Features

Looking Ahead: 2015

What will the next year have in store for the Chippewa Valley?

Tom Giffey, Eric Christenson |

There’s a lot in store for the Chippewa Valley in 2015. Everything from intense, multi-faceted city development projects all over the Valley to new stuff from your favorite local authors and musicians, 2015’s got it. It’s certainly an exciting time to be here in the middle of all of it, and we’re just as psyched as you are for all the cool things happening around us. So let’s take a quick breather, shake out 2014’s cobwebs, and press on in what should be an amazing year full of ups, downs, new adventures, old traditions, and make 2015 the best year any of us have ever had, yes? The following is just a few glimpses into what we’re excited about covering in 2015. Won’t you join us?

New Stuff on the Way in May from Our Bestsellers

2014 saw new novels from two of the Chippewa Valley’s most notable best-selling authors. Michael Perry took a foray into post-apocalyptic young adult fiction with The Scavengers and Nickolas Butler hit critical high-marks with his coming-of-age tale, Shotgun Lovesongs. Luckily, both writers are not only extremely good at it, but they’re also prolific as all get out and you can expect new stuff from both in May. Butler will follow-up the success of Shotgun Lovesongs with a short story collection called Beneath the Bonfire, which you can already pre-order on Amazon. And Michael Perry will release a novel called The Jesus Cow, in which a small town is transfixed by a holstein’s spot that resembles Jesus Christ. Both saw nice success in 2014 and worked hard to get it. Smart money says you should expect more of the same homegrown & hearty Wisconsin words and the ever-ensuing critical acclaim.

Changing Local Leadership

Expect to see new local leaders take their places during the coming year. Chief among them will be a new Eau Claire County administrator: J. Thomas McCarty, who’s held that job since 1997, will become city administrator in Stillwater, Minn., in March. The Eau Claire County Board is expected to begin the process of hiring a successor this month. Meanwhile, we can expect changes among elected officials, too. Two seats will be up for grabs on the Eau Claire school board, with incumbent Kathryn Duax reportedly seeking another term and Vice President Wendy Sue Johnson saying she’ll step down. As of presstime, only Joe Luginbill – a former nonvoting student member of the board who gained Internet fame a couple of years ago as a YouTube chef – had filed paperwork to run for the open seat. In addition, the five district level seats on the Eau Claire City Council – those held by David Duax, David Klinkhammer, Kathy Mitchell, Bob Von Haden, and Andrew Werthmann – will be on the ballot as well.

It's All About the Budget

hopes for Confluence funds, worries about budget cuts will shape 2015 for UWEC

It may be a cliché to say it, but 2014 was a big year for UW-Eau Claire: Two ballot referendums boosted the Confluence Project, a shared university-community effort; the university’s foundation received its largest-ever gift; and the campus’ first new academic building in three decades – Centennial Hall – opened.

For Chancellor James Schmidt and the university he leads, 2015 looks to be no less eventful, although the news may not be so thoroughly positive. UW-Eau Claire faces a structural deficit of $4.5 million by next June – a gap created by declining state support, a state-mandated tuition freeze, and an enrollment dip. Fixing that shortfall – especially at a time when the state faces a deficit of its own and the tuition freeze likely will remain – will require program cuts and staff reductions. In addition, the university and other advocates of the Confluence Project – a shared university-community performing arts center in downtown Eau Claire – will be making their case for funding before the state Legislature as it determines (and Gov. Scott Walker ultimately signs) the 2015-17 state budget.

“I think we will be stronger when we’re done with the process, because we will have done some necessary paring,” – UWEC Chancellor James Schmidt

Both Walker and the UW System Board of Regents have voiced support for UWEC receiving funding for the arts center via what’s called a nonstate agency grant, but approval of $25 million in state funds for the project isn’t a certainty. As Schmidt explained in a year-end interview, “I’m hopeful, and I’m counting on the institution and the community to work with us on that in Madison.”

Schmidt realizes that a certain amount of fatigue has set in for Confluence advocates who’ve been pushing for the project for more than two years through scores of community and governmental meetings as well as a political campaign before last April’s referendum votes. But he says they’ve got to keep pushing in 2015: “Now to ease up and say we’re tired at just the time we’re going into the home stretch is exactly the wrong thing to do,” he declares, predicting that Confluence backers will be spending a lot of time in Madison this year working with legislators from the Chippewa Valley and around the state to promote the project. In addition to seeking Confluence funding, the university will be also be pushing for $33 million in the state budget to renovate the nearly 50-year-old Towers residence hall.

