Living - Activities - Festivals - Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Milwaukee is known as the City of Festivals; many ethnic and cultural festivals are held annually in Milwaukee; some of these festivals are the largest of their kind; most (but not all--see Web sites) are held at Milwaukee's Maier Festival Grounds (known as Summerfest grounds because of its largest and most famous annual festival) located on 30 hectares at the Lake Michigan shoreline just north of the mouth of the Milwaukee river; all of these festivals depend on thousands of volunteers and staff; see the
calendar of major festivals for a chronological run-down of the major festivals; see the
periodic events section for information on recurring concert series and other non-festival events
- -Major CALENDAR-: Major Festivals Calendar; a brief run-down of the major festivals listed in chronological order with links to official Web sites and a brief description
- Arts Lakefront: Lakefront Festival of Arts; put on by the Milwaukee Art Museum, offers unique works of art in a variety of media, demonstrations by artists, food, and music
- Art Third Ward: Third Ward Art Festival
- Asian: Asian Festival
- Bastille: Bastille Days; organized by Milwaukee's East Town Association; celebrates music, food, and culture loosely organized around a French theme; held in the Cathedral Square area of Milwaukee's East Town
- Black Arts: honors African and African American culture
- Brady St: Brady Street Festival; see
photo album page
- Brewfest: Milwaukee Brewfest; a celebration of beer, breweries, and brewers; held at the Old Coast Guard Pavilion Park on Milwaukee's lakefront
- Bronzeville: Cultural and Arts Festival
- Center St: Center Street Daze Festival; in Riverwest
- Comedy: Milwaukee Comedy; Milwaukee Comedy Festival and milwaukeecomedy.com; lists comedy events including sketch comedy, improv, stand-up, open mic nights, special events and more in and around the Greater Milwaukee area
- Directory: Community and Parish Festival Directory; this is a directory of the many community, church, fair, and other small festival and fairs held throughout the area; CFC = Council of Festival Committees
- Dragon Boat: Milwaukee Dragon Boat Festival; organized by Milwaukee Chinese Community Center
- Film: Milwaukee Film Festival; features an international slate of films
- Firkin: Milwaukee Firkin (29.81 liters in the US) Craft Beer Fest; a celebration of Milwaukee beer, past, present and future; a US firkin is a unit of measure about a quarter barrel of beer or 29.81 liters; see photo album page
- Fifth St: Fifth St
- Folkfair: Holiday Folk Fair International; produced by the International Institute of Wisconsin, an organization dedicated to racial, cultural, and ethnic understanding
- Fringe: performance and visual arts; celebrates Milwaukee's vibrant and diverse arts scene
- German: German Fest; features musicians and dance troupes from around the world, costumes, contests, a live Glockenspiel, and other family activities
- Greek: Greek Fest; at State Fair Park
- Harbor: Harbor Fest; put on by the Harbor District
- Highland Games Scottish: Milwaukee Scottish Fest
- IndiaFest: InidaFest; Indian authentic food, gorgeous costumes, cultural shows, dance, music, and activities
- Indian Summer: Native American; celebrates the diversity of both traditional and contemporary Native American culture
- Irish: Milwaukee Irish Fest; celebrates Irish culture, music, and food at the lakefront annually and also works on promoting Irish culture and traditions throughout the year
- Italiana: Festa Italiana; music, food, bocce, artifacts from the Blessed Virgin of Pompeii Church, gondola rides, fireworks
- Jazz: Summer Sizzle; Jazz festival in the Historic Third Ward
- Kite: Various Kite Festivals; in Veterans Park; see "Events" section; Cool Kite Festival, Family Kite Festival, Frank Mots Kite festival; see photo album page
- Laborfest: Milwaukee County Labor Council AFL-CIO; a parade through downtown Milwaukee; festival on the Summerfest grounds (Maier Festival Park)
- Locust St: Locust Street Festival; music, food, vendors, beer run/walk; in Riverwest (west bank of the Milwaukee River)
- Mexican: Mexican Fiesta; the sound, culture and taste of Mexico
- Octoberfest: Milwaukee
- Periodic Events: for other events, see this listing of non-festival events of various kinds; Milwaukee has many annual or one-day special events, ongoing summer concert series, and recurring trade shows that are not festivals, but have many similar features (food, folks, and fun)
- Petfest: Pet activities; Fromm Family foods
- Polish: Polish Fest; food, music, Chopin Piano competition; site includes information about Wisconsin's Polish Community
- Pride: PrideFest; celebrates diversity, the accomplishments, contributions, and history of the LGBT community
- Running: Milwaukee Running Festival; marathon, half-marathon
- Rock the Green: near-zero waste music festival; eco-friendly event production; clean/renewable energy to power the event to composting to biodegradable plates/utensils and more
- Scottish: Milwaukee Highland Games / Milwaukee Scottish Fest; bands, food, dancing, sheepdogs, parade
- Summer Sizzle: Jazz festival; in the Historic Third Ward
- Summer Solstice: The East Side's Summer Solstice Music Festival
- Summerfest: Summerfest; Milwaukee's largest and most famous summer festival; world's largest outdoor music festival; "The Big Gig;" music festival; eleven days, twelve hours a day, thirteen stages, hundreds of performers, food, hundreds of thousands of folks, and fun
- Sun Fair: On Historic Mitchell Street; entertainment, rides, games, music, and food; visits to historic churches
- Trainfest: Trainfest; presents operating model train layouts along with manufacturers, historical societies, displays, artists, hobby shops, demonstrations, and locomotive testing; put on by the Wisconsin Southeastern Division, Inc. of the Midwest Region of the National Model Railroad Association
- Urban Island: urban park festival; at Lakeshore State Park; see photo album page; formerly called Gathering Waters Festival
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