June to September Milwaukee Festivals
You already know about Milwaukee’s annual blowout, Summerfest, which takes place this year between June 27 and July 7 (11:30 AM-midnight daily, $9 general admission; 800-273-3378, www.summerfest.com), but the city’s also the midwest’s summer ethnic festival capital. A sampling: Asian Moon Festival, June 14-16; Polish Fest, June 21-23; Bastille Days, July 11-14; Festa Italiana, July 18-21; German Fest, July 26-28; African World Festival, August 2-4; Irish Fest, August 15-18; Mexican Fiesta, August 23-25; and Arabian Fest, September 13-15.
Fond du Lac’s walleye festival claims the world’s largest outdoor fish fry; that ought to be enough to draw crowds, but there’s more: the top walleye anglers in the world compete in a National Walleye Tournament (the actual fishing happens Saturday and Sunday between 6 AM and 2:30 PM), and festival organizers sweeten the grill with live music and athletic competitions.
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One of those holidays that doesn’t get a lot of respect (probably because it’s sandwiched between the other two major flag-waving holidays), Flag Day may hold a particular resonance this year, even outside Waubeka, which has devoted its resources toward celebrating the flag since 1946, three years before the observance was made a national holiday. They say schoolteacher Bernard Cigrand started it all in the local schoolhouse in 1885. The National Flag Day Foundation in Baltimore says otherwise, but how do they know? Were they there? Flag Day itself is on June 14; Waubeka’s celebration is always held on the preceding Sunday, with a parade, a “circus-type festival,” and fireworks.
June 15-16
Czechoslovakian Festival
Festival Hall (in Festival Park) | Racine
5-midnight Friday, 9-dusk Saturday, 9-6 Sunday | Free | 608-725-5855 | www.cassville.org
Not quite as lavish as Salmon-a-Rama, this weekend-long event draws around 200 lumberjacks and jills to compete for a $50,000 jackpot–“the largest payback of any lumberjack competition in the world,” according to organizers. The competitors come from as far away as New Zealand and Spain to the Lumberjack Bowl in Hayward–formerly a holding pond for Weyerhauser’s North Wisconsin Logging Company–to pole climb, speed saw, logroll, and chop with all their might. Weekend-pass discounts are available.
