WHS presents African-American genealogy conference: Looking For A Home June 21 & 22

African-American Genealogy Conference: Looking for a Home

Experience a two-day adventure into African-American genealogy, featuring internationally known genealogist, author and lecturer, Tony Burroughs. African-American Genealogy Conference: Looking for a Home will be held June 21-22 at the Pyle Center in Madison. View or download a flier describing the African-American genealogical resources available at the Wisconsin Historical Society (PDF 141 KB).

The featured speaker, Tony Burroughs, taught at Chicago State University. His book, “Black Roots: A Beginner’s Guide to Tracing the African-American Family Tree,” was number one on Essence magazine’s bestseller list.

Other speakers include:

• Walter T. McDonald, co-author of “Finding Freedom: The Untold Story of Joshua Glover, Runaway Slave.”

• Crystal Moten, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison history department, will talk about “Finding and Telling Their Stories: Black Women’s Lives and Experiences in the Historical Record.”

• James Hansen, Wisconsin Historical Society genealogy reference librarian, will discuss “African-American Newspapers and Periodicals.”

• Lori Bessler, a Wisconsin Historical Society genealogy reference librarian who also teaches genealogy classes, will discuss “Navigating Ancestry and FamilySearch.”

This event is co-hosted by the Wisconsin Historical Society and the Madison African-American Genealogy Writing Group.

Conference Schedule:

FRIDAY

11 am–noon — Registration
Noon–1 pm — Lecture and Book signing, “Finding Freedom” (Walter McDonald)
1–1:30 pm — Break
1:30–2:30 pm — Lecture on African-American Newspapers and Periodicals (Jim Hansen)
2:30–3 pm — Break
3–4 pm — Lecture on Ancestry and FamilySearch (Lori Bessler)

SATURDAY

8–9 am — Registration
9–10 am — Lecture “Black Roots” (Tony Burroughs)
10–11 am — Book Signing (Tony Burroughs) and Break
11 am–noon — Lecture, “Finding and Telling Their Stories” (Crystal Moten)
Noon– 1:30 pm — Lunch on Your Own
1:30–2:30 pm — Lecture, “Nature of Genealogy” (Tony Burroughs)
2:30–3 pm — Break
3–4 pm — Lecture, “Researching Pullman Porters” (Tony Burroughs)

Hotel Accommodations:

Downtown hotels are filling up quickly because of other events being held on campus this weekend. We have arranged for a block of rooms at Lowell Center (610 Langdon St, just down the block from the Pyle Center). Phone 608-256-2621 and provide the group code name “home.”

Ticket Info: View or download a brochure and registration form that includes information about fees (PDF 217 KB). Email the library to confirm a registration spot in this conference.

Venue: Pyle Center

Address: 702 Langdon St

City: Madison

Fire ravages beloved building on Burrell Street

By Katherine Keller

Updated 3:02pm.

Neighbors saw the second story of the building at 2547 S. Burrell St. burst into flames around 11pm, Saturday, May 11. Jay and Sandy Palokonis who live a few doors south of the building said the property owner Kirk Jung was downstairs talking with musicians who rent the first floor as rehearsal space. Jung has resided on the second floor for about 20 years. There are three music studios on the first floor.

The building assessed at $89,200 was built in 1898.

According to Sandy Palokonis, part of the second-story floor collapsed and fell to the first floor. She said that there was not as much damage to the west portion of the first floor and thought that some of the musicians’ equipment was unharmed.

The musicians recovered some of their equipment Wednesday, May 15.

Palokonis and other neighbors are concerned that none of the debris from the first and second floors, including broken glass and personal papers, have been cleared from the sidewalk that borders the south and east facades. She said that one of the neighbors pulled a birth certificate from the debris. She and her husband and other neighbors are keeping watch over the building to discourage looters. A fence was erected around the debris and plywood covers doors and windows.

A representative of Milwaukee’s Department of Public Works said that the property owner is responsible for removing it. However, Palokonis said the owner has been hospitalized and she isn’t certain when he’ll be released. She said the building was insured but speculated that it was not sufficient to salvage the building. However, “Doc” Jung, the brother who was at the site about noon, said that he planned to use insurance money to repair and restore the building.

The building once served the neighborhood as a grocery store. Remnants of the store’s sign, painted on the brick wall, can be seen on the north façade.

 

Bash donates $3K to South Shore Frolics parade

The nonprofit Bay View Community Fund (BVCF), which stages the annual Bay View Bash street festival, donated $3,000 to the Bay View Lions Club 2013 parade.

Sue Loomis, treasurer, said BVCF, established in 2009, uses funds raised Bay View Bash to give grants to local nonprofit organizations that provide services to the needy, beautification of public spaces, or enhancements to the community. In 2010, they awarded a $2,000 grant each to True Skool, Victory Garden Initiative, and South Shore Park Watch. They awarded $3,000 to The Kompost Kids in 2011.

“When we heard about the chance to help save the South Shore Frolics Parade and Frolics weekend, we decided that we wanted to help,” Loomis said.

Patty Pritchard Thompson, who volunteered to help the Bay View Lions Club raise money for the parade, said the donation from BVCF completed the fundraising campaign and ensured that the 2013 Frolics festival will include the parade.

The 10th annual Bay View Bash will be held Saturday, September 21. “We are always looking for more Bash planners and ‘day of’ volunteers,” said Loomis. “It takes many hands to pull of this awesome party!”  To volunteer, contact Sue Loomis, sueloom@aol.com or (414) 483-0185.

Global Youth Service Day video contest

Local students are invited to capture their Global Youth Service Day service projects on video and enter them in the city of Milwaukee’s video contest.

Videos and submission forms are due May 3, 2013. All video entries must address the following questions in some manner:

• Demonstrate the purpose of and/or need for your service project.
• Show the positive impact the service project had on you and/or your team members.
• Show the positive impact on the need or problem addressed by your service project.
• Educate viewers about an issue and/or power of service.
• Encourage others to continue or begin their involvement in community service.

The grand prize is $500, which will be awarded to the first place video for the individual or team to donate to a school or nonprofit of their choosing.

All entries will be screened at the GYSD award ceremony as a part of Family Sunday at the Milwaukee Art Museum May 19. Screenings and the Award Ceremony will be held in the auditorium from 12-1:30pm. Raffle prizes will be awarded throughout the ceremony and the winning individual or team will be announced at the end. Family Sunday runs from 10am to 4pm. All GYSD participants and guests receive free admission.

