Governor Tony Evers brought his cabinet to the Northwoods to see how local businesses have benefited from a state-wide grant.
Charlotte Andreachi owns the Knot Haus Gift Gallery in Tomahawk. She normally gets a lot of business during the winter from snowmobilers and other folks coming up north to enjoy the outdoors, but after a warm winter with much less snow than they're used to, she says business slowed down.
Thankfully, she was able to continue operations thanks to a grant she received years ago, the Main Street Bounce Back Grant. The grant is meant to reward business owners for buying vacant spaces to expand their business. Andreachi says she's thankful for the assistance.
She said, "I got a Bounce Back Grant back in 2021 when I bought this building I was moving from another building that had sold that I was in. I didn't think I would qualify for it, but because I bought the building, and was moving my business to a new location, I did qualify, and that was wonderful and great news."
The governor then headed to Big Bear Mini Golf and Ice Cream to hear how they've been helped by the grants. Sherry Hulett co-owns the course with her husband. She used her grand money to get the business off the ground in 2022.
Hulett said, "First thing we did was take all the freezers out and redo and repaid and make sturdy, the floor that holds up all of our product. It really really helped us get up and operating in a safe manor for our staff and also for our visitors and guests."
Evers said it was important to see how the grants have helped with his own eyes, saying, "It's one of the things in my five plus years as governor that I've really enjoyed because we were able to essentially able to create businesses in vacant storefronts in 10,000 places in the state of Wisconsin."
Both businesses said that now that winter is behind them, they're looking forward to the summer tourism season.
