The Madison South Rotary Club's Brat Stand History
By Dick Rehberg

But for a quirk of fate and a scheme we didn't know was next to impossible to carry out, Madison South Rotarians might still be putting on turkey shoots and selling light bulbs every year to raise money!

It all began at a Fireside Chat I attended as a new member at Joe Daniel's in the fall of 1972. At some point then president Gerry Surfus admitted that the recent turkey shoot had been a bust. "We've simply got to find a better way to raise money," he said. I looked at Dick Hoerz who, as I had, recently moved to Madison from Sheboygan where as members of the JC's we had been involved in their annual "Bratwurst Day." The town's one big event held the first weekend in August each year attracted 20,000 plus beer drinking, brat eating revelers that even in those days "contributed" thousands of dollars to the JC’s and others. "Madison people won't come out for brats and beer," he said. "How many people attend a UW football game," I asked. Someone guessed 20,000 or more. "At least we could sell brats and beer to all the Sheboygan and Milwaukee fans," I replied.

This sparked an exchange of ideas. Where could we put a brat stand? Joe Daniels responded that he had just got the contract to level the gas station right across the street from the stadium and that it was next to city property. President Surfus, who happened to work for the City, volunteered to twist a few arms at City Hall to find out if we could lease or rent the land and what whoops we had to go through. There were no concessions around the stadium at that time and there was considerable concern that the brat stand would not be too profitable. "Why not see if we can use the 30 or so feet of railroad property, put the brat stand up at the point where the people are and park cars on the rest of the property?" Bill Thompson asked. That was it! we would get everybody (all 23 members) involved.

And so it was...and is today a reality the value of which has exceeded our best expectations. The City gave us permission to use the land and we got the beer permit with little or no problem that first year. As for the railroad John Yougquist and Dick Freye negotiated a deal that involved a buck a year plus a bottle or two of whisky and the feeding of train crews that passed through on Saturday mornings.

The first game we parked cars for a dollar. I think we charged motor homes $5. When all was said and done, the brats and beer operation was far more profitable than the car parking and, believe it or not, not as complicated especially on rainy Saturdays!
So, in the fall of 1974 the only cars we parked were our own. Considering the primitive equipment we had and because we wanted to have authentic "Sheboygan Bratwurst" it is a wonder how we survived. We had to order our brats uncooked. They were delivered fresh from Sheboygan to a meat market on the East side of town on Friday! The buns were hard, round buns, the only kind Sheboygan brat eaters liked. Thus, we had to special order them from Gardner Bakery on Wednesday. The bakery delivered them to the stand Saturday morning. The brats were cooked on big picnic charcoal grills taking a half hour or more to fully cook each brat! The practice of stewing the brats in beer, butter and onions, is part of the Sheboygan/German tradition. We offered single and double brats, Pepsi, Sprite, and canned Beer cooled in a cattle water tank filled with ice. As you can imagine running out of beer, buns and or brats or misjudging the game attendance was a real problem and it still is!

And so it was for a number of years until the City passed a law outlawing the sale of beer on City land. They also decided to build a Fire Station on their land and were negotiating the purchase of the Illinois Central's right of way. But, fate and luck were on our side. We decided to "go for it! Our ace in the hole was member, Ed Durkin, who just happened to be Madison's Fire Chief. Our "good neighbor," the railroad, offered us their property for $14,000. To keep the City from out bidding us, with Ed's help and inside man Madison policeman, George Croal, we got the City to agree to a "deal" We would give the property back to the city. In return, they would name it "Madison South Rotary Park" and allow us to use it and to sell beer on UW football game days as long as we "behaved ourselves". Financing the "deal" involved a loan through Bob Gorsuch and the Park Bank guaranteed by several of us. Joe Daniels & crew landscaped the area, planted trees and grass and each fall put in the electrical service, supplied the fencing and barrels. Each game day Bob filled a bag of bills and change at his bank and saw that it made it to the stand. The proceeds were later counted, usually on somebody's living room floor, and returned to the bank with profits going to the MSRC account. The loan was paid off in a year!

What we were able to do then and now demonstrates that the Rotary concept that brings business and professional people, all with different classifications together, makes doing the possible, even the impossible, very probable in the final analysis. And that, is beyond our founder’s fondest dreams.