Global Youth Service Day is an annual campaign that celebrates and mobilizes the millions of children and youth who improve their communities each day of the year through community service and service learning. GYSD is the largest service event in the world and is celebrated in over 100 countries. On GYSD, children and youth address the world’s most critical issues in partnership with families, schools, community and faith-based organizations, businesses, and governments. Learn more: http://city.milwaukee.gov/GYSD

Sven’s employee attacked on Kinnickinnic

On April 8, at approximately 3:30pm, two male youths began following an employee of Sven’s European Café, who was walking home after work. His café shift ends at the same time Bay View High School students are dismissed and a number of the young people walk to the bus stops on Kinnickinnic Avenue. The employee, who requested anonymity, was heading south on the west side of the 2700 block of south Kinnickinnic Avenue when one of the youths asked him if he was going to stop at the Clark station. It is the habit of the employee to stop at the station each day after work to purchase cigarettes.

When he replied that he was, the youth asked him if he would purchase a cigarillo or cigar for him. He told them he would not.” Bay View High School kids are always asking me to do that because I walk down KK from work,” he said. “Normally they drift off after I refuse them or they approach someone else.”

The two youths continued to follow him. One asked why he would not purchase tobacco for them. Then he displayed his student ID badge and said, “I’m 18. I have a student ID.”

“I tried to explain why and to tell them they needed a state ID,” he said. “I told them I wasn’t going to buy tobacco for juveniles and get the Clark station in trouble, or myself, for that matter.”

The young men continued to follow him and as they approached the south end of the former Bella’s Fat Cat building, which is adjacent to the Clark gas station, 2759 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., one demanded, “What are you going to do if I lean on you?” Then, according to the employee, one of the young men moved forward and punched him in the face with enough force that he swung around nearly 180 degrees.

One of the girls standing in a group waiting for a northbound bus on the opposite side of Kinnickinnic shouted, “Leave him alone!”

As he recovered from the punch, the employee saw the two young men were still behind him. “I started to run and booked into the Clark station,” he said.

From the safety of the gas station’s interior, he looked for the young men but saw neither. Later, from his home, he called the police and requested a squad car.

When taking the incident report, one of the officers told the employee it is difficult for the police to keep track of the students when they are dismissed from BVM&HS because some board yellow buses parked at the school, while others head for Milwaukee County bus stops in the area.

The employee, who was not seriously injured beyond a bruise on his face, said he took the same route home the following day, April 9. “I don’t want to change my route for a bunch of seventeen year olds. That’s pretty stupid,” he said. As he walked along the 2700 block of south Kinnickinnic a group of students waiting for a bus on the east side of the street and one of them called out, “There’s that guy,” he said.

Alderman Tony Zielinski contacted the employee when he learned of the attack. He also contacted the police officers stationed at BVM&HS to inform them of the incident. “I told him I would do everything possible to catch the guys,” Zielinski said.

The employee said that he was impressed with the Milwaukee police officers’ follow-up. One of the officers, who is stationed at the school, presented the employee with an album of photographs of all the BVM&HS students. The employee leafed through a few of the pages of photos but was overwhelmed by the number of faces and told the officer that he doubted he could identify the assailant.

However, he was able to give the officer a description of the hair and the sweatshirt of one of the youths. Comparing that description with images captured by the high school’s security camera on the day and approximate time of the incident, the police officer returned with a copy of a student’s school ID photo. It was the same photo on the picture ID that the youth showed him. “I was impressed with that,” the employee said.

The photo ID did not belong to the young man who assaulted him, but to his companion. He was not able to identify the other individual.

“It seems like [BVM&HS] doesn’t care what happens to students once they walk out of the school,” said Steve Goretzko, owner of Sven’s European Café. “I don’t think they care and I don’t think the school’s neighbors like it that they don’t care about the students. The other school (Atlas Preparatory Academy, 1501 E. Russell Ave.) is organized. Every day there are people and teachers monitoring their students until they are on the buses. Maybe Bay View should call Atlas and talk to them because Atlas doesn’t have problems.”

Atlas is located a block east of Sven’s Café.

Goretzko said the current academic year has been much worse than the past four years, in terms of the monitoring of students after they are dismissed from school. He said the students were better managed during the years that BVM&HS was under the leadership of principal Robin Kitzrow and then principal Jesse Mazur.

At press time, Alderman Zielinski said the police had not yet verified or confirmed the identity of either of the youths and that no arrest has been made.

Advanced Chemical Systems moves to Franklin

After nearly 20 years in Bay View, Tom Dougherty has moved his Advanced Chemical Systems business to an industrial park in Franklin. Dougherty purchased the business in 1995 and moved it from Grand Rapids, Mich. to 2612 S. Greeley St. in the building now known as the Hide House. He started out in a 5000-square-foot section of the first floor and eventually expanded to 18,000 square feet on the first floor and basement. The company provides wastewater pretreatment systems for a broad base of industries.

 

SpringBoard pre-AP program

On Monday, March 4, Milwaukee Public Schools board member Meagan Holman, who represents the Bay View Neighborhood and its schools, announced that two schools, Bay View Middle and High School and Humboldt Park School, would pair up to offer the SpringBoard pre-Advanced Placement program beginning in the 2013-2014 school year.

SpringBoard, the official pre-AP program offered by the AP’s parent company, the College Board, is for grades 6-12, and provides a specialized curriculum in mathematics and language arts.

In early 2012, MPS announced its intention to bring SpringBoard to five schools, including Bay View Middle and High School starting in 2013. This followed pressure from Bay View area parents, who petitioned the district for a rigorous college-prep program for the high school.

The status of SpringBoard for Bay View became an unknown when the district decided to reform the high school and to phase out the school’s middle grades earlier this year. SpringBoard is designed to be a seven-year program, and without the middle grades at Bay View, district leaders seemed ready to drop the plan.

However, Holman amended the reform proposal approved by the Milwaukee Board of School Directors to keep the option of SpringBoard for Bay View open, and MPS now plans to offer the classes at Bay View—for next year’s 7th and 8th grade students—and also at Humboldt Park, which could act as a feeder for the high school in future years.

Holman issued a statement that said, “The addition of the SpringBoard program at Humboldt Park and the middle grades at Bay View High School is a critical piece of the changes that neighbors have been demanding.”

Holman is encouraged by the program, but also by the idea of a community of schools in the Bay View neighborhood. “We need to view the entire Bay View area as a laboratory, a professional learning community of K3-12th grade thinkers and dreamers who will do amazing things for our city,” she said.

Frolics parade, yes; Carry-ins, no

Bay View Lions announce Frolics changes

Compared to the standing-room-only turnout last summer, the number of residents who attended the March 21 Frolics meeting was modest, but they were no less insistent in their call for change.

