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- Continuing on in the arts

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and economic development

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in Vilas County 
leadership, Vilas vision.

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I want to introduce 
Mr. Barry McLeane,

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Special Projects Manager for

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the Vilas County Economic 
Development Corporation, to give

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us an update on Vilas County 
economic development activity.

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So, welcome, Barry, thank you.

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(applauding)

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Good to see you.

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- Thank you very much.

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Vilas County Economic 
Development Corporation.

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I've got 30 minutes, 
and some people would

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think five would be enough 
to give you everything we do.

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We, like Lola, we 
were formed in 2010,

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the corporation was formed.

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In fact, the then agent for

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the university helped 
us form our corporation.

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And the Vilas County Economic 
Development Corporation

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is a huge umbrella.

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We didn't know, I didn't know 
what I was getting in for

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when I applied to be on 
the board originally.

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I thought, it sounds like 
something I should be a part of.

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I'd done a lot of volunteer 
work for 10 years I've been up

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here, and I thought it sounds 
like I should be involved.

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And when I did get involved,

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our original executive 
director, Ken Stubbe,

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and I started looking 
at pieces of this.

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Ken had been a professional 
in economic development

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for a number of years,

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and we looked at all 
these different pieces

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of economic development.

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I mean, you've got-- 
certainly the arts.

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By the way, my wife has been

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a professional artist 
for the last 40 years,

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has worked in collections

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all over the country, including 
corporate collections.

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She's done a marvelous job,

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and so I know that everything 
you said about artists

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isn't true because they do 
have temperaments. (laughing)

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And they do have bad periods.

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Maybe that's just my artist,

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but I don't think so, they 
go through all kinds of

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different periods, but when 
we were talking about this big

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umbrella of economic 
development, the 
arts certainly came

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up initially as a really 
strong part of that.

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Lola was a great example for us

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as we moved forward 
into the arts,

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we started in Eagle River

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with a small building there.

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We rehabbed the 
cranberry building.

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Some of you will be familiar 
with that, and we took a group

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of Nicolet College students 
and rehabbed that building

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and turned it into an incubator.

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We moved our offices into 
there, and an incubator,

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at the time, wasn't very 
well known up in this area.

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Although, there are almost 
40 of them across the state.

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Incubators bring 
people in that are

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either moving out of home 
businesses, or moving,

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or have an idea that they 
present to us for a business,

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and they need an office 
or they need manufacturing

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facilities or they need 
storage facilities.

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But what we do, as a part of 
bringing them in, is mentor

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them through the entire process.

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We've got a good 
close relationship 
with Nicolet College,

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so we offer what we call the 
EC classes to these folks.

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It's a 12-week class 
where we cover virtually

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everything from soup to nuts 
on starting your own business.

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From writing a business plan to

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insurance to marketing to 
legal aspects of the business.

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Virtually all of it, and you 
end up, after the 12 weeks in

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this class, you end up 
with a brief business plan.

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And that is great.

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Most people choose to move

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forward from that point.

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Some people get discouraged 
when they write the

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business plan and find 
out maybe this isn't

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the right time for them, maybe 
their funding isn't quite

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in place, etc.,

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and that's as 
important a part of our

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classes as success rates.

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So some of those folks we move

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into our incubators and 
move forward from there.

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One of the other things that 
has happened as a result of

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Vilas County 
Economic Development

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are investments in Vilas County.

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This building being 
a great example.

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This building was bought 2.5 
years ago by our now chairman,

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Carl Ruedebusch, 
because he saw a need

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in Phelps to do some things.

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Phelps, of all the communities 
that we looked at around,

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Phelps seemed to have the 
most need at the time.

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And we looked at Land 
O' Lakes, and we looked

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at all various communities.

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But this community 
seemed to need some

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help more than the others, 
so we bought this building.

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Carl went ahead and 
bought the downtown store,

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if any of you are familiar 
with that, we took that down.

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We've now got, if things go 
well, we're hoping to have a

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grocery store, hardware store, 
lodge, restaurant down there.

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I mean, all of it is on the 
drawing board right now.

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We'd like to get started 
next spring

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on the first two phases of that,

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but the investment 
of real estate came as a

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direct result of Carl's 
involvement with this group.

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As well as a

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couple of other folks 
that have been involved.

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We have a building 
in Land O' Lakes now.

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We bought the--

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I believe it was the old 
Burkett Realty building,

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that is next to 
the Gasco building.

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In fact, I just put a sign up 
on that building yesterday to

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indicate Vilas County Economic 
Development is going to have

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an office in there, but I 
really appreciated what you said

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about the empty buildings 
in Land O' Lakes.

