MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee will host the Republican National Convention in July 2024.
Thousands of people are expected to come to the city for it, which offers a huge opportunity for local businesses, big and small.
Sabina Magyar owns the Village Cheese Shop in Wauwatosa. The shop is less than seven miles from Fiserv Forum, which is where the RNC will take place.
“This is a great opportunity for small businesses, or micro-small businesses like mine,” she said. “We have to take a certain jump and planning is key to that.”
Magyar is among a group of business owners that have already been in touch with RNC host committee leaders.
During the RNC, she’s planning to offer cheese classes and events. She’s also hoping to include some of her products in welcome bags for when RNC attendees check into hotels.
“I’m working on partnerships downtown, where I can lead fun evening classes on cheese and wine pairings,” Magyar said. “We are cheese educators. We cater cheese trays, sandwich trays.”
She said since Milwaukee will be in the spotlight, so should its cheese.
“Alpinage Mount Raclette cheese from Milwaukee would be really awesome for visitors to get to know because it’s made on a Wisconsin dairy farm,” Magyar said. “Maybe we can call it the cheese of the RNC.”
Magyar is prepared to hire more people ahead of the big event. She’s also encouraging other businesses to get in on the action.
“We want to show them who we are as people, and who we are as a state,” she said.
MKE 2024 Host Committee Chief Operating Officer Alison Prange wants as many local businesses involved in the RNC as possible.
“The main message is that the RNC is coming to Milwaukee next summer,” Prange said. “It’s an opportunity for the city of Milwaukee. There are opportunities for businesses from across the area, we want to encourage everyone who is interested to join our online portal to sign up on our website so that way they can find out about opportunities and find out other information about the convention.”
There are more than 1,100 local businesses already entered in the online database.
“We want to give people a warm Wisconsin welcome and when I talk to people everywhere I go, I say, ‘We want to make sure visitors will not forget that and come back here early and often and move back here to be part of our community,’” Prange said.
Prange recommends every business owner interested in being a part of the event, registers its services and contact information in the online vendor database created by the host committee. The committee will then try to connect those businesses with convention-related opportunities. The host committee will provide email updates to businesses that submit their information to highlight available opportunities.
To learn more, or to get your business registered in the database, visit mke2024host.org/vendors.