A Joint Initiative Between     Heart of Wisconsin     Business & Economic Alliance and     Community Foundation of Greater     South Wood County

Home About Us B2B Club Breaking News Contact Donate Events / Programs Feedback Ideas Incubator Industry Clusters Links / Resources Progess Funds Progress Teams Public Art / Murals Publications		Breaking News March 18, 2005 - Vesper group rallies for rebirth By Beth Burger, Daily Tribune Staff VESPER - The village of Vesper hopes history will repeat itself. In 1894, a fire destroyed much of the community, but residents rebuilt and attracted new industries. Now residents hope to recover again, but this time from an economic downturn that has people worrying about Vesper's fate. After the village's only grocery store closed a year ago and Wisconsin Rapids Public Schools officials considered the idea of closing the local elementary school, a group of residents formed to take an active role in the south Wood County area's Community Progress Initiative. This weekend, the group is sponsoring a Family Fun Day that will include an Easter egg hunt, bake sale and silent auction. The event will raise money for shelves and other furnishings for a new library. The library will move down the street into a new building where the former Seiferts Hardware store used to operate. The library was at one point housed in the same building. Red painted block letters still read Vesper Library on the brick corner building. The Vesper festival organizers hope to inspire the village to grow again, said Ruth Cline, a member of the initiative project who has lived in the community for 58 years. "With what happened to the small village, people kind of get down and out because so much has happened to them," Cline said. "(The initiative) was an opportunity." The group held its first meeting a few months ago and had a good turnout, she said. The village is building a new library, and a new business, the BrickYard Family Restaurant, opened about a month ago. "I like Vesper. So I thought, why not? I thought I would just come here and try it," said Joe Villalovos, owner of the BrickYard. So far, Villalovos said, business has been good. "I'm here and I'm going to be here a long time. It took me a long time to open," he said. "I thank all the people of Vesper for their support and waiting for me to open. Now I'm here and I'm here to stay." That pleases Cline and others. "We're so excited to have him there," Cline said. "Now, if we can get our library going. You can't say 'We don't have a grocery store anymore' and cry about it. You have to think what can we put in place of the grocery store." The group is looking for ideas from members of the community about what they want to see in the town. "We had some hard times, but we feel that with a lot of the community interest and businesses, we can kind of decide to revitalize Vesper by doing something different," Cline said. Deb Thomas, who also is a member of Vesper's Community Progress Initiative committee, said she would like to see more people visiting the community. "Luckily we are centrally located between Marshfield, Wisconsin Rapids and Stevens Point," Thomas said. "Wouldn't it be wonderful if they could stop in and see the events we have going on and patronize our businesses?" Matt Schill, 65, of Wisconsin Rapids is one of those people who does stop by. Now that BrickYard has opened, Schill comes to Vesper every other day. "I would like to see the community prosper," said Schill, who owns a farm nearby. "I think Vesper is one of the nicest small towns in Wisconsin."
		Copyright © 2005, Community Progress Initiative, South Wood County & Town of Rome