Beer garden, prayer space, Convention Fest: RNC said it needed Pere Marquette Park so it couldn't be a protest zone. So why is it empty?

Pere Marquette Park has been largely deserted during the Republican National Convention, despite being specially included in the credentials-only security perimeter, a move that eliminated the prospect of using the park as a protest zone.

The lack of use of the park raises questions about its inclusion in the credentials-only "hard" security zone, a decision U.S. Secret Service officials said was based on the RNC's rental of the Milwaukee County Historical Society on the park's southwest corner.

Until that decision, the park had long been seen as the likely location of a city-designated protest zone, in part because of its proximity to Fiserv Forum and the other convention venues.

Instead, the Historical Society's events manager has set up a beer garden in the park, to try to cater to the convention's visitors. But hardly anyone has visited, its operator said.

"There has been zero foot traffic," said Ramsey Renno, co-owner of Two Birds Event Group, which manages event rentals for the Historical Society.

Last month's announcement that the park would be included in the credentials-only zone came after Republican National Committee officials had made repeated objections to the park being used as a protest space, citing concerns over delegates' and other visitors' safety. At one point, the party applied to use the park for a "non-denominational faith prayer gathering," a plan that didn't materialize.

Nearby businesses had also raised objections over possible disruptions to their business, and the Historical Society had expressed concerns over possible damage to its building and grounds.

The Historical Society applied for and ultimately was granted a permit from the county Parks Department to rent out the whole park from July 14-19 for an "activation space" in conjunction with the rental of the Historical Society by the "RNC committee."

As recently as last week, convention planners had said they envisioned that the park would serve as an extension of Convention Fest for delegates. Convention Fest is a vendor fair outside the convention showcasing local Milwaukee businesses.

"We applied for the application because the Republican National Committee indicated that they might extend their activities into the park as part of the rental of the Society building. Ultimately, they didn't do that," said Historical Society Executive Director Ben Barbera.

The Republican National Convention did not immediately respond to emails and a voicemail with questions Wednesday about how the park was being used.

The Historical Society had a two-hour cocktail reception at its building on Monday, with 100 to 200 attendees, and on Thursday, has a luncheon for an estimated 300 people inside its building, said Barbera. Other than that, the park has been "very quiet," he said.

"During the day, I'm not seeing any activity in the park, other than law enforcement doing periodic checks," Barbera said.

Possibly contributing to the emptiness in the park was a somewhat confusing route through security that requires a Secret Service escort across part of North King Drive to get into the park.

"There is this kind of double barrier that seems to make it very inaccessible," Renno said. "It doesn't lend itself to the conventiongoers to freely move throughout the park, which is what we were originally hoping for."

The only apparent way into the park — where a tented area shading picnic tables in front of a beer trailer is visible from the State Street bridge — is from the west side of the intersection at West Kilbourn Avenue and North King Drive.

"We were hoping it (the park) would be included in that area where all the Convention Fest was going to spill over into," Renno said. "Unfortunately based on the security perimeter that they put in place, it does make it ... very challenging for people."

There also was confusion among law enforcement policing the security perimeter near the park about who was allowed in the park — or whether anyone at all was allowed in. Law enforcement, including with the Secret Service, incorrectly told multiple reporters with the Journal Sentinel on separate occasions Wednesday they were not allowed in the park, even with the right credentials. Some law enforcement officers said no one was allowed in the park at all.

The reporters eventually were allowed in, after another contacted the Secret Service for clarification on access to the park. A Secret Service spokesperson confirmed that all Secret Service-credentialed people are allowed into the park.

It is unclear whether other, credential-holding convention visitors have been turned away from the park.

It is also unclear what the hours of the beer garden at park are. Someone was behind the bar at the beer garden Monday, but on Wednesday afternoon, the beer garden was untended and deserted, Journal Sentinel reporters observed.

Renno said Wednesday he would need to check with his team on how much in sales the beer garden has done so far. He did not return a follow-up phone call later Wednesday.

On Wednesday, picnic tables spread across the lawn at Pere Marquette were empty, and no one was in sight on the grass or under the pavilion.

A blue-and-white-striped tent shaded a cluster of empty picnic tables on one side of the park near a small trailer with Miller Lite logos on the side. Nearby stood a row of unoccupied portable toilets. A sign hanging over a nearby railing said "America's Beer Garden."

On Wednesday, Secret Service spokesperson Alexi Worley pointed to information from the Republican National Committee that "official convention business" would be taking place within the Historical Society's building as part of the reason the park was placed in the credentials-only perimeter.

"The executive steering committee (a group of public safety representatives from local and federal agencies, including the Secret Service) determined that, based on the result of a threat assessment, the park would need to fall within the security perimeter in order to ensure the highest level of safety and security for the convention and the public," she said in a statement.

Besides the two Historical Society events, no other events or goings-on at the park are apparent.

When Pere Marquette Park was passed over for the protest zone, two other sites were designated by the city as the demonstration zones: Zeidler Union Square, about five blocks south of Fiserv Forum, and Haymarket Square, a relatively small lawn about two blocks north of Fiserv at West McKinley Avenue and North King Drive.

The demonstration zones have been largely deserted during the convention, populated only by a handful of demonstrators at times.

More: Demonstrators who hoped to spread their message at the Milwaukee RNC find no audience

Protest groups, including the Coalition to March on the RNC 2024, had previously argued that even Pere Marquette Park, two to three blocks from Fiserv, was not close enough to the convention venue to be heard by delegates and others gathered for the convention.

Zeidler Union Square is within the "soft" security perimeter, where anyone is allowed and extra security measures are in place, but it is relatively isolated from the convention itself.

Some groups looking to demonstrate at the RNC, such as anti-abortion demonstrators, weren't necessarily opposed to Republican causes. Some didn't necessarily have a partisan message. The nonprofit Truth Pharm gathered at Zeidler Union Square on Wednesday looking to bring attention to the opioid epidemic in the United States.

But 40 minutes into their 11 a.m. event, no one showed up — not even the other group that was scheduled to speak.

"We feel a little bit deceived," said Madelyn Robinson, 18. "Our team is a little bit frustrated because it was assumed that we would be closer to the RNC event, and there will be foot traffic here."

Reporters Gina Castro, Jordyn Noennig and Alex Groth, of the Journal Sentinel staff, contributed.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Why is Pere Marquette Park empty, difficult to access, blocks from RNC