WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — Wausau River District has officially announced plans for Wednesday Night Dining on the Street which will begin June 24th.
That’s when several downtown restaurants will be given the green light to extend their dining rooms into 3rd street and the 400 block as a way of extending their capacity for one night.
“You’ll be able to come on down, patron one of your favorite restaurants, with tables and chairs set up in the street [so you can] enjoy the beautiful downtown atmosphere,” said Wausau River District Executive Director Blake Opal Wahoske.
Opal Wahoske says the plan currently calls for tables to be set up along 3rd Street from the Wausau Center Mall to Scott Street, with a break at the Jefferson Street intersection to allow traffic through.
The Wausau River District has also booked two live musicians each night from 5 to 7 PM and 7 to 9 PM to provide acoustic entertainment. Opal Wahoske says just like the restaurant owners, those artists have had a rough spring and summer as well.
“We’ve always had this strong arts scene, and that’s another of the communities that have been hit so hard by the pandemic because of the limited opportunities they’ve had. It’s another way we could support the community,” said Opal Wahoske.
Depending on how the events go, organizers could extend the program further down 3rd Street. Opal Wahoske adds that it could also be a test run for making the program an annual event, or even something that could be run in conjunction with future Wednesday night concerts in the 400 block.
“That’s to be determined, to kind of see how this events series takes off. But, we chose Wednesday nights because in people’s brains they are already kind of in the mood to come downtown because of concerts on the square. So instead of re-inventing that psychology, we chose Wednesday to keep that normalcy in these uncertain times.”
RELATED: Council approves city-wide Wednesday night outdoor dining expansion
The plan was approved in late May by the city council as part of a larger measure to expand outdoor dining options for all restaurants in the city as a means of helping them expand their capacities to offset losses that they incurred during COVID-19 related shutdowns.
