Revamped Port beer garden draws fire

The debut of Port Washington’s restructured beer garden on Saturday was widely panned this week by people who warned that new policies and procedures could doom the popular weekend events and valuable community group fundraisers.

“I really believe that the beer garden has to get it together or it’s going to be disastrous for the rest of the year,” former mayor Marty Becker told the Common Council Tuesday, adding that he was surprised to receive so many calls about the first event of the season. “There were a lot of negative comments.”

Particularly irksome to those who attended the event was a plastic fence erected around the beer garden grounds in Upper Lake Park by the organization the city put in charge of the events — the Friends of Port Washington Parks and Recreation — that presumably was intended to keep people drinking alcohol in a certain area and prevent others from carrying in their own food and drinks.

That, Port resident Dave Mueller said, is an affront to the spirit of the beer garden, which from its inception eight years ago was intended to be a community gathering to which all were invited.

“There was nothing more non-inviting, more divisive, than the fence,” Mueller, who as a Port Washington Lions Club member has been involved in hosting beer garden events, told the Common Council.

“There is no reason to have the fence up there,” he said. “It goes against everything we have worked on for the last eight years.”

Kurt Ellmauer, who worked at Saturday’s beer garden event hosted by the Port Firefighters and EMS Association, was also critical of the fence.

“It was not a good visual,” he told the council. “I would encourage the city to rapidly review and pivot on the fence issue.”

In a post on Facebook, which blew up with criticism of the event, Port resident Scott Nelson took issue with signs prohibiting carry-ins.

“This is a family event in a public park,” he wrote. “We have residents of all means and requirements. If for reason of dietary (restrictions) or others, I certainly see no reason that attendees should not be able to carry in anything that they please. This was never an issue in the past and it shouldn’t be now.

“Again, this is a public park.”

Justin Myers, president of the Friends of Port Washington Parks and Recreation, said the group will review the first event and consider changes.

“This is the first year (of the new beer garden structure) and we’re learning,” he told the council. “We will do everything we can to pivot and adjust.”

The event, Mayor Ted Neitzke said, illustrates the need for the city to review new policies and procedures shortly after they are implemented, as should now be done in the case of the beer garden rules.

“We have some opportunities for improvements there,” he said. 

Even before the beer garden opened for the season, its new structure proved controversial and was seen by some as unnecessary city meddling in a community event that was effectively managed by civic organizations.

Previously, the groups that hosted the events would manage all aspects of them, from ordering food and drinks to booking entertainment, and keep all the profits.

But under a plan proposed by the Parks and Recreation Department and approved by the council, the nonprofit Friends group now handles most facets of the beer garden, leaving civic group volunteers to staff the event.

And in what Recreation Director Kiley Schulte said is an effort to be fair to all groups, profits from the events will be pooled and divided between the Friends organization and the groups who staffed the events at the end of the season.