Visitors bureau takes over management of Patriot Center

ROTHSCHILD — The Wausau/Central Wisconsin Convention & Visitors Bureau is now at the helm of the largest event and conference center in north-central Wisconsin.

The Convention & Visitors Bureau took over as operator and manager of the 75,000-square-foot Patriot Center in Rothschild recently after Cedar Creek Mall and Patriot Center owner Tom Timblin was foreclosed upon late last year.

“It’s something we’re excited to do and we need to do this for the community,” said Lisa Berry, the visitors bureau’s sales manager.

The bureau is managing the center for the owner, Stoney Rivers, which reclaimed the property in foreclosure proceedings. The Patriot Center hosts everything from weddings and business expos to outdoors shows and job fairs.

Berry said the bureau’s top priority is making sure events that already are booked go on as planned without disruptions for customers and clients.

“Our first task is to make sure the events go smoothly,” Berry said. “And one of my regular jobs at the visitors bureau is to attract large events, groups of leisure travelers, conventions; I try to get groups to come here.”

Berry said the visitors bureau has hired a staff, including a customer service manager and three part-time workers, to manage the facility.

Rothschild Village Board President George Peterson said the Patriot Center is the only “real big” convention center north of Stevens Point, and it’s important to continue to have functions there as often as possible.

“It brings people in from the outside to stay in the motels, they spend money in the gas stations and the restaurants and pump up the economy in the entire area, not just Rothschild,” Peterson said. “It’s a Wausau-area thing.”

Peterson said the visitors bureau is well suited to manage the facility.

“The CVB has so many functions going on in the area,” he said. “The goal is to have the motels full and something going on all the time, and the Patriot Center is a big part of that.”

Berry said there’s a collective enthusiasm from hotels, businesses and restaurants in the area about the future of the center and the events it may host.

“We’ve had a great reception from people and a lot of phone calls and people just seem really excited,” she said.

Reported by:  Postcrescent.com