This past weekend I attended the Great Taste of the Midwest for the first time, and also…read moreparticipated in the Funk Factory Geuzeria Pre-Party. After having a blast at both events, I can say I won't be missing any future ones! Perfect weather in a large space of Olin Park in Madison, WI with nearly 200 breweries pouring almost 1400 beers. Many breweries have their brewers there pouring flagships and some of the rarest beers you can try.  Funk Factory Geuzeria Pre-Party | The biggest of the Great Taste Eve events is the FFG & Friends Pre-Party where Funk Factory and some of the greatest names in Mead and Beer pour beers you wouldn't be able to have on a normal basis. Some highlights for me: Won't You be my Neighbor by 1840 Brewing A Flanders Red packed with tart cherry flavors, oak tannins, and a malt reminiscent of fresh baked sourdough bread. IOWA8 by Funk Factory Single barrel Lambic spontaneously fermented for 2.5 years. Super complex tart, barnyard, and fruity notes. Sepulchral by Eighth State Brewing A Baklava inspired Imperial Stout with Ji-Roz Baklava, Toasted Walnuts, Roasted Pistachios, Brazilian Vanilla, and Cook's Island Vanilla. Tasted like liquid Baklava, but not syrupy or thick (appreciated). Great Taste of the Midwest | I tried MANY beers and it would be impossible to list them all (thanks Instagram word limit), but I will call out some of the highlights for me: Toppling Goliath Stouts (Assassin and Mornin Delight)  Two bucket list stouts. Mornin Delight tasted like a beautifully balanced mocha and Assassin had tons of bourbon / fudgy chocolate flavors. Revolution Straight Jacket (2018) One of the smoothest and most complex Barleywines I've ever had. Notes of stone fruit, toasted coconut, molasses, and vanilla. McFleshman's Brewing 10 Paces Kriek A Lambic aged in French Oak Cabernet barrels for 1-3 years referemented on a blend of tart and sweet cherries for 6 more months.  The Explorium Brewpub's Blueberry Cheesecake A Berliner Weisse with lactose, vanilla, toasted almonds, and late season Michigan blueberries that tastes exactly as you would hope - blueberry cheesecake. Alarmist Turbulent Dynamics Everything you could ever want in a Hopped Lager.

2018 was my first year attending the Great Taste of the Midwest, and I have to say it was quite an…read moreexperience that no craft beer lover should miss. For those that are not familiar, Great Taste of the Midwest is the second longest-running craft beer festival in North America. GTMW brings together over 190 brewers in a scenic location overlooking Lake Monona while providing some great views of downtown Madison and the state capital. Ticket sales can be challenging, as they are typically released the Sunday after Cinco De Mayo at select locations in Madison, however if you do not happen to live in or near Madison you can enter their mail order lottery for tickets. Should you be lucky enough to secure tickets you will encounter a massive selection of craft beer, great food, and fun entertainment. One of the best things about GTMW is that despite the size the festival never felt like it was too busy, lines were tolerable and I never seemed to wait more than 5 minutes max for a refill, although most brewers you could easily walk right up to without a wait. Most of the 190+ vendors are setup and spread out across 6 massive tents, with each holding anywhere from 20-40 brewers. In addition there are several larger brewers with their own smaller tents scattered around the festival too. My favorite tent/vendor had to be the 0.005K Endurance Run tend from New Holland Brewing Company, finally a race I can enjoy, lol. The food selection was good, however the highlight for me was the bacon on a stick, which was thick cut back served on a stick. Seriously it does not get much better than that. Food prices were very reasonable too. The entertainment was scattered around the 6+ tents, and seemed to lean more towards folk music which seemed to pair up nicely with the festival. Overall I enjoyed my time, and look forward to attending another Great Taste of the Midwest in the future.

tl;dr YOU LIKE BEER?! YOU LIKE CHEESE!? YOU FROM WISCONSIN!? You'll probably want to attend…read more A Madison friend couple of mine host all of us wild and rambunctious MKE folk at their place (god bless them and their trust in us) every year for this event. It has more than 100 different breweries present and a handful of delicious local cheese artisans. The $50 price tag for general admission is well worth it when you get a 2 pm to 6 pm free range with unlimited sampling and the signature tiny tasting class. If we're being honest, it is way less cheese and way more beer. I would say I got around 4 samples of cheese vs so-much-beer-you-definitely-need-an-uber amount of beer tastings. But, it's totally worth the ability to try a brewery you'd never normally happen across and to try samples of a beer (stout, lager, sour, IPA, etc.) that you might not normally have the willingness to pay for a full glass of. The environment of the convention center is also a delight - you get to see: 1) Extravagant pretzel/snack necklaces (if you don't know about this, have you ever even really been to a beer event before?) 2) People wearing balloons with really long strings on them so their friends can spot them from across the event space 3) People screaming "OHHHHHHH" when you hear someone break their sample glass in a nearby radius 4) Live music and drunk people dancing, playing lawn games, etc. It's really great time, I've been going for years and will keep going. Eat (a little), drink and be merry.

