Historical Society Shoulders Bash

The nonprofit Bay View Historical Society will sponsor this year’s Bay View Bash. Planned for Saturday, Sept. 13 from 11am to 10pm along Kinnickinnic Avenue from Potter Street to Clement Avenue, the street festival’s theme is “Bay View, Then and Now.”

How the fifth annual Bash has been organized is a complicated tale of tangled interests.

Since 2004, the nonprofit Bay View Neighborhood Association (BVNA) had sponsored and run the Bash each fall through 2007, when a skateboard-related incident resulted in a personal injury claim still pending against the BVNA’s insurance provider.

In January 2008, former BVNA Bash chairperson Amy Schubert (then Carlson; hereafter Schubert) resigned her post, citing differences with BVNA.

Feb. 8, BVNA announced its decision to discontinue Bash, citing the intent to focus on more smaller events rather than one big one.

Later in February, Schubert announced she would restart Bash independent of BVNA. She said the community contacted her and wanted Bash to continue. Periodic Bash planning meetings were scheduled and rescheduled at Bella’s Fat Cat starting in March.

In April, nominated by historical society member Kathy Mulvey, Schubert was selected as historical society treasurer, following a board shakeup.

As treasurer, Schubert inherited financial management of a cash-strapped organization struggling to keep and repair the historic Beulah Brinton House, whose $350,000 mortgage has posed a challenge for the all-volunteer society.

At the same time, Schubert and the emerging “Bash committee” of festival devotees were seeking a nonprofit sponsor to replace BVNA.

It costs approximately $20,000 to run the Bash, said Schubert, and a nonprofit partner was desired to handle the permitting, insurance, and other paperwork to make Bash 2008 a reality.

The nonprofit sponsor would be Bash’s fiscal receiver, processing festival funds and assuming its liability. In return, this sponsor would reap any financial proceeds from the festival, from booth and beer sales.

Only nonprofit organizations can obtain a temporary Class B liquor license, said Cecilia Gilbert, permits & communications manager of the city’s Department of Public Works.

“A Class “B” Special license entitles the holder thereof to sell, barter, or give away retail beer and/or wine, at a specific picnic, festival or similar event,” according to city documents.

At its May 5 meeting, the historical society board, now including Mulvey and Schubert, voted 6-4 in favor of applying to be the Bash sponsor.

The Compass asked Schubert why she chose to vote on a Bash-related issue in her capacity as historical society treasurer rather than abstain due to perceived conflict of interest.

“[A]nyone who works on the Bash is an equitable volunteer and there is no event coordinator or lead or president or anything else,” Schubert wrote in response to Compass inquiries. “I am honored that you are trying to make me more important than I am, but that is simply not the case. Every volunteer works equally hard on this event and that shouldn’t be taken away from any of them. Especially this year since more and more people are stepping up to the plate to help out and make the Bash sustainable.”

After Compass inquiries, the bayviewbash.org home page changed from listing “Amy Schubert / Event Coordinator” to “General Information,” above the same phone number-Schubert’s home number.

By May, the Bash committee had three applicants to be its sponsor: the Bay View High School Alumni Association, the Bay View Historical Society, and Wisconsin/Nicaragua Partners of the Americas, Inc.

The Bash committee’s first vote to select one of the applicants was close among all three groups, with the historical society just edging the alumni association, said Lance Dyzak, a Bay View resident who joined with Bash volunteers this year and said he spearheaded the search for a new sponsor.

Wisconsin/Nicaragua Partners is planning its own festival, Fiesta Nicaragua, Aug. 9 on Second and Virginia, said Bill Sell, Bash sustainability committee chair.

The Bash committee met again May 12 to decide between the two Bay View groups, which had gained the most votes, Mulvey and Dyzak said.

Twelve of the 13 Bash steering committee members voted to approve the historical society’s sponsorship, Mulvey said.

Dyzak said the urgency of the historical society’s cause was the main reason behind the committee’s decision. “Everybody realized it was a really great need-for the Beulah Brinton House,” he said.

Historical Society Sponsorship
So-though Schubert referred to some 100 volunteers-Bash 2008 belongs to the historical society, which is admittedly shouldering the project for the money.

“We’re really behind the eight-ball. We have to raise money to keep ourselves afloat. We can’t make this kind of money any other way,” said Mulvey, who stepped up as the society’s Bash coordinator.

The historical society has been asked to seek sponsors and booth operators, is encouraged to bring volunteers, and is responsible for security arrangements, Mulvey said.

