Take me out to the Downtown Tailgate

Brewers baseball culture is different from that of most other baseball cities. Miller Park is the only baseball stadium in the country where fans tailgate before home games, and on Friday night, the tailgate moved a few miles east for the Downtown Baseball Block Party on the corner of 4th and Wisconsin in a parking lot nestled between the Downtown Hilton and the east end of the Grand Avenue Mall.

Starting at 6 p.m., people flocked downtown with folding chairs, coolers, grills, bag-toss games and everything else essential to a Brew City tailgate, only this time the game was being played in Arizona, and the game was being shown on a massive outdoor screen set up by the Pabst Theater.

A beer tent was placed at the center of the parking lot, and the Wisconsin Avenue end of the street was lined with food trucks, including Streetza Pizza, Tiger Bite, Satellite Crepes, and other local roadside dining favorites. The event was free to all, and was the first time the Brewers have granted permission to host such and event. Event co-sponsors such as NEWaukee and the Westown Association were there to share in the excitement. Fox Sports Wisconsin‘s Mark Concannon was also broadcasting from the location for Brewers Live, who gleefully replayed highlights from last October’s NLDS victory against Arizona.

It’s been a rough season for the Brewers (to say the least), but the Crew defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks 7-1. Rickie Weeks and Ryan Braun homered, and Yovani Gallardo continued to dominate the D-Backs, improving his career record against Arizona to 6-0 after allowing only one run and five hits in 7 1/3 innings. Of course, there was some bad news as well, as shortstop Cesar Izturis suffered a hamstring injury and was put on the DL.

Injuries to utility players and moments of inclement weather aside, the event was a success, and it was truly a sight to behold to see Wisconsin Avenue abuzz with all of the excitement of the glory that is the Brewers tailgate.

Photographer Jennell Jenney was there to take in the excitement. View the slideshow below or visit the full set on TCD’s flickr page.