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8. Interview with Melissa Streit
and Emily Carlson (Part 1)
Interview
with
Melissa Streit - outgoing Special Events Coordinator in the Development
Office and
Emily Carlson - incoming Special Events Coordinator in the Development
Office
7/12/01 - 2:15pm
Hal, Greg, AmyG
Greg led, Amy scribed
While Emily went to get us some beverages, Melissa told us about the buildings that surround the basilica.
M: This building was originally created to house the nuns, but shortly after it was built our nuns got reassigned. So we rented the building out to a law firm in the 80s then reclaimed as staff offices. The school building next door is leased to the Minneapolis public schools for a middle school magnet school. Part of the building is also a section for students working on a GED.
(Emily returned, Hal intro-ed the project, Greg led the interview.)
FF: Tell us about yourselves and how you got involved at the Basilica?
M: It's my 4th yr at the basilica. I worked the block party for four years - both work out of the development office - so we're about raising money for $17 million necessary to renovate the basilica and the undercroft. Special events are our deal - basilica block party, donor receptions, gift correspondence, three other special events. I'm headed to Ascension - our sister parish - to work in the development office there, and Emily will be taking over for me here.
As for my personal life, I wasn't raised Catholic. Got married to a life long catholic, and joined because of that - we got married here. I started out as a volunteer, then joined the staff.
E: Started here after graduating St Thomas, raised E Free, mom was Lutheran. I'm still not Catholic. I've worked here for a month and a half here and I'll take Melissa's job when she leaves for Father Michael's other parish.
M: Sue Hayes, at the time of the Block Party's start, was very active in the development office and is originally from Chicago. She saw the block party there headlined in 1993 about 53 couples who had met through the Old Saint Pat's Block Party and got married there. She showed that to Father Michael because he was trying to grow the parish and saw it as a connection. He wanted to attract young adults - give them a place and a faith to ground themselves and meet people. So after 18 months of prep they had the 1st block party in 95. Now after 7 years we are pleasantly overwhelmed at how well this has worked getting young adults involved, creating pools of volunteers…
FF: What makes it work so well?
M: In the beginning it was kind of the irony of it all. Father Michael did a TV commercial for the first year as a PSA. It showed him walking down the steps of the basilica with a checklist and reading it aloud. 300 kegs of beer, check. 2000 brats, check… etc, etc. Then he looked at the camera and said, "But make sure you drink responsibly because at this party we have one heck of a bouncer." And lightning blasted the steps - then the tag line "The Basilica Block Party - the party of a higher order." All the stations were running the ad - news stations were taking polls. That interest piqued in 95 and got us the crowd. Now the reason has diversified. Now it's a bonafide summer entertainment opportunity - on the level of taste of MN, the State Fair, etc. On another level it's a chance to check out the BSM
E: On a more casual level.
FF: There are values here - what are they?
M: the party of a higher order is our mission statement slogan and we stick to that because Father Michael is a recovering alcoholic - I don't know if he told you that. He wouldn't want it to be anything itself, it's a part of the BSM presence in the city. We make decisions about the event not about revenue, or huge crowds… the first year we shut down the whole church all the buildings, and when it didn't burn down people said, why are we shutting the doors? Let's get the people in! When asked if he wants to expand Father Michael says the party has to be around the Dome of the BSM - that's what we're about. It's evangelical - maybe subtle, but we welcome in that culture in order to welcome them into the parish itself.
FF: How have people come through the Block Party into the church?
