Milwaukee, Wisconsin

More by chance than design, Summer 2016 turned out to be our time to tour the Midwest. With five baseball parks nestled within striking distance of each other in the heart of the country, and no pressing schedule for the remainder of the summer, we took advantage of this opportunity to get to know this area a little bit better. We left Chicago on September 5^th, and traveled to Milwaukee with plans to catch a Brewer’s game at Miller Park, and whatever else we could fit in between. Although Milwaukee is the largest city in Wisconsin, and the 5^th largest city in the Midwestern United States, it didn’t have that Big City feel to me. Maybe having just spent the last 10 days in Chicago had something to do with that. Or, maybe it’s just a Big City with a friendly and welcoming home town personality.

Milwaukee was once home to four of the world’s largest beer breweries – Schlitz, Blatz, Pabst, and Miller – and was the number one beer producing city in the world for many years. Miller Brewing Company is still a key employer in the city with over 2200 people still employed there today. Because of Miller’s position as the 2^nd largest beer maker in the U.S., the city remains known as a beer town. Even the Laverne and Shirley television show from the 1970’s – 1980’s help immortalize this city’s reputation with a story line about two single women who worked in a (fictional) Milwaukee brewery in the 1950’s era.

Besides being known for its brewing traditions, a major new addition to the city in recent times is the Milwaukee Riverwalk. Intended to increase public access to the waterway, it has grown to include art displays, festivals, cafés, and brewpubs. In 2008 a life-sized bronze statue of Fonize from the Happy Days television show was unveiled along the Riverwalk. (Milwaukee was also the setting for Happy Days as well as Laverne and Shirley.) As we walked a portion of the Riverwalk, we were lucky enough to find Urban Beets, a vegan restaurant, less than ¼ mile off the walkway.  

The Milwaukee Public Market located in the Third Ward neighborhood is an indoor market selling fresh food, candies, and flowers from local businesses. I was expecting something more along the lines of Seattle’s Pike Place Market (the signs for both places are just about identical), but it was actually quite small. However, the offerings were unique, the neighborhood very eclectic, and customer loyalty among the local populace is strong.

Here are a few pictures from the four days we spent in Milwaukee (I will have separate posts for the Brewer’s game, a tour of the Miller Brewery, and a beautiful botanical garden we visited).