Hosted by Alderman Tony Zielinski and County Supervisor/Board Chairwoman Marina Dimitrijevic, members of the Bay View Lions who sponsor the annual parade and festival announced new policies and practices that they will institute at the South Shore Frolics festival in July.

No carry-ins

“Absolutely, positively no carry-ins of any sort will be allowed,” said Julie Magerowski, Bay View Lions member and longtime Frolics volunteer organizer.

A common complaint at the August meeting was the drunkenness and disorderly conduct of festival-goers. This year the Lions are working with Milwaukee County sheriffs to enforce the no carry-in policy. Those who attempt to carry in alcoholic beverages will be instructed to take the contraband back to their car, or if they refuse, the alcohol will be confiscated.

If carry-ins are discovered on the festival grounds, sheriffs will confiscate it or ticket offenders.

Six to eight weeks before the event, the Lions will launch a publicity campaign to broadcast the carry-in ban through yard signs, signs posted in local businesses, banners, and local media.

One wristband, one beer

A system will be implemented this year whereby a wristband will be given each customer when they purchase a beer in the Lions’ tent. Lyn Graziano, another member of Bay View Lions and longtime volunteer and Frolics organizer, said she realized customers will be unhappy with the wristband policy when they learn it means they can’t buy more than one beer at a time. She justified the policy decision saying the wristband system is the only way to ensure that beer is purchased exclusively from the Lions.

If the sheriffs spot someone with a beer and no wristband, they will assume it was carried  in, Graziano said.

The Lions rely on beer sales to fund the festival and generate the profits they donate to their charities.

Magerowski noted that the Lions are offering an expanded beer menu for July. They will continue to sell MillerCoors products, and they are working with their distributor to add microbrews.

Addressing calls for a wine bar, Magerowski said the Lions “are making positive motions to make that happen.”

Local food

In response to complaints about food quality and the dearth of local vendors, Graziano said they’ve approached Babe’s Ice Cream, Guanajuato, Toppers Pizza, Pietro’s Pizza, St. Francis Brewery, and Off The Clock to ask if they would offer food for sale during the Frolics. She stressed that consideration must be given to the challenges of recruiting local restaurateurs, many of whom are small businesses with limited resources that make it impossible for them to operate a festival food stand, no matter how much residents want them at the Frolics.

Patty Pritchard Thompson announced that she and other members of the 2013 Frolics work group are looking into creating a Local Food Sunday, which this year could include a pig roast—“a ticketed event”— presented by Braise and Honeypie.

Security

There will be more sheriff’s personnel on duty this year. In Milwaukee, the county parks are under the jurisdiction of the sheriff’s department (South Shore is a county park), while the area surrounding it is under the police department’s jurisdiction. “There will be more eyes on the perimeter, more officers that weekend,” Magerowski said, emphasizing that the Lions want to reassure residents that the police will be looking out for the neighbors. “Alderman Zielinski volunteered to be there all weekend to help with security,” she said.

Additionally, volunteers from the Civil Air Patrol and private security personnel will be on duty.

The Lions rejected a suggestion to enclose the festival with fencing, citing the expense and the potential danger. Julie Magerowski said that she feared that someone could get trampled in potential bottlenecks at fence gates during the “cattle call when the fireworks get out.”

Noise

In response to audience members’ complaints about the live music’s volume (and the number of hours that it is played during the festival) and questions about the noise variance requirement for the festival, Alderman Zielinski said he signs the noise variance each year without consulting the neighbors because the Frolics “is an established institution.” He feels the variance is justified because there is loud music every year, it’s part of the Frolics’ tradition, and if he received more complaints, he would consult the neighbors before automatically signing the variance.

The city requires a noise variance at night, but not during the day. The variance provides that the music must end by 9:55pm and the fireworks (that produce booming explosions) must conclude by 11pm.

The Lions were asked to consider reducing the volume of the music, as well as adjusting the direction stage loudspeakers face to mitigate the impact on residents who live on the park’s perimeter.

The noise was clearly an issue of concern at the March 21 meeting, and the topic was volleyed between Zielinski and audience members without resolution until Thompson stepped in. Taking responsibility for the group said, “Our work group hasn’t addressed it [yet], but we will talk about it. If noise is a huge issue, we need to have a conversation about it.”

Fireworks

Instead of staging the biggest fireworks display Sunday night—a long held tradition to mark the festival’s close—the big display will be Friday. Friday and Saturday night fireworks will start at 10pm.

On Sunday, the festival will close with the short display that starts earlier at 9:20pm.

The 9:20pm Sunday start-time is a concession to the neighbors.

When petitioned to start Friday and Saturday at 9:30pm to make the event more appealing to families with young children, Graziano said they would consider the suggestion for the future but pointed out that earlier closures mand fewer beer sales, which constitute the Lions’ main revenue source.

Julie Magerowski announced an expanded children’s program to be set up in a more isolated area that they’re calling the “family zone.”

Parade

“The July 13 parade is on,” Thompson announced, and offered a special thank you to Mayor Tom Barrett.

Earlier this year, the Lions, who canceled the 2012 parade due to inadequate funding, said they require $27,000-$30,000 to cover parade permits, barricades, payments to participants, and other costs. Thompson volunteered to help them find that money.

The save

Thompson and Bay View Lions member Dave Reszel, the third of the three principal volunteer organizers, took their plight to the mayor, in whom they discovered a “huge fan of the Frolics parade.”

Mayor Barrett said in an interview with the Compass that when he represented Wisconsin’s 5th Congressional District (1993-2003) his son Tommy and daughter Annie, now ages 20 and 18, walked or rode in the Frolics parade with their dad.

When Barrett gave up his Congressional seat, and was freed from walking the parade route, he took his family to see the Frolics parade. They sat on the sidelines with the other parade-goers, an experience that proved revelatory to Tommy and Annie.

“They said, ‘Dad, this is a thousand times better!’ and I realized their experience of a parade was being in the parade, not watching the parade! I cherrish this moment,” Barrett said. That is part of what is behind the mayor’s great fondness for the Frolics parade.

When approached by Thompson and Reszel, the mayor said he immediately thought of Walter Kunicki, who represented Wisconsin’s 8th Assembly District from 1980-1998, now Wisconsin Energy Corporation’s senior vice president.

Barrett recalled that Kunicki always spoke with great enthusiasm about the Frolics parade and said it was a beloved Bay View event. Barrett called Kunicki and told him that the Frolics parade was imperiled again this year.

The result? A $15,000 gift from Wisconsin Energy Corporation, the lift the Lions needed to save the parade.

