Beer Gardens Back at Pere Marquette
It was off after Sue Black's firing. Now it's back on.
Chris Abele and Sue Black in 2011 – Photo by Urban Milwaukee
The pop-up beer garden at Pere Marquette Park will continue, despite the absence of Sue Black. The first scheduled beer garden ran last Friday, the day after Black was let go from her post as Milwaukee County Parks Director. Despite the schedule running through the end of September, the belief was that this first Pere Marquette beer garden would also be the last following the Black firing. That is, however, not to be the case with the beer gardens now scheduled to run through early October.
A partnership between the Old German Beer Hall, Westown Association, and Milwaukee County Parks, the Munich-style beer gardens will take place from 12 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday’s through October 5th at Pere Marquette Park. Guests are welcome to bring their own snacks, but alcohol carry-ins are not allowed.
UPDATE: Brendan Conway, Communications Manager for Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele, called to note that when the Westown Association announced the initial beer garden as well as the full schedule on Monday, August 13th, there was actually not an agreement in place with Milwaukee County for the additional gardens. Conway stated that this had nothing to do with the August 16th departure of Sue Black, and the correlation was “inconvenient timing.”
Photo Gallery
Apparently 1,300 bars that serve alcohol is not enough for this town. Now we have to serve alcohol in every park. CHEERS !!
@Frank See I detect a fundamental issue. Urban Parks such as Cathedral Square and Pere Marquette shouldn’t just be some grass and trees, pretty to look at but very few users. No their value is when they are activated. In Cathedral Square’s case, if a proper design that takes into account all of the active uses of the Square can come together (I don’t believe one has yet), then it will be a big benefit to the residents (such as myself) and businesses in the neighborhood. In regards to the Beer Garden at Pere Marquette this is also a great activating tool and as this become popular people will actually use and enjoy the park.
There is no one right way for a park to be built. There are parks in their natural state, bucolic Olmstead-ian oasises, sports stadia & many more. No matter how Pere Marquette or Cathedral Square are designed or redesigned, you will never feel like you are in some type of nature preserve.
However, it is a great public spot to enjoy the city, river & the park itself. It’s great to actually get out and enjoy the parks & have events that draw more people to do so. Frank, maybe you should stop down for a drink at some point & enjoy the park.