Distinctive Place: City of Culture

Lonely Planet has ranked Milwaukee as one of thetop U.S. Best Places to Visit

Milwaukee enjoys a reputation as a fun and exciting place to live, which is why it’s been ranked as one of the top destination cities in the country. Bordered on the east by the deep-blue waters of Lake Michigan and encircled by the pristine, glacial hills of the Kettle Moraine, the Milwaukee Region is perfectly situated near an abundance of natural resources. But there’s much more to the Milwaukee Region than its beautiful surroundings. There is a real “genuineness” to the area’s residents that’s rooted in solid Midwestern values. It’s a place where you can have

fun, feel at home, get around easily and enjoy urban energy without big city stress. And now with The Hop, the city’s new streetcar system, it’s even easier – and more fun – to get to downtown restaurants and entertainment areas, including the historic Third Ward.

Milwaukee is hip. A vibrant downtown includes an exciting mix of trendy restaurants, sports venues, theaters and residential developments.

A CITY THAT STAYS UP LATE

For merriment, there is plenty of nightlife throughout Milwaukee, whether it be somewhere in the city’s popular Third Ward or Fifth Ward, or in one of the many fun destinations on Brady Street, Water Street, Old World Third Street, North Avenue or Jefferson Street. If you’re looking for Las Vegas-style gambling, you might want to check out Potawatomi Hotel & Casino, which attracts more than 4 million visitors each year to its entertainment complex in the Menomonee Valley.

AN EXTRAVAGANZA OF EVENTS

The Milwaukee Region explodes with energy during the summer festival season, but there’s always something going on – even during the cozy months of winter.

● The city is home to the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the Milwaukee Ballet, the Florentine Opera and the Milwaukee Repertory Theater

● The city is probably best known for Summerfest, an 11-day celebration of food and music. Considered the world’s largest music festival, it celebrated its 50th birthday in 2017.

● Milwaukee also throws a great birthday party. In 2018, the city hosted the 115th anniversary of Harley-Davidson, Inc., a celebration that drew tens of thousands of motorcycle enthusiasts from around the world.

There’s plenty to do even when there’s no scheduled event: a leisurely stroll through the Milwaukee County Zoo, a quiet round of golf, a hike through a county or state park, inline skating along the lakefront, or renting a Bublr Bike for a leisurely tour of the city.

The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra performs more than 135 concerts per year, including the always popular Handel’s Messiah with the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus.

THE ARTS IN ACTION

Milwaukee is a cultural center offering a wealth of opportunities to attend plays, operas, symphonies and chamber music, thanks to an arts community that is well supported by metro-area residents. Among comparable metropolitan areas, only Nashville, Orlando, Minneapolis-St. Paul and Chicago have more performing arts groups per 100,000 people. And no city, except Los Angeles, raises more private money for the arts than Milwaukee.

Principal attractions include the:

● Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra

● Milwaukee Repertory Theater

● Milwaukee Ballet Company

● Florentine Opera

● Skylight Theatre

MEMORABLE MUSEUMS

There are many excellent museums in the Milwaukee area:

● The Milwaukee Art Museum, which has a permanent collection of more than 20,000 works and is best known for its $100 million addition designed by Santiago Calatrava

● West Bend’s Museum of Wisconsin Art, which highlights regional crafts and artifacts

● Discovery World Museum, an interactive science and technology museum on Milwaukee’s lakefront

● The Harley-Davidson Museum, which showcases the evolution of the motorcycle that made Milwaukee famous

● The Kenosha Civil War Museum, which houses one of the most extensive collections of Civil War artifacts in the Midwest

● The Milwaukee Public Museum, which is considered one of the six best natural history museums in the country

● The Kenosha Public Museum, which features a display of 12,500-year-old mammoth bones excavated on a nearby farm

● Betty Brinn Children’s Museum, featuring many hands-on exhibits dedicated to children ages 1 through 10

THE CITY OF FESTIVALS

Milwaukee holds more festivals than any other city in the United States. There isn’t an idle weekend in Milwaukee from Memorial Day through Labor Day. The city’s major ethnic festivals, many of which are held on the city’s lakefront, include:

● Bastille Days

● Festa Italiana

● German Fest

● Greek Fest

● Indian Summer Festival

● Irish Fest

● Mexican Fiesta

● Polish Fest

The summer season is filled with many other church, community and ethnic festivals as well, including the Cinco de Mayo Festival held at Mitchell Park on Milwaukee’s near south side, Cedarburg’s annual Strawberry Festival and Fish Days in Port Washington.

