Summer in Milwaukee has finally arrived, patios are open, and as my coworker Kim put it, “It seems like everyone has a dog now! Did everyone adopt a dog over the weekend?!”
Everything is green and growing, as sail boats proliferate on Lake Michigan. Living in Milwaukee during these all too short months is truly magnificent. You feel so lucky and think to yourself, “I can’t believe I live in this beautiful place!” Of course when February arrives those sentiments feel like incomprehensible babble, blurted out during a fever induced hallucination. In spite of our harsh and sometimes abusive winters, most Milwaukee residents still feel pretty lucky and contented to grow where they’ve been planted. Summers are a love letter penned by the city to its faithful and understanding citizen lovers. One we can take out and re-read every year, reminding us why we stay, why we love this place for exactly what it is, while at the same time hoping for some of its flaws to fade with time and diligence.
Milwaukeeans soak up every moment of warmth, sunlight, and green space, as evidenced by the astonishing number of festivals taking place across the city. Every bar or restaurant with a thought for success tries to curate the most welcoming patio, as well as lining their sidewalks with as much bike parking as possible. For me, one of the great joys, and welcome visions signifying the onset of summer, is the beautiful burst of soft, and fragrant, pink petals spilling out of my peony buds. This year I finally put wire cages around my beloved plants to prevent them from slumping over, as if they’ve had too much to drink.
This coming weekend really begins the kick off of summer festivities, it being Milwaukee Gay Pride weekend and also Locust Street Festival on Sunday. Pride will feature performers such as; Blondie and Sarah Silverman, and Locust Street is a festival in the Riverwest neighborhood featuring lots of local music and vendors. Riverwest, my old neighborhood, but not too far from my current one, is a vibrant and diverse community, full of hipsters and blue collar workers alike. Its bar and restaurant game has been on the steady incline for some time and attracts people from all Milwaukee neighborhoods.
My husband, Jarrett, and I will be attending what my close friend Nels calls his “Big gay brunch,” and then we will head to the Walker’s Point neighborhood for the Pride Parade, we will then likely finish our day strolling down Locust street, people watching and sipping a Milwaukee brewed beverage.
I’m currently seated on the patio of Colectivo Coffee overlooking McKinley Marina, enjoying one of those famous brewed beverages (strangely, not coffee), and marveling at my city. I love you too, Milwaukee.