GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) — It’s taken six years and a number of false starts but officials finally broke ground on the long-anticipated Discover Green Bay Visitor’s Center during a ceremony on Tuesday.
Discover Green Bay CEO Brad Toll opened the ceremony with a well-known Japanese proverb.
“Fall down seven times, stand up eight,” said Toll. “This might be more than eight.”
Plans for the new visitors center, located across from Cabela’s in Ashwaubenon, just off the the I-41 Lombardi Avenue exit, were first announced in 2018. Money for it was included in Governor Tony Evers’ 2019-2021 state budget proposal, but was ultimately left out. Plans were also derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic and delayed in part due to construction costs.
Rendering of the main entrance of the future Experience Greater Green Bay Visitor Center. (Photo provided by the Greater Green Bay Convention & Visitors Bureau)
“As we were getting close to securing support from the state, COVID hit,” Toll recalled. “We had a lot of challenges, but a world pandemic? Seriously?”
The groundbreaking was attended by Governor Tony Evers, Brown County Executive Troy Streckenbach, Oneida Nation Vice Chair Brandon Stevens, and Packers spokesman Aaron Popkey.
Discover Green Bay raised more than $4 million in private donations for the project and in February received a $2.5 million grant toward the project from state COVID-19 relief funds.
The center promises that it won’t just be a place to find tourism brochures.
“It will be a mid-21st century and beyond visitor’s center,” said Discover Green Bay Vice President of Visitor’s Experience Cameron Teske. “It will have storytelling, and technology, and immersion, and experiences.”
The center is expected to open next year ahead of the 2023 Packers training camp.