Thompson said the Lions also received sponsorships and donations from the White House tavern, Bay View Community Fund, Bay View Business Improvement District, Bay View Neighborhood Association, Dwell apartments, Horny Goat, John’s Appliance, McDonald’s, Oak Creek Lions, OxyClean, Shorewest realtor Toni Spott, and from individuals and families.

New leadership

Julie Magerowski stepped down this year from her post as parade manager and organizer. Carol Krako stepped up, joining the Frolics team to take up Magerowski’s duties.

Stressing the Lion’s dependence on a “huge” cadre of volunteers, Thompson enjoined residents to help the Lions produce the parade.

Art festival

Lyn Graziano assured the audience that there will be an art festival this year, but said the Lions are looking for new sponsors. The Bay View Arts Guild hosted and produced the arts and crafts festival from 1993 through 2012.

Not overnight

At the beginning of the evening March 21, Julie Magerowski referenced the August 2012 meeting, an event characterized by contentious neighbors demanding change. Weary of litter, trespassing, public urination, drunkenness, and disorderly conduct, they challenged the Lions to recognize that the festival no longer reflects Bay View’s culture and values.

The Lions, stunned by the vehemence in August, reminded their critics that they have given countless volunteer hours to produce the parade and festival since 1995 and that they were proud of their record, including donating Frolics’ profits to charity.

“We took a lot back to the table,” Magerowski said.

It was evident at the March 21 meeting that the Lions were decidedly more open to the questions and criticism they had received.

And while Magerowski said the festival improvements called for by residents will not happen overnight, the modifications and new policies that the Lions announced were undeniably in response to the outcries they heard from their neighbors last year, and reflect their willingness to bend and change.

Contact Carol Kraco to join the parade volunteers: kracophotography@gmail.com 

Defaulted Sweet Water Organics loan could be renegotiated

There is much that attracts public attention to Bay View. The rebirth of a vital business district is a significant component of its draw but arguably no Bay View business has drawn more notice—local and national—than Sweet Water Organics.

In 2008 its owners established an aquaponics system in an abandoned industrial building, promising its innovations were the foundation of a forthcoming urban-agriculture revolution that would enhance food security and make cities more resilient and sustainable.

Sweet Water’s message was enthralling.

Sweet Water Organics engendered great local pride and goodwill that translated into tremendous support—from ordinary citizens fascinated by the ingenuity of the technology and the promise of good local food to municipal officials who see the emerging urban-agriculture technology as a means to create jobs.

Three years after Sweet Water’s founders launched their aquaponics operation, unable to attract capital investment, they found themselves perilously under water. Supported by Alderman Tony Zielinski, they appealed to the city, and they received a $250,000 forgivable loan from the Economic Development Fund.

The basis of the forgivable loan and indeed the city’s incentive to approve Sweet Water’s loan, was job creation. Instead of repaying the loan in the conventional manner, Sweet Water would repay the city by creating 45 new jobs over the four-year life of the loan. These terms, referred to as its metrics, required Sweet Water to have 10 employees at year-end 2011; 21 at year-end 2012; 35 at year-end 2013; and 45 at year-end 2014.

Sweet Water satisfied the 2011 requirement, and the city forgave $62, 500, one-quarter of the loan. With the new jobs they were to create in 2012, Sweet Water would have created 25 new jobs in Milwaukee, a little more than halfway toward the 45-job goal.

But the report of their 2012 achievement, prepared for the Department of City Development (DCD) was startling. Instead of the required 25 jobs, they finished the year with only 2.35 jobs, having lost 7.65 of the jobs created in 2011.

Martha Brown, DCD’s deputy commissioner reported that those 2.35 jobs allowed $8,928 of the loan to be forgiven in 2012. That left Sweet Water owing the city $53,571 in principal, plus $9,500 in interest (5% rate), or a total of $144,199. The date for payment of the loan was mid-March.

Sweet Water, unable to repay the loan, defaulted. But there was even worse news.

In early March, Sweet Water Organics’ co-founder and an owner, Jim Godsil, in reply to its inquiries about the business, told the Compass that the fish and greens aquaponics program inside 2151 S. Robinson St. had “not been operational since early January.” In other words, their food production business was defunct.

The proposal

Representatives of Sweet Water Organics met with the Common Council’s Community and Economic Development Committee February 18 to discuss how they might resolve the issue of their $144,200 debt to the city.

Committee Chair Alderman Joe Davis said he set up the meeting to discover why Sweet Water failed to meet its job goals, he said, and to find out why it defaulted “so that we don’t make that mistake again.”

He asked Sweet Water’s representatives if they thought the job numbers they presented when they applied for the loan were unrealistic.

Joe Recchie, an attorney and owner of the Columbus, Ohio-based Community Building Partners, Inc., and a trustee of Sweet Water Foundation, told Davis it was his belief that Sweet Water Organics’ “stated projections were good faith projections, but they were optimistic and ambitious ones, based on the ability to attract additional capital.”

That didn’t happen at the projected pace, he said.

His recommendation for resolving the for-profit’s debt was for the foundation side to absorb “the responsibilities and the activities of Sweet Water Organics.”

The nonprofit

Sweet Water Organics, the for-profit company, is paired with Sweet Water Foundation, the nonprofit education arm whose mission is to “educate community members through sustainable urban agricultural practices to create economic development and resilient communities.”

In stark contrast to the for-profit Sweet Water Organics, the nonprofit foundation has readily attracted generous funding.

Jesse Blom, Sweet Water Foundation’s city director outlined the foundation’s growth since its start in 2010.

The foundation’s 2010 budget was $8,000. It had no employees, he said, “but tons of volunteers and interns.” Its 2011 budget was $40,000, but still no employees.

In 2012 the budget (revenue) was $180,000 and it had five employees. “We’re looking at $350,000 in 2013,” he said.

Funding was provided by grants from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the University of California-Irvine, the Veteran’s Administration, and Newman’s Own Foundation.

Blom said that one of the roles of the foundation is “to work with families to grow their own food in small, home-based aquaponics systems” that can be built for “a minimum of $250.” “The foundation is also working with schools and universities to make food production a central part of education. They will learn at the foundation and then do it in school, and it will be reinforced by universities,” he said.

The foundation’s goals and practices are obviously attractive to foundations like Newman’s Own, Gates, and MacArthur.

Questionable transfer

Pondering the proposal that Sweet Water Foundation could take on the debt of its for-profit side, Alderman Davis asked trustee Recchie if Sweet Water Organics would “exist” if absorbed by the foundation.

