Photo via Ben Slowey
Bremen Cafe
Bremen Cafe
Riverwest’s Bremen Cafe (901 E. Clarke St.) tried something new this year with their recurring flea and craft market event Bremen Bazaar. Working to bring together the community, they have featured everything from vendors to street games to raffle prizes to live music to the Don Pastor food truck and more. Rachael Thompson and Jordan Baumhardt are the Bazaar’s two main organizers.
Baumhardt explains that it all started in March when it was supposed to be a one-time thing. “I got furloughed at work, so I was only working every other week, and while I was off one week I had a lot of stuff to go through. I brought up the idea with a couple other Bremen regulars that we should come together for a little flea market. We set up a tent outside and it became a big party that day.”
Thompson adds, “Jordan brought the idea to my attention, and since I love organizing stuff and I like to party, why not make it a bigger thing!”
From that point on they would bring Bremen Bazaar back with components such as a 50/50 raffle sponsoring local causes, plus they would team up with Bremen Community Garden across the street. Such expansion naturally culminated into their Bremen Bazaar Block Party in July, which featured a dunk tank with Liam Butler-Green and Russell Fox for some extra fun. “My head was spinning that day,” Thompson said, laughing. “Next time we need a party committee. People loved the dunk tank.”
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Thompson—who has played in a myriad of local bands such as Iron Pizza, Pussy Collector, and Tell Me—has worked at Bremen Cafe on-and-off for over a decade. “The first time I ever started booking shows was for Bremen,” she recalled. “It got me into the mindset of joining forces with other like-minded folks like Jordan and making this into a thing. There’s a real family mentality there so it felt like the perfect spot.”
The event has been a hit. “When Don Pastor first came to the second one they sold out in like four hours,” Baumhardt said. “The DIY nature of Riverwest helped everything work so well. The intersection is a four-way stop and there’s a lot of sidewalk space on both sides of the building. Plus the back room is open for people who don’t want to set up outside.”
There have been five Bremen Bazaars so far. Raffle prizes have ranged from Pabst Theater Group show tickets to Eden Meat Market beef jerky to a gift certificate to Puddler’s Hall to goodies from local businesses such as Lakefront Brewery, Amorphic Beer and Lion’s Tooth and so much more. Thompson and Baumhardt have had help from Margot Nielson, Jake Hess and Diana Perez with organizing the Bazaars as well. “People have been asking us when the next one is,” Thompson said. “We started slowing down after the summer but hopefully we can keep doing them.”
The two have taken initiative to keep hosting unique community events at Bremen Cafe. Coming up on December 3 there will be a fundraiser hosted by the Riverwest Street Hockey Club to buy a storage container for the neighborhood ice rink plus donations for La Escuela Fratney Physical Education program will be accepted. In the future when Bremen Bazaar returns, they hope to have more diversity with what folks are selling. “Hopefully every summer we can have that block party,” Thompson said. “I couldn’t take it in because I was running around the whole time but next time we’ll definitely have more hands on deck.”
Fun fact: Iron Pizza played a reunion show for the Block Party - their first show in four years. They have been playing out more since with new songs and a new lineup.
“Coming from Cactus Club,” Thompson continued, “I watched how Kelsey started the Beet Street Festival and that really helped me understand how to organize an event like this. The scrambling is real … the first time you do it, you really learn from it. I work Wednesday nights at Bremen now and we just had a chili cook-off which was so fun and cozy. Once a month now we’re going to do different cook-offs while it’s winter; in December we’ll be doing a cookie contest and then in January we’re doing a soup contest. Free food always brings a community together (laughs).”
Visit Bremen Cafe’s website here: bremencafe.com.
