‘I’ve already lived my worst days on earth’
Ardy & Ed’s Drive In serving up food and fun since 1948
May 5, 2025
OSHKOSH – The face of downtown Oshkosh has been undergoing a facelift for the last several years – a metamorphosis that aims to continue to change and improve the inner city’s landscape for another 10-20 years.
According to the City’s Downtown Visualization plan (which is available at oshkoshwi.gov), some of the area has been designed for the creation of mixed-use commercial and employment districts within the heart of the city, along with improved parking and a lot of in-fill commercial and residential development.
The end result of all of this, according to the visualization plan, is aimed at enhancing the appeal of downtown Oshkosh, which ultimately attracts city residents and tourists alike to experience and enjoy a diverse and vibrant downtown along with the city’s scenic waterfront.
New social club making itself known
Among the new businesses downtown is the Gibson Social Club – owned by Kristen and Eric Hoopman, who also own the Elsewhere Collection, which includes the Elsewhere Coffee House and Market in downtown Oshkosh and Camp Elsewhere in Waupaca.
The Hoopmans said they are passionate about Oshkosh and its community, raising their family there and renovating historic buildings that bring people together and inspire others to love Oshkosh as much as they do.
“The Gibson Social Club is proud to play a part in the revitalization of downtown Oshkosh, not only by helping breathe new life into a historic property, but by creating a vibrant space where the community can gather, celebrate and grow together for generations to come,” Kristen said. “From weddings and private parties, to community events and partnerships with local vendors, we’re committed to honoring the past while building a brighter future for our city.”
Housed in the historic Gibson Tire & Auto building at 537 N. Main St., Kristen said this venue has been renovated to retain its industrial charm while incorporating touches of Art Deco design.
Before the Hoopmans bought the building in 2019, the location was most recently occupied by Crescent Moon Antiques & Salvage.
Kristen said the goal was to renovate the building and open for business in 2020 – however, because of COVID-19, those plans were postponed, but the venue officially opened for business July 1, 2021.
Since that opening, Venue Director Ellee Coons said Gibson Social Club has made a significant impact on downtown Oshkosh and the surrounding community, including hosting more than 200 weddings and more than 150 private and public events.
“Our bread and butter is weddings, and our peak season of May through December is mostly taken up by weddings,” she said. “But our goal is to really immerse ourselves in the world of downtown Oshkosh. We are fairly booked for weddings, and we love having our couples here, but we want to make this place accessible to everyone else. So January through April – our slow season – we host our own events.”
Coons said those events include trivia nights, music nights and, on Thursday nights, they host cribbage and Catan clubs.
Though making the Gibson Social Club a place where more folks come to relax and enjoy the ambience, Coons said it is also looking to forge new relationships with even more than the 50-plus businesses Oshkosh also already has – including caterers, photographers, videographers, decorators, event planners and the like.
“A lot of the partnerships have surrounded the weddings and other events we’ve held, including several local caterers,” she said. “But we’re also looking for ways to combine those and get them integrated into our public events. We partner often with The Roxy right across the parking lot. We want to compile and add to our list of partners.”
The businesses that Gibson Social Club already partners with, Coons said, is “a pretty wide range of vendors and local businesses.”
“We love partnering with new businesses and vendors in the area, but we also love learning about older businesses that we haven’t partnered with,” she said. “We’re always looking to expand that list to make sure we’re integrated with as many as possible in the Oshkosh area.”
Charitable partnerships
Coons said the Gibson Social Club space has been utilized by some local nonprofits for their fundraising events, something the venue would like to do more of.
“There are a couple of different partnerships we have that are consistent every year, and then we have new and different charities reaching out to us every year that we would like to partner with.”
Most consistently, Coons said, the club hosts the Christine Ann Center every year for its Purse Bingo event.
“We donate the space to them,” she said. “We also have the Oshkosh Art Collective Annual Art Show here, where there are 35-plus different artists who come in and display their art. We just recently hosted that fourth annual event, and the turnout was awesome.”
Coons said the Gibson Social Club has also partnered with Lakeside Packaging Plus for its Mother’s Day fashion show, called “Hats Off to Moms.”
“They’re partnering with a couple of different boutiques in the area, and some of their special needs employees will be participating in the fashion show,” she said. “So, we’re always looking for new businesses (to help support) for whatever events they want to host and to see how we could partner with them from a charity aspect or in some other way.”
What the Gibson Social Club donates, Coons said, depends on many different factors.
She said it might be a total donation of the space, while for others, it might be a fairly significant discount on the space.
Coons said it just depends on the time of year and all the other things that go into an event specifically.
“We really want to be a space that people are welcomed into – both if they’re going to be renting the space or if they’re going to be coming into our public events,” she said.
Like many businesses today, Coons said the club uses its website (GibsonSocialClub.com) and social media platforms to help spread the word about what the Gibson is and what it has to offer.
“Our website has everything listed on it,” she said. “Whether it’s for weddings or other private events, or the public events we’re offering, everything you need to know is there. It’s our hub of information and what we want to point people toward (for information). From there, people can reach out to us to have specific conversations, for sure.”
Beyond that, Coons said not only is community engagement one of the best ways to tackle the Gibson’s goal of expanding its customer base, it also helps build new partnerships with other businesses.
“The more our name is out there, the more that’s going to benefit us as a business in the long run,” she said.
Creating the space
Coons said the Gibson Social Club is a classic example of how a historic building can be salvaged and repurposed into something else.
The space, she said, has thoughtful, unique design elements, two staircases, three handcrafted bars, round marble tables and flexible lounge areas with soft seating areas – which include sofas and lounge chairs – green rooms for hosts and brides and a catering kitchen with a back garage door.
The green rooms, Coons said, can also be used for breakout rooms for businesses that might utilize the space for corporate meetings and such.
“The look of the space is industrial,” she said. “We wanted to keep the bones of the building original and just add modern pieces, like the wooden bars and structure of those.”
Coons said the goal is for people to come in and not have to do anything to make the space – “unless they want to add something.”
“Wedding parties can come in and decorate if they want to, or they can show up the day of the wedding, and the space speaks for itself with the combination of the simplicity of it but also the beauty within that simplicity,” she said.
Despite being such a large building – one which can accommodate approximately 300 people – Coons said the space feels intimate.
She said the owners have added a couple of staple pieces that are beautiful but don’t take away from the grandeur of the space and the openness of the industrial warehouse that it used to be.
“With the beams up top, (Kristen) has got some beautiful chandeliers,” she said. “Beyond that, there’s not a ton of seasonal decor or anything that we have to transition out. It’s just those staple pieces that make it easy.”
Parking, Coons said, is readily available next to the building, including handicap parking.
Today, she said the former Gibson car lot is occupied by a company called Black Teak, but the club has a partnership with them for events.
“For our events, we have parking passes people can use by displaying them on the dashboard of their car,” he said. “Otherwise, the lot is accessible – it’s just paid parking that people can scan a QR code with their phone and pay that way.”
Kristen said some on-street parking is also available on either side of the venue – in the front on Main Street or behind it on Division Street, an area that was also revitalized in the last decade or two.
“We see the importance of revitalizing downtown Oshkosh, not just to preserve its rich history and undeniable charm, but to build on it,” she said. “By breathing new life into familiar spaces, we’re creating places where community, culture and connection continue to thrive in the heart of the city.”
