With Summer upon us, Village Board meetings occur less frequently than during the rest of the year. This Monday’s meeting includes discussions on exciting topics like: Lake Drive school zone signage, Sendik’s parking lot details, renewal of alcohol licenses, and potential library staffing additions. But one item caught our eye – a proposal from The Whitefish Bay Civic Foundation for a World Cup Finals Viewing Party to be held at Klode Park.
The Civic Foundation has submitted a special event permit application to hold a viewing party with an anticipated attendance of as many as 3,000 people on Sunday, July 19th at Klode. If approved, they will team up with Three Lions Pub in Shorewood to put on the event. Both The Civic Foundation and Three Lions have significant experience hosting large events – The Civic Foundation most notably with the village’s 4th of July celebration and Three Lions with similar large soccer watch parties in Shorewood. In prior years, Oakland Avenue has been shut down for World Cup watch parties hosted by Three Lions, including in 2018 and 2022. If you’ve driven down Oakland in the past year, it’s probably easy to guess why it won’t happen in that location this time around (construction).
The proposal includes a potential layout with a jumbo screen facing East towards the lake along Lake Drive, food trucks, a DJ, and beer stations scattered throughout the viewing area. If the proposal is approved as is, the DJ would run from noon to 2pm, with the World Cup finals match kicking off at 2pm on the 19th of July. Five professional security guards would handle crowd control and soft screening at the perimeter, and the Foundation would be providing its own crossing guard at Lake Drive and Belle Avenue.
Keep your vuvuzelas and other artificial noisemakers at home as those would be prohibited!
The Village Board will discuss and consider the proposal at Monday’s 6pm meeting.
What do you think, Bay Neighbor?