Recchie said Sweet Water Organics would continue to exist but that all the growth would be with the foundation and its focus on education and community development. “So Sweet Water will continue to exist as an entity, but no new activities will take place with it,” he said.

He said Sweet Water Foundation’s proposal was for the city to allow the foundation to take over the loan but with modified metrics—in other words, to change the terms. The foundation did not want the metrics to be job formation.

Emmanuel Pratt, Sweet Water Foundation’s executive director, said that his foundation was asking to renegotiate the loan agreement with new metrics that “look at some of the work we do for the outreach, the education…and vocation and career aspects.” He told the committee that a lot of the work the foundation does in education is based on the multidisciplinary STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics) programs.“

Alderman Willie Wade expressed concern about the legality of the proposed loan transfer and new metrics that would no longer require job creation. Martha Brown replied that the city had some options. One, she said, was that the city declare the loan in default for failure to pay. Another option would be to renegotiate the terms of the loan to extend the loan an extra year—thus changing the metrics by which the loan forgiveness is calculated.

Brown asked Jeremy McKenzie, an assistant city attorney, if he agreed.

McKenzie said that he had not looked into “what is allowable or legal within the parameters of the operation of the Development Fund” and could not comment without further research, on Sweet Water Foundation’s proposal.

Committee members continued to explore and consider how they might renegotiate the loan’s terms, if they agreed to transfer it.

Recchie and Pratt pointed out that job creation was not an option because education, not job creation, is the foundation’s mission.

Alderman Zielinski pushed Sweet Water Foundation’s representatives to define their metrics, questioning whether their education efforts created jobs.

And like Davis and Wade, he asked about the legality of the foundation’s proposal. “Do we have the legal authority to transfer the requirements from job creation to education that results in job creation?” he asked. “Do we have that sort of latitude?”

Zielinski, who seemed to have dismissed Recchie’s and Pratt’s advice that the foundation’s mission is education, not job creation, pressed the foundation representatives to prepare documentation to show the committee how it would create jobs. He said, “I think it would behoove your organization to find some way where you can be as successful as you believe you can be successful with Sweet Water Foundation, and leverage those dollars into job creation, so that way, when you come before this committee again, …say, ‘Hey, we’re going to be able to provide education that results in job creation and we’re going to quantify that into X amount of jobs, and in addition to that, we believe with the contacts and leverage we have around the world, we’ll be able to attract the necessary outside capital so that this will also be a job creation component and you can achieve the job-creation component and absorb that within the foundation as long as it isn’t a for-profit entity.’ Do you foresee any, any problems that would preclude you from achieving those goals or approaching this problem with that mindset?”

Recchie reiterated that the foundation’s mission was not job creation. “If you’re saying, could Sweet Water Foundation just adopt the job creation goals of Sweet Water Organics, there is a problem because Sweet Water Foundation has a broader charge,” he advised Zielinski.

Alderman Davis returned to the issue of the legal implications of the proposed loan transfer.

At the beginning of the meeting Martha Brown told the committee that the city had a lien on two pieces of equipment purchased by Sweet Water Organics with the loan. Davis warned, “Then there’s also an issue of assets because there are assets that are out there and we need to be very clear about who assumes those assets and where those assets would be from because it’s the city’s investment and it has to be not just as a good faith effort, but those assets are going to have to be shifted just like [they would be in] any other merger and acquisition…There are assets that are available and those assets have to move. Either the city [would] actually assume those assets, sell those assets off, or those assets will be actually be assigned to a legal entity the proper way.”

When Jim Godsil asked permission to address the committee, he talked about the national and international acclaim Milwaukee has received because of its emerging urban agriculture endeavors and opined that “Milwaukee has a very, very good chance of first winning the Stockholm Water Prize and then a Nobel Prize by virtue of the advances we’re going to be making with high-production, water-conserving food production methodologies.”

Davis, impatient, interrupted, “This is where I get kind of agitated. Milwaukee has an unemployment rate that is skyrocketing and when people come to us and say they’re going to create jobs, we give them the benefit of the doubt to create jobs. At this particular time, I struggle on people not fulfilling that obligation because as all of us in the community in which we represent, when we see a young kid that is out there and they want to learn about aquaponics but now they didn’t get an opportunity because an organization failed to create those jobs, then we do have to ask the tough questions. And it’s not about a Nobel Peace Prize… What it’s all about is giving somebody the opportunity to go to work so they can provide for their family. …I don’t want to pooh-pooh away 35 jobs…brought to this particular…that you were going to create. …So at the end of the day, that’s what is before this committee is that it was a contract. The contract has been breached, and how do we move forward? That’s all I’m interested in,” he said.

Before the committee adjourned, Alderman Davis reiterated his motivation for calling the meeting. He said his intent was when the issue of the loan went before the full Common Council, proposed legislation would be based on the recommendations of the Department of City Development and the Community and Economic Development Committee members.

Is it legal?

Wisconsin law includes a Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act that appears to be relevant to the loan transfer Sweet Water Foundation proposed to the city. When the Compass attempted to field an opinion from city attorney Jeremy McKenzie concerning the legality of the proposal in light of this statute, he refused to comment, referring the question to DCD’s spokesperson, Jeff Fleming.

Fleming said the city would not comment on pending legislative action.

The Compass consulted attorney Zach S. Whitney, of Kohner, Mann & Kailas, S.C. for an opinion about the proposed loan transfer.

Whitney said he would not advise going foward with it.

“[The city] could open themselves to fraud—interfering with sales contracts, with contracts with creditors. It would be smart for the city to not do this. They could open up a crazy can of worms,” he said and added, “Only with a great deal of reluctance should the city get involved in this transfer.”

In 2011 when Sweet Water approached the city for the economic development loan, DCD officials expressed their concern that the department had very little time to consider the proposal. DCD’s real estate analyst Yves LaPierre asked the Community & Economic Development committee to postpone its vote. He asked for a business plan from Sweet Water and requested more information about construction costs, construction plans, and its potential to create jobs.

When the Compass requested LaPierre’s comment about the quality or depth of the city’s due diligence before voting to approve the loan, he referred it to Jeff Fleming.

“DCD was directed by policymakers to enter into a loan with Sweet Water Organics. The due diligence took place in hearings before the Council. If the question is, was there sufficient due diligence, that is a question to be directed to Council members,” said Fleming.

The Compass made repeated requests for comment from Alderman Davis and Alderman Wade about their decision to support the loan, as well as the current proposed loan transfer. Neither alderman nor staff from either office returned phone calls or email about these matters.

