Living - Events - Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

Milwaukee is famous for its festivals, but is home to diverse events year-round

• Listings: Connect to online calendars and databases; show what's going on and where; see also the venues section for listings of events
  • OnWI Calendars: OnWisconsin Live event calendars; shows the breakdown of Milwaukee events on a wide range of categories; provided by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel newspaper's online service
  • OnWI Live: OnWisconsin Live guide section; entertainment and arts section from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel newspaper's online service; includes articles and coverage of local happenings
  • MusiCal: Database of music events in Milwaukee; lists the dates, times, places, and performers for music events in the area
  • Music Pollstar: Pollstar, the Concert Hotwire for Milwaukee; Pollstar provides worldwide concert tour schedules, ticket sales results, music industry contact directories, trade news and data services
  • Visitors Calendar: Calendar of Events; view list of major events or search for events by date and category; provided by Greater Milwaukee Convention and Visitors Bureau
  • OnMilw Events: Events section from onMilwaukee.com; lists area events
  • Movies: BigScreen Cinema Guide; what's playing in local movie theaters; customizable
  • clubMilwaukee: coverage of nightlife venues with calendar of events; audio of local music groups and DJ mixes; discussion forum
  • Footlights: Guide to theater in Milwaukee, Madison, and Chicago
  • UWM: University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee Calendar Listing; shows daily, academic, and ongoing events at the campus including public lectures, concerts, films, art, and events
  • Ticket King: Local and national ticket broker; specializes in Wisconsin and Minnesota events; site includes listings of hot events and availability of tickets
  • -USA Listings -: Events listings directories; there are many sites that list events of all kinds
• Performing: Milwaukee is home to many performing arts and cultural groups
  • Ballet MBC: Ballet company in Milwaukee
  • Boulevard Th: Boulevard Ensemble Studio Theatre
  • Chamber Th: Milwaukee Chamber Theatre
  • Early Music: Early Music Now; presents historically-informed performances by recognized artists and ensembles who specialize in music before 1800
  • First Stage: First Stage Children's Theater
  • Intandem Th: In Tandem Theatre; professional, live theater company located at Walker's Point Center for the Arts
  • Milw Public Th: Milwaukee Public Theatre; creates and presents theatrical and performing arts productions through a professional company
  • The Rep: Milwaukee Repertory Theater; professional, live theater company located in the heart of the Downtown Theater District in the Patty & Jay Baker Theater Complex, located in the Milwaukee Center
  • Knightwind: Knightwind Ensemble; adult wind band
  • NextAct Th: Next Act Theatre; professional non-profit theater company
  • Opera Florentine: Milwaukee Florentine Opera Company; presents grand opera productions and community and educational programs
  • Opera Skyllight: Skylight Opera Theatre; professional opera and music theater company encompassing baroque opera, European operetta, Gilbert and Sullivan, Broadway musicals, contemporary chamber operas and original musical revues; in English; located in the Broadway Theatre Center
  • Present Music: Ensemble specializing in new music in the United States
  • Renaissance Th: Renaissance Theaterworks; specializing in the feminine voice; located off-Broadway at the corner of Water and St. Paul Streets
  • Shakespeare Th: Milwaukee Shakespeare Company; theater company presenting the Bard's works
  • Symphony MSO: Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra; major, professional symphony orchestra
  • Symphony Festival: Milwaukee's Festival City Symphony; provides free or low-cost concerts for Milwaukee audiences while giving talented musicians an opportunity to perform
  • Symphony Youth: Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra; provides training in techniques of orchestral and ensemble musicianship through a program of rehearsals, performances and enrichment activities to young musicians ages 8-18 in Milwaukee and southeastern Wisconsin
  • Windfall Th: Windfall Theatre; a non-profit, professional theater company with a three-production season
• Festivals: 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 periodic events section for information on recurring concert series and other non-festival events
  • African World: African World Festival; educates about African life and rituals through a cultural village and opening ceremonies; celebrates the African-American experience; music includes gospel, blues, hip hop, and R & B
  • Arab World: Arab World Fest; celebration of the food, music and rich cultural heritage of the Arab people
  • 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