Chancellor James Schmidt
Chancellor James Schmidt

Meanwhile, the university will be busy making plans for how to proceed with another long-term project: what’s been dubbed the County Materials Event and Recreation Complex. The facility, which will eventually be built on Menomonie Street near Carson Park, was made possibly by a $10 million donation of land and money from UWEC alums Carolyn and John Sonnentag announced in August. The major event center will replace Zorn Arena and will offer space for large-scale university and community events. A recreational component of the complex will likely be developed in conjunction with the Eau Claire YMCA.

For the university and Schmidt, the biggest challenge of 2015 will be budgetary. On the plus side, UWEC hopes to boost revenue by increasing enrollment, which dipped by about 120 students this school year. Schmidt says the university will put extra efforts into recruiting and retaining students – although UWEC’s retention rate is already high compared with similar institutions.

Budget cuts are inevitable, and Schmidt says he’s committed to avoiding simple fixes such across-the-board cuts. “I think that is a lazy and frankly not very smart way to go about the budget process,” he says. Instead cutbacks will be strategic and will come disproportionately from non-teaching areas of the university. Nonetheless, he acknowledges, there almost certainly will be academic staff cutbacks, such as contracts not being renewed for instructors hired to teach by the semester or year.

Despite the financial uncertainty, Schmidt says university administrators and faculty remain committed to making sure students succeed despite the difficult choices ahead. “I think we will be stronger when we’re done with the process, because we will have done some necessarily paring,” he says.

“I think that the university spends its resources very carefully,” he adds. “We’re making changes, we’re making shifts. It definitely will be noticed.”

New Place to Park

Just down the street from the Confluence site a new parking ramp rise during the coming year. The 2015 city budget includes $9.1 million for the ramp, which will serve workers from the nearby RCU and JAMF offices as well as other downtown visitors. It will be built on land now occupied by a surface parking lot and the former post office on North Barstow Street. The City Council still must determine the exact size of the ramp (specifically, whether it will be three or four stories). City Engineer Dave Solberg hopes that by February the site plan will be OK’d by the City Council and the project will be out for bid. Demolition of the former post office and construction of the ramp will then begin in the spring; the project will take about a year.

You'll Be Riding the High Bridge

After years of discussion, work to make the long-neglected “high bridge” over the Chippewa River part of Eau Claire’s bike trail system began this fall with grading on the Forest Street side of the bridge on the river’s east bank. The arrival of winter halted the efforts, but in the spring, workers will begin to install wood decking on the 19th-century iron railroad bridge. Once storm sewer and street work are finished on the bridge’s west side, the project should be ready by early summer, giving bicyclists, walkers, and runners unparalleled views of the river, downtown Eau Claire, as well as the city’s often-forgotten dam.

And Speaking of Bridges ...

A picturesque pedestrian bridge over the Eau Claire River has long been envisioned in downtown Eau Claire to connect Phoenix Park with the planned public plaza next to the Confluence Project. In December, boards representing both the North and South Barstow business districts voted in favor of the idea, so we can expect plans for the bridge – and the plaza – to intensify during 2015. However, as construction on Haymarket Landing – the privately financed portion of the Confluence Project – ramps up, the spot where the plaza and bridge will be built will be filled with construction materials for the next few years. That mean there will be plenty of time to tell city leaders what you think about their vision for a bridge, which could cost in the neighborhood of $1 million.

Indie Festival Will Bring the Goods

though lineup-less as of now, the Eaux Claires Music & Arts Festival should be huge

Justin Vernon of Bon Iver (left) and Aaron Dessner of The National will co-curate the festival.
Justin Vernon of Bon Iver (left) and Aaron Dessner of The National will co-curate the festival.

News about the Eaux Claires Music & Arts Festival broke a few months ago and ever since, there’s been buzz.

“Do you know who’s playing?”

“I’m gonna try to come to town for that.”

“Wait, how do you pronounce the name?”

We, of course, can’t blame anybody for talking about it – we certainly talk about it a lot as it is – but come on! It’s exciting! I mean, a two-day music and arts festival co-curated by Justin Vernon and his pal, Aaron Dessner from The National sounds like something Pitchfork would write in a letter to Santa Claus.

The Eaux Claires festival’s ticket presale sold out without even announcing any of the bands that are playing. Now the trick will be for Vernon and company to deliver the goods.

“To create this event within the view of the chippewa river ... makes it all the more meaningful.” – Justin Vernon

But they have help in the form of Crash Line Productions, the N.Y.-based company that produces Boston Calling, a popular music festival in Boston. Last year, Boston Calling featured the likes of Volcano Choir, S. Carey, The Hold Steady, Death Cab For Cutie, Lorde, Spoon, The National and The War On Drugs. This is the first year of Eaux Claires, so we’d rather not speculate too wildly about the lineup, and you shouldn’t either! In a few weeks, we’ll announce the festival’s lineup on VolumeOne.org and all speculation will be put to rest. So just sit tight ‘til then, OK? In the meantime, you’ll just have to trust that the curators and producers know exactly what they’re doing.

