Inside a Waunakee Main Street storefront, groups of people congregate for days at a time to experience Waunakee and work on quilting projects and other crafts.
Brian Gardner described to the Waunakee Rotary Club how he and his wife, Susan, transformed the former Mojo’s Pub into Gather, a creative studio guest house that accommodates crafting retreats, along with corporate events.
The 111 W. Main St. location has been completely remodeled to house weekend groups, Brian said, describing the design. The exterior has been spruced up with new awnings and paint.  
“We wanted to make sure we were exceeding our consumers’ expectations,” he said.
Unlike a bed and breakfast, customers rent the entire facility, which includes five sleeping rooms with 12 beds in all – four on the second story and one ADA accessible room downstairs.
Pictures of the bedrooms revealed bright, airy spaces with creative patterned bedding and fun designs.
The facility also offers a complete kitchen. Brian said the couple decided to go with a residential type kitchen that guests would feel comfortable using rather than a commercial kitchen. Guests can take their meals at a formal dining room separate from the 1,100-square-foot crafting space. That space can also be used for business meetings or other activities, and is complete with a large television screen to air YouTube or Pinterest videos.
Gather grew out of Susan’s passion for the arts and education. She previously owned Art Party Place in the business park, where adults and children would work on projects. She had also organized crafting and stamping retreats in the Chicago suburbs.
Two circumstances simultaneously occurred to bring the Gather to fruition. Brian, who traveled Mondays through Thursdays for work, retired, and Susan realized he would suddenly be home those days. He would need something to keep active.
Mojo’s Pub also became available for sale around that time.
“The building had a long history and solid bones, but it needed a lot of work,” Brian said, as he showed a photo of it from 1913.
Gather officially opened in the fall of 2016. More information about retreat opportunities there is available on the website, gatherguesthouse.com.  

 

Other News:
–Sunday, April 30, is the Waunakee Community Awards Banquet at Rex’s Innkeeper starting at 5:30 p.m. Sixteen individuals will receive awards. Tickets are on sale at Rex’s.
–On Saturday, May 6, the club will gather for the Spring Cleanup Day at the Village Hall Rotary Plaza and the Rotary Walk at the Village Center Pond.  

 

Guests: Justin Statz, guest of Taylor Endres; Jody Pulvermacher, guest of Bob Pulvermacher; Brooke Tiedt, guest of Ken Pesik.

Visiting Rotarians: None.

 

Birthdays: None.

Anniversaries: May 6, Don and Joanne Tierney; May 6, Roxanne and Kevin Johnson; May 8, Todd and Tonya Schmidt; May 9, Ed and Jan Niebuhr.

 

Greeters: May 4, Rich Wipperfurth and Brent Ziegler; May 11, Jim Ableidinger and Peggy Acker-Farber; May 18, Leonard Allen and Robert Arntz; May 25, Joe Baer and Ken Ballweg.