That’s in addition to applying for the festival insurance, permits, and handling the funds.

At press time, Mulvey was in the process of securing general liability and liquor-related incident insurance, as well as board and officer insurance, before applying for the necessary city and state permits.

Once the insurance and permits are in order, the society will open a separate checking account dedicated to Bash funds, Mulvey said. To avoid conflicts of interest, Schubert will not have access to this account, Mulvey and Schubert said. Mulvey and historical society president Chris Rieck-Risser will be its signatories.

When Bash 2008 is completed, Mulvey said the historical society must also pay the Bash committee either $4,000 or 25 percent of its net Bash profits, whichever is less, in order to provide festival startup money for 2009, according to its agreement with the Bash committee.

There was no seed money for Bash 2008 because BVNA discontinued Bash-the proceeds from Bash 2007 have been invested into a fund for special projects to be decided by the BVNA board, said chairperson Patty Thompson. She declined to say how much had been earned by Bash 2007.

Mulvey said she understood last year’s Bash profits to be in the neighborhood of $10,000.

The society will run a raffle-whose proceeds Mulvey said will only go to the historical society-and it’s also considering selling bottled water to raise funds.

“We’re hoping to bring in at least $10,000 for the historical society,” Mulvey said. “I don’t know if that will happen. That’s the plan. That’s the hope.”

Thompson said in past years, the Bash did not start making any profit until halfway through the evening-if beer sales were going well.

“That [$10,000]’s very optimistic,” Thompson said. “If it rains, that’s a problem.”

Planning for Future Bashes
Mulvey said the historical society only plans to sponsor the 2008 festival.

In late July, Sell and Dyzak said there was no information about Bash 2009. “We don’t know what we’re going to do next year,” Dyzak said.

“We’re hoping we can plan the Bash with an eye to the future. We don’t want it to die. We don’t want to reinvent it year to year,” said Sell, whose sustainability committee is tasked with determining a Bash succession strategy.

Right now Sell said the Bash committee is leaning toward establishing itself as its own nonprofit organization. “We’re definitely moving in that direction,” Sell said.

If the group becomes a nonprofit, one of the lingering questions would be how to dispense of any proceeds.

The sponsorship selection process this year pitted groups against each other, something Mulvey said the Bash committee is hoping to avoid in the future.

Dyzak said the emphasis was to “find a sponsor, find a sponsor” and, “We really didn’t put too much thought into it [the process to select a sponsor]. When it turned into this competition, that’s when it got a little garbled,” Dyzak said.

Sonia Simko, president of the alumni association, said she was unimpressed with the Bash organization. “I’m a little perturbed because they don’t respond well,” Simko said.

Dyzak said after the historical society became the sponsor, the Bash committee suggested the alumni association could run a bingo event to turn a profit. Simko said she inquired about the bingo details but Dyzak did not get back to her. “If they have this lack of follow-through with me, for example, what are they experiencing with the sponsors they’re trying to acquire?” Simko said.

Dyzak admitted his communication with Simko about bingo “got lost in the shuffle.” After Compass inquiries, he said he recently explained the bingo details to Simko, who told him she was not interested.

Simko also claimed Dyzak told her the historical society would sponsor this year and the alumni association would get next year. “I interpreted it as we would be the next sponsorship,” Simko said.

Dyzak said this idea may have been discussed but was never decided. “That wasn’t the case,” he said he told Simko.

A Lot of Work
Bash planning has been stressful before.

Thompson said BVNA did not drop Bash because of the 2007 personal injury claim.

“It was stretching us too thin,” Thompson said. “It wasn’t allowing us to do other things that were in our mission.”

In contrast, she pointed to this year’s expanded 13-week, revenue-neutral Chill on the Hill with an average 700 neighbors per concert as more in line with BVNA’s philosophy.

Thompson said BVNA is looking forward to enjoying this year’s Bash-not fretting over the details that make the event a success.

“BVNA is 100 percent behind the success of the Bash. We want the historical society to make oodles and oodles of money. I want to see it rock and roll,” she said.

Schubert said 25,000 people are expected at Bash 2008.

“Amy’s got a great crew of volunteers that worship the ground she walks on and will follow her anywhere,” Thompson said.

“We’re not really an organized group,” said Dyzak. “We’re just a group of volunteers trying to keep this alive.”

Mulvey has confidence in Schubert and is optimistic.

“I think the Bash has a good record. If we work hard and do all the things we’re supposed to do, I’m positive we won’t lose on this,” Mulvey said. “I know that we will make some money, if the weather cooperates.”

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