Striving to make Grafton the ‘town of envy’

When Elizabeth Mueller saw that the Grafton Area Chamber of Commerce was advertising for a new special events and tourism coordinator last spring, she knew it was the job for her.

“I showed it to my husband and he said, ‘they wrote that for you,’” Mueller, who has a degree in public relations and marketing and a background that includes running her own business and staging consumer shows for businesses, said.

Mueller got the job and has excelled — so much so that the Chamber board of directors tapped her to fill the shoes of outgoing longtime Executive Director Pam King.

Mueller takes over the job Monday, Oct. 2, and said she’s aware she has big shoes to fill.

“I told Pam, ‘Those are the biggest size 6’s I’ve ever seen,” Mueller said with a laugh, noting King is not just a colleague but a friend. “Pam is amazing. I’ll miss her dearly.”

They’ve been working on the transition for the last several months, Mueller said, and she’ll use King as a resource in the future.

“The business community and our board have been so positive in the transition and helpful,” Mueller added. “And our office is a team. We work really well together.”

Just as Mueller is transitioning, Mikayla Schowalter is moving into Mueller’s former job of special events/tourism promotion coordinator, a position she was hired for in May.

Mueller said her goal for the Chamber is simple.

“I want Grafton to be the town of envy,” she said. “I think we’re well on our way.”

Grafton, she said, has thriving commercial districts and an active base of residents.

“We are, in Ozaukee County, the big-box hub, but we also have this,” Mueller said while standing in downtown, gesturing up and down the street. “We have cute little shops and places for people to go.”

Grafton has good schools, plenty of community based resources, festivals staged in conjunction with Celebrate Grafton such as the upcoming Fall into Grafton and assets like Lions Den Gorge Nature Preserve, she said, along with little treasures.

“One of the little gems I think people forget about is the lighted dam,” she said. “It’s so pretty.”

But more than that, she said, Grafton is a friendly community that values people.

“I just love it here,” she said. “Everyone’s so friendly. They’ve got each other’s back.”

Grafton, she said, is the “heart of Ozaukee.”

That central location gives the community an advantage, she said, noting Grafton has the hotels where many visitors to neighboring communities stay. They may spend the day in Port Washington or Cedarburg, but they will also stroll through Grafton to shop and dine.

All these things — the vibrant community, good schools, healthy business and shopping districts and the friendly­, small town feeling of Grafton — make the community a place people want to live and visit, Mueller said.

Mueller, who has a background uniquely suited for her new job, should know. A Michigan native, she graduated from college with a degree in public relations and marketing and a minor in journalism and worked in promotions and marketing for years.

When her husband Mark, who she met in college, was transferred to the Tulsa, Okla., area, she started her own business there, a sewing studio.

In 2019 her husband, a regional sales manager for Polaris, was transferred to the eastern Wisconsin territory, and the family went hunting for a new home.

Grafton was a central location, and it had the good educational system the family was seeking. When they and their son Chase — the youngest of their three children — stopped at John Long Middle School, they were so impressed with the reception they got that they knew Grafton was the right place for them, Mueller said.

“We just fell in love with the tightness of the community,” she said. “It’s just a neat place to live. Everyone’s so friendly.”

She took a job as an administrative assistant at the school — “I had to start over. I didn’t know anyone,” Mueller said — 2and when the job at the Chamber opened up, she applied.

“I was told Pam’s got five or six years,” Mueller said.  “Less than 16 months later, here I am.”

As the special events and tourism promotion director, Mueller instituted several new programs, among them the military and first responder appreciation night and food trucks in the park events.

“Our goal is always to bring businesses and the community together,” she said.

The Chamber’s next fest is Fall into Grafton, which will be held Oct. 7 and this year include a juried arts and crafts fair. Then come holiday events.

“The whole goal is family friendly events,” Mueller said.

Mueller has some ideas for new Chamber events and programs, including Zip Code Day, to be held on May 30 — 5/30/24 — that’s in the planning stages.

She would like to create a newcomer welcome package that new residents can pick up in the Chamber office, as well as a “wedding ring” packet of information from Chamber residents whose businesses include services sought by those planning a wedding.

“It would be a bridal show on paper,” she said.

“As we grow, we’ll be able to do more,” Mueller said, noting their office, like so many businesses, is short staffed.