GREENFIELD — To raise money for the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Holyoke, former Greenfield Mayor Roxann Wedegartner will compete with Holyoke Mayor Joshua Garcia in a bartending contest at the 99 Restaurant & Pub on Colrain Road.
The contest will be held Friday, Oct. 10, from 5 to 7 p.m.
Although Mayor Ginny Desorgher was initially invited to bartend, Greenfield’s Chief of Staff Erin Anhalt said she could not attend due to a family obligation.
In an interview Wednesday, Wedegartner said she and her husband were dining at the restaurant when the bar manager asked her if she could participate.
“We were sitting at the bar and my husband asked the bartender what [the fundraiser] was about, because they had a sign up on the door. … [The bar manager] said, ‘We had this event planned and Mayor Desorgher had a conflict that she didn’t remember. I was about ready to have to cancel this and I really didn’t want to,'” Wedegartner recounted. “I said, ‘Well, sure, I’m happy to do that.’ I happen to know Josh Garcia well from the four years that I was mayor and we got along fine. I really like him.”
Wedegartner noted that while she wished the fundraiser benefited a nonprofit with roots in Greenfield, that decision was made by the restaurant and she is happy to support the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Holyoke.
Lacking bartending licensure or a particular talent in making cocktails, Wedegartner said she believes the event will mainly consist of pouring wine and beer while competing for tips. She said she watched the 99 Restaurant & Pub’s bartenders pour beers in preparation, studying their techniques.
“I’m looking forward to it. The rest of the afternoon that we were there, I was watching how they poured beers, because they had seemed to have a science to it so that everybody gets more beer than foam,” Wedegartner said. “Everyone should tip me heavily. It’s being done by tips and the bartender with the most tips wins a trophy.”
Garcia, in an interview Thursday, said that while he has no bartending experience, he has participated in charity bartending fundraisers before and is excited to help the nonprofit.
“I was a member there when I was young — it was my first job when I was in seventh grade. When I was 12 turning 13, I worked as a peer leader at the Holyoke Boys & Girls Club and worked there all throughout high school and college. My roots are deep with my local Boys & Girls Club,” Garcia said. “I’ve done a few of these celebrity bartending events and I am awful, let me tell you, but it’s always a good time. People come out and support.”
The Holyoke mayor added that he and Wedegartner interacted at regional meetings on a few occasions during her mayoral administration, explaining that he enjoyed trading notes on best practices. He said he is looking forward to reconnecting with her at the fundraiser.
