All mobile workshops for the 2023 NET Conference will take place on Monday, September 25. For the half-day workshops, participants can but are not required to participate in both a morning and an afternoon workshop. This schedule is tentative and subject to change.
Full Day
Experience Wisconsin, America’s Agricultural Tourism Destination
- limited to 30 participants
- 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Sheila Everhart, Wisconsin Agricultural Tourism Association (WATA) Executive Director, and Abigail Winkle, Farm Wisconsin Discovery Center Director, will host this Wisconsin Agricultural Tourism Mobile Bus Tour. Participants will visit five different agritourism operations outside of Milwaukee, learning their unique stories and hearing why Wisconsin is America’s agricultural tourism destination.
Taste Wisconsin Water Bus Tour
- limited to 20 participants
- 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
No boat? No problem. Join Wisconsin Sea Grant staff on a quirky, water-focused bus trip through rural Wisconsin. Participants will visit two very different fish farms and collect drinking water from three artesian wells. Sample a variety of fish spreads. Try your hand at trout fishing. Vote for your favorite water. Taste farmed fish products and discuss land-based, water-forward tourism ideas. Along the way, learn about Wisconsin’s water, including why people in the mid-1800s thought some springs had medicinal properties.
Half Day
Exploring the Milwaukee Urban Water Trail
- limited to 25 participants each tour
- 9:00 a.m.- noon or 2:00 p.m.- 5:00 p.m.
Milwaukee is a city built on water, and what better way to explore it than by kayak! Join Milwaukee Kayak Company and Milwaukee Riverkeeper for a guided tour of Milwaukee’s rivers. Along the way, we’ll discuss the history and current state of our waterways, the unique ecology of urban rivers, and the exciting projects and partnerships that will shape our future. We’ll even make a stop at one of our many local Riverwalk businesses for a quick bite to eat. No previous paddling experience necessary. Participants will need to walk about a mile from the hotel to the kayak launch site.
Iconic Milwaukee Discovery Tour
- limited to 25 participants
- 10:00 a.m. – noon
Hosted by City Tours MKE, participants will board electric cruisers to make a giant sweep through the city, covering the famous Brewery District and the lively Bar District; visiting the Bronz Fonz on the Milwaukee River, North Point Lighthouse, and the stunning lakefront; and more. This tour will cover historical architecture, the city museums, and dive deep into the city’s storied past.
Menominee River Valley Tour: Industrial Past, Sustainable Future
- limited to 30 participants
- 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
When Milwaukee was the Machine Shop of the World, the Menomonee River Valley was its engine, where rail cars and machinery were made, clay became bricks, wheat became flour, and hogs became ham. Yet by the 1980s, the Valley’s legacy was lost amid hundreds of acres of vacant buildings, a forgotten river, and the north/south divide it symbolized in the community. Today, the Valley is experiencing a transformation and has become a national model of sustainable redevelopment. Take a walk through history to the present with Menomonee Valley Partners’ Executive Director, Corey Zetts, and Program Manager, Nia Smith. Menomonee Valley Partners is leading the redevelopment of Milwaukee’s central manufacturing district and plays a key part in the public-private partnership that transformed the area from a place to avoid to an award-winning success story.