Regina German Club pulls out of Mosaic, opens patio instead

The German pavilion will not return to the Mosaic Multicultural Festival this year.

“After looking at the numbers and much, much discussion we just thought, how exhausting it is and how much stress it is on the financial aspect of what we put in,” said Kerri Van Loosen, president of the Regina German Club.

Van Loosen said the core group of 10 to 12 workers who organize and set up the event, plus the 300 volunteers who work it are burned out.

The club usually spends about $40,000 to $60,000 on its pavilion and Van Loosen said they’ve always made a little money off it. However, a declining attendance and the current state of the economy are risk factors the club doesn’t want to gamble with.

Van Loosen said while she’s pinching pennies, she’s apprehensive on relying on people who may not be spending as much on food and drink at the pavilion.

“We’re just a little concerned financially because it’s a big investment with Mosaic. We’re not always guaranteed to make that money back,” said Van Loosen.

“We’re staying afloat. I wouldn’t say that we’re rolling hand over fist with profit but certainly we’re not floundering by any means.”

Instead, the club has decided to invest the money in its other events while building a new Biergarten patio in the space it has along the south side of the building.

“We were trying to capitalize on the trend throughout the city which is to have the beer patios,” said Van Loosen. “We thought we have the space here that we only use basically during Mosaic of Oktoberfest and its prime seating, so we’re developing our patio into a full seasonal bar patio for the summer months,” said Van Loosen.

She said sponsors are helping out with the project, donating seating, tables, lighting and patio stones. The club also hopes to attract customers during the Mosaic festival weekend as it plans to open the patio during that first weekend in June.

The club hasn’t ruled out ever returning to the Mosaic Multicultural Festival and will review its decision at a later date.

“It’s just going to depend how we feel after this year is over with and how the books look too.”