“A Moment with Main Street Marshfield” May Edition

Friday, May 29th, 2026 -- 1:01 PM

It’s time for the May Edition of “A Moment with Main Street Marshfield!”

I spoke with Main Street Marshfield’s Executive Director, Carter Howe, and he discussed what they’ve been up to this past month and what’s coming up down the road:

Listen to the interview with Carter here!

(AI assisted transcription via Otter.ai)

Carter: "We've been up to a lot. As I've mentioned in our previous interviews, we are looking down Hub City Days, which we are so excited about. It's officially crunch time, so I'm working together with our team to make sure that it's a successful event for our community and for our businesses, and so we're finalizing our sponsorships."

"We're working closely with our amazing partner Rodney Felts to get the car show together and I think we have some really good programming this year. So, I'm looking forward to getting that moving forward."

"We've also been doing a lot of work behind the scenes. So, a couple weeks ago I went down to Madison to the International Downtown Association Conference and, you know it's funny, it's an international conference, but there was a lot of regional representation there and we made some really good connections."

"We put Marshfield on this international stage and went to a lot of workshops, did some networking, and we also got to explore beautiful downtown Madison and connected with their Downtown Madison Inc, and some of their team there."

"Some highlighted connections were Downtown Madison Inc. We connected with people from Magnificent Mile in Chicago, a lot of other various main streets in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. So, taking some inspiration from home, as well as from around the world."

"The biggest takeaways were, we did some policy and advocacy workshops, so learned about how to work together with our local governments at the local, state, and federal level and figure out how we can support policies and work with our partners to support policies that help our downtown, so that was a huge highlight for me in terms of making those connections and we're continuing to do the work at home too."

"We just awarded our Welcome Back Grant, so we have two very exciting projects for that. We're putting in a wheelchair ramp at a restaurant and we're doing some siding work at another, so you'll see some tangible improvements coming to downtown this summer as construction season starts."

"Last, but not least, we're finalizing our Building Revitalization Grant and we have several applicants for those and I can't quite disclose that, but you'll hear about that next month. We have some really awesome, very visually appealing changes coming to downtown this summer, so if you see some extra construction along our downtown, then know that it's part of the work we're doing."

Riley: "But is there anything else on your radar right now that you're, that you're kind of working on?"

Carter: "We're continuing to collaborate with our partners, such as the Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce and Visit Marshfield, the tourism bureau. One thing that we're excited about to have in our downtown is, this weekend, the Chamber of Commerce is hosting Dairyfest, which is a huge tradition in Marshfield and we love all the people it brings."

"The Chamber is wonderful and puts so much work into getting this, getting this event together, and so we're looking forward to seeing that downtown. I'll be volunteering on Friday, doing some cleanup, and it's a great community effort."

"So, trying to continue building those relationships with our partners, making sure that we're all at the table for these important conversations as Marshfield moves forward. So, we're looking forward to that continued collaboration."

Riley: "Anything else you'd like to add?"

Carter: "You know, we're continuing to do the work. We are always looking for volunteers, so if people are interested in volunteering for Hub City Days, please check us out at mainstreetmarshfield.com. You can also email me directly at executivedirectormarshfield.com, all one word. And then, last but not least, we always have sponsorship opportunities."

"One of the things I'm trying to do as a new leader is build corporate nonprofit partnerships that are mutually beneficial, where it's rather than saying thanks for the money, but it's more of a collaboration of what fits the needs of the company and also what fits our needs, and how can we work together. So, if corporations are interested in sponsoring an event, please reach out to me. I would love to have a conversation."

Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.