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July 7, 2025
WAUPACA COUNTY – For 30 years, Executive Director Jeff Mikorski said the Waupaca County Economic Development Corporation (WCEDC) has worked tirelessly to market the county and support the communities and businesses that offer the wide breadth of activities and experiences one can enjoy within its boundaries.
The organization’s efforts, he said, have resulted in millions of views of the county’s tourism website (visitwaupacacounty.com); dozens of loans provided to businesses, small and large, across the area; and thousands of jobs supported through various programs.
Driving tourism
After a career in government and city administration elsewhere, Mikorski said he and his wife moved to Waupaca County to care for his parents.
“Originally, I moved back to the area to help [care for my] aging parents, and both my [and my] wife’s parents were in the area,” he said. “So, I knew this was the area I wanted to stay in for that [reason], but this is the first time I’ve [worked] with a public nonprofit.”
Mikorski said the WCEDC is not affiliated with the Waupaca County government, and is instead funded and supported by its partner businesses and those of the chambers of commerce within the county.
“I think we work well together,” he said. “On my board, we have representatives of the chambers and also all the municipalities in the county. So, we were aware of and can help identify what areas [we can collaborate in].”
One of those areas, Mikorski said, is outdoor recreation.
Across most, if not all of Waupaca County’s communities, Mikorski said the common denominator is natural recreating – including fishing, boating, hiking, UTV/ATV riding, biking, hunting and much more.
“The chambers highlight their events, their areas, but looking at the [county’s] outdoor recreation [industry], it’s a whole-county project,” he said.
By compiling all Waupaca County has to offer into one centralized resource – outdoor recreation or otherwise – Mikorski said the WCEDC has driven additional cross-population between different communities among the county’s tourists.
“A lot of people coming up here may not be aware of all the different things that are going on… and when you pull them together into [recreation] categories it helps to advertise it,” he said. “When people are searching for fishing [spots], it pulls them into not only just one certain area but a bigger area to look at.”
Mikorski said advertising the natural beauty and recreational opportunities of the county on top of its business and industry helps market its communities as potential places for visitors to relocate.
“Especially when you look at the businesses and the industry that are in the area, if somebody is looking at relocating for a job, hopefully seeing the recreational outdoor opportunities for them or their family gives them an additional incentive to relocate to the area,” he said.
Last year, Mikorski said visitwaupacacounty.com “received nearly 10 million views” – driving potential visitors and residents to resources “highlighting Waupaca County’s outdoor and silent sport opportunities, events and communities.”
“Marketing is very interesting, [because] you never quite know who you’re connecting with, but… people are paying attention to the web page,” he said.
Supporting business
As a dual-purpose organization, Mikorski said the WCEDC’s mission aims to uplift both communities and businesses.
The WCEDC, he said, offers several programs aimed at making Waupaca County a place entrepreneurs would want to start their businesses or corporations want to build their next facilities.
Part of that, Mikorski said, is ensuring a healthy and sustainable workforce.
“When we looked at what issues we want to deal with, in the past, workforce hasn’t really been an issue,” he said, “but it has, over the last few years, been included in [our] economic development [work] – getting the necessary workforce up here and reducing barriers.”
One of the barriers Mikorski said the WCEDC identified was a lack of reliable public transit options for those who didn’t have personal means of transportation to get to work.
“We were able to get a state grant to help [establish a] workforce transportation program,” he said.
With the support of $3.2 million in funding from the State of Wisconsin’s Workforce Innovation Grant, Mikorski said the WCEDC launched its Catch-a-Ride workforce transportation program.
“The ride-share program has reduced the transportation barrier for employees working at Waupaca County businesses,” he said. “Since it started in December 2021, it has provided more than 19,000 employment rides with 24/7 service.”
Thanks to those 19,000 rides, Mikorski said thousands of area employees were able to get or keep their jobs, earn a paycheck, support their families and contribute economically to their community and the county.
“Especially in a rural area, [ride-share services like] Lyft or Uber aren’t really available,” he said. “There are a couple smaller areas that have taxis, but [in general, a large] part of the county didn’t have any kind of public transportation at all. So, when [we talked] to businesses [about] their turnover rate or [how] they can’t get people in the door to apply… we took that to heart and worked as a group to apply for the Workforce Innovation Grant.”
In addition to workforce-related programs, Mikorski said the WCEDC also helps support business owners and operators in Waupaca County through legacy initiatives like its Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) program.
Over the last 29 years, Mikorski said “a total of 85 loans have been approved” through the RLF, totalling nearly $5 million.
“When including private investments for the projects, the total impact of the Revolving Loan Fund has been $52,176,172,” he said.
Mikorski said the RLF loans have gone to support businesses of all sizes and in all industries, such as Waupaca Machine and Repair, Sunny Day Child Care, The Porch of Fremont and many more.
One key element to WCEDC’s success, Mikorski said, is the organization’s expansive network of both businesses they’ve supported and have been supported by.
“I think all of our projects have one key factor, [and] that is networking,” he said. “[That means] partnerships with the public and the private sector, pulling together [and] helping to develop programs that will help not only the big corporations, but the small businesses as well.”
Its ability to drive collaboration between businesses regardless of size, Mikorski said, is a testament to the strength of the WCEDC, its partners and the county over the last three decades and into the future.
“Moving forward, the thing that really excites me is that continuing to work with our partners, work with the businesses, corporations and public entities to take on these bigger projects that may not be able to be dealt with by either one or a couple individuals,” he said.
