Construction of the new Denmark Community Center could start as soon as this summer.
OneDenmark hosted a fill the bucket open house May 27 as they try to raise an additional $2 million for the community center, which will open in the former Early Childhood Center building, 150 N. Wall St. Visitors could see the floorplans and renderings for gym and fitness center; food pantry; meeting rooms; children and teen spaces; a mobile computer lab with printers, laptops and charging station; and library.
The Denmark School Board unanimously approved the sale of the building to OneDenmark for $1 in October. The new early childhood center addition opened at the elementary school in September 2024.
Demolition of the building will start in June and OneDenmark hopes renovations of the space will start toward the fall, said Kathy Pletcher, a board member of OneDenmark. The community center hopes to serve over 6,000 people and will be open around 60 hours a week. Pletcher said she expects renovation will be completed in 2026.
Denmark library gets new home
The Denmark library branch closed in March 2020 due to the pandemic and never reopened. Residents have been relying on the Brown County Bookmobile and pickup hours at the Denmark Village Hall to get books. Storytimes for kids have been held at park shelters.
“People want a place to be in the library,” said Pletcher, who is on the Brown County Library Board. “This is one of the few corners of the county that doesn’t have a physical building.”
Now, the library will be part of the Denmark Community Center with a physical space. The library will hold books and will be able to use meeting spaces in the community center for events. It will be open around 20 to 25 hours a week.
Community food pantry to expand
Two classrooms at the former school will be converted into a space for the Community Cupboard, a food pantry in Denmark. The food pantry delivers food to 140 to 170 people in the area currently, said Lori Knuth, who helps run Community Cupboard. The small space doesn’t give them space to get more people in, she said.
The move to the Denmark Community Center will allow the pantry to serve more residents, store more food, and connect pantry users to more community resources. It will also allow them to open up the pantry to pickup instead of relying on delivery, Knuth said.
Having the pantry be part of the community center will help residents have another safe place to go.
“They’re all neighbors so they can check on their neighbors,” Knuth said. “You just need somebody sometimes to check on you and just talk to them.”
OneDenmark applied for a grant for a walk-in freezer and cooler for the pantry.
More funding needed for the gym, pantry and fitness center
OneDenmark was able to get the project going after securing sources of funding from the state and county in 2024.
OneDenmark is looking at fundraising another $2 million to support renovation of other parts of the building that won’t be covered under the DOA grant. That includes a 14,000-square-foot area for the gym, fitness center and pantry, Pletcher said. More information about the project and donating is at onedenmark.org.
Contact Benita Mathew at bmathew@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Construction of the Denmark community center and library to start this year
Reporting by Benita Mathew, Green Bay Press-Gazette / Green Bay Press-Gazette
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