Business

La Crosse Center gets $2 million in COVID grant money

Published

3 years ago

July 26, 2021

Thousands of businesses and entertainment venues around the U.S. have been applying for billions of dollars in pandemic relief money from Washington.

The La Crosse Center has qualified for close to 2 million dollars in a Shuttered Venue Operators Grant.

Art Fahey, the center director, says the city council has to formally accept the money before it can be spent.

The Small Business Administration grant of $1.9 million comes from a $16 billion fund approved by Washington.

Fahey says the grant would help compensate for events which had to be cancelled between March of 2020 and the end of this year because of COVID-19.

The $42 million renovation of the La Crosse Center also led to several events being postponed or cancelled since early 2020. The expansion project is said to be 90 per cent complete, but more street improvements have to be done on Front Street and 2nd Street.

Brad Williams

A native of Prairie du Chien, Brad graduated from UW - La Crosse and has worked in radio news for more than 30 years, mostly in the La Crosse area. He regularly covers local courts and city and county government. Brad produces the features "Yesterday in La Crosse" and "What's Buried on Brad's Desk." He also writes the website "Triviazoids," which finds odd connections between events that happen on a certain date, and he writes and performs with the local comedy group Heart of La Crosse. Brad been featured on several national TV programs because of his memory skills.