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We're very much are in favor 
of that where all of our

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buildings are, we don't 
like to see empty buildings.

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And if that building next door 
to ours, the Gasco building,

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it's been empty for a long 
time, needs fixing up, we're

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going to see if we can 
help with that next spring.

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It's got a big front to 
it, there could be a lot.

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Performing arts 
could go on in there.

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You take some walls 
down and do stuff.

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It's so easy to 
visualize that stuff.

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And then when you have the 
back end financing to go

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with it, you can get it 
done, it can all be done.

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So we have two buildings up 
in Manitowish Waters as well.

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We bought a fairly large 
building up there that had been

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empty for a couple of years, 
and we've converted that into

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an incubator, our Wisconsin 
magazine is now in there.

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They've expanded 
from one office.

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I just got the email yesterday.

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He wants the fourth 
office in there now.

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So he's hiring a new 
executive editor.

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So all of that, that's 
exactly what we want to do.

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Our Wisconsin had been 
a magazine operated 
out of a home up

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in Presque Isle, and so moving 
those folks into an incubator

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has given them the way to 
expand, the way to train

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new people, and a way to 
offer more to the community.

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In addition, FYI, Northwoods 
is located in our incubator up

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there, so we're the 
publishing mini empire

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for Manitowish Waters, 
right now.

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In Eagle River, another piece 
of real estate we've recently

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bought and we've moved out of 
the cranberry building that

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we rehabbed now, and we bought 
the flour sack building,

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which many of you have seen

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that big eyeball 
we've got out there.

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It was supposed to 
generate a lot of interest

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when we first put it up.

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A lot of people ended up 
thinking it was kind of creepy.

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But what it is is the eye 
on entrepreneurs building.

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That's what we've 
got going in there.

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And that has become, 
for us, Carl bought that

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building and as chairman of 
VCEDC, he wanted that to be a

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creative enterprise in there.

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So we've got, it's full now,

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we've got four 
businesses in there now.

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Stitch It, which was 
across the street,

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they do embroidery work, she 
moved into that building,

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but we put a gallery up front,

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we put a very small 
gallery up front for a good

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friend of Carl's, Mark DePuydt, 
or Mugsy as some of you may

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know him, and, anyway, he 
uses that gallery for his work

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and he does quite well in there

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and we're always looking 
for some more artists.

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We need some 3D people 
in there right now,

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some glass people, 
we're looking for that.

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Then, almost in the back,

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we've got a really 
great space in there

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called Goose Cap Media.

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A young man named Isaac Doud

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graduated from Northland 
Pines two years ago maybe.

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I don't know, two years ago.

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One of those kids 
that is so tech savvy,

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that it would almost be a 
shame to see him go to college

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because he is so tech 
savvy he needed to be

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involved right away 
in doing things.

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So we got one of the 
teachers who had left

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Northland Pines, Scott 
Subach, who moved to Appleton.

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So we formed an LLC 
with Carl as one

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of the partners, Isaac Doud 
as one of the partners,

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and Scott Subach as one of 
the partners, and what we have

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in there is we have 3D printers,

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we have some really 
high end PC software.

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We've got a big, fancy high 
end Macintosh coming this week,

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and we invite kids in there

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just to let the juices flow.

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Kids that Isaac knows or 
kids from the high school

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that can come in and just 
use that space any time

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during the day just to do 
things, just to create things,

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just to make things, 
just to have ideas.

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And we've got a 
gathering space up front

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where they can sit down, and 
all of these different folks

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can exchange their ideas.

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Then on the very back 
of that building,

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we have a, it's called 
the Blank Canvas.

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A young lady named Erica 
Johnson moved in there, and she

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offers lessons, art lessons, 
in all kinds of media.

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But she gets groups in 
there, they're as big as 25,

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and they just, she leads 
the class and they draw,

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or they throw pots, or they 
do whatever they do, write,

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and they just make signs.

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They can do all kinds 
of things in there,

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and she's just been a marvelous 
addition to our community.

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Eagle River, very much 
like Land O' Lakes,

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is becoming very much an art 
center in the Northwoods.

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I mean, with the opening of 
the Northwoods Center for

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Performing Arts behind the 
old Catholic church there,

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with the photography 
studio in town now,

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with our gallery in town, 
with the warehouse folks

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that have opened up and offer 
all kinds of classes there,

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it's becoming a real center.

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And I loved the analogy of 
coming up Three Lakes to

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Eagle River and up 
to Land O' Lakes.

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I mean I love the 
idea that we can do

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all of this is Vilas County.

