Downtown Milwaukee, with all of its beer pride and glory, doesn't have a great outdoor beer garden. Sure, a lot of places in have outdoor dining and patios, but we lack a destination beer garden that celebrates our history, roots and our brews.
Think about Pere Marquette Park, 900 N. Plankinton Ave., for a minute. Its location is perfect, but its staging and seating areas are pitiful. The bandshell is too small and there's nowhere to sit, except a few picnic tables. Nonetheless, the Westown Association puts on great events there, including River Rhythms and River Flicks. It also owns the liquor license for the park.
So, why not make Pere Marquette a true destination urban park with a nod to Brew City's German and beer pasts? That's the thought of one proposal that being bantered around that seeks to transform the park into "the Milwaukee Public Beer Garden."
Under the plan, that's still in the conceptual stages, but that I got wind of yesterday -- a newly developed beer garden space could be owned and operated by the Westown Association, maintained by Milwaukee County and be open every day from May to October.
I say, move it forward and build it now!
Pere Marquette Park is perfectly situated for redevelopment and reuse. Some type of permanent structure(s) could remake that Milwaukee River hugging park into a destination that complements the Riverwalk's ever-growing list of bars and restaurants. This is the type of creativity Milwaukee needs.
Obviously, this is just an idea and funds would need to be raised, plans approved and positioned. The Westown Association tells me that it's studying the idea, but needs additional information. There's no firm time table for development of the project, though.
Milwaukee is still Brew City, but I think this is a chance to have a Downtown beer garden that toasts our town's tradition!
Keep reading OnMilwaukee.com, as I'll post more details as I get them. Cheers!
A life-long and passionate community leader and Milwaukeean, Jeff Sherman is a co-founder of OnMilwaukee.
He grew up in Wauwatosa and graduated from Marquette University, as a Warrior. He holds an MBA from Cardinal Stritch University, and is the founding president of Young Professionals of Milwaukee (YPM)/Fuel Milwaukee.
Early in his career, Sherman was one of youngest members of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, and currently is involved in numerous civic and community groups - including board positions at The Wisconsin Center District, Wisconsin Club and Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. He's honored to have been named to The Business Journal's "30 under 30" and Milwaukee Magazine's "35 under 35" lists.
He owns a condo in Downtown and lives in greater Milwaukee with his wife Stephanie, his son, Jake, and daughter Pierce. He's a political, music, sports and news junkie and thinks, for what it's worth, that all new movies should be released in theaters, on demand, online and on DVD simultaneously.
He also thinks you should read OnMilwaukee each and every day.
