When downtown White Bear Lake faced the brunt of the pandemic in early spring, ReGrow White Bear Lake stepped up to the plate to help the many shops, eateries and businesses that help make the area such a great place to live, work and play.
The campaign is a community-wide partnership of several groups, including the city of White Bear Lake, White Bear Area Chamber of Commerce, Main Street Organization, Explore White Bear and White Bear Lake Economic Development Corporation. They came together to help find a way for business owners to survive and reopen; within several weeks, ReGrow invited several local business owners to join.
They use events, such as WBL Bear Hunt, Plant Party and Picnic in the Park, to help bring folks to the area to dine and shop; they’re also working on building resources to promote smaller businesses and safe dine-in and takeout options for restaurants. In fact, several restaurants are collaborating on a pledge to commit to safety for their business and their customers.
“We’re changing how we do things, smaller and more intimate, but in a way to celebrate community,” says Lisa Beecroft who is a ReGrow White Bear Lake committee member and volunteers at Explore White Bear. Beecroft says the collaborative effort is also resulting in a webinar series to assist businesses, technologically, such as online ordering.
Generosity from local business owners and volunteers have helped make those events, Plant Party and Picnic in the Park and others, possible.
ReGrow White Bear Lake encourages folks to get involved by dining and shopping local, using #ReGrowWBL when posting those outings to social media, supporting local nonprofits and checking the ReGrow White Bear Lake website for upcoming events, contests and updates.
