock.

Murdock recommended new streetscapes and beautification projects, events and activities to build foot traffic and village support of local businesses.

The village launched a $10,000 low-interest microloan program for businesses interested in improving their building facades. The terms are 3% for five years, Sellen said.

“Growing the local economy is important to enhancing quality of life so people stay there or at least move back home,” he said.

TEDCOR selected Lena and Suring for rural community revitalization grants in 2024. They were awarded based on population trends, medium household income, residents’ age and age of buildings, she said. Lena’s declining population and older buildings in need of repair worked in its favor for the grant, Marquardt said. “It looked like an opportunity to come up with a plan to get some of those buildings not being used back into use,” she said.

“We didn’t look at it from the tourism perspective. We looked at it from the economic development perspective: How do we bring more people into the communities?” Marquardt said.

Small improvements can have a ripple effect, Murdock said. “Enhancing the park adds a destination,” he said. “It will spill over to the downtown effort.”