By Cathy Kimmel-Srock
Review Staff Writer
The running joke may feature the question, what happens when a pastor and cop walk into a bar, but the realistic answer is great things for the community.
And that’s exactly the case with this year’s first annual Clergy, Cops, and Beer event, held Saturday in downtown Lake Orion.
The event, held out in the street in front of 51 North, benefited Lake Orion United Methodist Church, the Lake Orion Police Department’s Kids and Kops Charity and The Daisy Project, which funds the upkeep of the special needs playground equipment at Friendship Park.
According to John Ball, associate pastor at LO UMC, the event was really conceived over a cup of coffee with Lake Orion Police Chief Jerry Narsh.
“I was sharing my dream, my passion about what we were wanting to do and mentioned to Jerry that we would like to get them on board and do something in a collaborative way while utilizing the brewery,” said Ball.
Those initial conversations, which started in February, were for what Ball was envisioning as a “simple little party” in front of the brewery, a frequent host for a variety of fundraisers to benefit the community.
“Then, of course, how it works being around incredible people who aren’t satisfied with just having things happen in a minimalist fashion, they amped it up quite a bit,” he added.
And amped it up, it did. Broadway was shut down between Flint and Shadbolt for the block party, which featured roasting pigs, beer, local vendors, live bands and displays by the LO Police Department, LO Fire Department and Sparky’s Clubhouse, a volunteer organization that educates about fire prevention.
According to Narsh, they started the pigs, four of them at 250 lbs. each, at 9 p.m. the night before the event and were cooking until 3 a.m. in preparation for the event, but it was well worth it.
“We couldn’t have asked for a better day,” said Narsh, noting that it was a great starting point for the annual event.
“It’s going to be a good blueprint moving forward.”
In addition to pulled pork, beans and coleslaw, served up by volunteers from LO UMC, the event also featured coffee from ABeanToGo and even a special brew created by 51 North’s master brewer Adam Beratta. The beer, called “Orbitsuns Kolsch Style Ale,” was named after the headliner band for the night, the Orbitsuns. In fact, Orbitsuns front man, Vinnie Dombroski, even helped Beratta with the design and brew, according to Narsh.
While donations and funds are still being organized and counted, the groups look forward to the ways it can be poured back into the community.
“All of those monies are being plugged right back into our community in one way or another to address a particular need,” Ball explained.
The three organizations benefited by the event will split the proceeds equally.
The Daisy Project, a nonprofit organization that helps special needs families improve their quality of life, is the group that is to thank for the upkeep and expansion of the special needs playground equipment (originally donated by the nonprofit Sister Souls) at Friendship Park.
The LOPD Kids and Kops Charity will utilize their funds for their Shop with a Cop program, which helps underprivileged kids at Christmas time, a program they raise $15,000 a year to operate, according to Ball.
Lake Orion United Methodist Church will utilize their portion for a variety of community programs they run, including their free weekly Monday dinners that are open to the community, the psychiatric therapeutic services they offer those that cannot afford them and their Help Kids Succeed program, which allows educators to contact them for students who have families struggling financially and may need help with things like medication costs or doctor’s bills.
“One of the things that I can’t say enough about who the people are that are a part of LO UMC is that they are totally in love with this community and they are totally in love with the people that are a part of it,” Ball said. “I think that’s the foundation for everything that we do.”
That identity, plus their love of a good time, is what really was a driving force in the creation of this event, according to Ball, which came together with the help of 51 North and a lot of sponsors.
“A load of sponsors from this community gave generously and we want to make sure that we thank them,” he added. They plan on making it an annual event.