Source: Laura Bergh
The interview opens with an announcement that Wood county will be featured in upcoming episodes of Discover Wisconsin, and Uniquely Wisconsin. The Discover Wisconsin episodes will be aired in the fall and in the spring regionally on your local PBS stations. Uniquely Wisconsin chose to highlight the people and economy that make Wisconsin special in three short videos. The three Uniquely Wisconsin videos feature the Wisconsin Water Ski Show, the C2 Makerspace in northern Wood County, and the Bluff to Bluff Race in Marshfield.
They then discuss a grant which Wood County has become the recipient of. This grant will be used to grow communities economically during 2025. The focus has been on building more childcare support, education funding, housing, and other vital needs as part of their READY program. Some of the funding has been slated for helping with the local airport, and tourism locations care and upkeep. In many of these projects there are funding matches that will allow even more progress to be made.
Which led to a discussion about how important and difficult it is to grow a community. Grueneberg pointed out that Wood County communities are projected to have a population decline, especially when factoring in the aging population present now. He emphasized the need for a strong workforce including employers that draw people into the community. The importance of drawing people into the community is paramount and should be helped by the list of upcoming development and infrastructure changes. Throughout the interview the theme became the ways in which these projects can help encourage community growth and development, and how that, in turn, builds economic growth.
For more information on Discover Wisconsin you can visit their website here.
The Uniquely Wisconsin episodes and more information about them you can visit their website here.
For more about the Wood County Planning and Zoning projects you can visit their website here.
To hear the Mid-Day Magazine episode featuring Jason Grueneberg you can listen to it on our website by clicking this link here.