Fond du Lac's 'bright and shining star': Here's how the Blue Line Center impacts tourism, women's hockey

FOND DU LAC – Destination Lake Winnebago Region, the visitor's bureau for the Fond du Lac area, provided a $100,000 to the Blue Line Family Ice Center earlier this year.

The one-time grant given to the center in January finalized a construction project to complete the addition of three female locker rooms.

Craig Molitor, CEO of Destination Lake Winnebago Region, said although the goal of his organization is to bring more tourism to the area, this is a move that goes beyond just tourism. The hope is that this grant will not only bring more people to the Fond du Lac area but also keep girl's hockey growing and developing.

What is the Blue Line Center?

The Blue Line Center is a nonprofit skating facility that supports the development of skating among people of all ages and abilities.

Along with being the home of the Marian University men's and women's hockey teams, three high school hockey teams and figure skating tournaments, the center's rink manager Ryan Blick said its nonprofit status helps bring bigger tournaments to the area.

The club operates on a volunteer basis, from Zamboni drivers to concession workers, which Blick said helps lower costs for ice time — a big deal for such an expensive sport.

"We're offering ice time at a cheaper rate than almost all the rinks surrounding us," Blick said.

How much does the Blue Line Center add to tourism in the region?

Because the Blue Line Center has cheap ice time and hosts large tournaments, it leads to more people needing to stay in the area, Molitor said.

He said the Blue Line Center is the third biggest hotel night generator in Fond du Lac, just behind behind Experimental Aircraft Association's AirVenture convention in Oshkosh and various races at Road America near Elkhart Lake. Both venues draw large enough crowds that visitors end up spilling over into Fond du Lac.

Destination Lake Winnebago Region operates off the "Bed Tax" in Fond du Lac — a pass-through tax assessed only on overnight guests at hotels, motels and online B&Bs. But those funds go further: Molitor said visitors to the region end up spending money at local restaurants, bars, shopping or other areas in the community.

Those visitors help drive economic activity in Fond du Lac, which he said is exactly why his organization would want to help out the Blue Line Center.

"We look at Blue Line and we say, 'Oh my gosh, that is our bright and shining star right there,'" Molitor said.

Girls no longer need to change in public restrooms, and other ways the grant is helping

In addition to being an important piece of Fond du Lac, it was a fundraising drive from the Blue Line Center to build new locker rooms for female athletes that caused the donation from the visitor's bureau.

A 2,800-square-foot addition to the facility that included three female locker rooms broke ground in July 2022.

Blick said a local campaign raised the $700,000 needed to build the locker room.

Erik Spies, a Blue Line board member, and Christine Rottman, the Fond du Lac Blue Line girl's hockey director, led the campaign.

Spies and Rottman said this was a needed update considering the growth of women's hockey in the region. In Fond du Lac, there was just one girl's team eight seasons ago, Rottman told the radio station KFIZ. Now, the Blue Line Center has multiple teams across all age groups. Nationally, girls' participation in USA Hockey-sponsored programs increased 33% since the 2012-13 season.

Spies said previously, women and girls at Blue Line had to change in public restrooms.

"This has been a long time coming, and we are happy to make this upgrade for our Blue Line family and the community,” Spies said.

Construction was completed on the addition in fall 2022, but Destination Lake Winnebago gave its $100,000 gift in January to fund the fire alarm control system in the new locker rooms, as well as updating the alarm system throughout the entire facility.

Molitor said that donation was funded through leftover funds from the sale of the group's visitors center in 2018.

What the donation means for the future of the Blue Line Center

Although Molitor credited the generosity of Spies and Rottman for leading the capital campaign, Molitor said the visitor's bureau "put the period on the sentence" to finish the project.

He said girl's hockey was growing faster than boy's hockey, which makes it all the better the Blue Line Center could add the locker rooms.

Blick said this means even more kids can use the rinks at the Blue Line Center and develop their love for hockey over time.

If players graduate from the center's youth programs of learning to skate or young hockey programs, they'll often still return to compete in the center for high school or college — and maybe even volunteer or participate in the center's adult leagues.

"We really are a cradle-to-grave type organization," Blick said with a laugh.

Both Blick and Molitor hope the new additions don't just help the center and its athletes succeed, but that the center's growth helps bring more visitors to Fond du Lac.

Contact Bremen Keasey at 920-570-5614 or bkeasey@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Keasinho.

This article originally appeared on Fond du Lac Reporter: Fond du Lac tourism, women's hockey get boosts with Blue Line Center