Last Weekend in Milwaukee…

Milwaukee is a diverse city with numerous events happening every weekend. The Third Coast Daily photo team visited several of them last weekend and has a photo gallery from the Skylight’s Taste of the Ward fundraiser in the Third Ward, Milwaukee’s Fair Trade Crawl, National Public Garden Day at the Boerner Botanical Gardens, the Brewcity Bruisers’ season championships, Rock Bottom Brewery Trivia Night and a show at Frank’s Power Plant. Just a small sampling of what our fair city has to offer.

All photos by the TCD Photo Team: Angela Morgan, Sara Bill and Madeline Pieschel.

Thursday | Taste of the Ward, Rock Bottom Brewery Trivia, Frank’s Power Plant

Thursday, May 9 was Skylight Theatre’s  first annual Taste of the Ward fundraising event, where eight of the Third Ward’s most well-known restaurants joined forces to provide guests with a new, unique culinary experience. Indulge, Club Charlies, Swig, Water Buffalo,Verduras Tea House and Cafe, Coquette Cafe, Smoke Shack, and Kasana Cafe supplied succulent food samples of their most popular or well-known dishes to the enthusiastic foodie patrons in attendance. The evening’s show stoppers: Coquette Cafe’s House-Smoked Salmon Carpaccio and Water Buffalo’s chocolate olive oil cake. Following the mouth-watering food samples was Skylight’s Sing Me A Story performance.

Rock Bottom Brewery hosts a weekly trivia night on Thursdays starting at 8:30pm accompanied by specials on tap beers.  Prizes included $70 in gift cards given away and a special round of trivia to win a pitcher of beer. Thursdays are also Pint Night at Rock Bottom where you can enjoy logo pint glasses (that you keep) filled with your favorite brew for around $6 with $3 refills.

Frank’s Power Plant hosted Chicago rockers The Laureates Thursday night with Milwaukee band Calliope in the opening slot. The Laurettes currently have a limited edition vinyl of their most recent album, Spells, available on their Bandcamp page or you can download digitally for free. Calliope will be performing again on June 22 at Yield Bar for a Summer Soulstice Music Festival after-party.

Friday | National Public Garden Day

Many of the nation’s public gardens celebrated National Public Gardens Day on Friday, May 11 including Boerner Botanical Gardens. This day was created to raise awareness of America’s public gardens and their important role in promoting environmental stewardship, plant and water conservation, and education throughout our communities. This annual event takes place the Friday before Mother’s Day, an unofficial start of the spring for many. Complimentary admission was available and special activities were held for school groups.

Saturday | Milwaukee’s Fair Trade crawl, Brewcity Bruisers season championships

In 2007, Mayor Tom Barrett signed a measure that designated Milwaukee as the nation’s first large fair trade city. That means that Milwaukee has numerous workplaces that will not accept products made in sweatshops. This past Saturday, May 11, was World Fair Trade Day, and in celebration, Milwaukee’s Fair Trade Coalition held its 6th Annual Greater Milwaukee Fair Trade Crawl this past Saturday at 24 socially conscious shops throughout the Greater Milwaukee area, including Alterra, Outpost, Sven’s European Cafe, Beans & Barley, Grace Place Coffee, Verduras Tea House and Cafe, Whole Foods, Fair Trade for All, and Four Corners of the World. Special tastings, sales, and educational activities of Fair Trade products and their producers were offered throughout the afternoon at these various locations, and participants received an event “Passport” where they even had the opportunity  to win a free Fair Trade prize if they took notes on some their newly learned Fair Trade knowledge.

The Brewcity Bruisers held their 2013 season championships at the US Cellular arena Saturday, May 11. Started in 2005, the Bruisers have grown into one of the foremost leagues in the North Central region, currently 7th in the region and 32nd in the nation. The Rushin’ Rollettes took on the Shevil Knevils in the grudge match to decide 3rd and 4th places. After a big point deficit in the first half, the Shevil Knevils came back from behind to close the point gap but didn’t quite catch up to the Rollettes who took 3rd place in the league, 142-126. The 2nd bout was for first place between the Crazy 8’s and Maiden Milwaukee and was intense from the first whistle. It was a battle from both teams and one of the most intense games of derby Milwaukee has seen. The game could have gone to either team in how well they were playing and how close the score was, but ultimately the Crazy Eights took first place in the last minute of the bout inching ahead with a few points over the Maidens, 253-249. Congrats to all skaters for their 2013 season. Even though the home season has wrapped, watch for more roller derby action in Milwaukee May 31-June 2 with the Brewcity Bruisers host the Midwest BrewHaHa. Over 25 teams from around the US and Canada will be competing in Milwaukee for this 4th annual event and will include men’s roller derby this year.

See below for Third Coast Daily’s full photo gallery of Last Weekend in Milwaukee.