Inspire Fitness plans outdoor exercise space

Inspire Fitness of Oconto is expanding into the great outdoors. The 24-hour gym will open an outdoor athletic area this summer.

The gym, 620 Farnsworth Ave., Oconto, plans to develop its lawn into a half-court for basketball and a striped, grassy field for football. The outdoor facilities will be available for sports drills, bootcamp workouts, and less structured exercise, like playing catch or shooting hoops.

“It will be awesome to have an outdoor area to focus on sports-specific workouts,” owner Jenny Clements said.

The facility, scheduled to open July 1, is funded by a $10,000 Main Street Bounceback Grant available with help through the Oconto County Economic Development Corp.

“Nothing has ever been handed to me like this, so when I received the grant, I was speechless. That was pretty special,” Clements said.

Samantha Boucher, OCEDC tourism director, said Inspire Fitness was a well-deserving grant recipient.

“Jenny is a young entrepreneur whose vision for expanding the fitness center fit well with the goals of the grant program,” Samantha said. “We have some excellent turnaround in the City of Oconto right now, and we’d like to see that continue.”

The Main Street Bounceback program provides grants to businesses that expand or move into a downtown or commercial corridor between Jan. 1, 2021, and June 30, 2022. Recipients can use the grants to pay leases, mortgages, business costs, or operational expenses related to the newly opened location. The funds are available as part of the American Recovery Plan Act.

“Businesses and nonprofits in Oconto County who are thinking about moving or expanding should contact our office to see if they are eligible for a grant,” Boucher said. “We can help them with the application process.”

Long before opening Inspire Fitness, Jenny was interested in healthy living. A former basketball player, she has been lifting weights since she was 14 and is certified in personal training and nutrition. She always dreamed of owning her own gym and realized her dream in 2019 when she opened Inspire Fitness on Main Street. Just as the gym was gaining momentum, COVID-19 forced its closure. The gym closed in March 2020 and reopened in June 2020 at the Farnsworth location.

Cardio and weight-training equipment fill the fitness center. The gym offers no-contract memberships with no sign-in fees. Members are given a key fob so they can work out when it’s most convenient.

In addition to Oconto-area members, hotel guests from Econo Lodge Inn and Suites have access to the gym. Since the hotel doesn’t have its own fitness center, it partners with Inspire Fitness to provide this perk.

As a complement to the gym, Jenny created Inspire clothing, available at the gym and at Olive + Birch Boutique, 1102 Main St., Oconto. The women’s clothing line includes athletic leisurewear like leggings, tanks, muscle T’s, razorback tanks, and jogging pants.

The clothing line, fitness center, and soon-to-open outdoor facilities started out as pipe dreams.

“I’ve had so many ideas, and in the last few years, they started to happen,” Jenny said. “Everything’s working out.”

To learn more about Main Street Bounceback Grants or OCEDC business programs, visit ocontocounty.org or contact the OCEDC office at 1113 Main St., Oconto, 920-834-6969, or ocedc@ocontocounty.org.