After weeks of uncertainty, officials announced Tuesday there will be no sponsorship or stage at this year’s Mifflin Street Block Party, scheduled for May 2.
DCNY PRO, a local music and event production company, had previously agreed to sponsor the block party. However, co-owners Ny Bass and David Coleman said they did not feel they could safely put up a stage this year in the allotted amount of preparation time.
Bass said they had been planning on sponsoring Mifflin three months ago, but they hoped to be working with the Wisconsin Union Directorate, which decided April 1 not to sponsor the event.
After WUD’s decision, DCNY PRO started looking for alternative sponsors, but they were unable to find enough funding to put up a stage.
Coleman said he and Bass felt fully prepared three weeks ago to provide staging and music, but after WUD decided not to participate, they felt they couldn’t be responsible for many aspects of the party with less than a month before the event.
“[WUD] said, ‘No, we’re not doing it at all,’ and that’s when we had to start doing sponsorship, insurance policy, security and doing all these City Council meetings,” Coleman said. “That’s not what we were preparing to do.”
Coleman said as co-sponsors, WUD could have provided security, funding and food vending so DCNY PRO would have been responsible for just the music.
Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said he was blindsided by DCNY PRO’s decision to “pull the plug on their plans,” adding he was “frankly shocked and disappointed.”
Verveer said he spoke to Bass and Coleman a half hour before the meeting, and neither of them mentioned their decision to no longer be part of the project.
“I had huge hopes that this would work out,” Verveer said. “I realize we got off to a late start after the Wisconsin Union Directorate was told by Bascom Hall administrators they could not succeed. DCNY PRO was really second choice to us.”
Verveer said he wished there was more time to fundraise, and though he gave both Bass and Coleman contacts on who to call to get donations, Coleman was sick and “out of commission” last week and there was too much work for one person.
“There is a slight chance money falls in their laps, and they can pull this off, but I’m not optimistic. But I am optimistic they laid the groundwork for a 2010 sponsor,” Verveer said.
Bass pointed out they are still planning to sponsor Mifflin in 2010 for an event “even bigger than what we were planning on this year.” He added there are plans for more vending and a minimum of two stages for bands and music.
Verveer did say he is hopeful the police will be more laid-back, especially with their concerns about music and noise complaints, and he hopes DCNY PRO will work to schedule performances in people’s backyards since there will now be no main stage for the event.
An annual meeting with Mifflin residents and the police will be held next week, according to Verveer, to discuss ground rules regarding the celebration.
Bass and Coleman were apologetic for suddenly deciding not to provide music and staging, but they said they wanted to be positive that it could be done safely.
“With an event like this, you can’t pull it off in a month,” Bass said.
