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Volume 2  Issue 3 September 2013

Greetings!

What a summer we've had!  The weather has been a sm�rg�sbord of cold, rainy and perfectly beautiful. And for DRI and our partners, the summer culminated in its own beautiful finale on Aug. 31, when Rhinelander held its first-ever Potato Fest. Seven major events, a wide variety of potato-featured food and huge crowds took over the entire downtown. It was the perfect all-community event.

Thank you for being part of our community celebrations, and begin looking forward to an equally spectacular follow-up next year!

The Editors
Mainstreet with Maggie
 
by Maggie Steffen, DRI Executive Director

Can't believe its September aka fall; the season of spectacular color, cozy feelings and comfort food. All of which could be used to describe PotatoFest. I feel confident in saying everyone had a blast! The events and contests had everyone either cheering or laughing. The music was fantastic and then the food!

I need to take my space to say thank you. If you ever planned a party you know how much work goes into it and how many resources you need to get it ready. Now imagine the guest list is in the thousands! Sometime the words "thank you" just doesn't seem enough and that goes for the core group of volunteers who helped plan this event. Keeping with volunteers, there were over 100 people that helped us! Thank you all. Then there are our sponsors. Without not only your financial support but the fact that you believed in us and our event, it would not have happened, thank you.

And finally, thank you to the whole Northwoods community. When you invite people to your party you always hope they come, and you did. We hope you had as much fun as we did and we look forward to working with and seeing you next year!


PotatoFest! Many thanks to our sponsors for the success of this event. 

Winners of the PotatoFest Contests:
Couch Potato Race: Greater Love Community Church
Golden Potato Dig: Olivia Krause
Mashed Potato Eating: Sean Nichols
French Fry Eating: Bobert Thompson
Tasty Taters Potato Salad: Sue Wege,
                                           Sportsmans Cafe
Potato Peeling: Kathy Martino
Tall Tail Telling: Tim Brown, Grace Parish

Congratulations to all.
Check out their photos on our websites
Hoduck and Hodag with Tator Tots from the parade.

Hodag Farmers Market was a popular stop.
The Couch Potato race competition was fierce. 
Potatofest
The potato's history was illustrated by an exhibition of equipment and documents from times of old.  
French Fry eating contestants keep chewing. 
Tim Brown and Grace Parish: winners of the Tall Tale contest. 
The Dweebs were a big hit with the audience. 
A sign in the Couch Potato Race says it all. 

As we enter into a new season, we all, including Downtown Rhinelander take on a different "feel".  Whether you enjoy the outdoors or the excitement of football (high school or Packers) remember EVERY thing changes, including downtown.  Please come visit!

 
Maggie Steffen
Executive Director
Downtown Rhinelander Inc.
In This Issue
SAVE THE DATE
Downtown Events
Oct 25
Main Street Awards in Wausau
Oct  26
Trick or Treat
Oct 26
Hodag Howl
Oct 23
Annual Meeting
Nov 22-24
Holiday Open House
Nov 29
Tree Lighting
Feb 7
Taste of Chocolate
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Mark at the Bling Style Show for ArtStart

Message by
DRI President Mark Gutterer 
Owner of Rhinelander Cafe &  
Pub

What's Up Mark?

So here we are again. A question I hear is, "Are you actually doing anything at DRI?" Hmmmm! As I'm writing this, we are working furiously on the details of our inaugural PotatoFest. While the artists are picking up the newly designed Baby Hodags for our Hodags on Parade, we're planning a fun Hodag Howl for October along with the downtown trick or treating, Earlier in the month we manned the beer booth for the County Fair, as well as Redikulus Dae, and the ATV Pull.

In the background we're working on a limited time targeted facade improvement project. We're working with the city on a future Brown street renovation, and have provided ideas to the city regarding the possible clean up of a blighted building, which will pave the way for a new development or a new parking lot. 

We've maintained the Plaza and Triangle and the flower baskets, all of which enhance our downtown. And the Downtown Works program continues to be available for funding downtown projects. 

I hope this answers the "Is DRI really doing anything?" question!

On a personal level, I was a model in the fundraiser fashion show for ArtStart, and that's where Sally caught me showing off a prom dress featured in this month's photo of your president. And now? It's back to peeling potatoes. 

Mark Pelletier
Meet the DRI Board of Directors
Each month we feature a current board member

Mark Pelletier

 

Appointed by the Mayor in 2008, Mark has served as the representative of the City of Rhinelander for nearly six years on the City Council.

 

Mark has lived his entire life in the Rhinelander community. He's a Rhinelander High School grad, but before that, in 1982 at age 12, he began working in the family printing business. The shop at that time was located downtown where McDonald's is today. After several moves the business became Northland Printing and Supply on Pinos Street, just off N. Stevens St.

 

Mark's dedication to the city remains as strong as ever. As a District #2 Alderman on the Council, he serves on the Parking Advisory, Public Works, and Planning Commission committees, and is chair of the Finance, Wage and Salary committee. With his knowledge of city operations Mark is a valuable asset to the DRI Board.   

 

Mark says, "I love that the DRI Board has members who are small business people. We march to a different beat. That makes us strong advocates for downtown."

DRI Committee News

 

Design
by Pat LaPorte, Chair

One of the objectives of the Design Committee is to keep our downtown looking attractive and looking like a place people want to come back to visit.  If each store owner did a little sweeping on a routine basis, it would go a long way to keeping our sidewalks clean and inviting.  Think of the image we want to convey.

Happy Sweeping!!!!



Economic Restructuring

by Dan Kuzlik, Chair

We are working with the Chamber and City to develop marketing material for recruiting new business.


Organization
by Joan Belongia, Chair

The DRI website is up and running with news, articles and photos that are being submitted to Maggie. The Downtown Rhinelander Inc Facebook page is accessible for all to "like" to receive posts.

 

 

Promotions 
by Ray Burgan, Chair

 

The PotatoFest was a success. Next up for Promotions is Trick or Treat Oct. 26. That evening we will host the Haunted Hodag Howl. Watch for our news on this event coming soon. 
DRI Logo
Volume 2  Issue  1

Downtown Rhinelander, Inc.

Maggie Steffen
Executive Director

26 N Brown St
P.O. Box 1638
Rhinelander WI 54501

Phone 715-362-7374
Fax 715-362-7340

Downtown Rhinelander | 715-362-7374 | [email protected] | http://downtownrhinelander.com
26 North Brown
P.O. Box 1638
Rhinelander, WI 54501

Serving Downtown Rhinelander since 2006


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