Hello all, welcome to WFHR's Rapids Report, proudly brought to you by Crockett Sceptic for
this July 3rd, 2025.
Have your host, James here, and we're joined right now by our great friend, Kayla Rumbalski,
from UW Extension Wood County.
Kayla, good to have you with us.
Hi, James, good morning.
Always enjoy talking with you.
We were actually joking about this on the morning show earlier.
It doesn't really matter what we get into.
We always have fun.
You usually learn stuff with you, Kayla, and you're able to give us a chance to talk
about things or take almost a bigger perspective on subjects sometimes, and I really appreciate
the work you put in.
Today, we're going to be doing a little bit of a recap of a recent conference.
Yes, absolutely.
We hosted the Connecting Entrepreneurial Communities Conference.
Say that five times fast.
Here in Wisconsin Rapids, in the middle of June, it was June 16th through the 18th.
We had a wonderful time.
I just wanted to spend a little time today on the podcast recapping the conference, talking
about some of the successes and really the light that it's shown on the city of Wisconsin
Rapids.
Yeah, Kayla, when it comes to this, for those that may have not heard about it or knew,
what went on with this conference and who hosted it?
Where was it?
Yeah, great question.
This is the Connecting Entrepreneurial Communities Conference.
It is a conference that is new to the state of Wisconsin.
This was the second year that it was hosted in Wisconsin.
Other Midwestern states surrounding us, states like Kansas, Missouri, Minnesota, Michigan,
have all hosted this conference annually for the past several years.
It's new to Wisconsin.
We were excited that we were the second city to host the conference.
It was previously hosted in 2024 in the city of Plattville.
It was a really awesome opportunity, at least for me personally.
I had never been to that part of the state, to the dress list area, and to Plattville.
It gave me a chance to really explore a new city.
The conference is a little bit unique in the sense that it doesn't just take place in
a hotel conference center, so you're not in the same ballroom the entire time you're
at the conference.
It's typically about three days.
You can you spread out across the host city.
When I attended the conference in Plattville, it was downtown.
There was a session in a movie theater.
There was a session in an art gallery.
You really got to experience the flavor and the feel of downtown Plattville, and it was
a great city.
When we saw that, we were excited about the opportunity to host folks in Wisconsin Rapids.
We applied and we were selected for the conference to host it, so we were super excited.
It's a real tip of the hat to the work that you and the team put into, you know, submit
the name and recommend it and everything, and it's a credit to the area and everybody
in this area that we were selected.
Absolutely.
Yeah, we had a really great team that came together to host this conference.
There are a lot of moving parts.
I should back up and talk a little bit about what it's for and who attended.
It's a conference that really shines a light on entrepreneurial ecosystems.
What's meant by that, that's kind of a buzzword or a big term, and what's meant by that is
just the ways that small rural communities, small cities, villages, municipalities can
support homegrown business right in their community.
Looking at how we can make sure that our cities, towns, villages, are better places for people
who are aspiring entrepreneurs who want to start their own business, for small businesses
that want to grow, how do we support that within our economy and really allow that to
become a thriving part of our communities.
And in a place like Wisconsin Rapids, it's also about, you know, looking at our city that
has been dominated by one industry historically, and that's paper, obviously.
And then what happens when paper goes away and we need a new industry or we need a new
driver for economics in our community.
And so we're looking at how we can support small business and really grow small businesses
as a way to almost diversify that industry, right?
So we were so tied up into the paper industry and by supporting entrepreneurs and supporting
a wide variety of businesses, it's like kind of separating our eggs, right?
We're not putting our eggs all in one basket, and that's important.
When it comes to, you know, important topics and important things for rural communities,
especially, but just in general around the country, this is one of the top five.
This is one of the biggest ones.
For an area like ours where you bring up the way that money was made around here for
a very long time and what was not only built on that industry and the mill industry and
the paper industry as far as the people working in the mills, but how about every business
that was surrounding those mills that were making a profit or something, you know, I think
about this when we think of a sports franchise or a team.
