Civic group fest inspires overhaul of Fish Day

The Community Summer Fish-tival, sponsored by local civic organizations last month after Fish Day was canceled for the second consecutive year, was a successful low-key picnic that helped these groups raise money for their charitable endeavors while providing the community with something fun to do at the lakefront.

Now that festival is helping inspire changes that will be implemented for Fish Day next year, Fish Day President Toni Brown said.

“It is definitely going to be the year of a new Fish Day,” Brown said. “We’re looking at reinventing the whole day. With the construction and everything, we have to adapt.”

And, she said, Fish-tival “definitely inspired some of the changes we’re looking at.”

Brown said the changes haven’t yet been announced because Fish Day hasn’t discussed them with the civic organizations that make up the backbone of the festival by staffing the many fish and chips stands on the grounds.

“Obviously the fireworks, the parade and the fish and chips — all the benchmarks of Fish Day —will remain the same,” she said. “But everything in between is being looked at.

“We’re looking to do a facelift. Fish Day has been almost exactly the same for all these years. We knew going into it that things were not going to be the same in 2022.”

Dave Mueller of the Port Lions Club, who helped spearhead the Fish-tival, said the people who attended the fest asked if it would continue.

“People want it to be like a community festival instead of a large thing like they have in Milwaukee,” he said. “People want the car show back, the fireworks and the parade.”

Mike Keller of the St. John XXIII Men’s Club said the Fish-tival was “a nice laid-back casual atmosphere. We wanted it to be more of a local event, to have a local flavor. There was room to roam. It wasn’t shoulder to shoulder. 

“Everyone I talked to said this was much more pleasurable.”

Because the civic organizations worked together to operate a large food tent instead of having individual tents, it was easier to staff, Keller noted.

The five organizations that staffed the event — Lions Club, Be3, Port Washington Yacht Club, Rotary Club and the St. John XXIII Men’s Club — will equally share the profits from Fish-tival.

“The profit won’t be what we get on a typical Fish Day, but we went into it knowing that,” Keller said. “Even if the take in the end is a little less, we all have a little money to put in our coffers.”

The fact that civic groups were able to jointly staff the food tent is something that Fish Day needs to consider, Mueller said.

“We’re all struggling to fill shifts,” he said. “It’s the same group of people doing all the work, and we’re not getting any younger. There are 75-year-old people helping me break down things at 9 o’clock at night.”

He noted that 60% of the Lions Club members are 75 or older — a situation that’s typical.

“I’m the young guy pushing 60,” he said. “You really need 40 and 50-year-olds to step up, but they’re too busy.”

Fish-tival proved that the civic groups can work together to staff a concession tent, Mueller and Keller said.

“We were able to share our resources and make it work,” Keller said. “That’s what made this all the more enjoyable.”

Brown said Fish Day had not considered allowing the civic groups to jointly staff the concession stands, but it’s a concept the organization is willing to look at.

Keller said he would like to see the Fish-tival continue next year, either as a part of Fish Day or as a separate event.

The civic groups want to work with Fish Day to incorporate some aspects of the Fish-tival in future events, Mueller said.

“We would love to work with them,” he said. “I think it’s the perfect opportunity in 2022. Fish Day needs to look at these things.”