Racine Sun

The City of Racine put together a way for residents to come together and watch the Milwaukee Bucks compete in the NBA Finals. 

The mayor’s office was able to pull together resources from the city’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services (PRCS), Downtown Racine Corporation, Pub on Wisconsin and Littleport Brewing Company to change Racine’s Monument Square into Deer District for the upcoming Bucks games. 

The new Deer District plans to be open and operational for all the finals series games through the end of July, weather permitting. 

"We are happy to do something creative to let the community come together to watch the Bucks" Racine Mayor Cory Mason said in a post to his Facebook account on July 8. "Game is at 8 p.m. tonight. Come to our own Deer District Racine on Monument Square to watch the game."

TMJ4 Milwaukee reports that this plan came about spontaneously when Pub on Wisconsin brought out a couple TV’s to their bean bag tournament so they wouldn’t miss the action of the first game. The plan was revealed to the public only hours before game two of the series. Many view the watch parties as a sign that the COVID-19 pandemic is beginning to come to a close. 

The televisions for the watch parties will be provided by Pub on Wisconsin. It is also the hope of city officials that the events will spark take-out sales for restaurants in the area.