My boyfriend and I along with some friends have attended the Isthmus Beer and Cheese Fest for the…read morelast 3 years and each year has been a BLAST! We always stay at a hotel close by the Alliant Center in Madison, Wisconsin (where the Isthmus Beer and Cheese Fest is held) and we have so much fun eating great cheese and drinking great craft beer from all over. This is an event every beer and cheese lover should attend! It has the perfect of both worlds all in one event!

Best ever fireworks! Didn't get a chance to do any of the other activities but heard that Drag…read moreQueen Bingo was a big hit with great prizes.

Great food and family fun! It would be a tragedy if this were the last festival. It is really…read moreour city's crown jewel.

Super fun friendly crowd. Bring the kids for lots of activities. Enjoy s as beer with the…read moreheadliners and always great street food. DO BRING INSTRUMENTS!!!

1) The Sugar Maple Traditional Music Festival features an outstanding lineup of trad music groups…read moreon two stages across 1.5 days (Friday evening/night and all day Saturday) in early August each year. 2) You purchase tickets to get into the festival, not to see any one specific group, for Friday only, Saturday only, both days, or for kids. You can also buy tickets to camp at the festival as well. Honestly, ticket prices are great, especially given how much entertainment and enjoyment you get when you pay. Order online by the end of May to save some money on 2-day tickets, or buy your tickets at the gate day-of -- either option works. 3) You're allowed to bring your own chairs, small tables, food, and alcohol! That's right, you heard me correctly. The Wife and I brought two folding chairs, a small picnic table, a few bottles of wine, and all our food so that we could just sit back, relax, and enjoy the music 4) They have a solid handful of food carts and a beer vendor if you forget to bring your own. 5) There are activities for kids through the day on Saturday. 6) No pets allowed. Although it would be fun to hang out with dogs all day, I'm totally OK with this rule since it means I don't have to watch where I walk.

This is the first chance we had to attend the Concerts on the Square since relocating to Madison…read morethree years ago - blame Covid. We had gone to one of these concerts at least 15-20 years ago when visiting family. It was a perfect summer evening for such a gathering. If you are here as a serious fan of the symphony this may not be the best place to listen to a concert but if your goal is to have a picnic it a great setting then do go. Yes you could hear the music and see it if you were not close (many were pretty far away but there were three large video screens). That did not seem to matter given the music was just an excuse to picnic on the Capitol lawn. Between the eating, drinking, kids screaming and laughing, the chatting there was a concert going on. You do need to arrive early to stake out a good spot and there are rules on the height of chairs if you are on the lawn. Parking can also be an issue but it is all worth it when the weather cooperates. A true must-do in Madison.

What a PERFECT evening! Yesterday was the first Concerts on the square of the summer and it did not…read moredisappoint! Parking was $8 in a nearby garage and worth every penny. Food vendors galore are present to satisfy all of your needs, or you are welcome to pack a picnic and wine! We brought a blanket and were able to find a spot for two despite the large crowd. My work sponsored an event that allowed us two free pizzas from Pizza Brutta, but we did see that they also had a stand nearby. If sitting on the lawn is not your jam, there are several restaurants near by with outdoor patios that would still allow for good food and music from the orchestra. Tip: the concert closest to the Fourth of July is my favorite, and they include a salute to the armed forces and end with the 1812 overture!

Was fun but many things are expensive, some of the prize games say $10 but I got charged like $42…read morefor two players. If you play with multiple people only one will win so it is a money grab. Workers are very nice and welcoming. I think the youth policy should be changed to 8pm, 7pm seems too early. We spent a lot of money and couldn't get back in, sucks but probably wouldn't buy an all day pass again unless we went in the morning.

This is a great event for families and youngsters. So many educational exhibits and crafts and…read moreprojects the kids in 4-H put together. The food choices were great with everything from burgers to pitas, Thai food and BBQ. Being our first county fair we were afraid of the animal smells etc but the facilities were kept clean and relatively lacking strong odors. They had nice entertainment options like the BMX Pros Trick Team and some acrobats. All in all good clean fun! We arrived before 3 pm and admission was only $3. Plan on it for next year!

A large and diverse art fair on the square around the capitol. We found things at various price…read morepoints and bought several pieces. The one issue is that being mid-July and held on asphalt streets, it was scorching HOT. The benefit to being near the Capitol building is that it is open so you can go inside and cool off, use the restroom etc (though the ingress/egress was ridiculously inaccessible, which for a government building is just nonsense.) Given how hot Midwestern summers now are, perhaps consider shifting the schedule.

We stopped here for something to do because we were in the area and it was a nice summer day for an…read moreoutdoor activity. The square has a lot of restaurants and bars in the area so we would do a couple things before moving on. AFOS is basically an outdoor event where artists from all styles show their work and hope to sell some so they display and show it all off. It's free to enter as a prospective buyer and walk around looking at some neat art works. It's like a mini outdoor museum and some of it is really neat to look at. This is definitely a cool stop if your in the area when it's happening.

