Fraters Libertas

The Unbearable Evilness of Beer

Yesterday there was this pleasant story in the St. Paul Pioneer Press (thanks to Rick for the tip off):

Coming soon to the Land of Sky Blue Waters: a monument to the Hamm's Bear, an advertising icon whose cartoon exploits helped burnish Minnesota's image as an unspoiled natural paradise.

The Hamm's Club, a Minneapolis-based group that unabashedly celebrates the bear and his beer, plans to donate a 6-foot-tall granite monument to the city of St. Paul, where the Theo. Hamm Brewing Co. started making its namesake product in 1865.

City officials intend to install the monument next year in Como Park, near a waterfall named after former brewing company President William Hamm Sr. The City Council votes today on whether to accept the gift.

About time that the Hamm's Bear gets a place in the sun. Maybe the world isn't such a bad place after all.

Today the news was not so cheery:

The St. Paul City Council said thanks, but no thanks, on Wednesday to a club that wanted to erect a monument to the Hamm's Bear in Como Park.

The St. Paul Parks and Recreation Commission had approved the plan to install the monument in Como Park, near a waterfall fountain donated in the 1960s by the Hamm family. At the request of city officials, the Hamm's Club did not include the word "beer" in the monument plans.

But several council members said Wednesday that a public park wasn't the place to commemorate a beer icon.

"It's neat and it's nice, but it's not great art," said Council Member Chris Coleman as the panel voted unanimously to delay action on the matter. "I think there's a place for it in the city of St. Paul. I just don't think it's Como Park."

Council Member Jay Benanav said the Hamm's Bear is a purely commercial symbol. He distinguished the advertising bear from the "Peanuts" sculptures that have been displayed in public spaces in St. Paul for the past four summers.

"I don't think Snoopy drank a lot of beer," he said.

Well you thought wrong Mr. Benanav. He might not have been drinking Hamm's but Snoopy would often go over to his old war buddy's (Bill if I'm not mistaken) house and quaff a couple of root beers.

Thank God the residents of St. Paul have the City Council looking out for them to decide what is "great art" and what is not. And God forbid anyone would try to connect beer with a park. Watch out. Before you know it people might start having FUN. And we wouldn't want to allow that would we?