KAUKAUNA, Wis. — For more than two decades Stacey Hummell has made candy and other treats.
About a month ago she opened the doors to her own space dedicated to the business — Sweet Treats Candies & Sweets — in downtown Kaukauna.
It’s where you’ll find her making products by hand.
“I’ve got a homemade caramel recipe that I’ve been using for the last 22 years. We make lots of homemade caramel,” Hummell said while wrapping caramels in the store’s kitchen. “We’ve had a lot of customers coming in for it lately, so I can’t seem to keep it in stock. We’re just wrapping away.”
A 17-year-resident of Kaukauna, Hummell said there’s some momentum building around the city’s downtown that straddles both sides of the Fox River.
“I’ve seen businesses kind of come and go, but lately I’ve seen more small business owners build into the downtown area, which is kind of nice,” she said. “It’s nice to see more traffic coming through, shopping, and more people walking, looking for different places to check out.”
The city is working on further developing that traffic. A private developer is putting up multimillion dollar apartments overlooking the Fox River. The city is also moving ahead with plans for a tax increment financing district aimed at helping pay for further improvements to the downtown.
Joe Stephenson, director of planning and community development, said planned projects range from creating useable spaces out of alleys to improvements and additions at the pool and an amphitheater near Hydro Park.
“We have alley revitalization I think Is going to be really cool. You can maybe describe it as a parklette. They’re just these little nooks in your downtown with seating, art, areas for people to have music, a band or something of that nature,” he said. “It’s really creating that more intimate setting.”
The city council recently gave a nod to creating the TIF district, but more approvals are needed before it becomes a reality. That could happen late this winter, Stephenson said.
Mayor Tony Penterman said the TIF does not increase property taxes and is intended to help make the downtown more attractive to residents, visitors, businesses and developers.
He’d like the area to become a destination while retaining some of the feel and look of historic Kaukauna.
“I want all of our storefronts to be full, I want people coming down here to have fun. Have a drink or something like that and socialize,” Penterman said. “Bring back the sidewalk sales. Just for people to come in, have fun and enjoy themselves.”
It’s in line with what Hummell would like to see happen to the city around her.
“The more this can grow and fill up some of these empty store fonts, the happier we’ll all be,” she said. “That will bring people in from different towns with maybe this being a little more of a destination area.”