Traveling Beer Garden Schedule Extended

Instead of wrapping things up this month, Milwaukee County Parks has added three more stops to its mobile beer garden season, extending it until September 27th.

The traveling beer gardens are two refurbished fire trucks that travel to various county parks between May and September, selling beers from Sprecher Brewing Co. Each charts a distinct path around the county, one called the Roll Out The Barrel Tour, the other called the Pass Me a Pint Tour.

Just like the county’s other beer gardens, the traveling beer gardens are operated by parks staff, with all the profit going to the parks department budget. And they’ve become an important part of the parks system, generating millions in revenue. In 2019, the beer gardens generated approximately $1.5 million.

The parks system has a massive backlog of capital projects that weighs heavily on its annual budget. The beer gardens have become a creative way to generate additional revenue for the cash-strapped county.

Luckily, despite getting a late start due to the pandemic, the beer gardens are doing well generating revenue, said Joe Mrozinski, assistant director of business development for the Parks Department. Both the Whitnall Park beer garden and the traveling beer gardens are on pace to exceed the revenue generated in 2019.

And the extended season shouldn’t hurt revenue prospects either. The tours have added a combined four additional stops that will keep them both going into the fall.

Three stops were added to the Roll Out the Barrel Tour. The truck will be at Wisconsin Avenue Park from August 26th to September 7th. The hours will be Monday through Friday 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Then it will be at Center Street Park September 12th and 13th from noon to 7 p.m. each day. Then, the following weekend, it will close out the season at Cooper Park, September 19th and 20th, open noon to 7 p.m.

The last stop on the Pass Me A Pint Tour is still Juneau Park. But now it will be there a couple extra weekends from September 10th to 27th. It will be open 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays, and noon to 9 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.

All the county’s beer gardens have been open since at least July, with procedures in place to ensure patrons can adhere to social distancing guidelines. Along with stepping up sanitation practices including a system for sanitizing tables between patrons and plexiglass barriers at points of sale, along with all employees wearing masks and gloves.