It's early on a Sunday summer morning
and the temperature is already in the 70's. The forecast
is for the upper 80's and high humidity. For most,
this dog day of summer promises to be a lazy one ®
sailing on Lake Michigan, a backyard barbecue, celebrating
a fest somewhere or sitting it out in the comfort
of an air conditioned home. But for SSBL's Miller
Park concession volunteers, it will be another intense
and grueling day serving beer, brats and fried cheese
curds to appreciative fans.
Volunteer
training took place on January 15 at the Milwaukee
Gay Arts Center (MGAC). This year dozens participated.
The majority are SSBL team players and managers but
umpires, friends and fans attended as well.
Each Brewers' home game requires
at least a dozen volunteers. They'll work six hours
- more if the game goes into extra innings. They'll
staff the front service line with 10 cashiers while
others work in the kitchen cooking brats, kosher dogs,
Polish and Italian sausages, waffle fries, baking
pizzas and pretzels under a constant barrage of orders.
Last year with the Brewers in contention
for first place, the Miller Park usually had a capacity
crowd of 45,000. Volunteer and NAGAAAFest committee
member Peter Nys said. ”it's like Bunker Hill...they
just keep coming. There may be a brief moment of calm
but then the next wave comes... it's constant action.
But everybody's in a good mood. After all, it's America's
favorite pastime and the fans are up for a party and
we're the perfect hosts.”
Brian Reinkober, SSBL commissioner
and 2009 Gay Softball World Series (GSWS) co-director,
is a permanent fixture. He covers all bases supervising,
wrapping dozens of sausages (blue for brats, red for
Polish, yellow for Italian and green for Kosher dogs),
running to fix a transaction when the cash register
balks and finally, counting up the night's tally
for that magic number – SSBL earns 10% of the
concession revenue.
The motivation of this diverse group
of SSBL player and fans, women and men, contributes
to one of LGBT Milwaukee's most successful stories.
Their effort raises money for the league and its tournaments.
Last summer's income is already earmarked for
NAGAAAFest 2009, the Gay Softball World Series to
be held in Milwaukee August 29 through September 7.
Beyond the benefit to the city's
gay quality of life, SSBL serves an ambassador to
the community at large. Most teams are co-ed and mixed
gay and non-gay, some with a 50% split.. "The
straight teams take it all too seriously. I want to
have fun playing. Gay teams are in it for the competition
but they also have a good time. Errors happen and
it's all part of the fun," said Will Pelfrey,
co-manager of the MGAC Scream.
Sharon from Miller Park Sports Services
manages F4, SSBL's home concession. She readily
admits SSBL is one of the top volunteer organizations.
She's required to give a pre-game briefing to
cover regulations – card anyone who looks under
30, two alcoholic beverages per ID and remember to
say "Welcome to Miller Park!"
Mona Garcia, SSBL secretary and
GSWS co-director, is another regular. Her realm is
managing the kitchen.
"Cheese curds!!!"
Melinda Grabowski, aka Buns, Kathy's
Nut Hut's team "voice" and pitcher
("hit and runs and hit and runs and hits and
runs") can shout an order back to the kitchen
without leaving her register. In fact, sometimes a
confused Brewer will deliver a soy dog to her after
hearing her echo in the dugout.
As the fans file out of Miller Park
in the joy of victory or agony of defeat, the SSBL
crew is busy counting buns. There's another
good hour of work to be done cleaning up the concession,
polishing the stainless steel surfaces and washing
out condiment dispensers. It's real work but
worth the sweat.
Not only does it raise much-needed
funds but SSBL's relationship with Miller Park
has even brought the Klement's Racing Sausages
to the Dairyland Classic Softball Tournament and they'll
be at NAGAAAFest as well.
Volunteers can still join the crew.
Training sessions are scheduled in the spring. For
information on how you can help at Miller Park or
during NAGAAAFest, go to www.series2009.org and click
on the Volunteer
icon.
