Oshkosh's Summer Beer Gardens

It’s been 150 years since Oshkosh last had a lakeside beer garden. Brews on the Bay is about to end that drought with a series of pop-up beer gardens that will begin on June 9 at the Kiwanis Shelter in Menominee Park. It will be followed by beer gardens in the park on July 14, August 11, and September 8. The monthly beer gardens will run from 5-9 p.m. and are being organized by the Parks Department.

Local beer may be the rally flag for these events, but Jen McCollian of the Parks Department says they're about more than that. "We'll have family yard games, and live music, and we'll definitely have food trucks," McCollian says. "We try to find things to do that are inexpensive to bring people and families to the park so they can get to know what we have to offer. Oftentimes, people aren't aware of the Children's Amusement Center or that we rent kayaks, and canoes, and aqua bikes, and those facilities are going to be open during that time as well."

But it wouldn't be a beer garden without beer. Oshkosh's Bare Bones Brewery, Fifth Ward Brewing, and Fox River Brewing, along with Omega Brewing from Omro will have their beer pouring at all four of the events. "They'll each have a line where they can feature whatever brew they choose," McCollian says. "We'll also have domestic beers, and water, and soda." Members of the Society of Oshkosh Brewers homebrewing club will participate by pouring samples of their homebrewed beers.

McCollian anticipates this year's beer gardens will provide the launch for what will become an annual summer occurrence. "We've been approved to have four through the city council this year," she says, "but we do want to see this grow and possibly even travel into other parks next year. It's definitely something we plan on doing into the future."

Traveling beer gardens have grown in popularity over the past decade. Oshkosh joins other Wisconsin municipalities such as De Pere, Glendale, Milwaukee, and Oak Creek in coordinating these public-park-based events. For Oshkosh, it will be the resumption of a legacy initiated in the 19th century.

Throughout the latter half of the 1800s, summer beer gardens were a staple here. Most wards featured an outdoor "beer resort" of some sort. The most ambitious of them was on the lakeshore just south of Menominee Park.

Oshkosh City Directory, 1869.

In 1869, Oshkosh hotelier Gustavus Bogk established Bogk's Pleasure Garden at what is now the end of Otter Avenue on the shore of Lake Winnebago. Bogk's resort was a sprawling, ten-acre beer garden that featured a bathing house, a dance hall, a restaurant, and a brass band playing every Sunday afternoon. The beer served there appears to have been provided by the three Oshkosh breweries then in operation. But it was a short-lived affair. Bogk, a serial entrepreneur who constantly teetered on the brink of bankruptcy, was forced by his creditors to abandon the property in 1871. It was the last of Oshkosh's lakeside beer gardens.

Brews on the Bay will revive that tradition with more backing than Gustavus Bogk was ever able to muster. "There's no way possible that we'd be able to do this without the help of the Oshkosh community," Jen McCollian says "We have some really great sponsors in addition to the breweries and the local restaurants. It's just something we would not be able to do without the support of the Oshkosh area community."

This post also appears in today's Oshkosh Herald.