When Alderman Zielinski was asked for his comment, he said, “We are working to identify the best way to address the $160,000 that is at stake. But again, this is a forgivable loan and not a grant. There is strong interest in Sweet Water’s equipment and infrastructure that will translate into significant benefits that could include paying the city back.”

Zielinski speculated that the matter of Sweet Water Organic’s defaulted loan and its proposal to transfer the loan to its foundation would come before the full Common Council in April.

 

 

 

Chill nominated for WAMI Award

The Wisconsin Area Music Industry announced that Bay View Neighborhood Association’s annual summer concert series has been nominated for a People’s Choice WAMI Award in the category “ Southeast Venue.” The two other nominees are Master Z’s Cue Club and Turner Hall.

The Wisconsin Area Music Industry is a volunteer organization whose purpose is to educate and recognize the achievements and accomplishments of individuals in the Wisconsin music industry. The group also utilizes its funds to provide a Youth Music Showcase and provide scholarships to students and emerging artists.

Unrest with Frolics fest

Residents call for change

Some in the audience countered those voices, acknowledging the organizers’ hard work and the pleasure that the fireworks and parade provide.

The most common and bitter complaints about the Frolics were intoxication, litter, trespassing, and public urination.

In the wake of that meeting, Alderman Tony Zielinski, whose 14th District includes Bay View, organized a steering committee to work with the Lions to address neighbors’ complaints. Members of the steering committee are Lenore Burger, Bay View resident; Kate Fowdy, Bay View resident and Bay View Neighborhood Association president; Cary Solberg, Bay View resident and South Shore Park Watch president; Patty Pritchard Thompson, Bay View resident; and Zielinski.

Lions and Frolics

Bay View Lions member Dave Reszel has been a Frolics volunteer since the mid-80s. He is the publicity chairman and master of ceremonies. Lyn Graziano, Julie Magerowski, and Dale Marki serve as the “tri-chairs,” who plan and manage the event.

While the Lions don’t disclose the revenue they realize or the amount of their donations, Reszel said that the 2012 Frolics was a financial loss for them, noting it was a bad year. “All the festivals were down last year,” he said. “There was oppressive heat. We had a great crowd last year on Saturday but Sunday was slow until after sundown when it cooled down, but was still in the 90s.”

Beer sales and sponsorships produce the bulk of the Frolics’ revenue. The parade costs $25,000-$30,000 and the park events $50,000. The Lions charge $4 per beer and serve Miller Coors.

Parade

Historically the parade, part of the festival for decades, has been funded by business sponsorships and private donations. In 2008, the Lions announced the unprecedented cancelation of the parade due to insufficient funding. However, Todd Reardon, president of Braeger Automotive Group, stepped up with a $20,000 donation and the parade rolled on. He funded the parade for three more years, through 2011.

But last year, the money really did run out and the parade was canceled, which was crushing for the Lions who are aware of how much it is a part Bay View’s history and fabric.

Reszel said the parade costs between $25,000 and $30,000, which covers fees, permits, and parade-participant costs. The Lions pay for the entertainment that delights parade-goers, the marching bands, bands on floats, the Shriners who perform in their mini-cars, the baton-twirler troupe, and others who stride or ride along the parade route, often in sweltering heat.

“Everyone likes the parade,” Zielinksi said. “I’m trying to improve it and make the parade happen. I’ve received $1,000 from Horny Goat. The owners of Dwell apartments committed $500. The [Bay View] BID is providing a $3,000 matching grant.”

Patty Pritchard Thompson, who is leading the parade fundraising effort, said at press time that she and her colleagues raised about $9,500, far short of the $30,000 goal. “I think it is important for people to understand that this is a free festival, but it really isn’t free. If we take a peek, we see how the money that comes in goes right back out. It takes a lot of money to put on this festival,” she said.

The Lions set a March 1 deadline to raise the money; Thompson thinks it appears unlikely that there will be a Frolics parade this year. “We missed opportunities with prospective big donors because we didn’t start last July,” she said, noting corporations work with annual budgets where they allocate funds for the community and charitable giving.

Festival neighbors

Zielinski recognizes the demands of producing a festival as large as Frolics and praises the Lions members who have given countless hours to present the Frolics to the community for the past almost-two decades. “Lyn Graziano, Dave Reszel, and Julie Magerowski have all been very committed to the community and work very hard for the community and are trying to do the best for the community and I sincerely appreciate their efforts but issues brought up by neighbors need to be addressed,” he said. He cited issues including litter left behind on the streets and residents’ properties and the unruliness of some of the festival attendees. “There needs to be better control. The organizers are responsible for the behavior of festival attendees inside the park and in the surrounding area, just like a bar owner,” he said.

He wants people to be able to enjoy themselves and not worry about bad behavior. To boost safety, he said, “I’m hiring security professionals to work with me and I’m spending some of my own money on this.” he said. “I’m going to personally be stationed in the park monitoring the festival every day and working with the security unit. I want people to please call my cell if they have a problem because I’m going to be there all weekend.” (414-405-1483)

Make it better; make it Bay View

Residents who live near the park are almost uniformly in favor of preserving the Frolics but they want change.

Bill Smith, 1838 E. Nock St., said he likes the Frolics, especially the parade, the Friday fish boil, the car show, and fireworks. The noise, litter, and foolish behavior don’t bother him. He has seen attendance numbers flag over the past few years and the parade decline. “There used to be more to the parades like the Army and the Marines marching. It’s just not as good as it used to be,” he said. “They need a lot of sponsors to make the parade better.”

His six grandchildren visit each year to see the fireworks. “I would hate to see it lost,” he said. “I would definitely like to see it keep going. My grandkids love it to death.”

“It’s just stayed the same,” observed Ricardo Trinidad, who has lived at 2976 S. Superior St. for 12 years. “It’s not evolving.”

Trinidad, who loves the fireworks and parade—especially the marching bands— expressed his distaste for the “hashed out 70s rock and country music” that he said is the same year after year at the festivities in the park. “What’s wrong with jazz? What’s wrong with a Sunday of classical music?” he asked. “The people of Bay View are a more sophisticated lot.”

He’d like to see wine and better food. Instead of “carnival food,” Trinidad would like to be able to buy wine at the Frolics and to buy food prepared by Bay View restaurants.

Litter, especially a lot of beer cans dropped from cars before they leave the neighborhood, are annoyances Trinidad said he deals with every morning during the Frolics. He wants signage that forbids littering and informs people that they cannot carry in alcohol.

