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BACK ON MAIN 2023 • 7 By Grayson Sewell gsewell@conleynet.com 262-306-5043 WEST BEND — Main Street is open once again in West Bend, and to celebrate the Downtown West Bend Association (DWBA) will be holding Back on Main on Nov. 3 and 4, an event to welcome members of the West Bend, Washington County and southeastern Wiscon- sin communi- ties back to Main Street in style. Additionally, on Nov. 2, West Bend will be holding their Christmas Tree Light- ing at 5:30 p.m., which will serve as an unofficial kick- off to the grand re-opening weekend for Main Street. Main Street underwent reconstruction starting in April of this year. Addi- tionally, the Downtown Riverwalk project along the west side of the Milwaukee River, which is behind the businesses on the east side of Main Street, was being carried out at the same time, after construction of this portion of the River- walk beginning in the summer of 2022. The two projects led to issues with parking and the convenience of traversing downtown West Bend throughout the summer in 2023, and businesses had to weather a storm to make it through. But, as of Oct. 16, both projects are now completed, with West Bend holding rib- bon cuttings for Main Street on Oct. 13 and the River- walk on Oct. 16 to celebrate their openings, both of which were ahead of sched- ule. The Main Street Recon- struction project finished up 10 days early, and the Downtown Riverwalk proj- ect finished a staggering nine months early, making the area what some call a crown jewel of the county. "What West Bend has is the crown jewel of Washington County," said Todd Tennies of Tennies Ace Hardware. "I look at the downtown business district as being a fabulous place to shop, along with the River- walk and the Eisenbahn Trail, it's a destination people will want to come to." "I think it looks fantas- tic," said The Bend Execu- tive Director Bill Buettner. "I do miss some of the greenery that went with it, but I just think the way it's so nice, flat and new, which we did have some trip haz- ards out their [before con- struction] with uneven cob- blestone, so safety-wise this is going to be so much nicer. "And, once they get some planters and things going, it's going to be really nice." The Bend, unlike most downtown restaurants and businesses, decided to scale back a bit on their summer offerings, throughout the summer. Others who fol- lowed suit include both The Norbert and Pilot Boutique & Unique Finds, who both closed for renova- tions during the construc- tion process. According to Buettner, they are excited to be back to their full slate of offer- ings. "Now that the road's open again, every weekend there is going to be something coming up from now through the holidays," said Buettner. According to Christy Lafontant, owner of down- town boutique Christy Mac's, not only does the downtown area look amaz- ing, there is also excitement in the air downtown now that the construction pro- cess is over. "It's so exciting. The energy and excitement is already in the air, for sure," said Lafontant. "I love it, it's beautiful. It reminds me of the end of the movie 'Cars' … at the end they have all their neon lights go on and they can drive down the roads, it reminds me of that." According to Mark Laufenberg, co-owner of Laughing Mountain Pop- corn with his wife, Nancy, Main Street re-opening is not just exciting, but need- ed. "It will be nice, we've missed people. It's a differ- ent story when you only see 10 people in your day," said Laufenberg. He added that they hope the return of Main Street not only helps them reach pre-construction customer numbers, but exceed them as people flock to West Bend to check out downtown. Back on Main The DWBA will be hold- ing their Back on Main event on Nov. 3 and 4. While the businesses never went anywhere, the road is now re-opened and they are excited to be back on Main Street, too. "It's refreshing to know the road is open. I hope and I would expect the crowds are going to be huge down- town. People are going to want to see what it looks like," said Tennies. "I hope continued on next page 'The energy and excitement is already in the air' Back on Main Street in West Bend

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