Milwaukee 2020 DNC Day 1: High Fences And Empty Streets

MILWAUKEE, WI — The 2020 Democratic National Convention quietly kicked off Monday in Milwaukee — a significant departure from the raucous beginning organizers hoped for when it was picked over Miami and Houston to host the Democratic Party's signature event.

"The show is finally starting, yet there is a calmness," Marty Brooks, president and CEO of the Wisconsin Center District, told Patch. "There's an energy, but it's inside the building. It's here, it's happening, and we are excited to be a part of it."

Brooks said it's been a long journey from the heady days when Milwaukee was slated to host nearly 50,000 guests and a four-day roll call of the Democratic Party's top officials and up-and-comers.

"We are so excited to have the DNC here in any form," Brooks told Patch. "But they're originating their convention here in Milwaukee, and Milwaukee and Wisconsin are getting worldwide exposure — even if it's just a mention."

As the sun rose over Milwaukee on Monday, it gave light to the city blocks that surround the Wisconsin Center — the roughly 20-year-old venue that's hosting the almost entirely virtual convention in the heart of the city's downtown just west of the Milwaukee River.

Cars and buses thrummed down West Michigan Street unimpeded by convention foot or vehicular traffic of any kind. The only disruption to everyday life was the presence of an 8-foot-tall steel-mesh security fence encircling the Wisconsin Center and its parking lot to the south.

Morning commuters strode along the outside of its perimeter on their way to work. Phalanxes of Milwaukee police officers matched their private-sector counterparts' course and speed as they patrolled the interior of the convention grounds.

Stephen Parlato of Boulder, Colorado, an artist who writes and illustrates children's books, was among the first — and only — demonstrators to take up residence outside the security fence Monday morning, keeping a 7-foot-long banner aloft by hoisting its support wire over his shoulders.

"I still have faith in the press and that the press would be here," he told Patch. "It's the one bulwark that we have left that we can use to circulate our views every chance we can get."

Parlato said he knew in advance that Milwaukee's convention would be of the scaled-back variety but wanted to come nonetheless. He said he took a Frontier Airlines flight out of Denver to get to Milwaukee two days in advance. He booked a room at a hotel just down the street and dined at a local Subway sub shop.

"I've prepared about a dozen large banners," he told Patch. "If things go right, I have a 10-foot helium balloon that I'll use for a celebratory ceremony during the coronation, so to speak."

Original estimates put Wisconsin earning a roughly $200 million windfall as a result of hosting the convention in its original size and scope. Local businesses such as hotels and restaurants will see almost none of that due to the convention's almost entirely virtual nature.

And on the ground merely a block away from the Wisconsin Center, it was largely business as usual. Restaurant row along Old World Third Street opened their doors just before lunchtime to welcome a few stragglers into their outdoor patios and open storefronts.

In many ways, Major Goolsby's, 340 W. Kilbourn Ave., was perfectly positioned for a convention-era windfall. Resting on corner of Kilbourn and Vel. R. Phillips Avenue, this decades-old sports tavern is one of the closest to the convention.

It's a joint steeped in Wisconsin lore. Professional athletes Reggie Jackson and Charles Barkley used to stop in when they were in town. A car-sized piggy bank named "Charles Barkley" used to hang from the bar's ceiling and was used to raise funds when Reggie White's Tennessee church burned down in 1996.

On Monday, life-size cardboard cutouts of Jackson, Barkley, and White joined other Milwaukee legends such as Bob Uecker, Robin Yount and Giannis Antetokounmpo at tables across the restaurant to help enforce the 6-foot social distancing rule and 50 percent capacity limit set by Milwaukee health officials.

And for a lunchtime crowd for a mostly-virtual convention, business was light.

"It's been a major blow to business, especially since the committee decided to tell the delegates not to go to the bars and restaurants. Whether they're actually going to stay away or not, it's still a big deal," Marty Petricca, general manger of Major Goolsby's, told Patch. "That's a lot of business that we lost."