Community Comes Together to Fund Event Center at Legion Park

Response to the decision to replace the 80-year old art hall at Legion Park has been incredibly positive. To date, over $600,000 has been contributed by some 150 donors.  These funds will cover the estimated cost of the base building, which is designed for year-round use and has a capacity exceeding 300.  Fundraising continues to secure an additional $200,000 + to fund amenities within the building such as a room divider, epoxy floors, banquet tables and chairs, security system, sound system, hearing loop, etc. and outside amenities like picnic tables, a partial brick facade, an entrance kiosk and landscaping.  Plans and costs being finalized now by Delta 3 and Eastman Cartwright’s team of contractors will provide us firm costs within a few weeks. Groundbreaking and construction, by our local contractors, is expected immediately after Dairy Days.

Just as important to our community as this event center building is its potentail positive impact on the community.  Businesses, organizations and families in our community have come together as community collaborators, contributing $25,000+ to this initiative.  These include Wisconsin Bank & Trust, Mound City Bank, Dupaco, Clare Bank, Woodward Foundation – Woodward Printing Service/The Shopping News, Southwest Health, Delta 3, Eastman Cartwright, Reeves Family & Friends, Bob and Barry Brodbeck, Inspiring Community, the City of Platteville and anonymous donors to be named later.  Many of these businesses/organizations/families have made exceptions to their normal ‘contribution policies’ and contributed 5 to 10 times what they have done for other projects.  Why?  Because they know that people who come to Platteville for weddings, reunions, conferences and other events will get to know Platteville – our amenities, hotels, restaurants and people.  The word of mouth marketing for Platteville, by these folks, will bring more benefit than advertising ever could.  It will help our community grow, attracting wonderful talent to our workforce such as new doctors, nurses, teachers, entrepreneurs, and students and more Platteville residents.

Additional major contributors include:

$10,000 - $24,999: Community First Bank, Digman Construction, Heartland Credit Union, Iverson Construction, Platteville Community Fund, Anonymous

$5,000-$9,999: Novus Glass, Myron & Sheila Tranel, Ron & Jan Weier, Doug & Janice Steinback, Alliant Energy Foundation, Skyway Precision, Inc, Faherty, Inc, Rural Excavating/J&N Stone

$2,000-$4,999: Optimists, Tractor Pull Association, Vaassen-Pluemer, Gene & Jan Weber, Gabe, Joyce & Gary Loeffelholz, Platteville Dairy Days, Hap & Barb Daus, Stephen & Carolyn VanDeWiel, Mike Mair and Jim Harms in memory of Doris Harms

PLUS over 100 other contributors to date.

Donations of all sizes are important. We want to provide the best possible event center for the community and all the donations will help us meet all the wants along with the needs!  Whether a gift is $10, $500, $2,500, $5,000 or more, it is important to making this event center a reality. 1000 names on the entrance kiosk would send a great message about Platteville and community collaboration to and for future generations.  Those wishing to be a part of this effort may send checks to Inspiring Community, Inc. PO Box 503, Platteville, WI 53818 and note “Event Center” on memo line.