By: Joe Lawniczak, Wisconsin Main Street
Today across Wisconsin, we see tiny rural villages, small quaint towns, and larger cities all with thriving downtowns. Even the smallest of our communities have murals, public art, farmers markets, outdoor concerts, breweries, wineries, boutiques, B&Bs and more. Old factories, warehouses, gas stations and schools are being converted into downtown housing, retail, commercial or entertainment spaces. No longer do we need to preach about the importance of downtowns or historic buildings. People seem to get it…finally. It truly seems to be a heyday for our communities.
But with all this success comes challenges. And there are several key ones that need to be addressed now, before it’s too late. First and foremost is that we need to remind people of the tremendous amounts of work it took to get to this point. We can’t allow anyone to believe that it’s always been like this, because it will lose its value. Even those of us who lived through the struggles are prone to forget how hard it was. We get so used to the way things are now, we rarely stop to think back.