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This can really be a huge 
destination arts community.

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Summer or winter, 
it doesn't matter.

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Folks will come up for a 
weekend or three or four days

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in the middle of the winter

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if they can come up 
for the right reasons.

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And the husbands or wives 
can do what they want to do,

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and the spouses can do what 
they want to do in the arts.

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I think it's a great idea, 
and we've got some folks

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working on that right now.

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So I kind of got, let me--

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- Okay.

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- I've been told I better 
do questions at the end.

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Part of being in here.

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So the real estate, the arts 
have all been part of that.

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One of the more boring parts 
of what our mission has been

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in Vilas County is, 
quite frankly, broadband.

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We can't expect people 
to come up here and stay

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for any length of time 
unless we can offer them

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not only broadband but I 
mean going forward we're

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going to have to offer 
them fiber optic.

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It's got to be fast 
broadband, we can't just do,

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you know, five up and 10 down,

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We've got to offer 
them fiber optic.

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So, to that end, we're 
offering that as of today

241
00:13:11,800 --> 00:13:14,733
in both of our Manitowish 
Waters locations.

242
00:13:14,833 --> 00:13:16,566
We're offering it right now

243
00:13:16,666 --> 00:13:20,833
at the eyeball building 
in Eagle River, fiber.

244
00:13:20,933 --> 00:13:25,500
Fiber means a minimum 
of 20 up and 20 down.

245
00:13:25,600 --> 00:13:29,266
That's, you can do anything 
with that right now.

246
00:13:29,366 --> 00:13:31,800
Now, is that going to be 
enough 10 years from now?

247
00:13:31,900 --> 00:13:34,433
No, we're going to need 
100 up and 100 down,

248
00:13:34,533 --> 00:13:37,433
but that'll come, 
that'll all come.

249
00:13:37,533 --> 00:13:40,100
Getting the initial fiber 
there is the important thing

250
00:13:40,200 --> 00:13:42,533
for everybody in this 
room that has ever

251
00:13:42,633 --> 00:13:46,066
thought about having a business, 
you've got to have that.

252
00:13:46,166 --> 00:13:51,166
So, this fall we hope to 
have it in Land O' Lakes.

253
00:13:51,266 --> 00:13:54,733
We've helped with 
ChoiceTEL's grant

254
00:13:54,833 --> 00:13:56,966
that they're now coming 
to Land O' Lakes.

255
00:13:57,066 --> 00:14:00,066
We hope that'll all go smoothly 
coming all the way up there

256
00:14:00,166 --> 00:14:03,000
and spread to all the 
downtown area, fiber.

257
00:14:03,100 --> 00:14:06,400
And then Carl, if he has 
to hire it done himself,

258
00:14:06,500 --> 00:14:10,133
we will have it here in 
2017, the year after that.

259
00:14:10,233 --> 00:14:13,233
We're dead certain about 
that, particularly with the

260
00:14:13,333 --> 00:14:15,833
development that we 
see going on downtown.

261
00:14:15,933 --> 00:14:20,466
So, economic development 
is so many things

262
00:14:20,566 --> 00:14:24,200
and can be so many different 
things to different people.

263
00:14:24,300 --> 00:14:29,733
It's all about what you perceive 
that you need to stay here,

264
00:14:29,833 --> 00:14:35,100
to run a business here, to 
operate here, or to have

265
00:14:35,200 --> 00:14:40,733
your friends from Milwaukee 
and Madison and Minneapolis

266
00:14:40,833 --> 00:14:42,800
come over here and say,

267
00:14:42,900 --> 00:14:46,533
"Why don't you rent my house 
for an extra two weeks."

268
00:14:46,633 --> 00:14:50,166
Yeah, I can run my 
business out of here.

269
00:14:50,266 --> 00:14:53,266
So, so many businesses are 
run out of homes anymore.

270
00:14:53,366 --> 00:14:56,800
I think that's pretty 
much what I've got to say.

271
00:14:56,900 --> 00:15:00,600
Are there any questions about 
what we do or how we do it?

272
00:15:00,700 --> 00:15:04,566
We have a pretty significant 
board of directors, and we've

273
00:15:04,666 --> 00:15:07,266
started with a really 
impressive board of directors

274
00:15:07,366 --> 00:15:08,833
and we've built on that.

275
00:15:08,933 --> 00:15:12,300
We've had some retire, 
and we've brought some in.

276
00:15:12,400 --> 00:15:14,000
Mark Long with 
Discover Wisconsin

277
00:15:14,100 --> 00:15:16,933
has just joined our 
board of directors.

