Half way through the year, our Leviathan, our Body Politic, our Country celebrates its independence from the Great Britain. Here in Milwaukee, we commemorate with the best of them other cities in our Union. The Big Bang already teamed up with Summerfest to open the World Biggest Music Festival with an impressive fireworks display.
We didn’t have a man running on wind currents 100 feet in the air over the Marcus Amphitheater, but the good folks organizing the Beijing Olympic Opening Ceremony would have been proud. Of course WISN Channel 12 can help you re-live the finale to the tune of that one famous opera.
Fireworks were invented in China, and now they are sold on State highway frontage roads.
Wait, is Summerfest going on? This is Brew City…
The Fondy Farmer’s Market (looky here)
It’s the largest in the area and it opened last week Saturday. Field greens, green onions and chinese broccoli are available however, this time of year The Fondy Market stands out for its prepared foods. Fresh from the grill burgers, brats, corn on the cob and even smoked turkey legs, make great outdoor meals. Spring rolls and other Asian dishes mix up the market menu. Walnut Way Conservation Corp also sells fresh honey from bees that had access to peach tree blossoms.
On Milwaukee did an nice article on The Fondy Market on the eve of the market’s opening day last Saturday. Located on 22nd and Fond du Lac Ave. just north of North Avenue, The Fondy Market has off street parking on the Meineke Street side for your convenience.
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The Vliet Street Green Market (looky here)
The Washington Park Partners sponsor the Vliet Street Green Market, a Sunday farmer’s market in the midst of Washington Park, on 4420 W. Vliet Street. It features food, live music and crafts in a community that is a hot bed of Fair Trade awareness and neighborhood building.
Great business like Amaranth Bakery, Birdie’s Cafe and the fair trade shop Four Corners of the World , a central organization in founding Fair Trade Day observance in Milwaukee, make their home in the Washington Park area. Milwaukee Artist Resource Network (MARN) just circulated an e-mail call for crafts persons, artists and musicians interested in participating in the Green Market to contact Bess Earl at beumcs@sbcglobal.net.
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US Ping Pong Championships (looky here)
Everybody’s talking about it, and its going on until July 4th. WUWM even did a radio news story about it. Can it take the place of a cook out? We can thank Forrest Gump for introducing us to Table Tennis, not to be confused with Ping Pong played by locals in the Third Ward’s Spin. Right now and for the rest of the summer, and when open, On Milwaukee’s Jeff Sherman reported that you can play ping-pong free at the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Chase Bank Plaza and at Mitchell airport, and these places too for free on Killerspin tables… But in the meanwhile you can get inspired to appropriately wear resale gym shorts and a head band at the Frontier Airlines Center.
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PBR Fest (looky here)
The A.V. Club reported that on Sunday July 3rd PBR Fest can cure your Summerfest blues (they mention some other random stuff too). I can attest to PBR Fest being extra cool. It’s just too bad it’s not on the same day as New Belgian Brewery’s Tour de Fat like last year, a rare orbit crossing of fests. PBR Fest keeps only PBR flowing, on the block between Burnhearts and Hi-Fi, has a main stage underplayed by sidewalk stages, and usually both entertain. If I’m not mistaken, if you really want to go to Summerfest you can stumble up the block to The Highbury and catch the shuttle, if I’m wrong you can just get more drinks at The Highbury (actually not as bad as the first photo slide show photo looks).
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The Band Shell at Washington Park (looky here)
Among other great things you can do in the Milwaukee County Park System you can see music performed in a band shell. July 6 opens the Band Shell Concert Series with a Leahys Luck performance. They may look a little smarmy, but have you every heard an Irish Folk band that didn’t force a jig out of you?
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Wiz Khalifa at Summerfest July 5 (looky here)
Phrophetic and Pizzle’s Green and Yellow gave Wisco a busting Super Bowl theme song this past winter, adapted from Pittsburgh repping Wiz Khalifa’s single Black and Yellow (86 million views on one post, woa). Wiz’s track brutally pays homage to the Steeler’s football franchise. Snoop Dogg did a remix for the Steelers that Lil Wayne crushed on behalf of the Pack. If you don’t know what happened, and why this will make one of Summerfest’s top shows (hopefully without incident), well you probably were hating on Kanye (Christina Daglas’s point and JC Poppe’s counter-point) like those JS Online commenters the A.V. Club heckled (scroll down the page of the link), and you mind as well…
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The Lakefront Segway Tour
…take the Lakefront Segway Tour from Veteran’s Park…
History is History
Last thing, in light of inevitable mass teacher layoffs in MPS (a story that made CNN), let’s recognize Third Coast Digest for exercising journalistic freedom by printing a impeccable selection of prose, in a piece excerpting the original underground media star Frederick Douglas (makes you wonder how long public education has been under attack). Happy 4th MKE!!
Local Trolley 
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