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WINONA LAKE - Several Celina, Ohio, officials and representatives visited Winona Lake Wednesday to observe town improvement ideas. Celina visitors included representatives from the Celina council, county commissioners, administrative representatives and downtown retailers.
Celina Council President Bill Sell and Dave Schmidt, Celina City Administration, said their city has a population of approximately 10,000. With Winona Lake's population at approximately 4,500 people and Warsaw's at roughly 12,000 people, Celina representatives felt a comparison between cities/towns would be beneficial.
Celina, also a lakefront community, is looking at possible improvements to bring in more tourism. Sell and Schmidt said touring Winona Lake and Warsaw and seeing improvements made will give Celina representatives ideas for improvements in their city. Sell and Schmidt said they have already visited St. Joseph, Mich., and South Haven to observe improvements made.
Winona Lake Town Manager Craig Allebach welcomed the visitors in an hour meeting at the Blue Lion Coffee Shop, Village at Winona.
Allebach said Brent Wilcoxson, Winona Restoration, "is really the driving force of a lot of what has occurred in Winona Lake over the past years." Wilcoxson delivered a brief presentation on the history of Winona Lake.
He said Winona Lake has always been a place for gathering, but in 1988 the town became a rental housing project when "slum lords came in." Wilcoxson said 65 percent of the town was rental housing.
"We needed to get people involved in the community," Wilcoxson said. He wanted a place to raise his children, and Winona Lake, as it stood in 1988, was not suitable for raising children. Wilcoxson set out to convert the rental housing to single-family owner-occupied property.
Wilcoxson approached Dane Miller, president and CEO of Biomet, Warsaw, with his ideas and concerns. Together, Miller and Wilcoxson formed a small partnership that began turning Winona Lake around.
Wilcoxson and Miller, both Winona Lake residents, wanted to make a significant impact on the town. In 1994 buildings on Terrace Drive were purchased by the partnership. Wilcoxson said all but one of the original buildings were purchased.
"(We were) able to start a ball rolling that I think caused some nice ripples throughout the rest of the community," Wilcoxson said.
And the rest of the community has continued growing since that time. Today, Wilcoxson said, 300 to 400 houses in the original part of Winona Lake exist and many Winona Lake residents have began working on home improvements.
The old architectural buildings purchased by the partnership have since been turned into an "artisan gallery."
"Primarily, people are here creating their craft for people to see," Wilcoxson said.
Wilcoxson also said Winona Lake has been, and will always be, "a place of gathering." He said people come to the town for the lake, but they also come for the historic architecture and they come for fellowship. Wilcoxson wants to focus on that. "We want people to have a feeling of belonging," he said.
And a feeling of belonging is just what Wilcoxson, Winona Lake and Warsaw officials extended to Celina visitors.
Following the introductory meeting, Celina visitors took a tour of Winona Lake, which included stops at the Billy Sunday Home Museum and Visitor Center, the Village at Winona artisan shops and the Reneker Museum.
Lunch was served at Stonehenge Country Club and Warsaw community leader Neal Carlson and city planner Jeff Noffsinger guided Celina visitors on a tour of Warsaw. Stops included Central Park, Warsaw's downtown shopping area, courthouse square and Center Lake. Celina visitors departed Warsaw and Winona Lake at approximately 4 p.m. to take ideas for their lakefront city back home.
Winona Lake and Warsaw representatives present included: Winona Lake Town Manager Craig Allebach, Retha Hicks, clerk treasurer; Brent Wilcoxson, Winona Restoration; Jerry Clevenger, Winona Lake Town Council president; Rollie Ortega, Winona Lake councilman; Mary Kittrell and Linda Arnold, Kosciusko County Convention and Visitors Bureau; Warsaw Mayor Ernie Wiggins; city planner Jeff Noffsinger; Neal Carlson; and Joy McCarthy-Sessing, Warsaw/Kosciusko County Chamber of Commerce.
Celina, Ohio, representatives included: Council president Bill Sell, Rick Bachelor, Pete Hierholzer and Bob Gibson; Celina County Commissioners Jerry Laffin and Tom Gagel; city administration representatives Mayor Paul Arnold, Sue Canary and Dave Schmidt; and downtown retailers Marge Schwartz, Dave Schwartz and Peggy Richardson. Others in attendance included: Vicki Waterman, Auglaize/Mercer CVB; Kara Hanes, Celina Chamber of Commerce; and Kip Wright, Chamber trustee.
