No Fish Day but beer garden would be something

It won’t be Fish Day, but organizers of Port Washington’s largest festival are planning a beer garden in Upper Lake Park on Saturday, July 18 — which, as the third Saturday in July, would be Fish Day in a year without the coronavirus.

The event will be a fin-raiser — in keeping with the puns involved in many a Fish Day theme — Fish Day General Chairman Bruce Mandersheid said, noting it will help the organization raise money to support next year’s festival.

“It’s not a Fish Day,” he said. “It’s to raise some funds to help put on Fish Day 2021.”

The beer garden will also serve as a fundraiser for one or more of the civic organizations that count their Fish Day stands as a major fundraiser, he said, noting Fish Day has asked the nonprofit groups if they would like to run the food booth at the Lions Pavilion next to the beer garden.

The menu wouldn’t necessarily be fish and chips, either, he said.

“That’s entirely up to them,” Mandersheid said. “They would keep all the profits associated with selling food. Fish Day would keep the profits from the beer garden.”

Fish Day will have music at its beer garden, he said, noting the group is looking at inviting the top bands from its Battle of the Bands. Those groups typically are invited to play Fish Day. 

In the past, he said, Fish Day’s organizing committee was interested in hosting a beer garden but there wasn’t room in the city’s beer garden schedule.

This year, with the festival canceled due to the coronavirus but the park reserved for Fish Day, seemed like the ideal time, Mandersheid said.

That’s especially true since the city agreed to allow other organizations to host beer gardens in July, he noted.

Mandersheid said Fish Day would follow the city’s guidelines for beer gardens, such as limiting the number of people and requiring servers to wear masks. 

“If we get to the point where we’re at capacity and we have people coming to the door,” he said, they would be directed elsewhere.

Fish Day’s plans, he stressed, are subject to city approval, something that could come as early as next week’s Common Council meeting.

Also planning an event for Fish Day is Portal Industries in Grafton, which counts its Fish Day run as a major fundraiser.

Portal will  hold a virtual run, walk and roll in honor of the 55th anniversary of its Fish Day run, organizers announced Tuesday.

The event, titled “Can’t Stop at 55,” would allow participants to run, walk or bicycle from Friday, July 3, through Monday, July 20. 

Runners would be asked to traverse a 5K or 15K route of their choice or the 8K Fish Day Run route and walkers could follow a one or five-mile route of their choice or the two-mile Fish Day walk route.

Bicyclists are asked to travel a 10 or 25-mile route of their choice while others could undertake an event of their choice, such as roller-blading or swimming.

To register, visit Runsignup.com/Race/WI/AnyPlace/FishDayRunWalkVirtual.  Registration is $30 per person or $25 for a group of three or more people.