After months of construction work, detours, sidewalk closings and all-around disruption, downtown Portage is set for a daylong celebration Saturday of being back to normal.

With concerts, a beer tent, a store-visit poker raffle and horse-drawn wagon rides, the city will inaugurate the next phase of downtown after the end of the Cook Street construction project.

"It's a grand rebirth of downtown Portage," said Carolyn Roberts, executive director of Main Street Portage.

The Main Street Portage event coincides with open houses of the city police and fire departments. There will be a ceremonial dedication of the new Cook Street and time capsule to be placed under it.

With more than $2.6 million of work done on the road - including redesigned sidewalks and upgraded light posts - downtown Portage is seeing a mini-resurgence. New businesses (such as Norm's Pit Stop and Cloe's Reservations Only restaurants) will have opened by the end of the weekend. More (Forever Your's Jewelry) are on the way. Others (Wilz Drug & Home Health Care and The Mercantile) are renovating storefronts.

"All in all, there's great things happening and it's a good time to celebrate," Roberts said. "The opening (of Cook Street) is significant. Existing businesses are already getting more foot traffic."

Linda Riggs of the coffee shop Daily Perk and Christian bookstore It's About Faith said business picked up at her stores almost as soon as the downtown was clear of Cook Street construction.

"It's been a big difference," Riggs said, adding that drive-through business to her coffee shop took a hit prior to the road being opened and that a parking space was restored on her section of DeWitt Street after the project was completed. "It's all good now."

For the Saturday Cook Street opening celebration, Riggs said the Daily Perk is one of the stops for a poker walk contest, and she will offer cups of flavored coffee at a reduced price.

The poker walk is just one of several events happening Saturday. Participants in the contest can register at the Commerce Plaza parking lot on Conant Street for the contest and then draw cards at participating businesses. The person with the best hand at the end of the day will win one of $2,000 worth of prizes, including a flat-screen television.

Other events include:

• A 3 p.m. dedication of the Cook Street opening, with a ceremony by the Fort Winnebago Masonic Lodge. A time capsule to be buried later will be dedicated and winning pictures of a coloring contest will be put into the capsule. Portage students from kindergarten through sixth grade drew what they thought Portage would look like in 50 years and some of those pictures - judged by Roberts and others - will be on display at various downtown businesses.

• A musical start of the festivities with a concert by Brad Palmer from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at Commerce Plaza. From 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., Six Foot Sally - featuring Palmer along with Scott Forbes, Swell Schultz and Don Magers - takes over. After the 3 p.m. dedication, the Prairie Smoke Bluegrass band will play.

• A beer tent at Commerce Plaza, with root beer floats available through the Pink Ribbon Angels breast cancer support group and card games.

• The city police and fire departments' annual open houses from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at their offices on Pleasant Street.

• Free horse-drawn wagon rides, leaving from Commerce Plaza, from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Participants are encouraged to bring a nonperishable food item for the Portage Food Pantry.

 

mcall@capitalnewspapers.com

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