Committees and Teams

There are many ways for you to help downtown Wausau thrive!  Committees offer an opportunity to share your voice and take action to make your community a better place to live, work, play and visit.  Please contact us today if you would like to be involved in the Wausau River District!

Design Committee 

Focuses on historic preservation and design aesthetic in the River District.

  • Sign Grant Review Team
  • Historic Preservation Team
  • Community Arts/Mural Team
  • Sign Ordinance Task Force
  • Downtown Open House Coordination Team

Economic Development Committee

Focuses on developing and maintaining a vibrant local economy in the River District

Promotions Committee

Focuses on promoting River District businesses thorugh cooperative advertising and downtown events.

  • First Thursdays
  • Sidewalk Sales
  • Christmas on First Open House
  • Small Business Saturday
  • Downtown Wausau Dining Week
  • Downtown Employee Appreciation Week

Organization Committee

Focuses on civic engagement and promoting Wausau River District as an organization in the community.

Community Arts Team

Are you creative and want to leave your mark on downtown Wausau?  Join our community arts team and contribute to the vibrant aesthetics of our downtown.  Be a project lead or volunteer on an as needed basis. Below is a list of our current projects, but we are open to any and all ideas. 

  • Community Painted Pianos

These colorfully painted pianos will be painted by people within the local community.  After painting is completed these unique pieces of art will be placed on 3rd street and within the Wausau Center Mall for passers-by to play as a way to continue to encourage community engagement with the arts and music.  Other cites have installed these community pianos with great success such as in Denver and Portland.  Wausau River District wants to see that kind of success here and to get the community involved in participating in creating their own music downtown.

  • Wausau Watercolors

Similar to projects done in Seattle and Boston, stencils have been placed all around Downtown Wausau that are waterproof and only appear when it rains. These designs are relatively invisible on a bright sunny day, but as soon as the rain comes, the downtown streets become covered in positive sayings and fun designs. Business owners helped choose the designs that are outside of their stores, each one reflecting the wide variety of businesses that call Downtown Wausau home.

  • Sidewalk Murals

Sidewalk murals aren't only beautiful but act as a traffic calming tool and have proven to be effective in cities all over the country including Portland and St. Paul. These murals help calm heavily-trafficked crosswalks and intersections by causing cars to slow down when they see the vibrant designs painted on the street. 

  • Bike Stencils

You may have noticed the blue bike stencils on the sidewalks asking people to walk their bikes.  Not only do these stencil increase safety for pedestrians entering and exits businesses, but they might safe a biker from a ticket, as it's illegal to ride bikes on sidewalks downtown unless signs indicate otherwise.  These stencils are painted in the spring time and can be completed in one weekend.

  • Community Murals

Do you have a creative vision and have experience with murals?  We would love to work with you to bring more murals into the River District.  We will work with you to find a willing businesses who will allow for a mural on the exterior of their building and help fine tune your design that will leave a lasting impact on our downtown.  

 

  • River Rhythms

The aim of this project is to install a large interactive wind chime along the extended river edge pathway near the entrance to Barker Stewart Island.  This will require reaching out to different engineering firms to consult with us about design for the chime which we can then present to the Riverfront development team and other applicable city committees for approval or tweaking.  The time commitment will vary and likely have some heavier weeks (3-4 hours a week) and some lighter (0 hours) weeks.  

  • Holiday Lights

Help get our downtown ready for the holidays!  Volunteer as an individual or group stringing lights down 3rd Street and Washington Street in the trees and on 2nd Avenue on the street lights.  Creating a whimsical holiday atmosphere December-January.

  • Downtown T-shirt Designs

Do you have experience in graphic design or screen printing?  Help promote downtown Wausau by creating a unique, eye catching design for a T-shirt.  This is open to beginners and experienced designers.  Our goal is to create a T-shirt with an edgy and notable image that people will not only want to buy, but NEED to buy.  

  • Cigarette Ballot Bins

These interactive cigarette disposal bins encourage people to dispose of cigarette butts in the bin rather than on the sidewalk.  The concept is to have two bins side by side in plexiglass posing a questions 'would you rather' and casting their vote by selecting one of the options to dispose of their cigarette butts.  This project requires reaching out to different companies for fabrication, which we then can present for approval.