All right.

We are on the air with our November fourth work session.

And we start with an update from our events and volunteer coordinator Dan Harris on What's Coming up this winter.

Thank you very much, Mayor Bailey Counselors, for having me here with you once again.

I am Dan Harris, your events and volunteer coordinator.

And for anybody who would like to talk to me after this about any of the information shared today can be reached events at Milwaukee, Oregon dot com.

So this year we're going to do something that not at all different really we're going to do these two same rate events that we have been doing.

We are all for continuing to partner with Milwaukee to bring back the bike decorating contest this year, and the uh downtown lions of Milwaukee will be present to announce the winners of their uh storefront decorating contests.

Uh we are we are uh right now finalizing an agreement with a um a professional sound uh I'm sorry, audio engineer.

And so hopefully we will not have any kind of a repeat of last year's uh last year's audio troubles.

Although to be a point raised by I think everyone on this council at that event and several people who I've just talked to in the last year, we will also have a megaphone on hand.

Yeah, um but yes, this is gonna kick off in the South Downtown Plaza at 4:30 on Saturday, December 6th.

Um, anybody wishing to uh be judged or to enter into the umbrella contest umbrella decorating contest is asked to arrive by uh 415.

So it's actually a little bit misleading.

The website, I believe, does say 415.

We'll make sure it does.

Hey, Solstice.

Um I'm gonna just say quickly that Solstice is coming up on December 20th in this town.

We do umbrella parade on the first Saturday in December, and we do Solstice on the third Saturday in December.

And then this year is December 20th, so pretty close to the actual solstice.

Uh, it's gonna be in Milwaukee Bay Park down at the boat ramp from 4:30 to 7.30 p.m.

Uh you can come out and expect to see uh the Llewellyn NDA providing uh uh all of the wonderful refreshments that they have over the years.

We'll have the Ardenwald Johnson Creek NDA out selling um uh light up toys and and various other fun uh things.

There we go, that's a good word for that.

Really what I want to talk about with this though is that we are witnessing a little bit of a sea change this year.

This is going to be the very last year for the core group of people who have helped to organize the Lowelling MBA to provide um to provide food, and that revenue historically has gone to support Llewellyn's summer concert series.

So for anybody who has ever been to a Llewellyn concert in the last couple of decades, know that I've been supported in part by proceeds from this event.

And when I say the last couple of decades, um I want to really reflect on that because what we've had truly is is a core group of four people.

Sheila Oaks, Howie Oaks, Lisa Lashbrook, Stefan Lashbrook, and four of them together.

Um, I mean, along with many, many members of the community, but the four of them together have really been the core of this since inception.

I mean, I think a lot of people don't really realize that the origin of the solstice celebration here in Milwaukee was people telepating in a gravel park.

And if you look, I mean, that this is the oldest picture that I could find of the area.

This this seems to be from um 20, like winter 2013, into 2014.

Uh, it could not have been any later than 2014, but these these celebrations were going on down there earlier than that.

The picture on the right is last year.

It has grown considerably, and they have been there every single year making it happen.

So I don't want anyone to worry.

The city has plans in place for what it's going to look like in the future, and we're going to continue to adapt and evolve those.

Um, I've had some conversations with some of the local uh food vendors who participated in Milwaukee Fest about potentially coming in to bend.

There's always the option to hire food trucks, which um we looked at a few years ago when it seemed like maybe it was time for for uh our Lowelling crew to be um to be moving on, um, and and it wasn't viable then just due to some constraints around the pandemic.

Point is this is going to be an event very much like what we've seen in the past years.

And next year we're gonna continue to celebrate.

We're gonna continue to come together.

But there'll probably be any menu, and hopefully the familiar faces that have done so much to support this event and this community will have a chance to either take some time off and enjoy it or get far, far away from here.

I think they'd like to have vacation.

Yeah, take some time off at December.

Um I guess I'm curious.

So when I was when I started going to it, which was probably 20 years ago, um, I was the neighborhood chair in Island Station.

We wanted in on the action.

We tried to um we had a proposal to we wouldn't sell anything that duplicated when they were selling, we were gonna sell something else.

Um, and there was, you know, there was sort of a line in the saying, oh, they were the first, and they came out when no one else came out.

And um, so I guess my question is are there not other neighborhoods who want to step in?

There sure aren't, Mayor.

Um, we floated this to all of the NDAs, and we let them know hey, if you if you think maybe you're interested, if you think there might be some capacity to take this on, let me know, I will connect you with the organizers with the with Blue Lane.

They were so happy to sit down and have that conversation.

Um, there were some nibbles from Lynnwood and Historic Milwaukee, but uh I'm sorry, not historic Milwaukee, uh Island Station, but ultimately there just there wasn't enough interest.

And Artenwald doesn't want to expand what they do, they like their they're happy where they're at, is my understanding.

So I heard from Island Station someone that they would maybe like to partner with.

I think that's the problem is that great.

Let's do that.