‘Will never happen again': Titletown businesses planning massive tailgates, other parking lot events
GREEN BAY, Wis. (WFRV) – With road closures and traffic mayhem expected for Titletown during the NFL Draft, local businesses are getting creative with what they are planning for their parking lots. Badger State Brewing hopes to bring in vendors, and live music and save some room for tailgating.
'We've got a collection of food trucks to help service the sheer volume of people that are going to be in the area. And then in addition to that we've partnered with a few Wisconsin-based brands,' Badger State Brewing Company founder and president Andrew Fabry said. 'We knew the visibility would be great just for us as a brand just to start. And so we reached out to other brands that we feel align with our values.'
Ron's Wisconsin Cheese will be releasing a beer cheese spread containing Badger State's Brewski Lite Lager, and other businesses expected to bring a strong presence on draft weekend are J. Henry and Sons, Palo Popcorn, and Drink Wisconsinibly.
'Really hope we can pull this off': Downtown Green Bay planning events, stocking up for draft visitors
'I could see us adding just a handful more. But really they have to align with us and with Badger State in order to fit the bill,' Fabry said. 'We are still basically accepting invites via our website, we've got a Contact Us page if brands or folks want to reach out, we're happy to have a discussion.'
There is a fee that Badger State Brewing is charging because they say they are seeking committed vendors who will help put on an event that is bigger than just the individual setup they put together.
'We are asking for an investment up front basically to ensure they will be here because we are going to be promoting this event as a 'Tailgate at Badger State,'' Fabry said. 'We care a lot about this and it's really important, I think, that we roll out the red carpet to those people coming to town and showcase Wisconsin and Green Bay in the best way possible.'
Fabry hopes to have enough room for typical tailgating as well and will have a weather-ready beer garden, too.
'We are still hoping that we can save some spaces out there for people who want to come park and tailgate,' he said. 'Our beer garden is going to be entirely tented and heated for the entire week just in case we run into some funky weather in April.'
Live music will be a highlight, and just like with the vendors, Fabry says there is an emphasis on highlighting local talent.
'Rather than try to book nationally touring acts, we booked local bands,' Fabry said. 'We went with all local bands and musicians because we wanted to make sure those groups were part of the action too, not just nationally touring.'
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Fabry does not know that everyone realizes the magnitude of the draft yet, but he hopes that preparation and brainstorming get underway so that people buy into Green Bay's biggest weekend.
'It's huge. And I'm not sure that everybody sees it or understands the sheer impact that it's going to have,' Fabry said. 'It may be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. So we're hoping for the best, and I think the closer we get to the event the more eyes are starting to open up to how big this is going to be as well.'
For the Green Bay Distillery, the draft is providing an opportunity to cash all in on parking.
'You can tailgate outside kind of like a Packer game day, but it's just going to be a little bit different because it's going to be at least twice as many people here as a game day,' events manager Cassie Bone said. 'It'll be a long week but it'll be fun too because it's a once-in-a-lifetime experience.'
Bone says there are roughly 300 spots and they will be charging $100 per spot per day. Roughly half across all days of the draft are already booked.
Patrons are able to reserve tables both inside and outside the distillery, and live music will take place every afternoon and evening. The distillery is expecting to hire more staff members to aid with the surge in business.
'It's a lot, it's trying to figure out how many servers we need, how many bartenders we need, who we need where, what times. We're going to have beers set up everywhere so people can just walk up and buy a drink. So we probably need double the staff,' Bone said. 'We'll probably hire some new staff too, add some people on. But it'll probably be long days, like 7 a.m. to 2 a.m. Definitely going to be a lot of work, but definitely looking forward to it. Because it's maybe something that will never happen again.'
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