Ground was officially broken in October for the Confluence Performing Arts Center in downtown Eau Claire at the confluence of the Eau Claire and Chippewa rivers. Plans for the $45 million shared community-university arts center were more than four years in the making.

In late June, Eau Claire was profiled in Time Magazine as part of its “240 Reasons to Celebrate America Right Now” special issue. Written by UW-Eau Claire alumnus Steve Koepp (a former editor at both Time and Fortune), the piece focused heavily on our region’s lineup of summer music festivals, but also dug into its new entrepreneurial spirit.

In early December, Xcel Energy relit the historic NSP sign that sits atop the Chippewa Falls hydroelectric dam. The sign hadn't brightened the city's skyline for roughly 20 years. It was installed in 1968, replacing an earlier sign that included the full name of the original power company that built the dam in 1928.

In May, Eau Claire was officially designated a Playful City USA by KaBOOM!, a nationwide non-profit group that promotes the benefits of play. According to the group, Playful Cities “are selected for their leadership in making it easy for all kids to get balanced and active play in their neighborhoods, and have pledged to integrate play as a solution to tackle a number of urgent challenges plaguing our society in ways that benefit kids growing up in poverty.”

Several important Chippewa Valley institutions marked anniversaries in 2016. UW-Eau Claire hit the century mark, while its Jazz Fest celebrated 50 years, as did the Chippewa Valley Museum. UW-Stout in Menomonie topped them all, celebrating 125 years.

Over a century old, the infamous Huebsch Building at the corner of North Dewey and Galloway streets in downtown Eau Claire spent most of 2016 crumbling further into ruin. After 2015's roller-coaster of announcements – the prominent property was to be renovated, but plans were scrapped because the building was too dilapidated – not much happened on the site until late November, when crews razed the ol' brick building in one afternoon.

The Chippewa Valley's beloved breweries saw tremendous growth in 2016. Eau Claire’s Lazy Monk Brewing opened a huge, bier hall-inspired tap room at its new location. The Brewing Projekt announced plans for a massive new location/event venue in Eau Claire’s Cannery District. In Menomonie, Lucette Brewing Company took on a new head brewer and continued serving up pizza from its Woodfire Eatery. K Point Brewing carved out a taproom within Eau Claire’s Coffee Grounds. And in Chippewa Falls, The Chippewa River Distillery and Brewster Bros. Brewing Co. unleashed a gorgeous taproom and facility.

In June, the ribbon was cut on a new Irvine Park Welcome Center in Chippewa Falls. The park is well-known for its large animal exhibits, band shell, school house, Christmas light display, and more. The new building also serves as a home for the zoo's small mammals and birds.

Gordy’s Market and Mega Co-op, two longtime Chippewa Valley business rivals, struck an agreement to effectively swap parts of their businesses in early January. After the deal with completed, Gordy’s owned and operated 24 grocery stores and Mega owned and operated 33 convenience stores.

2016 was a big year for Bon Iver. At the beginning of the year, everyone was still mired in the band’s long hiatus. But that was quickly erased when Justin Vernon said they’d be returning with a set of brand-new music at August’s Eaux Claires festival in Eau Claire. The live premiere of 22, A Million in our fair city pushed forth a cascade of Bon Iver goodness including a string of performances at the Sydney Opera House, elaborate murals in di erent cities all over the world (the centerpiece being in Eau Claire), mysterious newspapers peppered with the album’s artwork, an appearance on The Tonight Show, widespread critical acclaim for the album, a spot at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 charts, and 22, A Million snapping up two Grammy nominations.

A plethora of new restaurants fired up their kitchens this year, bringing all kinds of dishes we hadn’t even dreamed of eating around here before. Whether they’re forward-thinking dining options attached to hot new hotels (The Lakely, The Informalist, Wissota Chophouse), exciting new culinary ideas taking hold in old spaces (The Local Lounge, Hangar 54 Grill, Yankee Jack’s Public House, The Duke & Dagger), or just plain delicious grub (Dhimitërs, Mike’s Cheese Shack, Monk’s Bar & Grill, Roblé), we seem to be taking food more seriously than ever.

Almost exactly a year after it was closed for deconstruction and replacement, the Water Street Bridge – which connects the infamous bar scene of Water Street to the UW-Eau Claire campus and Third Ward neighborhoods – re-opened in September with better accessibilities for drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians. Some folks were puzzled by a bike lane placed in between two car lanes, some praised the wider sidewalks and heightened railings, while others were just glad they didn’t have to zigzag around town anymore.

Last summer, like the rest of America, the streets of Eau Claire were filled with phone-yielding locals, roaming the area on foot as they played Pokémon Go, searching for magical (though digital) creatures. Rarely on a regular ol’ weeknight have we seen so many people walking around together downtown. In fact, on the Sunday night of their first weekend with Pokémon Go (July 10), more than 100 people clustered around a particular downtown Eau Claire intersection – a hotspot for the creatures.

On a chilly weekend in April, Eau Claire became a centerpiece of the 2016 presidential election primaries as all four frontrunning candidates at the time – Hillary Clinton, Ted Cruz, Bernie Sanders, and Donald Trump – made appearances in Eau Claire to hold ralles ahead of the Wisconsin state primary. Chippewa Valley folks flocked to see their favorite candidates speak, while in some cases, others organized peaceful protests. A Trump-trolling sign made by UW-Eau Claire student Dustin Zebro for one of the protests actually went viral in subsequent days, appearing on the front page of Reddit and garnering tens of thousands of upvotes and comments, truly making the Internet great again.

Back in September 2015, a construction barge working on the Haymarket Landing site in downtown Eau Claire came unmoored and floated down the Eau Claire River and into the Chippewa River, where it ran aground on a sandbar – preventing the barge from colliding with a bridge. It wasn’t until this past July, however, that the city discovered that the barge had damaged two underwater sewer lines. Before the damage was identified, pipes spewed an estimated 100 million gallons of sewage into the rivers.

The River Prairie development on the west wide of Altoona continued to fill in, with new businesses opening in the 129-acre area at the intersection of U.S. 53 and River Prairie Drive. The development now includes Oakleaf Surgical Hospital and other medical offices, the enormous Woodman’s Food Market, a Staybridge Suites hotel, and more.

In June, Marshfield Clinic announced plans to build a new hospital in Eau Claire. When it opens in 2018, the hospital will have 44 beds, and plans call for 77 more. The hospital will be the fourth in the immediate Eau Claire area. (The others are Mayo Clinic Health System Eau Claire, HSHS Sacred Heart, and Oakleaf Surgical Hospital.)

Downtown Eau Claire saw the completion of two large-scale development projects in 2016, both near the confluence of the Eau Claire and Chippewa Rivers. Landing building opened, offering apartments for nearly 400 (student) tenants, plus 33,000 square feet of commercial space. And on Aug. 4, a new 769-stall parking ramp opened just a block away, ahead of schedule.