Waukesha County businesses rush to prepare for the RNC

Three weeks until the Republican National Convention begins in Milwaukee and some businesses in Brookfield and Pewaukee are working hard to prepare.

Store owner Nancy Justman pours soap at Magnolia Soap and Bath Co.

“It’s exciting. It’s the final preparation. It’s the sprint to the finish,” said Bethany Wagner, director of sales and catering for the Ingleside Hotel.

In Brookfield, the race involves getting more than 2,000 bars of soap made, dried and packaged before the RNC. These soaps will be sent in gift bags for delegates coming to town.

Nancy Justman, owner of Magnolia Soap and Bath Co.

“Brookfield was looking for something different to offer their guests during the delegation, so we talked about what could be different and so we created a custom soap,” said Nancy Justman, owner of Magnolia Soap and Bath Co.

They call this soap “Uncle Sam”. At first, they made 1,841 soaps to supply every hotel room sold in Brookfield. However, some Wauwatosa hotels have caught wind of these unique soaps and orders are now piling up.

“Uncle Sam” soap made for RNC gift bags going out in Brookfield and some in Wauwatosa.

“It’s cool, it’s different and it’s handmade and from Wisconsin,” Justin said.

In Pewaukee, at the Ingleside Hotel, most of the work happens behind the scenes.

Bethany Wagner, Director of Sales and Catering, Ingleside Hotel

“We have experience hosting all kinds of events. It’s more exciting and larger in scale when it’s city-wide and encompasses all of Milwaukee and the surrounding areas,” Wagner said.

This won’t be Ingleside’s first political convention. It hosted part of the Democratic National Convention in 2020.

A meeting room inside the Ingleside Hotel

“Even though the DNC went virtual, we were fortunate to welcome some of the members here who were participating onsite and downtown,” Wagner said.

Ingleside says for this convention they didn’t sell RNCs. They are still waiting to find out who will get all their rooms. But they are preparing things like late-night menus for delegates returning from the convention, expecting busy mornings before the buses leave for the RNC and extra people at the water park from family members who stayed behind in the hotel.

Springs Water Park inside the Ingleside Hotel

“We are excited to welcome all of these guests from around the world to Wisconsin and show them Wisconsin hospitality,” Wagner said.

Stamping an outline of Wisconsin on a bar of soap for RNC attendees.

Magnolia Soap says this specific version will be reserved for RNC attendees, but they will have another similar one for sale this week.

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