Bo Black, Milwaukee Summerfest previous govt director, died Friday

She was Milwaukee’s a single and only, the irrepressible, unconquerable Elizabeth “Bo” Black.

Black presided around Summerfest, taking it from a regional extravaganza to an worldwide juggernaut, supplying Milwaukee a thing out of the ordinary, a glitzy, gotta-be-there event that lured the greatest names in songs.

“She was a pistol, pal, she was a pistol,” said her husband of 20 many years, former Milwaukee Brewers supervisor Tom Trebelhorn.

Black, who experienced been in declining overall health for a number of decades and was in hospice treatment in new days, died Friday morning at her house in Scottsdale, Arizona.

She was 74.

“I think she was ready to go,” Trebelhorn mentioned.

Trebelhorn mentioned Black will be extended remembered for her impact in creating up Summerfest.

He termed her “a dynamic administrator of probably the best loved ones neighborhood location in the background of the Midwest. She offered great amusement at a sensible value. She cherished the ethnic festivals, celebrated the diversity of the town.”

“It’s so unfortunate,” mentioned Blake Lindemann, just one of her three children. “She was a colourful, firecracker of a woman.”

He said his mother moved to Arizona when she left working the Massive Gig in 2003, but Milwaukee was generally on her head and in her coronary heart. She cherished the variety and excitement of Summerfest and held keep track of of what was going on there each and every yr.

“She normally built absolutely everyone feel unique, whether it was the Summerfest board or the janitor who was just buying up trash on the grounds,” explained Stephanie Anderson, one particular of Black’s two daughters. “That’s a impressive high quality that I hope my young children consider from her.” 

Summerfest officers mourned her demise and stated that underneath her management the 11-day party skilled expansive progress, earning the difference of remaining “The World’s Greatest Songs Pageant.”

“Bo was genuinely committed to establishing Milwaukee as the City of Festivals in the course of her tenure and labored tirelessly with a variety of ethnic festivals and other charitable will cause, helping to make sure their good results,” mentioned the assertion from the management of Milwaukee Earth Festival Inc., which oversees the Summerfest.

The assertion type Don Smiley, Howard Sosoff and Ted Kellner, a longtime board president, mentioned that Black still left her mark at Summerfest and “was a pressure.” “We are all grateful for her efforts, creativeness and aptitude, which support make Summerfest the unbelievable practical experience it is these days,” the statement explained.

Mayor Tom Barrett claimed no a person is additional involved with Summerfest than Black, even if she still left just about two a long time ago. 

“She brought enthusiasm and glamour to her situation as the head of Milwaukee Globe Festivals, and she was also a demanding chief who set Summerfest and ethnic festivals on a program for ongoing achievement,” Barrett said. “Bo Black was certainly a Milwaukee celeb. She will be extended-remembered for her influence on our town.”

Black was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1946, daughter of Joseph and Betty Mae Bussmann. She grew up in nearby Clayton, Missouri, section of a quite massive household. 

Anderson explained the Bussmann relatives is best identified for inventing the electrical fuse and that her mother was always proud of that heritage, making positive that every of her grandchildren had a Buss fuse as a household heirloom.

Black first arrived to Wisconsin to go to the College of Wisconsin-Madison, where she was the homecoming queen. She moved to Milwaukee with her first husband, William Black, when he obtained a work in the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Workplace.

Anderson said her mom had a transient stint as an actress at the Skylight Theater in Milwaukee, exactly where she was instructed that she would be a “better administrator than performer.” She often explained that remark was the explanation she left acting and went to perform at Summerfest. 

Black initially worked at Summerfest as administrative assistant to Summerfest director Henry Jordan in 1974-75. At the time she was named government director of Summerfest in October 1983, she was a member of Mayor Henry Maier’s staff and usually worked as a fundraiser on his campaigns.

From the start out, Black was deemed a deft political participant and not afraid to obstacle people today who underestimated her.

When she was named govt director, it surfaced that Black experienced been on the include of Playboy journal, in a soccer jersey in an situation from 1967.

When asked about in 1983, Black responded: “If I were a gentleman becoming named to the career, would any person genuinely care about a 16-calendar year-outdated picture?”

Black swiftly grew to become the deal with of Summerfest, and remained so for two many years, and frequently battled with Maier’s successor, John Norquist, around how much Summerfest ought to spend the city for rent of the competition grounds. 

In her 19 a long time as director, attendance at the 11-working day pageant has grown from 712,054 to more than a million in 2001 and 2002. Overall net revenue arrived at almost $11 million in 2002. 

Black was also important in substantially escalating company assist for Summerfest, a vital component to its survival and growth. Right after she took about as director in 1983, once-a-year sponsorship revenue increased by additional than 600% by 1996.

Underneath Black’s management, Summerfest opened the Marcus Amphitheater, now known as the American Loved ones Insurance coverage Amphitheater, in 1987, allowing the competition to proceed reserving some of the most significant stars on the earth for its most significant stage, including the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Prince, Bruno Mars, Girl Gaga and, on 15 instances, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Black also expanded Summerfest to involve a host of ethnic festivals. 

In September 2003, the Summerfest board voted to not renew Black’s contract. Even right after she still left the career and moved to Arizona, she remained recognized with the Major Gig: In 2007, a couple of months after she had a stroke, the festival named the grounds’ centerpiece fountain the Elizabeth Bo Black Children’s Fountain.

“She was the facial area of Summerfest for so a lot of many years,” mentioned longtime area concert promoter and Shank Hall proprietor Peter Jest. In 1985 and ’86, Jest labored at Summerfest, as the assistant for Bob Babisch, who has led the festival’s talent acquiring division due to the fact 1978. “She was a fantastic matter for Milwaukee mainly because everywhere you go you looked she was on a commercial or TV show hyping Summerfest,” Jest explained.

Jest claimed she was instrumental in making up Summerfest’s media existence, with almost each and every Television set station and radio station broadcasting from the pageant through her tenure.

“Bob’s expertise was the scheduling and hers was the PR,” Jest claimed. “She genuinely hyped it up very well.”

Black was a main pressure for Summerfest in a nearby music market that has, and proceeds to be, predominantly run by gentlemen.

Leslie West, who co-owned Alpine Valley Audio Theatre in East Troy for the duration of the start off of Black’s tenure, and has co-owned the Rave since 1992, explained Black “was the most genius marketing person I have at any time encountered in my full everyday living.”

“I’m comparing her to any band manager, any one that I’ve at any time encountered,” West mentioned. “There is no one that was much more genius than she was.”

Black is survived by her husband her three youngsters, Stephanie Anderson of Pelham, New York, Kellyn Lindemann of Scottsdale, Arizona, and Blake Lindemann of Los Angeles her brother Joseph A. Bussmann Jr. and her 4 grandchildren: Grace, Jack, Brewer and Brady.

Funeral arrangements are pending. Lindemann and Anderson said the household also hopes to keep a celebration of her life in Milwaukee. 

The spouse and children set up a web site for persons to publish memories of her at www.forevermissed.com/elizabeth-bo-black/. 

Chris Foran of the Journal Sentinel contributed to this story.

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