What a week it has been!
The euphoria surrounding Kamala’s presumptive Democratic Party nomination is palpable in Wisconsin, and my outlook for the election has taken a 180-degree turn.
I no longer feel like I need to FIGHT AGAINST a Trump victory in Wisconsin. Instead, I now want to FIGHT FOR Kamala Harris. Like so many other Americans, her candidacy gives me HOPE.
That’s why I’ve decided to rename our 12-week Wisconsin “Get Out The Vote” musical tour once again.
We started with the Antifa Oktoberfist Tour, and replaced the word “Antifa” (upon popular request) with the word “NOPE,” our popular #nevertrump logo.
Well even though we’ve put up two NOPE billboards, sold hundreds of NOPE yard signs, and even made NOPE sparkling water (which is actually now available to purchase online), the Minocqua Brewing Company is no longer in a "NOPE" mood. Our mood has changed to "HOPE," so we had to change the name of our 12-city “Get Out the Vote” tour for the third and last time.
Introducing the "HOPE: Oktoberfist Get Out The Vote Extravaganza Tour"
Sponsored by:
- HOPE: A Strong Presidential Espresso Stout
- NOPE: A #NeverTrump Lemon Lime Sparkling Water
- Antifa Oktoberfist: A Uniquely American Festbier
We’ve not only changed the name, but we’ve locked down 9 out of the 12 venues for the tour:
| 9/10/24 | Minocqua | Minocqua Brewing Company |
| 9/16/24 | Platteville | Broske Center |
| 9/17/24 | Lacrosse | The Cavalier Theatre |
| 9/18/24 | Viroqua | TBA |
| 9/19/24 | Eau Claire | Menomonie Market Food Co-op |
| 9/24/24 | Superior | White Winter Winery |
| 9/25/24 | Hudson | Hop and Barrel Brewing |
| 9/26/24 | Stevens Point | Pfiffner Building |
| 9/27/24 | Wausau | TBA |
| 10/1/24 | Oshkosh | TBA |
| 10/2/24 | Appleton | Stone Arch Brewpub |
| 10/3/24 | Green Bay | Titletown Brewing Company |
Not only that, but we’re changing the billboards we plan to put up in support of this musical rally in each city from our old NOPE signs to this new HOPE sign.
We "hope" to put up 12 billboards in each of the 12 cities we’ll be visiting on tour starting in September until election day on November 5th. Those billboards will advertise our rallies in each city, where we "hope" to gather 100-150 people for an evening of music, beer, and barn-burning political speeches that encourage attendees to volunteer for “GOTV” shifts with partner progressive groups over the last few weeks of the election.
Now here’s the ask:
I've hired a full-time organizer to liaise with progressive political groups, volunteers in each city, bands, and venues.
I will also need to pay for bands, lodging/travel, venue rentals, along with HOPE billboards in each city.
I'll try to offset a lot of these costs by selling beer/sparkling water at each event, but beverage sales won’t be enough.
I predict the average cost for each event (including paying the folks to organize it) will be about $5K, and the cost for each billboard will be about $1.75K, which is $6.75K x 12 cities = $81K.
There’s ~100K people on this mailing list, ~40K of you open almost every email that I send, and the average donation we usually get is $40. So doing the math, this means that if I can convince 2,025 of you to donate $40, we can fund this 12-city tour, put up inspirational Kamala billboards, create huge excitement right before the election, and recruit a LOT of volunteers to get out the vote for Kamala and other Wisconsin progressives "down ballot."
Here's a link to chip in to help us get all of this done.
Next step: MUSIC!
I've already asked a few of my friends to play at some of these gigs--including the fabulous guitarist Tommy Bentz at the Hudson event and Tom Kastle (a progressive troubadour) for some of the events in Southwest Wisconsin--but we're looking for more progressive local artists in each city on the tour to help energize the crowd.
I hesitate to put this out there because I fear I won't be able to handle the incoming emails, but if you live in one of these cities on the tour and would like to perform, please email me/my organizer at info@minocquabrewingcompany.com and include a link to your music. I can't guarantee we'll get back to you so please don't be offended if we don't, but I want to be as inclusive as possible with the limited staff we have.
Ok, that's all I have for you today, folks.
I CAN'T WAIT to get this tour started, and can't wait to blow the roof off of volunteer recruitment to help Kamala and down-ballot progressives get elected in Wisconsin.
Thanks for reading, and thanks for sticking with the Minocqua Brewing Company.
Together, we'll usher a BLUE WAVE into Wisconsin: one one beer and progressive GOTV volunteer at time.
Kirk Bangstad,
Owner, Minocqua Brewing Company
Founder, Minocqua Brewing Company Super PAC
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