For Immediate Release: October 29, 2018 — Visit Sheboygan, Inc., the tourism entity for the Sheboygan Area Tourism Zone, and Windway Capital Corp. are set to begin a development project for a new visitor center and office complex on S. 8th Street. Plans include exhibits and retail space in the visitor center, as well as a future fresh water exhibit on the Sheboygan River. The complex also includes new office space for Visit Sheboygan, Inc., and Windway Capital Corp. Ground-breaking for the development is expected by the end of the year, with completion projected for fall of 2019.
The new visitor center will house a viewing area for a new Lake Michigan shipwreck documentary to be produced over the next year, as well as a NOAA-designed Science on a Sphere (SOS) exhibit. “The sphere will be the focal centerpiece of the visitor center storefront. Passersby will have a view of the six-foot suspended globe, which will glow through the main window on S. 8th Street,” explained Chad Pelishek, director of planning for the City of Sheboygan and chairman of the Visit Sheboygan board of directors. The SOS exhibit is a spherical screen that projects online data sets transforming it into an animated planet. SOS has the capability to visually display hundreds of data sets including seismic activity across the planet, platonic shift over time, the shrinking of the rainforest, population mass across the globe, wind and weather patterns that cover the earth, ocean currents, the asteroid belt and solar system, and hundreds of other informative and entertaining earth and space programs.
As part of the visitor center project, Visit Sheboygan also plans to install a Science on a Barge in 2019, to be open by fall of 2020. The Science on a Barge is a self-contained ecosystem of the Lake Michigan land- and water-scape built on a floating barge permanently docked on the Sheboygan River next to the visitor center. Patrons will have the opportunity to participate in hands-on STEM programs and tour the barge, which will include freshwater aquaponics and plant life. The visitor center will also house learning space for other interactive programs in partnership with the Sailing Education Association of Sheboygan (SEAS) including sailing education and practical skills such as navigation and knot-tying. Amy Wilson, president and CEO of Visit Sheboygan, Inc., explained, “We’re looking forward to the visitor center becoming its own destination for interactive learning opportunities that expand knowledge about our environment and our surroundings. It certainly makes visiting the area a more interesting place to experience while promoting waterfront activity and engagement.”
Visit Sheboygan, Inc., the official tourism entity for the Sheboygan Area Tourism Zone, including the City of Sheboygan, the Town of Sheboygan, and the Town of Wilson, is funded by room tax dollars collected from overnight visits to lodging facilities located within the zone. Currently, the zone economy captures an estimated 40% of the county’s $223,700,000 annual visitor spending.
Contacts:
- Amy L. Wilson, President/CEO, Visit Sheboygan, Inc. • 920-395-8709 • amy@visitsheboygan.com
- Jerry Baumann, VP Operations, Windway Capital Corp. • 920-457-8600 • jerry@windway.com