278
00:15:17,033 --> 00:15:19,333
From out here in 
Phelps, Wally Beversdorf

279
00:15:19,433 --> 00:15:21,666
has just become part of 
our board of directors.

280
00:15:21,766 --> 00:15:23,500
So these are all good people.

281
00:15:23,600 --> 00:15:26,033
We've got tribal members 
on our board of directors

282
00:15:26,133 --> 00:15:29,266
that are also excellent, 
excellent people.

283
00:15:29,366 --> 00:15:32,833
And they work with 
us very closely.

284
00:15:32,933 --> 00:15:34,166
Debbie.

285
00:15:34,266 --> 00:15:36,833
- My question was, as far as how

286
00:15:36,933 --> 00:15:39,400
the Economic 
Development Corporation,

287
00:15:39,500 --> 00:15:41,100
is that a nonprofit?

288
00:15:41,200 --> 00:15:43,866
And then like you were 
mentioning who, I'm sorry,

289
00:15:43,966 --> 00:15:47,400
I forgot his name 
already, who bought here.

290
00:15:47,500 --> 00:15:49,433
- Yeah, we're a nonprofit. 
We are.

291
00:15:49,533 --> 00:15:50,900
- Carl, I'm sorry.

292
00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:55,433
So Carl, does the then, he owns 
it as an individual entity?

293
00:15:55,533 --> 00:16:00,433
- Carl does, Carl is one of 
those rare individuals that

294
00:16:00,533 --> 00:16:04,333
he's made a lot of money in 
the construction development

295
00:16:04,433 --> 00:16:08,833
business down in Madison, 
does buildings in 25 states,

296
00:16:08,933 --> 00:16:13,766
and he is, I mean seriously,

297
00:16:13,866 --> 00:16:15,833
It's hard to believe in 
this day and age sometimes,

298
00:16:15,933 --> 00:16:18,900
but he seriously is 
about giving back.

299
00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:22,566
He doesn't make any 
money on this building.

300
00:16:22,666 --> 00:16:25,866
He doesn't make any money on 
that building in Land O' Lakes

301
00:16:25,966 --> 00:16:29,266
or the first building in 
Manitowish Waters, and he's

302
00:16:29,366 --> 00:16:32,233
certainly not making any 
money in Eagle River.

303
00:16:32,333 --> 00:16:35,333
I mean, he does all the 
remodeling, buys the building.

304
00:16:35,433 --> 00:16:40,500
He is genuinely a person that 
gives back to the community.

305
00:16:40,600 --> 00:16:44,033
So I am just fortunate 
to have met him

306
00:16:44,133 --> 00:16:46,100
before I died, I 
have to tell you,

307
00:16:46,200 --> 00:16:51,066
because people like that just 
don't, they just don't exist.

308
00:16:51,166 --> 00:16:53,866
You don't run across 
them very often.

309
00:16:53,966 --> 00:16:55,233
- [Voiceover] That's very cool.

310
00:16:55,333 --> 00:16:59,133
- Yeah. He's a great 
guy. Any other questions?

311
00:16:59,233 --> 00:17:02,266
We're available all the time.

312
00:17:02,366 --> 00:17:06,200
I have cards right up on 
the, back here on the thing.

313
00:17:06,300 --> 00:17:09,900
So please come see me if 
you have ideas or thoughts

314
00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:14,066
about a business or anything 
you want to talk about

315
00:17:14,166 --> 00:17:15,900
business-wise, we're 
happy to do it,

316
00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:18,933
and we're happy to 
provide mentors for any,

317
00:17:19,033 --> 00:17:23,266
you don't have to have 
a location in one of our

318
00:17:23,366 --> 00:17:27,433
buildings to get the mentorship 
that you might want for

319
00:17:27,533 --> 00:17:29,666
legal or marketing 
or whatever it is.

320
00:17:29,766 --> 00:17:30,833
Yes?

321
00:17:30,933 --> 00:17:32,800
- So you have 
Vilas County in your name,

322
00:17:32,900 --> 00:17:34,766
but is it strictly Vilas County?

323
00:17:34,866 --> 00:17:37,166
What was the driving force?

324
00:17:37,266 --> 00:17:40,600
What made the group start up?

325
00:17:40,700 --> 00:17:45,700
- Originally, some members 
of the County Board had...

326
00:17:47,700 --> 00:17:49,966
These organization have existed

327
00:17:50,066 --> 00:17:52,100
in other counties for some time.

328
00:17:52,200 --> 00:17:54,833
I don't know how effective 
they were, I really don't know.

