By Josh Staloch
Correspondent

GREEN BAY – On Broadway, Inc., Executive Director Brian Johnson said his organization’s funding situation has become dire, and without assistance from the community, Green Bay could be without some of its most familiar events once warm weather returns.

“We have almost 60 events a year that we put together,” Johnson said. “Our organization is heavily dependent on these events. So an entire year of income has basically been wiped away. It’s that income that would have funded the planning process for next year’s events.”

He said On Broadway needs to come up with $100,000 so it can bring back employees needed to coordinate the events people have grown accustomed to attending, including Taste on Broadway, The Farmer’s Market and Fire Over The Fox.

The group was forced to eliminate nearly all of its staff as a result of the 2020 shortfall brought on by COVID-19, said Johnson, the only employee left at On Broadway.

“What we’re trying to do with the crowdfunding campaign is to raise enough money so that we can re-hire the events staff necessary to start planning for 2021,” he said. “These are large-scale community events. They’re very complex, and you have to have a professional staff to pull off events of that magnitude.”

He said it takes a lot of work to coordinate things like special use permits, police presence and roadblocks, porta potties and clean up crews.

Johnson said the folks who handle such things need to be compensated, and given the circumstances, there aren’t any funds to do so.

The people who represent the Broadway District are reaching out to the community with a plea for help.

They want to raise a total of $100,000, with $25,000 coming from individual donations and $75,000 from grants and corporate sponsorships.

This will allow On Broadway to commence planning for 2021 events.

Folks who contribute $25 or more to the crowdfunding effort, by visiting tinyurl.com/SaveOnBroadway, are currently receiving a set of $5 gift cards from Copper State Brewing, Chefusion, Voyagers Bakehouse and Titletown Brewing Co.

The campaign, which has raised more than $7,000 since going live last week, will be offering different incentives for contributing listed on the website.