ELLSWORTH – Thanks to a collaboration between the Ellsworth Cheese Curd Festival and SwiftCurrent Connect, festival guests will have access to an enhanced internet experience for communication, social media posting, and credit card transactions with market vendors June 23 and 23.

With so many Cheese Curd Festival guests coming from larger metro areas, festival planners knew internet access would be an important amenity, said Ellsworth Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Kim Beebe.

“Internet was available at the event in the past, although depending on crowds it was slow at times,” Beebe said. “Cellular service may not even be an option for guests and vendors based on their service provider.”

Brooke Cupp with Pierce Pepin Cooperative Services and SwiftCurrent Connect, who also serves on the Ellsworth Chamber Board of Directors, brought the SwiftCurrent team to the table to discuss what it would look like to bring high speed fiber internet to East End Park and the East End business district.

“We are excited to support our community in this wonderful event,” said Cupp. “The festival has many vendors and ensuring they have connectivity will allow them to process transactions. We also know that people like to stay connected when they are away from home, so we hope our broadband service can help them do that.”

So why does bringing high-speed broadband internet to East End and the Cheese Curd Festival matter? It will contribute to the growth and development of not only the festival, but the community as a whole.

“One of the goals of the Cheese Curd Festival is to support a revitalization of the district,” said Beebe. “The reality is that businesses today utilize technology that requires high speed internet access. All things considered, internet service can make or break a deal when it comes to a business locating to our area or a resident purchasing a home here. We didn’t want non-existent or slow internet access to detract from the potential the district has to offer.”

And, bringing broadband access to the Cheese Curd Festival not only means event attendees have access to high-speed internet, but it also means SwiftCurrent Connect’s broadband service are now available to the residents and businesses in the East End business district, too.

“SwiftCurrent Connect has built 600 miles of fiber including portions of Ellsworth,” said Pierce Pepin CEO Nate Boettcher. “Many of the businesses on the east end have not had reliable service. Getting fiber in this area is a game changer for these businesses that rely on connectivity to support their businesses. Beyond the festival, we are hoping to provide a community wi-fi experience for other events in the park. Down the road, it’s our hope that we can continue to expand into other areas of Ellsworth and allow more and more people to take advantage of fiber optic internet service.”

The chamber began talking with the SwiftCurrent Connect team in January, hoping to make high-speed internet in East End a reality before the festival.

“Scott Freier, Pierce Pepin Cooperative Services Chief Operating Officer, helped us see the bigger picture and what fast and secure internet service could mean for growing the event and operating more efficiently,” Beebe said.

In the past, the festival committee experimented with adding virtual elements to the event, but always ran into technology issues. Even accepting credit cards was a challenge at times, causing delays and frustration for guests, Beebe shared.

“Scott shared about their technology partner, Calix and their SmartTown product, and how using their technology they could help us to offer a fast, safe, and secure experience at East End Park and throughout the festival grounds,” Beebe said. “When he told us they could have it ready for us for this year’s event and would provide the service as their sponsorship and in support of the festival, we jumped at the opportunity!”

The chamber is excited to see how Cheese Curd Festival guests respond and how the technology works during the event. With the technology in place, the hope is to start leveraging it for future festivals. Other events held in East End Park could potentially work with SwiftCurrent Connect to offer high speed internet for their events.

Cupp said “a little work” took place to get fiber into the area of the Cheese Curd Festival. In addition, a couple of businesses signed up for service which allowed them to do a better job of covering the festival area. 

“We’ve been working closely with Calix, our technology partner, over the past couple of weeks to get the equipment up and running,” Cupp said. “Whenever you do something new for the first time, there is always a little bit of hesitancy and double checking to make sure everything is working. We will have staff on site during the festival to help out and Calix is bringing several of their partners as well.”

Cupp said SwiftCurrent has become adept at building fiber in rural areas. East End is a bit different because crews are dealing with streets and sidewalk. The technology they use uses a wireless signal run off fiber points, so they’ve been working on getting the most coverage and ensuring that all areas are covered with a strong signal.

“Since this is our first year, we also don’t know where most of the users are going to want or need service,” Cupp said. “It’s going to be a little bit of learning curve for us, but we can make some adjustments if needed.”

Benefits to East End

The Chamber and SwiftCurrent hope local residents will take advantage of having fiber in their neighborhood. It’s a service that many out in the rural parts of the county could only dream about until SwiftCurrent Connect began offering service within their service region in 2021.

“With the events of the past few years, I think we have all learned how much we have come to rely on internet for education, health care, entertainment, and more,” Beebe said. “If we want Ellsworth to grow and thrive, fast, reliable, and secure internet is a must.”

As for the business community, imagine trying to conduct business today without electricity or a telephone. Internet has become that important to conducting business in today’s world.

Boettcher said they’ve received a lot of positive feedback from their rural customers. 

“It might be the first time in history where city residents are inside looking out and asking, ‘How come we can’t get the same service as people in the country?’” Boettcher joked. “SwiftCurrent Connect is delivering fiber to the home and business, which allows us to provide symmetrical upload and download speeds. Many providers will brag about their download speed, but when you look at what they are providing for upload speeds there is no comparison.”

Upload speeds are critical for business users as they tend to use web conferencing, upload large files, and need to interact with others to complete transactions. SwiftCurrent Connect offers Gigabit fiber, but has the capability of going up to 10 Gigabit service if there is a specific need. And with fiber, the speeds will continue to increase and the only thing that will need to change is the electronics on the end of the fiber.

“Having fiber in a community, especially in Ellsworth can really set in motion the opportunity for other businesses to look at the industrial and commercial properties Ellsworth has to offer,” Boettcher said.

Tracey Hines, branch manager at CCF Bank on Broadway Street, said nearly every aspect of their business takes place online. Sometimes the internet is so slow that it times out transactions and employees have to start over, making customers wait.

“While we get frustrated with slow internet, it's really our customers who are most impacted," said Hines, Branch Manager at CCF Bank on Broadway Street. "Our phone is also connected to our internet system and so we experience a lot of dropped calls, too. We're looking forward to having technology that's fast and reliable so we can provide the service our customers expect and deserve.”

For Brenda Yohannes, Controller for Comfort by Design on Broadway Street, it’s not just a matter of fast speeds.

"We are excited about SwiftCurrent because it would be a significant cost savings for our business as compared to our current provider,” she said.

Boettcher hopes anyone attending the festival will use the wifi to promote Ellsworth, whether it be through social media or by taking lots of pictures and videos. If you have a good connection, you can upload or submit those to your friends and get them to come join you in east end, he said.

For more information about broadband fiber internet service through SwiftCurrent for your home or business visit their website at swiftcurrent.coop.