It's not just that the team is making money, but around the stadium, there are people
selling shirts, there are bars around there.
There are those things and those are, that's an economic boom for them as well.
So when you remove the mill, you're not just removing that economic income, but all those
people that were spending money buying jet skis or whatever or anything like that and
the jet ski seller and stuff, it just has such a bigger effect than we realize I think
until you take a step back.
That's why I say this and this is so important right now and we are very fortunate here in
Wisconsin Rapids.
I am positive there are people out there that, you know, have comments and can say different
things about this or that or whatever.
When we're talking about new businesses coming to town, businesses surviving the pandemic,
surviving the mill closure, any of these things, our area is doing a lot better than most.
Yes, we really are and I think this conference was really a testament to that for some of
the folks that visited from outside of the area, outside of Central Wisconsin.
I wanted to take a few minutes to share some of the feedback that we received.
So we did a post conference survey and we asked in that survey, what are your impressions
of the city of Wisconsin Rapids and I think that these responses are just kind of reaffirming
for those of us who are from the city of Wisconsin Rapids and know what a beautiful place it
is.
The feedback that we received was really, really positive and so I just, if I can, I'm going
to go ahead and read a couple of these responses.
I would like that.
Thank you.
Again, this is the question is what is your impression of the city of Wisconsin Rapids
and someone said, bigger than I expected, more shops, restaurants and downtown hangouts
than I expected.
The YMCA is beautiful.
The conference was a great way to showcase the city and various cool locations well done.
And so I should say in that that we, as I mentioned earlier, you know, this conference is spread
out across the city that hosts it.
So we had breakout sessions at the library at I Heart Art, at Bees Tap House, Aaron's
lines and signs, the YMCA city hall and the county courthouse.
So we really gave visitors a chance to experience both sides of the river and to see really
what makes downtown rapids kind of an engaging, thriving place.
And the comments really showed that.
So another comment that I want to read is, my impressions of Wisconsin Rapids are much
different after the conference than they were before the conference.
When I thought of Wisconsin Rapids before the conference, I pictured the ugly drive into
town on Highway 13 with the half empty strip malls and a dozen camper sales lots.
I also conjured up the stench of the paper notes that permeated the city.
The conference opened my eyes to the hidden beauty of the city, the area of downtown near
the river, the riverfront park, the beautiful homes along the river south of the community
theater, rooted in red on the outskirts of town.
I found myself thinking that this would be a nice place to spend a long weekend.
I had the same experience last year with Platville.
I love the way the conference connects attendees with the true heart of those host cities
and gives us a greater appreciation for what they have to offer.
It's very well said.
I'm really glad you highlighted that one in particular too, because what I'm appreciating
is the honesty in these while also being very not judgmental necessarily.
They're open to their opinion being changed or just not saying that this sums up the whole
area kind of thing.
Well, also commenting on things that were bothersome at one point.
Right.
I think it's a perfect example of how minds can change.
Even as I told you before, James, I live in point and before I took my job with extension,
I had always worked in Steven's point.
When I started working in Wisconsin Rapids, I even had friends and neighbors that said
really you're going to drive to Rapids every day.
Do you really want to do that?
What's Rapids have going for it?
I am now a personal experience.
I am now the biggest advocate for the city of Wisconsin Rapids.
I think that there's so much that makes it such a cool place and it has a lot going for
it.
People from the outside just don't see that.
You see those things that you've talked about, like the smell from the paper industry and
you think of some of the more rundown areas of town.
If you can overlook some of those pieces, you really get to see the heart of the city and
also the people.
That I think is really what sets not only the city of Wisconsin Rapids, but central Wisconsin
and the part is that we have really committed, really wonderful people in our communities
that help to make the area shine.
This conference was no exception, so I would be remiss if I didn't give a huge shout-out
to Stacey Keevy, the heart of Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce and her ambassador volunteers.
They were amazing.
They showed up with smiles on their faces and helped direct people to where they needed
to go.
