MONROE — It is hard not to imagine Heartland Graphics as anything but the epicenter of local pride in Monroe.

From top to bottom, front to back, the store is filled with logo merchandise representing the city — its high school’s Cheesemakers and popular, timeless institutions like the Wisconsin Badgers and Green Bay Packers. Cheese also has a big place there, and with Cheese Days 2024 coming up, it is sure to be an even busier destination for those returning to Monroe’s downtown square from all over the country.

And just in time for the Cheese Days extravaganza, this year Heartland is marking its third decade in business, with owners Tracy and Pam Hamilton at the helm.

“It’s hard to believe it’s been that long but it has. We just love it down here,” said Tracy Hamilton, taking a break from the steady stream of customers through the door on a recent rainy weekday. 

Located near the downtown square, Heartland Graphics has evolved over time to include not only custom embroidering, and silk-screen, but also kitschy Wisconsin items like cheesehead hats and other local trinkets. Almost everything in the store — and even its very success — speaks to the spike in recent years of local pride, particularly the kind of pride that centers on the downtown square, which has not always been the bustling and iconic place it is now.

In fact, before buying the shop, Tracy said he worked at a bakery and in several jobs on the square during some of the lean days in the 1990s, after Monroe Clinic moved east to its current home. Today, though, the square is full of restaurants, bars, stores, and unmistakable community pride.

“Their contributions to the community and to us as an organization are innumerable,” Jordan Nordby of Main Street Monroe, recently wrote in the Monroe Times about the business. “Heartland has been a pillar of the downtown community for more than a generation.”

Tracy and Pam bought the existing Heartland Graphics operation in 1994 from founder Keith Stoker. And when Radio Shack left downtown Monroe, they expanded into that retail space right next door to the original location, 1715 12th Street. 

Today it employs not only the owners, but two full-time and one part-time staffer who work largely in the back of the shop preparing everything from custom embroidered shirts, jackets, hats, and vests; but also, signage and other items. The shop is also an official Boy Scouts supplier. And it is boosting traffic in another way, too, by offering a drop off/pick up site for dry cleaning, the only place for such services in town. (The clothes go to a dry cleaner in Freeport before coming back to Monroe for pickup.)

“It’s really fun working with the people here, there’s just so much going on in downtown Monroe lately,” said Tracy Hamilton.

As a married couple, Tracy and Pam have built a thriving business that has not been too much of a strain on their marriage, they say. Pam usually opens the store in the mornings, while Tracy typically comes in later to handle the afternoon traffic and orders. He lovingly calls her “Frauch” which is an homage to her maiden name.

“We make it work,” said Pam, the shyer half of the duo.

The store’s biggest seller over the years, according to Tracy, is the basic Monroe High logo hooded sweatshirt.

In keeping with the store’s commitment to Monroe’s downtown, they have even embarked on a major effort to raise money for the new pocket park that is being planned for a small space downtown that will include desperately needed public restrooms and common areas for adults and kids. That effort has languished somewhat in the city’s collective mind since at least 2019 but in part with Heartland’s help, it is much closer to becoming a reality.

The park, with a big push from a grant Nordby secured and other key public contributions, will be built on a lot on the northeast corner from Wisconsin Bank & Trust, who previously owned it.

Through July, Heartland has been selling custom apparel to raise money to support the park.  The design is Monroe centered but unique. Such items include hooded sweatshirts, crewneck sweatshirts, unisex tees colors, a ball cap, various T-shirts and even youth options; all in multiple colors and sizes from XS to 4X. Prices on the items for the promotion range from $20 to $40. 

It is too early to say how much they raised, but the pocket park project was a natural for Heartland, said Tracy Hamilton.

“It’s important for us to stay local and support local,” he said. “Shopping local is the best way to go and it is part of everything we do here.”

For his part, Nordby has nothing but kind words for Heartland Graphics and its commitment to Monroe.

“There is an innate drive from both Tracy and Pam about ways to be involved and to continue exploring new ways to celebrate Monroe,” he wrote.