As an out-of-stater, we heard how great the sweet corn is and had to check it out ourselves. We had…read moredesignated Saturday night to the festival, after hearing they only serve the corn on Sat-Sun from 12-7 due to the lengthy steaming process. We found free parking, very close to the entrance. It's $1 per person to enter, 6 and under free. Strategically, the rides and games are the very first things you see. I am quite impressed with this area, because there's so many options. Tickets were $1/piece and most rides were 3 tickets. My kiddo absolutely loved it and we only spent $20. Expensive but fair considering we are at a festival. Now, I had nooooo idea what I was getting into with the sweet corn. First off, I've never heard of a tote of corn but the two lines stretched faaaaar to grab a tote. We skipped the tote line and grabbed two single ears from a much shorter line. $2/piece gave us some quality corn. They sent us behind to the buttering station and I was all, "WTF IS THIS?" It's literally several tables stacked together where you shuck your corn and roll it into a huge pan of butter. So unsanitary but when in Rome.... Next was the salt tree. Salt. Tree. Again, what sort of redneck device is a salt tree? Idk but it was a-maz-ing. Shakers on shakers on shakers of salt. I'm still laughing about this crazy corn experience. The corn was great, rides were fun for the kiddo. We were very impressed! The festival seems to be pretty commercialized with lots of business booths but that's to be expected. I'm not opposed to going back if we happen to be in town!

The Sun Prairie Sweet Corn Festival is an annual event held for a few days each August. I lived…read morein nearby Madison for 4 years, and that was how I discovered and attended the Corn Festival. There are many attractions: (1) First, there is the sweet corn, which is cooked with steam, and which can be purchased in a small open-air building. Near this building is a rotating clothes hanger, where strings are tied to various parts of the clothes hanger, and at the end of each string is a salt shaker. This salt shaker "tree" is a novelty that is interesting and a little bit funny, and pictures of it have been published in the Wisconsin State Journal. Of course, the sweet corn is delicious. (2) Another attraction is being in the middle of a friendly crowd. Did you ever notice that the bigger the crowd, the more people there are ?!?!? (3) Next to the fairground is a museum where you can find exhibits relating to midget race cars, where the exhibits include trophies and photos. Next to the museum are parked midget race cars, and children and other visitors can touch them and admire them. See, my attached photographs of these race cars and of the exhibits in the museum. At the Corn Festival, you can watch these midget race cars racing on an oval track starting at seven o'clock in the evening. (4) The Corn Festival includes a carnival. See, my attached photographs of a boy and a girl, each holding a huge wooden mallet over their heads, and swinging it at the lever of the "high striker" game. This mallet is sometimes called a "carnival mallet," and the name for this game, which results in a bell going "DING," is the "high striker game." GENETICALLY MODIFIED CORN. The website of the Sun Prairie chamber of commerce states that, the "corn is not genetically modified." But this is not correct. It is a proven fact that about 9,000 years ago, farmers in Mexico created corn (also known as, maize). Corn does not exist naturally. Corn was created by the genetic modification of teosinte. Teosinte was modified to alter four genes, where the result of this modification was conversion of teosinte (not edible) into the abundantly edible and yummy genetically modified plant that is known as corn and maize. This is all explained in a video called, POPPED SECRET: THE MYSTERIOUS ORIGIN OF CORN. The video is narrated by Neil Losin, and we learn that the scientists responsible for discovering that corn is genetically modified teosinte were: Nobel Prize winner George Beadle, John Doebley of University of Wisconsin, and Delores Piperno of Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Additional info is available from, e.g., Yang, Holland, Doebley (2019) Proc. Nat'l. Acad. Sci. 116:5643-5652; Horowitz, Doebley (2004) Genetics. 166:1-10; Wang, Doebley (2015) Genetics. 200:965-974; Lukens, Doebley (2001) Mol. Biol. Evol. 18:627-638. CONCLUSION. And so, what I suggest while enjoying your day at the Sweet Corn Festival in Sun Prairie is spending a moment of silence to show respect for the farmers living 9,000 years ago in Mexico - - - they are the ones who created corn. Corn is the most famous and beloved of all of the genetically modified food crops.

Always fun-great music and people watching! The Rumble gave us NOLA! Decent selection/price of…read morebeer; chairs available; interesting vendors. Parking a pain-got my walk in!

I really enjoy the Marquette Waterfront Festival. It's not as flashy as the acrobatics of Orton…read morePark Fest or the melee that is La Fete de Marquette, but it still ends up being a good time. I think the main draw for me is the music - they tend to have the most bands that I want to see of the Madison summer neighborhood festivals. Highlights have been Great Lake Swimmers, Communist Daughter, Icarus Himself, and the MarchFourth Marching Band. There's shade, shoreline, and best of all, it's free. It's things like this festival that make me love Madison.