Monica Kramer and her family didn't even have time to put up proper signage outside their new Mic's ice cream shop before the streets flooded with hot and thirsty patrons for the Westfort Street Fair on Saturday.
The three-week-old ice cream shop had its coming out party under the 24-degree-Celcius sun, a bright green awning and a line backing out the door.
Kramer wasn't looking to open storefront when she started renting out slush machines. That quickly grew into a mobile concession stand and the natural expansion had only one natural location in her mind: Wesfort.
"Westfort has always been -- historically -- a hub," she said.
"Some businesses have closed down over the years but it does have so much potential to be like Wisconsin Dells where the streets are full late at night, the stores are open late and people can take a stroll, have an ice cream, have a coffee. It does have that potential."
Mic's is part of a neighbourhood renewal of sorts. A young, entrepreneurial spirit is sweeping through the neighbourhood, much of it coming out of Westfort community members.
Westfort Village Association member and J.B. Evans co-owner Jack Moro has had a number of people help his clothing business evolve over the years and he can see the renewed energy along Frederica St. where companies are connecting with their client base to keep customers.
"I know they're busy. I know they're generating a lot of customers and they're keeping their clients. We've had a few fallouts, unfortunately. People retire and change locations and circumstances. But we're pulling in new ones," he said.
"We're pleased to see that transformation. It's always nice to have new, lively, interested people in the neighbourhood."