  • Asian: Silver City's Asian Festival; Silver City Main Street puts on an Asian Festival; Silver City is the area along West National Avenue in Milwaukee, Wisconsin from 31st Street to Miller Park Way; named for the silver dollars workers from the nearby Menomonee Valley would spend there
  • 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
  • Book: Wisconsin Book Festival; annual October celebration of reading, writing, and the written word; events in Madison, Milwaukee, and throughout the state; a year-round, statewide series of public programs about reading, writing, and literacy
  • Community: Community and Parish Festival Directory; this is a directory of the many community, church, fair, and other small festival and fairs held throughout the Milwaukee area; CFC = Council of Festival Committees
  • Film: Milwaukee International Film Festival; features an international slate of films
  • Folkfair: Holiday Folk Fair International; produced by the International Institute of Wisconsin, an organization dedicated to racial, cultural, and ethnic understanding
  • German: German Fest; features musicians and dance troupes from around the world, costumes, contests, a live Glockenspiel, and other family activities
  • Indian: Indian Summer; 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, boccee, artifacts from the Blessed Virgin of Pompeii Church, gondola rides, fireworks
  • Latin Music: Music from Latin America; the sounds of Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Mexico, and Colombia
  • Mexican: Mexican Fiesta Internacional; the sound, culture and taste of Mexico
  • 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
  • RiverSplash: Festival along the Milwaukee River; food, music, entertainment in by the banks of the Milwaukee river downtown, on Water Street on the east bank and Old World Third Street on the west
  • Summerfest: Summerfest; Milwaukee's largest and most famous summer festival; world's largest outdoor music festival; "The Big Gig;" eleven days, twelve hours a day, thirteen stages, hundreds of performers, food, hundreds of thousands of folks, and fun; even native Milwaukeans, who are obsessively self-deprecating, occasionally call this festival "great"
  • Train: 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
  • Water Frolics: South Shore Water Frolics; in South Shore Park in Bay View, food, crafts, fireworks, parade
• Periodic: Milwaukee has many annual or one-day special events, ongoing summer concert series, and recurring trade shows; see the festivals section for the world-famous and community ethnic festivals held in Milwaukee
  • Air Expo: Milwaukee Air Expo; on the Lakefront; airpower demonstrations
  • Al's Run: Run and Walk for Children's Hospital; fundraising run and walk for Children's Hospital of Wisconsin; memorializes Al McGuire, the late Marquette University basketball coach, wanted to thank the southeastern Wisconsin community for its support of the Marquette Warriors during the 1977 NCAA season
  • Bay View Bash: A block party for the Bay View neighborhood; music, entertainment, and food
  • Bead & Button Show: the largest bead show in the country
  • Craft Fair: Craft Fair USA; art and craft show
  • Circus: Tripoli Shrine Circus; annual circus held in February
  • Dylan's Run: Benefits Autism Research and The Autism Society of Southeastern Wisconsin
  • Gallery Night: Quarterly art gallery event; art galleries, art schools, and art musuems throughout the downtown, east side, Third Ward, and Walker's Point stay open late, offer special exhibits, food, entertainment
  • Holiday Lights: Winter season lights display; lights illuminate downtown parks and buildings
  • Jazz in Park: Weekly summer jazz concert; in Cathedral Square park in downtown Milwaukee's East Town
  • Lakefront Marathon: Annual marathon; from Grafton to downtown
  • Live @ the Center: Weekly summer concert series; at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts Peck Pavillion
  • Milwaukee Rally: Harley-Davidson motorcycle rally; produced by Harley-Davidson Dealers of Metro Milwaukee
  • Park Events: Calendar of events in Milwaukee County parks
  • Race4Cure: The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation Race for the Cure; fundraiser for the Komen foundation which fights breast cancer
  • Ride for Arts: Miller Lite Ride for the Arts; bicycle ride to benefit the United Performing Arts Fund
  • River Challenge: Milwaukee River Challenge; a rowing regatta on the Milwaukee River along a 3.5 km course
  • River Rhythms: Weekly summer concert series; in Marquette Park on the Milwaukee river
  • St Patrick's: Saint Patrick's Day Parade; Shamrock Club of Wisconsin
  • State Fair: Wisconsin State Fair; annual celebration of the agriculture and industry of Wisconsin
  • Veterans Parade: Annual parade recognizing veterans; see photo
  • World Beef Expo: Annual beef tradeshow; held at Wisconsin State Fair Park and features many breeds of beef cattle, breed auctions, a prospect auctions, commercial trade show and seminars, youth and collegiate livestock judging competition, and youth sweepstake events

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