Comparing the Frolics to Bay View High School, Trinidad said “both are populated with people from outside of Bay View and don’t reflect the culture and people of Bay View.” He likens the festival to a music club where owners know that if they want a change in clientele they change the music. “If they change up the music…if you throw in some jazz, it’s definitely going to change. The local people will come,” he said.

A resident who wished to remain anonymous echoes Trinidad. She and her husband live on Trowbridge just west of South Shore Park and have been watching the Frolics for 15 years. She said she and her neighbors stay at home to protect their property. She said strangers who park in the alley walk through their yard. “It feels like people are not respectful of being in somebody else’s neighborh-ood. Our feeling is that it seems to be a festival that doesn’t attract people from Bay View. It seems to be a drinking festival more than anything,” she said.

Dismayed with the unresponsiveness of Lions members at the August meeting, John Litchford, who lives in the 2900 block of Superior Street said, “Didn’t really seem to be a meeting. It was a bunch of people kind of voicing their concerns and disappointment and they were being completely disregarded by the Lions’ Frolics committee. They were not receptive to the complaints.” He said he likes the concept of the Frolics but not “the implementation.” He thinks more revenue would be generated if the festival had local restaurants, bars, coffee shops, and retailers. “I don’t like the carnival-type atmosphere. I would like more local vendors set up, more like the Bash,” he said. The parade and art fair are examples of what feels like a neighborhood event to Litchford.

“If they’re having a hard time getting donors to give money, as well as sponsors, it is because it isn’t seen as a neighbors’ event. [Neighbors] would donate to the event, if they felt their voices were being heard and if the changes voiced were being met. Neighbors support all neighbors’ activities if they like it,” he said.

Litchford doesn’t like the intoxication either. He thinks law enforcement turns a blind eye to carry-ins. “There are too many drunks. I watch them leave, from my front porch, and their level of intoxication is quite high. You can see all the drunks getting into their cars and driving away,” he said. “I’m not against drinking. I drink myself but it just seems like the level of it on the hill that weekend seems to be in excess, and the [bad] behavior follows that.”

“People who are voicing their concerns are not being heard,” Litchford said. “The Frolics is being catered to by politicians who allow the event to go unchanged. Zielinski touts he won’t do anything unless the neighbors are for it but this seems to be a slow moving wheel of trying to make it more family-friendly and fun for everyone.”

He said he and his neighbors enjoy the idea of the Frolics, but “they’re not 100 percent behind the way it’s done,” including the rush of people exiting the park when the fireworks are over. He’d like to see law enforcement personnel stationed on the corners of the main intersections on Superior when people are heading for their cars. “By their presence they could enforce a calmer demeanor of people walking through the neighborhood,” Litchford said.

Trash and litter, especially empty liquor bottles scattered behind cars, where people discard them when they leave, disturb Kristy Studinski, 2978 S. Mabbett Ave. “I find that very disrespectful and my neighbors and I have all taken to sitting in our front yards while the crowds are clearing out, just to keep an eye on things,” she said. “We feel like our usually safe neighborhood sees a definite increase in petty crimes and riff-raff, and we wouldn’t mind if the festival had a makeover to reflect the true feel of our neighborhood and the surrounding community, instead of the current uneasy atmosphere we feel it emits that encourages us to go into lock down and surveillance mode during the late night hours.”

Studinski said she and her husband have mixed feelings about the Frolics. They love being able to sit in their backyard to enjoy the beautiful fireworks and that they can take their kids to explore the area that’s dedicated to children’s activities. “Honestly, we would hate to see the Frolics disappear, but we would definitely appreciate it being revamped or improved so that everyone can enjoy it safely and it can be an event that the Bay View community is proud of,” she said.

Frolics steering committee member Lenore Burger, 2902 S. Pine Ave., grew up near the park and has lived in Bay View for 36 years. She was at the August meeting and the pavilion and was disheartened by the comments and incivility of some of the audience members, which was not representative of what she considers a progressive and nice neighborhood. “They were yelling at the Lions. I understand there are concerns, that they don’t like all the foot traffic but there’s a more constructive way to deal with the concerns,” Burger said. “My sister is disabled so I know what the Lions do. She goes to the camp that directly profits from the Frolics.”

She concedes that there are legitimate complaints about the Frolics such as the lateness on Sunday nights. “I definitely understand,” Burger said, “but I think the Lions Club genuinely wants to address the concerns of the neighbors.”

If anything needs improvement, she said, it’s that Bay View wants to feel that they, as a community, have a presence at the Frolics…more local businesses represented, for example. She cites the art festival as one of the great experiences for the neighbors, calling it a community event. Her husband, she said, likes the car show.

“Overall, we live in one of best neighborhoods in the city and if people from other neighborhoods want to come and enjoy our parks and businesses, I think that’s a positive. I think we should feel privileged to live in a neighborhood that people want to come to. I wish more people had that attitude,” Burger said.

Another member of the audience at the pavilion meeting was Elaine Bergstrom, 2918 S. Wentworth Ave., who said, “I think my daughter (Lenore Burger) and I were the only ones who stood up and said, I adore this thing. I adore the Frolics. I am 66 years old. I just think the Frolics is wonderful,” she said. “I love the fact that it kind of gets the whole neighborhood out.”

Bergstrom remembers the festival before it was taken over by the Lions in 1995. She thinks it is far better organized now and she appreciates the Friday night fish fry.

Festival improvements, Bergstrom observed, would be to move handicapped parking up from the yacht club’s parking lot because it’s hard for people with mobility issues to walk up the hill. She would find a way to slow down the exit after the fireworks because people stand in line 15-deep to get into the portable toilets. She’d distribute the toilets so that some were closer to Superior. “Move them to the corners on Superior and Rusk and at Estes,” she said.

Bergstrom thinks there are fewer drunks since the bands “were roped off” and it is beneficial that there is only one beer vendor. “The Lions make more money if they’re selling the beer that people drink because they make no money on the carry-ins,” she said.

Bergstrom is another resident who advocates adding local vendors to the event. “It would be lovely if the Lions could work with some local food vendors as the Chill does. We have such great food in Bay View; it would be good for the restaurants to get some glory,” she said.

Bea Reinders has lived in Bay View since the 1950s. She resides on Shore Drive near the park and although she likes the parade and fireworks that she describes as community-based, she said she thinks the event has outlived its usefulness. “It’s a pain in the butt,” Reinders said. “It’s been outgrown. It’s past its prime. It’s too costly. There’s not a good return on their investment, I think.”

Reinders said she has watched the event for decades. “The park is too small to contain it. The event itself has changed; I think the Lions Club has lost control, like the drunkenness. You have all these people leaving at the same time. They’re not going to stop off at a port-a-potty before they go home, they’ll go in people’s yards and relieve themselves. Years ago we used to turn on sprinklers to keep them out. We’d have people come up to our doors and ask to use our bathroom,” she said.

