Photo courtesy Summerfest
Summerfest
Summerfest
(Kris Kodrich is a Milwaukee native who teaches journalism in Colorado but returns every year to Milwaukee for Summerfest.)
Dear Bianka,
You’ve been to lots of Summerfests in your 18 years. As a toddler, you enjoyed playing on the slides and dancing in the fountain; as a teen you liked wandering off to enjoy the music with your older sister and spending my cash on overpriced burgers and sweet corn.
Lots of memories were made—two of the biggest, of course, were the 2011 Katy Perry concert filled with lollipops and cupcakes as well as the 2017 Pink show showcasing her strong vocals and acrobatic talents.
You also may remember getting caught in wild thunderstorms—sorry for putting that garbage can liner on you but it was clean and I didn’t want you to get soaked—and facing incredibly drunken people—remember that year when that slobbering 30-something woman stopped us and told us all about her mom taking her to Summerfest when she was a kid. And then, of course, the nightly packed bathrooms—you sometimes had to face those on your own when your big sister or mom wasn’t around—probably awakened you to the realities of teen girls and middle-aged women a bit sooner than you expected.
One of my proudest moments as a father came when you started checking the Summerfest music lineup on your own and helping to plan our annual treks from our home in Colorado to my hometown of Milwaukee to visit family, friends and Summerfest.
This year, as an 18-year-old adult, you are doing Summerfest without me for the first time. You and a friend, Joey, drove from Colorado to Milwaukee for the third and final weekend of this year’s Summerfest. After camping along the Missouri River one night and along the Mississippi River the next night, you made it to my brother’s house in Milwaukee, picked up another friend, Mazy, at the airport, and the three of you are now enjoying Summerfest, while I had to leave town. Yes, your dad occasionally has to work. You’ll also be staying for a few more days in Milwaukee after Summerfest, but you’ve been visiting here most summers with me and your sister over the years.
That said, here are some tips I want to offer you. Remember, you are no longer in a quiet college town, and you’ll need some street smarts the next few days to ensure a fun and safe time in Milwaukee.
• Be careful driving. People drive crazy here. I’ve seen several people drive through red lights. And stop signs appear to be optional these days in Milwaukee. Serious accidents occur all the time here. I even heard local bands at Summerfest pleading with the crowds to stop driving like idiots. Look both ways before entering an intersection—please!
• I’ve left you a list of cool neighborhoods for you to explore with your friends. Those include Bay View, Brady Street, and the Third Ward. Stay in those areas and you’ll find lots of fun places to explore there.
• And while I don’t really like that you enjoy fancy coffee drinks as much as you do, you already know that Milwaukee has really many cool coffee shops. You’ve been to many over the years (yes, I enjoy an occasional latte as well). Our favorites, you may recall, include Colectivo on the lakefront and the one in Bay View, as well as the Anodyne in Walker’s Point and the Stone Creek Coffee factory downtown near the train station. (Don’t forget to feed the meter Downtown.)
• You already know about frozen custard from all our previous trips (not to mention the Culver’s back home). And while I dissuaded you from driving to Sauk City to see the original Culver’s, as we did a few years ago, I always urge you to go to Kopp’s, Leon’s and Gilles in Milwaukee to get even better frozen custard. (It always tastes better in Wisconsin.)
• Last Saturday, I did a reconnaissance mission to determine the best way for you to get to Summerfest without paying $30 for parking. I rode the new CONNECT 1 electric bus from Watertown Plank Road Park & Ride. I hear you took advantage of it Thursday and it worked well for you.
• At Summerfest, you know my routine. Try to see as many bands each day and night as humanly possible. Over the years, I’ve given you my strategies to help ensure you are there to hear their most popular songs. But always try to check out a couple of bands you never heard of. Even as a teenager, I always found that one of the best parts of Summerfest—finding great new favorite bands that you may never have heard, even with all your Spotify and YouTube options. Heck, you might even like the legendary Smokey Robinson on Saturday night. Tough competition that night with Fleet Foxes and Walk the Moon and several others—but the beauty of Summerfest is you can see all of them, at least for a few songs. And if you really are intent on seeing a particular group, you can maneuver your way to the front row if you’re brave enough. (Don’t lose my credit card!)
• Undoubtedly, you’ll find the new Sound Waves stage. While I had much preferred the live music stage it replaced, I also now realize young people don’t really have options to go to clubs or discos. Thus, I’ve come to accept it the past two weekends, and stopped scowling at it whenever I passed it. I even watched a bit of the dancing on the popular Latin night and the teens looked like they were having a blast. Plus, I know you’ve gone to some big dance concerts in Denver so I’m confident you can handle it.
• Food? You know the hamburgers are good at Major Goolsby’s, and I’m sure you will try the new mac and cheese offering at Mac-A-Dos. But know that everything is truly expensive. And even though I’ve told you to use my credit card at Summerfest because nobody takes cash, I don’t want you to hit my credit limits. Eat before and after. (You’re young. You can handle eating late at night.)
• Drink? Thankfully you are underage so won’t be paying the $9 or $10 for a beer, but the lemonades and sodas all get pretty pricey. Drinking fountains (remember, we call them bubblers in Milwaukee) are plentiful near the bathrooms at Summerfest.
• As you painfully remember, it can get hot and humid in Milwaukee, even at the lakefront, and then even turn chilly at night. Dress appropriately. This is where I could go into a rant about what teens are wearing (or not wearing) these days, but I will trust you to use your common sense.
• Finally, be sure to spend time at Bradford Beach while you are out exploring Milwaukee. You’ve spent many a hot summer day as a kid at this beautiful beach and even braved the chilly Lake Michigan water. I know I’ve often told you about how this beach wonderfully reflects all the diversity of Milwaukee—it’s always terrific to see everyone getting along. Relish the culture of a Bradford summer and imagine your dad here when he was your age. Just don’t stay too late. And be careful driving back to your uncle’s house.
Be strong. Be safe.
You can do this.
Love,
Dad