So friendly and then the hard work of the city of Wisconsin Rapids themselves, moving tables
and chairs, Kyle Kerns, was out there hauling tables and chairs and moving things around while
also presenting at the conference, so wearing a suit and things and getting ready to present
to them.
Kyle's amazing chairs.
Those are just two examples and there are so many more.
I had to take to name because I know I'll forget someone, but this really was such a labor
of love and it's great to see those back feedback and those impressions that have changed
because it shows a testament to the work that we put in.
And one of the things I think about other events, things like science by the river, which
is an extension event that draws in folks from all over the area.
It's just another great opportunity to showcase the Wisconsin River, the beauty of the Red River
Trail or the Alagotum Trail and how amazing that asset is to the city.
One other note that I'd like to just piggyback on what you were saying before about your
old thoughts of this area and your new thoughts of the area and how that evolved for you
and everything.
I've lived here half my life and I came from a completely different culture and city
and all that stuff and when I came out here, I just was a knucklehead and I was not
proud and I'd happy to be here.
I really fought it.
I moved around a lot and it wasn't just this area.
I did it a lot in places.
I lived in Illinois as well.
It was just a lot of moving and a lot of that.
I will spend the rest of my life and certainly the rest of my time while I'm here in Rapids
promoting this area, supporting this area and trying to make up for a lot of those thoughts
and feelings I had when I was a kid because I got to say that I came back here and I got
it.
I saw it.
This town, given me, my little brother was born here but in that same hospital, all three
of my kids were born in that hospital.
Some of my favorite people I've ever met, some of my best friends I met here in this city.
This city has given me the closest thing I had to a childhood.
There's a lot that this and not just here but Rome, given me and my sister that.
This area has given us a lot and I want to give back to it as a thank you.
But one of the things that I think you hit on that I think is so key to all this and
they got me to come around and so many things about this area.
We got a beautiful river, we got a lot of fun, cool things to do.
It's the people.
It's the people.
They make this area.
They make, like you said, not just Rapids but the whole central Wisconsin area.
You're not going to meet people like this everywhere and we got some really great, wonderful
people in this area.
Right.
And I think sometimes it takes the perspective of moving away.
I think that's why you see that so often, right?
The people, the moment I graduate high school, I'm getting the heck out of here and going
to experience the big city or going to experience something different and folks do that and
then they feel like, oh, I didn't realize how good I had it back at home.
I'm going to move back there.
I've lived that life.
I've been in this, they might be thinking, I've been in the city and now it's time to move
back somewhere quieter.
And how awesome that it's also, I mean, the best thing, I think, one of the best things
about central Wisconsin is that it is centrally located.
So if you want to, you know, if you are craving that city life, if you're craving something
that you can't get locally, it's just a couple of hours in really any direction and you
can be in Chicago, Minneapolis, you can have those big city adventures and then come
back home where it's, again, this is me speaking, so my personal bias is showing, but come
back home where it's quiet and peaceful and you can walk along the river and just take
in the beautiful scenery and your day.
Like, yeah, yeah.
What could be better, right?
With this, great, couldn't agree more.
With this survey, was there, I see that you asked for, are they asked if there was any
additional feedback?
Did you get any interesting responses there?
Yeah, so we asked for quite a bit of feedback on this survey, but I will say that the additional
feedback often said, you know, huge shout out to the planners, especially those with
boots on the ground, so really echoing some of the things that I said and then it was
just great to see, you know, as an organizer, I knew how much work it was, obviously, but
to see the feedback really echo and applaud all of that hard work and saying, you know,
thank you for having such a well-organized event, thank you for, you know, showcasing
the city.
It was really just a success all around, so we are excited, obviously, this is not an
annual, I mean, it is an annual conference, but next year it will be in a different location,
so we probably won't have an opportunity to bring something like this back to Wisconsin
Rapids, at least this exact conference for a few more years, but it was a really great
learning experience, and now that we've got that under our belt, we're kind of, I think
some of us on the planning team are like, what could be next?
Exactly.
You know, what's the next step from this?
