Wausau River District attains Gold Tier Main Street status

Rachel Kroeger

Staff

September 1, 2025

WAUSAU – The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation has named the Wausau River District a Gold Tier Main Street Community – making it the 10th in the state to earn the prestigious status for its impact and efforts in its North Central Wisconsin city.

Callie Wulk, executive director of Wausau River District, Inc., said 2025 marks the organization’s 23rd year as part of the Wisconsin Main Street program, which began in 1987.

“We are an accredited Main Street America and Main Street Wisconsin program,” she said. “Essentially, a Main Street Program is a statewide and nationwide movement focused on really revitalizing older historic downtowns and commercial districts [using] a preservation-based, economic development approach.”

Wisconsin’s state-based Main Street program, Wulk said, provides associated organizations with access to technical assistance for their development projects.

“We get help with things like facade design, especially for historic buildings, and being able to make sure that we’re meeting those preservation codes,” she said. “We also get things like social media workshops or trainings on business improvement districts and best practices.”

Since joining the Wisconsin Main Street program more than two decades ago, Wulk said the Wausau River District has “attracted more than $150 million in new public and private investment.”

This, Wulk said, is just one of the factors that went into the organization attaining WEDC Gold Tier status for the fiscal year 2026.

“Achieving Gold Tier status highlights the dedication of our staff, board, volunteers and community partners,” she said. “We’re honored to be recognized at this level and excited to continue strengthening downtown Wausau through innovation, collaboration and strategic investment.”

Economic, community evolution

Wulk said the Wausau River District is “[the city’s] lead downtown revitalization organization” – creating and leading initiatives that aim “to strengthen communities and provide a better quality of life.”

“We also work in conjunction with Wausau’s Business Improvement District to serve downtown and the businesses that reside there,” she said.

One “fantastic” project Wulk said she thinks helped push the Wausau River District into WEDC’s Gold Tier category is the organization’s Night Market.

“Especially in the past year, our Night Market series has more than doubled in size, and it’s been an extremely great initiative,” she said.

Events such as the Wausau Night Market, Wulk said, provide the city with multi-faceted benefits.

“We see increased sales for businesses, and they really benefit,” she said. “We’re also bringing visibility to local artists and local makers [on top of] fostering a vibrant space for residents as well – encouraging them to come explore downtown and enjoy the event. So, it really benefits a variety of different groups.”

A Wausau native, Wulk said after obtaining her master’s degree in business administration – with a focus on community and economic impact – she knew she wanted to return home.

“I love the community,” she said. “So, as I finished up my degree and was looking for my next steps in my career, I really knew that I wanted to come back to my hometown and serve the place I grew up in.”

After a stint with the Lincoln County Economic Development Corporation, Wulk said the opportunity to work at Wausau River District came her way, and “I knew I wanted to pursue that.”

Having been on both sides of Wausau’s economic development trenches, she said it’s been an interesting experience to work for the city she grew up in.

“It feels incredibly meaningful,” she said. “I always like to tell people it’s amazing to see the transformation from when I grew up in the Wausau area as a kid, versus where we are now.”

Compared to the city of her childhood, Wulk said present-day Wausau is much different.

“The changes we’ve seen downtown [and] how we’ve grown – [it has] come to be a really thriving area,” she said.

Grassroots, volunteer-led

To be designated a Gold Tier Main Street Community, Wulk said eligible organizations must fall within certain parameters.

“You have to be meeting all of your accreditation requirements with the state and national agencies to achieve this,” she said. “You also need to be hitting marks on certain continuing education guidelines – making sure we’re doing the correct number of trainings for staff and then continuing education and training for board members as well.”

Wulk said another stand-out aspect of Wausau River District, Inc. is its entire board has completed all necessary trainings as well as additional ones.

“Every single one of our board members completed trainings, even though that’s not necessarily a requirement to be a Main Street Community, so things like that help you go above and beyond,” she said. “Other things come down to state reporting requirements and if we’re meeting those goals as well.”

Other ways the River District organization has gone above and beyond, Wulk said, are through its dual focus when it comes to economic development.

“We try to base all of our programming around supporting our small business owners and then creating a vibrant space for Wausau,” she said.

Wulk said she and her staff regularly engage with business owners to identify specific pain points and ways the River District could help.

“Something new that we’ve implemented this year is doing business workshops for the downtown business owners, specifically,” she said. 

These workshops, Wulk said, provide her organization, essentially, with programming roadmaps.

“We’re talking with the business owners and understanding their needs: which areas they would like technical assistance on, certain topics they’d like to learn more about, [etc.],” she said. “Then, we’re taking that [information] and [hiring] facilitators [to] talk with our business owners about [those topics].”

A perk of being a Gold Tier community, Wulk said, is the River District gets primary access to WEDC resources that assist them in providing programming and building events.

“That just means we’re first in line for access to additional resources and expertise,” she said. “Though we don’t know what that’s going to look like for 2026, we know that as one of the Gold Tier communities, [Wausau] will be at the top of the list for things like that.”

As “a grassroots, volunteer-led organization,” Wulk said the work of the Wausau River District is only made possible by its staff and the hundreds of volunteers who help put on its many programs and events throughout the year.

“Last year, for example, we had more than 850 volunteer hours – and that includes event volunteers, committee members and our board members,” she said. “We were able to achieve this recognition and designation because of the team and volunteers we work with who go above and beyond in the work that they do.”

For more on the Wausau River District, its events, initiatives and programming, follow its Facebook page or visit its website – wausauriverdistrict.org.