Buffalo Street between Center and Main streets will be closed March 17 for a St. Patrick’s Day event featuring food, drinks and live music. The City of Warsaw Board of Public Works and Safety Friday morning approved closing that section of Buffalo Street, along with the east-west alley between Center and Main streets, from 11 a.m. to midnight March 17. The St. Patrick’s Day event is from 7 to 11 p.m. Jason Brown, owner and operator of One Ten Craft Meatery, said his business celebrated its first anniversary in January. “Over the last year we didn’t want to delve into doing any external holiday events, really getting too involved in the community. In the first year, we wanted to make sure we could do what we were doing,” he said. Now that One Ten is into its second year, he said he feels it is the business’s obligation to get involved in the downtown and help get more foot traffic downtown. With the next “major” holiday coming up being St. Patrick’s Day, Brown said, “We’ve spoke to a handful of other vendors and restaurants around the area, around the downtown district, primarily Mad Anthony’s, B’Macs, Oak & Alley, Three Crowns. We’re still in communication with some other people to try and get them involved.” Brown said they want to put up a tent on Buffalo Street in front of One Ten, but that would require Buffalo Street to be shut down for the entire day to allow for set-up and tear-down. Initially, he said they considered putting the tent up in the back alley, but didn’t feel it would be as well received as if it was on the street side. There will be designated areas for ages 21 and over and for families. He said the event’s emphasis won’t be on alcohol, but added being around St. Patrick’s Day he was sure people would be drinking. “I do feel like this would be a good way to get the community involved in feeling like coming downtown is reasonable and there are reasons to come downtown,” he said. A menu for the event hadn’t been created yet and the other “legwork” hasn’t been completed, Brown said, because they were waiting to see if the city would approve the street closure first. Mayor Joe Thallemer asked Warsaw Police Department Lt. Kip Shuter if he looked at the street closure request. Shuter responded, “We worked with Jason and also Josh (Fricke) and Paula (Bowman), in getting all this coordinated. We made contact with the fire chief and also the street superintendent.” He said the fire department had no issues with it, and street had no problems with it as long as stakes weren’t driven into the asphalt for the tent. Shuter added that putting a tent in the alley is not an option because of the utilities that are back there. “Buffalo Street is basically the only other option,” Shuter said. Thallemer asked if the merchants affected by the street closure had been notified of the closure. Bowman said it would mostly affect her business, Latte Lounge. Brown said Old National Bank and B’Macs are on board with them. The only other concern Thallemer had was the volume of the music. He said he wanted to make sure there wasn’t an expectation that the music would be played “loudly” as there are residents downtown he wanted to be sensitive to. “If you’re just going to have some acoustic playing in the tent, that’s a lot different than Mumford & Sons out there ripping it,” Thallemer said, noting that was one of his favorite bands. Brown said he was actually in talks with a local band, James & The Drifters, to play. Thallemer and Brown agreed to sit down later and talk about the timeline of the band playing. In response to a question from Thallemer, Bowman said she could notify the Warsaw Community Development Corp. about the event and see if they wanted to get involved. “I think it’s a great idea,” Thallemer said of the St. Patrick’s event. “Probably a lot of fun.” Brown agreed, saying they would like for it to become an annual event if it works out. Thallemer joked, “You know, we’re kind of looking for something to take the place of ‘The Bachelor’ downtown carnival.” Shuter said there’s still a few things for Brown to take care of, including contacting the state excise police for a permit. Thallemer told Brown that Bowman would be his go-to for any city services he will need. Toward the end of the meeting, Thallemer reported he was in Indianapolis for Legislative Day this past week and there was “a lot of things bubbling that could affect the community.” The biggest issue was road funding. “It looks to me like the legislature is committed to doing something. They’re talking about returning some local option income tax, reserves to the community for that. There’s talk about many different ways to handle that,” he said. The state legislature will be done in about three weeks, so he advised everyone keep their ears and eyes open to what is going on down there. “I think we’re going to end up having some assistance with road funding, some much-needed assistance,” Thallemer said. “We’ll have to hold our breath and see what happens.” Locally, Thallemer said the trash program is moving ahead. The new trash truck will be out at the next three consecutive First Fridays. “We’re just asking for patience and understanding as we move forward with this really exciting, cost-effective, very safe program that we needed to get to this point, and I’m glad we’re there,” he stated. Curbside trash pick-up will begin May 9 so Thallemer said there was plenty of time to work details out. If anyone did not choose whether they wanted a 64- or 96-gallon container, Thallemer said they can contact the street department. In other business, the Board of Works approved: • An agreement between the Warsaw Police Department and Cardinal Tracking Inc. for parking control. The one-year service agreement for TickeTrak software license and customer support is for $1,942.20 annually. • An agreement between the Parks & Recreation Department and Warsaw Community Schools for Lakeview Middle School auditorium rental in case of rain for the Central Park Concert Series. Cost is $400 per use. The agreement is only for the nine smaller summer concerts that are held in the plaza and not the “big” concerts, Recreation Director Sheila Wieringa told the board. The city will have cancellation insurance if the bigger concerts are cancelled due to weather. • Travel requests and the claims docket.
