New beer garden plan falls flat with some groups

A plan to reorganize Port Washington’s popular beer gardens by having the Friends of the Parks and Recreation Department operate them in conjunction with local civic organizations ran into a roadblock Tuesday.

Although Recreation Director Kiley Schulte said 13 of the 15 groups that host beer gardens have agreed to the new plan, representatives of two groups told the Common Council they oppose the idea.

Christina Brickner of Be3 told aldermen the plan will lead to the homogenization of the beer gardens and provide a disincentive for organizations to host the gardens because the proposal calls for the profits from all the beer gardens to be split among the sponsoring groups.

“I think if we put everything under the Friends of Parks and Recreation you’re going to lose some of the charm of the event,” Brickner said.

In the past, each group sponsoring a beer garden determined what beers and food products it would sell and hired its own entertainment. The proposal calls for the Friends of Parks and Recreation to handle those duties.  

Brickner said the fact that each group wouldn’t keep the profits from their beer garden but instead be pooled, with half the money going to the Friends of Parks and Recreation and the rest split among the civic groups, means there’s no reason for organizations to go the extra mile to promote the event.

Be3, she said, may not hold its Land Regatta, which it traditionally sponsors in conjunction with its beer garden and which draws people to the beer garden.

And that, she said, will affect the overall pot of money that will be split among the civic groups.

“I’m probably going to lose profits because people aren’t going to be motivated,” Brickner said.

Brickner said changes need to be made to the beer gardens, especially since insurance requirements made last year were onerous and too expansive for some organizations.

Her  comments were echoed by Thom Evans, president of the Stars and Stripes Legacy Group, who said the group has numerous concerns, especially the “loss of control of things we are adept at handling ourself.”

Schulte said the new beer garden plan was created to deal with a number of issues that have sprung up since the event began eight years ago, among them inconsistencies in the way they are run, inherent issues with the way dates are assigned to each group and the high cost of insurance.

“They’ve grown so tremendously and that’s great, but with that growth has come some issues,” she said.

By assigning many of the organizational duties to the Friends of Parks and Recreation, Schulte said, a number of those issues can be resolved.

The Friends will purchase the insurance for the beer gardens, for example, handle the permits, buy the beverages and foods with input from the individual organizations and book entertainment, Schulte said.

The civic groups would staff each beer garden, with a member of the Friends group overseeing each event.

To minimize the risk to organizations of such things as the vagaries of the weather and being assigned less popular dates, and increase the sustainability of the beer gardens, profits from each event would be pooled, she said.

“If there’s poor weather, we don’t want to see the Kiwanis Club lose $2,000,” she said. “The goal is to provide a fundraising opportunity to organizations.”

At the end of the season, the Friends would receive half the profits with the remainder of the money split among the civic groups, Schulte said. The percentage, she noted, is in line with that used by other community beer gardens in the state.

Although aldermen agreed that the beer gardens need to be reorganized and many said they support the changes on a one-year trial basis, the percentage split came under fire.

“I’d like to revisit that percentage,” Ald. Jonathan Pleitner said. 

Ald. Paul Neumyer concurred, saying, “I don’t know what incentive there is for groups. I agree we need to reorganize this, but I don’t agree with it (the percentage) right now.”

Ald. Pat Tearney agreed that the percentage needs to be reconsidered, and added that it’s important for organizations to have their own imprint on their beer gardens.

“That’s something we don’t want to take away,” he said, since often people will visit beer gardens offered by organizations they support.

Some aldermen questioned whether the Friends group has enough people to handle its responsibilities under the proposal, especially if a group pulls out of a beer garden.

Justin Myers, president of the Friends group, said the plan ensures they will have enough time to ensure staffing.

Aldermen postponed a decision on the plan until their Wednesday, Feb. 17, meeting.