“After several years of touring and playing music festivals of all different types around the world, I wanted to put together an event that would honor what we love about this place – including an independent attitude and blaze orange caps – but also shine a light on less familiar and surprising elements that are already weaving themselves into our future,” Vernon said a few weeks ago. “Having this festival right in my backyard gives me and the guest artists a chance to share familiar work and new creations in a setting close to my heart and different than any other stage in the world. To create this event within view of the Chippewa River – the very river that defines this place – makes it all the more meaningful.”

In the coming months, look for more and more info about the two-day festival as its July 17 and 18 date draws nearer and nearer. There’s also even more exciting news about the Country Jam grounds coming soon. But as of now, all signs point to Eaux Claires putting Eau Claire on the map as a must-go-there indie spot, so of course we’re looking forward to it.

Sink Your Teeth into the Landscape

The greenery around the new parking lot at the corner of Forest and Madison streets will soon be good enough to eat. This coming spring members of the North Riverfronts Neighborhood Association will put 200 plants in the ground as a form of “edible landscaping.” Once the plants mature, visitors will be able to admire – and consume – everything from rhubarb to raspberries to apples and even nuts. “There’s pretty much every kind of edible thing that can grow in this climate,” says neighborhood organizer (and City Council member) Andrew Werthmann. The project will be funded in part by $2,000 from the city (the money had already been set aside for traditional non-tasty landscaping) and will be maintained by the neighborhood association, which also oversees the nearby Forest Street Community Garden. Ideally, the productive plants will make the parking lot more aesthetically pleasing and will complement the local food culture cultivated by the nearby Downtown Farmers Market.

Menomonie: Grocery-Palooza

The Gordy’s grocery kingdom will also expand into Menomonie in 2015. The Menomonie City Council recently OK’d rezoning two acres in the Stout Technology and Business Park on the city’s southeast side for a new Gordy’s County Market. And while that means putting a supermarket amid a commercial development, virtually the opposite is happening in downtown Menomonie, where a five-story commercial and residential building will rise on the site of the former Leever’s grocery store. And speaking of grocers, the Menomonie Market Co-op recently broke ground for its new, expanded store on Main Street, which will be open by mid-year.

Roof at the Inns

If plans progress for two once-and-future lodging establishments, Eau Claire will go from currently hosting zero downtown hotel rooms to having nearly 150 later this year. Both establishments – the former Ramada, soon known as The Lismore, and the yet-to-be-christened former Green Tree Inn – will feature authentic dining and drinking options and unique overnight experiences in the city’s ever-improving heart. The Lismore was purchased a year ago by an investor group led by JAMF Software co-founder Zach Halmstad. Halmstad is also among the group making new plans for the ex-Green Tree (which, full disclosure, also inlcudes Volume One publisher/editor Nick Meyer, along with musician Justin Vernon and others), refashioning the 30-room property into a locally-focused boutique hotel. The two hotels are working together to craft their own individual aesthetics and programming, as well as to find operating effeciencies between the two. Expect to hear more details on both projects in the near future.

Altoona's River Prairie Will Flourish

Things will also be growing in 2015 in Altoona’s River Prairie Development. The prime land at the interchange of U.S. 53 and River Prairie Drive on Altoona’s far west side – some of which lies along the Eau Claire River – is home to a growing number of businesses. In the northwest quadrant of the development – which city officials aim to turn into the Altoona’s “new front porch” – construction will begin this spring on a hotel and a convenience store. In addition, a large park pavilion and a riverside trail – and from that trail possible river access for canoes and kayaks – will be created this year. Across the road in the development’s southwest corner, meanwhile, a much-anticipated Woodman’s supermarket and gas station are expected to be completed in December.

Chippewa Falls: Zoo's Up, Plaza's Down

The big beasts at Irvine Park Zoo have gotten new digs in recent years, and in 2015 it will be the little critters’ turn. Since November, donations have been rolling in toward a $3.25 million goal to build a new small animal building. Starting around Labor Day, the small animals (monkeys, birds, coatimundi, and the like) will be moved to temporary quarters as construction begins; the new building should be ready by Memorial Day 2016. Elsewhere in Chippewa Falls, the looming and vacant Plaza building at the entrance to downtown will be demolished, making way for new development, while a few blocks away a long-awaited new riverfront park will begin taking shape. In addition, a new Gordy’s County Market will open in a former Mega Foods store on the city’s south side.