329
00:17:54,933 --> 00:17:58,566
But members of the County Board,

330
00:17:58,666 --> 00:18:02,400
certain members, decided they 
wanted to give this a try.

331
00:18:02,500 --> 00:18:07,433
So the initial try, they 
went to Kelly Haverkampf,

332
00:18:07,533 --> 00:18:10,533
who was the extension 
agent at the time,

333
00:18:10,633 --> 00:18:12,400
and sad see what you 
can put together.

334
00:18:12,500 --> 00:18:14,966
See if you can put together 
a board of directors.

335
00:18:15,066 --> 00:18:19,766
We had to go through all the 
procedures that just kill me.

336
00:18:19,866 --> 00:18:23,733
I can't stand to go through 
how to set up the corporation,

337
00:18:23,833 --> 00:18:26,200
the mission statements.

338
00:18:26,300 --> 00:18:29,066
I just hate that because I'm 
really hands on with stuff,

339
00:18:29,166 --> 00:18:32,600
but we did it and 
I was part of it.

340
00:18:32,700 --> 00:18:37,100
I became part of the board, 
and by the time we were done,

341
00:18:37,200 --> 00:18:39,766
then we started saying, 
well, we should do this,

342
00:18:39,866 --> 00:18:42,400
this, or this based 
on the county.

343
00:18:42,500 --> 00:18:46,666
The county gave us a stipend of

344
00:18:46,766 --> 00:18:49,000
100 thousand dollars a year

345
00:18:49,100 --> 00:18:50,900
for the first three years 
we were in business,

346
00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:55,233
and they have since continued 
that for obvious reasons.

347
00:18:55,333 --> 00:18:57,233
The investments 
made in Vilas County

348
00:18:57,333 --> 00:18:59,533
are bringing back more 
than that in tax dollars

349
00:18:59,633 --> 00:19:02,233
right now than 
they invest in us.

350
00:19:02,333 --> 00:19:06,066
But we've also reached 
out to the community

351
00:19:06,166 --> 00:19:10,666
and had a lot of private and 
corporate donations to us.

352
00:19:10,766 --> 00:19:13,466
So that's how we 
formed, the need.

353
00:19:13,566 --> 00:19:15,733
It was just simply a need.

354
00:19:15,833 --> 00:19:20,566
And, you know, as often 
happens with corporations

355
00:19:20,666 --> 00:19:23,133
like that, particular 
501(c)(3)s,

356
00:19:23,233 --> 00:19:25,600
people don't really know

357
00:19:25,700 --> 00:19:28,933
what they're getting into when 
they first get, but you say,

358
00:19:29,033 --> 00:19:32,533
well, we could do that or, you 
know, this is part of that.

359
00:19:32,633 --> 00:19:36,066
This is a gallery wall for 
us, this is our second one.

360
00:19:36,166 --> 00:19:38,900
The first one we started 
was up in Manitowish Waters.

361
00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:41,033
I was up there and I 
just said, you know,

362
00:19:41,133 --> 00:19:44,033
we've got this great space, 
let's paint it a color

363
00:19:44,133 --> 00:19:46,400
and have a different 
artist in here every month.

364
00:19:46,500 --> 00:19:48,700
And Manitowish Art League 
jumped all over it.

365
00:19:48,800 --> 00:19:52,366
We literally have, 
for 2.5 years now,

366
00:19:52,466 --> 00:19:55,233
had a different artist 
on that wall every month.

367
00:19:55,333 --> 00:19:58,366
Some two-dimensional, 
some three-dimensional,

368
00:19:58,466 --> 00:20:01,700
some woodworkers, 
but it's great.

369
00:20:01,800 --> 00:20:03,900
We have a reception 
for them every month.

370
00:20:04,000 --> 00:20:06,633
They love it, we get 
lots of people in there.

371
00:20:06,733 --> 00:20:10,566
So we are well known 
up in that area.

372
00:20:10,666 --> 00:20:12,233
The same thing we 
want to do here.

373
00:20:12,333 --> 00:20:15,333
The last exhibition we had 
here was the high school kids

374
00:20:15,433 --> 00:20:18,900
from Phelps High School, 
and they did a great job.

375
00:20:19,000 --> 00:20:22,966
We've got an artist coming in 
in May from, is it somebody

376
00:20:23,066 --> 00:20:26,066
from, Lola I can't remember.

377
00:20:26,166 --> 00:20:28,900
I think so. I can't remember 
her name right off hand.

378
00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:33,033
But anyway, we've, you 
know, that's what we do.

379
00:20:33,133 --> 00:20:35,333
I look forward to 
seeing you again.

380
00:20:35,433 --> 00:20:37,500
(applause)