Veterans Benefit Expo at Hodag Dome 'a success'

The Hodag Dome in Rhinelander was the site for a Veterans Expo on Friday, April 28.

Hosted by the Oneida County veterans service office, the multi-county event featured, among others, representatives from seven different county veterans service offices in the region as well as the Lac du Flambeau Band Of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians.

Tammy Javenkoski, Oneida County's veterans service officer, said 436 people signed in to the expo, including one veteran from New York.

That number was more than double the number of people who attended the last veterans expo in Rhinelander in 2019.

"We had about 75 different booths this year," Javenkoski said, a few of them retail vendors but most of them booths highlighting services available to veterans.

"We got excellent feedback," she said. "I stopped several people on the way out who got information from the different booths and said it was very good, useful information."

Javenkoski said she'd sent emails to those who had booths at the expo asking for input regarding "what went right and what you think could use improvement" at the next expo event her office hosts "so our next one can be better."

"I've gotten a few responses so far and everyone said it was the most business they'd done at an expo," she noted. "I would say it was a huge success."

The next veterans expo in Rhinelander is scheduled for April 2025, Javenkoski said.

Brian Jopek may be reached via email at [email protected].