Who shuts down a July 4 parade? – Blaska Policy Werkes
Isn’t there anyone who can help this belligerent brewer?
At noon tomorrow, July 4, a City of Madison fire truck will lead a parade of kids on bicycles circling the streets surrounding Orchard Ridge Park. Parents will run alongside their youngest, pedaling furiously on tiny bikes, many with training wheels, decorated with red, white & blue whizzers. The Head Groundskeeper may bring up the rear aboard his 1950 Allis Chalmers G tractor, as he has done in past parades, this time hoping not to run out of gas. The parade is all of three blocks long but is chock-full of neighborly good will.
Peacefully and patriotically?
Not Up North in Minocqua WI, apparently. The owner of the local brew pub actually vows to stop the vacation city’s Independence Day parade. Just when you thought Kirk Bangstad couldn’t sink any lower, the progressive pain in the neck posted this call to arms:
If we can get 100 people to commit to show up to our taproom this Friday to block the 4th of July Parade from happening in Minocqua — not only to protest the unconscionable and illegal arrest of our customers by Oneida County Sheriff Grady Hartmann last Friday, but to also protest the recent passage of a corrupt federal budget that will hurt all working people in the state of Wisconsin — then we will move forward with our plan to peacefully shut down Minocqua’s July 4 parade at 4 p.m. this coming Friday. …
We fully expect this protests may lead to some arrests and we can assure you the Oneida County jail is not a fun place to be. … The more of us who show up, however, the harder it will be for them to put all of us in jail.
[UPDATE:] Bangstad couldn’t get anyone to disrupt today’s July 4 parade; it went off without a hitch.
Bangstad says he was delivering a political speech on 06-27-25 at his Minocqua Brewing Co. when he called out local newspaper publisher Gregg Walker from across the street. A source called Bring Me The News reports that the Oneida County Sheriff claims about 30 people at the brewery were “consistently yelling profanities across the highway.” Watch his video.
Bangstad was charged 06-30-25 with disorderly conduct, harassment, and bail jumping. The bail conditions stem from a 2023 slander case in which Bangstad was fined $750,000 after he falsely claimed Walker let his own brother die in order to inherit the family business. Walker on Wednesday 07-02-25 filed for a restraining order against Bangstad, who was defeated for Assembly in 2020 as a Democrat. The brewer now resides here in Madison, where he has a much heralded brew pub on E. Washington Ave.
Progressive bona fides
According to Wisconsin Public Radio, Bangstad in 2021 launched the Minocqua Brewing Company Super PAC, sponsoring billboards promoting Democrats and attacking Republicans. It has also funded failed lawsuits targeting Wisconsin’s school voucher programs and against school districts that dropped protective COVID-19 measures (which ultimately proved useless and harmful). Tried to keep Trump off Wisconsin’s 2024 ballot.
A civil lawsuit filed in February 2025 alleges that Bangstad defrauded his donors to his liberal super PAC to pay himself nearly half a million dollars, according to Wisconsin Public Radio. (Irony alert:)
Bangstad … accused WPR of being part of a Republican effort ‘to hurt my super PAC and hurt my activism.’
Blaska’s Bottom Line: Every small town has its town drunk, delusional crank, and cat lady. We expend precious pixels on this progressive polluter of the public square only because his call to disrupt Minocqua’s Independence parade attracted 1,455 thumbs-up “Likes” as of noon today. Tells us where progressives are at these days.
Will Bangstad get his 100 Friday in Minocqua?
