Ashland Goes “All In” For COVID-19 Response

ASHLAND, Wis.– Officials from Madison came up to northern Wisconsin to spread the message for the state’s campaign to help businesses get through the tough financial times because of the pandemic.

Wisconsin begins their We’re All In campaign to try and help small businesses across the state deal with the pandemic. That includes those in communities like Ashland.

“By taking some of these simple steps, we know that we can really get folks back to work quickly,” said Sam Rikkers, Chief Operating Officer for the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation.

Funded by the CARES Act, the campaign is providing $2,500 dollar grants to 30,000 small businesses across Wisconsin to help them deal with the economic impacts of COVID-19.

The money can be used to pay loans, salaries, and buy PPE needed to stay open.

Officials with WEDC say Ashland businesses have been doing a great job following guidelines to keep everyone healthy.

“Those practices that keep their employees safe, keep their customers safe, and keep us all safe and let everyone get back to work as fast as we can,” said Rikkers.

The city of Ashland has been working as a go-between for the businesses and the state. Helping businesses try and navigate through the pandemic by giving them recommendations on how to stay afloat during these uncertain times.

Director of Planning and Development Megan McBride is grateful for the state’s help. Adding that it will be a big boost for the local businesses.

“So even these small grants that can help them keep going, keep paying their people, not having to lay anyone off,” said McBride.  “It’s really hard to quantify what that does for our local economy and keeping everyone employed.”

One Ashland businesses that’s “all in” is The Burger Barn. Owner Jackson Kysar was in survival mode every day early on and is glad to be getting some help.

“We don’t have the deep pockets that these big guys have got. So it is very hard to go through something like this. To shut off revenue, bills keep coming in, power, city bills, all of those,” said Kysar.

He’s been preparing for COVID before the shutdowns and has been able to keep his staff open throughout the pandemic. Funds coming from the program will be used to make up the costs for PPE and also go towards materials for outdoor dining.

Kyser wants to do what he can to keep everyone safe, and his doors open.

“We cannot go through another shutdown. Even if we’re allowed to do takeout, it’s not a sustainable business.”

McBride says they will be using some of the money they are getting from the CARES Act to give out masks to Ashland residents. They will be looking at businesses around the city to help distribute them to the public.