The 20 hours of rock and country music is odious to Reinders. “I don’t like that kind of music. I like jazz. I like classical music,” she said.

Reinders disapproves of intoxicated people walking through residents’ yards. “If there is concern about the consumption of alcohol so why do they sell beer? But the object of the whole event is that damn beer tent,” she said.

Last year Frolics attendees and their grills challenged her neighbors. “I guess it was really rough on the neighbors because they could not barbecue in the park [because of the drought conditions] so people were barbecuing in the street and all over the place, whether it was somebody’s front lawn or wherever,” Reinders said. “I think it’s inappropriate [to grill] in the park anyway because there are all those people.”

A third generation Shore Drive resident, who wished to remain anonymous, has lived in Bay View seven-plus decades and remembers the festival in some of later years when it was still called Hi-Jinks. “For years there was a beauty pageant to name Miss Bay View. Contestants represented several Bay View stores. The parade with many marching bands, the politicians, and the beauties were the highlight of Bay View’s summer. My favorite was always Miss Bay View Sausage. It took some guts to carry that sash.” He said he always supported the Frolics because the event was free, unlike Summerfest, but the drinking was a problem. He said he saw people pull coaster wagons past his home loaded with quarter barrels of beer.

South Shore Park Watch president Cary Solberg and member of the Frolics steering committee has been involved with a series of meetings with both Frolics supporters and those seeking to sustain and improve the event. “We are always most concerned, regardless of the event, of the health and welfare of the park,” he said. “To this point, we’re encouraged by the plans [the Lions] are making for 2013… They’re pledged to do the best they can to manage those items that affect the park. The real test will be…how it goes this year.”

Solberg noted that it is a struggle for Park Watch and other service organizations to get volunteers. “Frolics is a real large event, a real challenge. If anybody would want to help, I do believe [the Lions] would take it,” he said. He noted the Lions have donated money to South Shore Park Watch in past years.

What’s next?

In light of their financial loss in 2012, how will the Lions pay for upfront event fees this year? The Lions have an escrowed “start-up fund” to pay for bills and permits. Reszel said. “We try to keep this balance constant for the following year’s Frolic. We receive sponsorship money that enables us to have needed cash flow before the event,” he said. “The Frolics is never on autopilot. We do our best to watch costs and fundraise and we hope for good weather.”

The festival may take a financial hit this year because the Bay View Arts Guild canceled their annual arts and crafts show, citing the lacke of a volunteer staff to stage it this year. Patty Pritchard Thompson hopes to find another group to take over the art festival, a plan a guild spokesperson said they would support.

Reszel said the Lions are sympathetic to security concerns and that “he’d love to tell the police to be stationed at every corner and patrolling the streets and alleys but we can’t tell them how to do their jobs.” He hopes Alderman Zielinski can help with that.

One of the biggest concessions the Lions are making, Reszel said, is moving the biggest fireworks display from Sunday night to Friday night. The Sunday night display will be about 15 minutes long and begin about 9:15pm instead of at 10. “It is a big concession on our part to break with tradition and do it that way,” Reszel said. But he believes the neighbors will benefit from the earlier closing of the event Sunday night.

There won’t be the movie at the beach again this year. It’s costly, $3,000 or more and involves bringing a member of the projectionist union to Milwaukee from Chicago, Reszel said.

Another action the Lions are taking in response to complaints at the August meeting is attempting to monitor carry-ins by getting the word out that it is not allowed. Reszel said he observed someone wheel in a quarter barrel, in the past. As for bad behavior outside the park, he doesn’t think that problem is the Lions’ responsibility. The police take care of the crowd outside the park and the sheriffs to do the same on the festival grounds. “We paid $9,300 last year for sheriff protection,” he said.

The Lions are considering giving a wristband to everyone who buys beer at the Lions’ beer tent. “The bracelets would indicate that the customer is of legal drinking age and that they purchased their beer from the Lions,” he said. Zielinski said he is also considering wristbands, and he thinks it would also help identify those who may not be old enough to legally drink.

Not much is changing with the festival music this summer. The Boogie Men and Cold Sweat & the Brew City Horns will return. Reszel said they haven’t reached out to local bands or others who represent the popular indie music scene that characterizes Bay View’s club scene. There are also no major changes with the food that will be on sale.

Reszel said the all-volunteer aspect of the Frolics is not properly appreciated or recognized. “Nobody makes a dime. It’s 100 percent volunteer,” he said. “Lyn Graziano uses her vacation time before and during the event. Sometimes instead of being dissatisfied, it would be nice if people said thank you.”

Fireworks, fun, food, and family define the Frolics in Reszel’s eyes. “If you ask someone on the street what the Frolics is, the overwhelming majority would say fireworks,” he said. Seeing people on the hill who probably can’t afford to take their family to Summerfest makes Reszel feel good.

“The Frolics is a tradition and it wouldn’t be summer in Bay View without the Frolics,” Reszel said. “We want to make it the best that it can be to bring the community together and at the same time, we can do some good with the Frolics’ profits.”

Tony Zielinski is hosting another community meeting for the public to discuss the Frolics Thursday, March 21 at 6:30pm in the South Shore Park Pavilion. For more information contact Alderman Zielinski: tzieli@milwaukee.gov or (414) 405-1483. Watch for Frolics updates from the Lions: southshorefrolics.org.

South Shore Frolics organizers urgently seeking donations for parade

The South Shore Frolics organizers are urgently seeking public and private donations to reinstate the event’s parade this summer. The parade was canceled last year when the Bay View Lions, who produce and sponsor the event, were unable to secure adequate funding to finance the parade.

The parade is scheduled for Saturday, July 13. This year marks the 64th annual Frolics event.

To date the Lions have raised 20 percent of the $30,000 required to underwrite the parade, Patty Pritchard Thompson announced today, in an emailed funding-appeal. “The full $30K number needs to be reached no later than Thursday, February 28, for the Parade to continue! ” Thompson said.

The Bay View Business Improvement District (BID #44) matched the first $3,000.

In addition to sponsorships and donations, the Lions ask that members of the community help spread the word that funding is critical in order to save the 2013 South Shore Frolics parade.

Learn about sponsorship levels here.

For more information, contact Patty Pritchard Thompson or send your donation to:

Bay View Lions Club
Attn: Parade
PO Box 070104
Milwaukee, WI 53207

Checks are payable to the Bay View Lions Club

 

 

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