SPORTS & SPORTING EVENTS

Milwaukee is a sports-loving city, offering a variety of professional and collegiate competition. It is home to the:

● Milwaukee Brewers professional baseball team, which won the National League Central Division in 2018, plays its home games at Miller Park, a 42,000- seat baseball stadium west of downtown that offers plenty of room for tailgating

● The Milwaukee Bucks NBA professional basketball team moved into the Fiserv Forum, its spectacular new downtown arena, last fall

● Marquette Golden Eagles and UW- Milwaukee Panthers NCAA basketball teams

● Milwaukee Admirals AHL hockey team

● Milwaukee Wave professional indoor soccer team

A CULINARY SMORGASBORD

The region’s restaurants serve up a smorgasbord of ethnic delicacies. Among the more popular cuisines are Mexican, German, French, Italian, Chinese, Greek, Middle Eastern, Thai, Polish, Russian and Serbian. A variety of upscale restaurants offer epicurian delights, including Ardent, Bacchus, Sanford’s, Carnevore, and Rare in Milwaukee; Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar and Mr. B’s in Brookfield; Eddie Martini’s in Wauwatosa; and The Union House in Genesee Depot.

A Place to Meet

Milwaukee features big-city amenities at affordableprices, whether you’re booking a big block of rooms, organizing an executive meeting or hosting unforgettable evening entertainment.

It’s no surprise that Milwaukee has become a destination city for corporate and association events,

given all that it has to offer. Every year, more than 60,000 people attend conventions and business meetings. They join more than a million tourists who are drawn to the city by its affordability, accessibility, fine dining opportunities and exciting entertainment venues. Milwaukee is truly a meeting destination city where there’s literally something going on every week of the year! For more information, go to visitmilwaukee.org.

AN ENERGIZED DOWNTOWN

There’s a real sense of excitement in downtown Milwaukee, due in large part to the opening of the Fiserv Forum, the new home of the Milwaukee Bucks professional basketball team and the city’s newest concert venue. But it’s not just the arena that’s causing the buzz – it’s the development that is occurring all around it. The Fiserv Forum is the anchor of a 30-acre mixed use development project that is energizing an already revitalized downtown. One of its key features is an outdoor public entertainment area that will be a gathering place and hold public events. It is surrounded by a brewpub operated by Good City Brewing, a local craft brewer, and Punch Bowl Social, an “eatertainment” venue that blends arcade games, food, and crafted drinks. There’s even an outdoor beer garden with a very large LCD screen that broadcasts sporting and other special events.

CONFERENCE FACILITIES

The largest dedicated conference facility in the region is the Wisconsin Center, which is located in downtown Milwaukee. It features 188,695 square feet of contiguous exhibit space. Two major hotels, Hilton Milwaukee City Center and Hyatt Regency Milwaukee, are connected to the Wisconsin Center via skywalks, and another 3,200 rooms are located within walking distance. Also within walking distance are more than 150 restaurants, theaters, sports arenas, museums, and shops.

Milwaukee is fun. There’s a lot to do, including Las Vegas style gambling at the Potawatomi Casino Hotel in the Menomonee Valley.

A FLURRY OF NEW HOTEL ROOMS

More than 1,000 rooms have been added in and around downtown Milwaukee during the last five years to accommodate increasing demand. Another 500 rooms are under construction or in the planning stages.

Among the new projects are:

● Potawatomi Hotel & Casino, which features more than 500 rooms in two towers adjacent to its popular casino in the Menomonee Valley, just west of the downtown.

● The 94-room Homewood Suites by Hilton, which is located in a renovated historic landmark bordering Downtown Milwaukee and the city’s Third Ward

● The Hyatt Place Downtown Milwaukee in the Pabst Brewery development, which features 150 residential-style rooms

● The 220-room Westin Milwaukee, located on the east end of Downtown Milwaukee near the Milwaukee Art Museum, Discovery World and the lakefront

● The 158-room Kimpton Journeyman boutique hotel, which is located in the Third Ward and features a year-round rooftop lounge