We have this under our belt, we've seen how our organizations can work together earlier
when I shouted out, you know, Kyle and Stacy, I also overlooked, of course, Meredith and
her team after the Convention and Visitors Bureau, they are amazing, they do amazing work,
and so, you know, from a tourism standpoint, how do we get more people to come to the
area and what other types of events, both professionally, you know, for work travel,
but then also for personal travel, how do we get more people to come to the Central
Wisconsin?
And one of those is the cranberry blossom festival, which we just wrapped up, you know,
and things like the water ski show that bring in so many people.
Two more, just two quick notes on this, one of the feedback comments was, please do this
again, it was excellent to the point of what you were saying here and everything.
And, you know, we're talking about entrepreneurism for businesses and a lot of that, but this
can be piggybacked from just looking at it as from a city perspective as well, as how
we can grow our events, how we can bring in more events in some of those things.
And when you can show, the NFL just learned this about Green Bay, they wanted to experiment,
they wanted to see, hey, can we have the NFL draft in Green Bay, Wisconsin, the smallest,
you know, national city or sports city in America, and in the world, can they host this,
can that be pulled off, let's give it a shot?
They do.
It's so successful.
The not only is the NFL looking at doing another draft there in like five, 10 years or whatever
they've already said, but they're looking at other events they can do in Green Bay.
Not just the NFL, but NASCAR is looking at it, MMB is looking at it.
You've got other sports leagues looking at what they're doing because they pulled that
off so successfully.
Same thing here.
We show that we can pull off these events, those ones you just mentioned, the water ski
show tournament we have done for decades around here, the cranberry blossom festival we
pulled off for decades around here, and now you pull off, you and this team pull off
something like this, you're really showing anybody who's hosting conferences or having
events, hey, that area, that's perfect.
They can host this.
They can do this.
Maybe we can't have, you know, La La Paloza here or something like that, but we can have
some pretty big events around here that we can handle, and the more we evidence we give
those people that the more we can bring in here.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
So I'm kicking off my 4th of July weekend that I am remoting in today from Beautiful
Rindlander, Wisconsin, where my family has a property, and you know, we can't host
La La Paloza, but look at Rindlander.
They host Hode Country Facts every year and they see their population really grow in
just a weekend because of how popular that event is, so there's something to be said
for those tourism draws that bring people in, and then they may, you know, when they're
here, they may decide, oh, you know what, I really, I really love Wisconsin Rapids.
I love coming for the ski show, I love coming for Cranberry Blossom Festival.
I think maybe it's time that I move in that direction, and so then, you know, tourism
becomes residents and becomes taxpayers and becomes, you know, your local, just contributing
to that local culture.
You bring more amazing people, and that is what makes the city great, right?
Yeah.
Kayla, it's always great talking with you.
It's been a lot of fun.
Anything else you wanted to touch on before we let you go?
No, I think this is a great conversation, and we, as we always do James, right, we covered
all the big points in just a few short minutes together.
So thank you.
Always appreciate the time.
If people have followed questions, they'd like to reach out to you.
Maybe some conference people might want to write that to you or something like that.
Absolutely.
How can they get a hold of you?
So you can search for us online, that's probably the easiest way, extension Wood County.
My email is Tey Rumbalski, and I know that that's a crazy Polish last name, but it's not
as complicated as it may sound.
So it's R-O-M-B-A-L-S-K-I, so K, Rumbalski at Wisk, W-I-S-C dot E-D-U, and that'll come
right to me, and I'd be happy to talk further with any listeners.
And of course, if you need help with any email addresses or anything like that, reach out
to us here, and we'll make sure to get you in touch with Kayla.
Always appreciate the time.
Say hi to the rest of the staff over there for us.
Do you have yourself a safe, fun, great, fourth of July weekend?
Thanks for joining us, Kayla.
Same to you, James.
Thank you so much.
And a big thank you to all of you for joining us here at the Rapids Report, brought to you
by Crockett Sceptic.
Have yourselves a great fourth.
Everybody, we'll be back with more show.
