Check Out Milwaukee Holiday Lights

Milwaukee Holiday Lights Festival 2018. Photo by Mariiana Tzotcheva.

There’s plenty to do in Milwaukee this week.

Each week, Urban Milwaukee is curating a list of events that are taking the necessary safety precautions provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in order to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

This week, ‘tis the season for checking out all of the holiday light displays. There is Boerner Botanical Gardens‘ Winter Wonders, and the Milwaukee Holiday Light Festival will certainly do the trick. Also, you can view a parking lot dance performance beneath the Hoan Bridge from the safety of your car, or check out First Stage’s virtual performance of “She Kills Monsters.”

November 19-20: Parking Lot Dance Series #3: Under the Freeway

Wild Space Dance Company (820 E. Knapp St.) is putting on the third event in its Parking Lot Dance Series, this time taking place beneath the curved exit ramp to the Hoan Bridge. The dance company will convert the parking lot there into a dance site, utilizing the concrete pillars and light from vehicle headlights. The performance can be viewed from the safety of your car, and tickets start at $25 and scale in price with the amount of people in your vehicle. Thursday will have two performances taking place at 7 p.m. and 8:15 p.m. and Friday will have one performance taking place at 7 p.m. The official address of the parking lot is 328 N. Van Buren St.

First Stage is putting on a virtual performance featuring its First Stage Theater Academy’s Advanced Acting students. She Kills Monsters: Virtual Realms is a comedic dive into the world of table-top roleplaying games. The story follows Agnes Evans, a woman who loses her sister in a car accident but attempts to spiritually reconnect with her through a Dungeons & Dragons campaign that she had written before she passed. The play can be streamed at any time until the end of November 22. Viewing will cost $12 for 1-2 viewers, $22 for 3-4 viewers and $37 for any group larger than that. Click here for more information.

November 19: Ray’s Virtual Cocktail Series: Old Fashioned Edition

Join Scott Smits from Ray’s Wine and Spirits (8930 W. North Ave.) in a virtual event breaking down the history, creation and techniques of one of Wisconsin’s most famous cocktails: the Old Fashioned. The virtual event is free, and you’re encouraged to follow along, making cocktails at home. Ray’s Wine and Spirits is also selling cocktail kits to streamline the process. Smits will also be answering questions from the chat during the livestream. To follow along, click this link.

November 20: Winter Wonders at the Boerner Botanical Gardens

Boerner Botanical Gardens (9400 Boerner Dr.) is putting on its annual Winter Wonders, this time as a drive-through experience. Winter Wonders will feature lit-up holiday displays that utilize more than 100 million LED lights. Vehicles will enter at Whitnall Park’s golf course at 6751 S. 92nd St. Tickets are $25 per car and $50 for limousines (with a maximum of 12 people). Reservations for mini buses and bus tours are available by calling 414-525-5602. Winter Wonders will run every night until January 3rd from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.

November 20: Milwaukee Holiday Lights Festival Begins

The Milwaukee Holiday Lights Festival is celebrating its 22nd year with a socially-distanced event. Three Milwaukee parks and the Wisconsin Avenue Chandeliers, will be transformed with holiday lights. Cathedral Square Park will become the “Community Spirit Park” featuring Santa’s Mailbox presented by Educators Credit Union, where families can drop off their letters to Santa. If you drop it off before December 13 and you’ll receive a personalized response in return. Pere Marquette Park will become “Tinsel Town Express,” where families can explore the North Pole’s “delivery depot” and pick up a a holiday tree from the festive tree lot. And finally, take a photo in Santa’s chair at the “Polar Plaza powered by We Energies.” The event will kickoff at 6:30 p.m. with WISN 12 airing a televised performance of holiday acts.

Even though fall is coming to a close, there are still farmers markets to enjoy, such as the Milwaukee Winter Farmers Market. The market, which is celebrating its 12th season, takes place on Saturdays from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Greenhouse Annex at the Mitchell Park Domes (524 S. Layton Blvd.) until March 27, 2021. The market will feature 30 vendors offering fresh local produce, baked goods, cheeses, handmade soaps and more. COVID-19 safety precautions and guidelines will be enforced, including a mandatory mask policy and restrictions on eating and drinking in the market.

November 21-22: Free Saint Kate’s Art Tour

Saint Kate — The Arts Hotel (139 E. Kilbourn Ave.) is offering a free half-hour tour every Saturday and Sunday through December 19th. The tours are limited to ten people and require masks and social distancing. Hand sanitizing stations will be set up throughout the hotel. The tour will explore newly installed features and will be lead by Saint Kate Curator and Art Historian Samantha Timm. Although the event is free, you must still sign up for a tour. You can sign up here. Both Saturday’s tour and Sunday’s tour will begin at 1 p.m.

November 22: Annual Thanksgiving Concert Goes Virtual

The annual holiday concert from Present Music will be virtual this year. Tickets will be $10 and can be purchased here. The organizers said the concert this year is a “musical embrace of our differences and shared humanity.” The lineup includes Alex Weiser, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, performing music in yiddish and english, the Bucks Native American Singing and Drumming Group and the Reagan High School Choir. If you purchase a ticket, or are a Present Music subscriber, you will have access to the concert until February 22.

If you’re an Urban Milwaukee member you can get a promo code for a free ticket to the concert here, while supplies last.

Cascio Interstate Music, the 14th largest musical instrument dealer in the United States, was recently acquired by Wisconsin-based company Geneva Supply through voluntary receivership. Geneva Supply has decided to pivot Cascio’s business model to a strictly-online formula, where it will continue to sell instruments as Interstate Music and host activities and events in the greater Milwaukee area. To celebrate the official launch of the website, Interstate Music is putting on a virtual performance featuring local acts Hot Science, Dirty Boogie, Burgundy Ties, Wapatui and Petty Thieves. The event will be streamed via Facebook live at 12 p.m. and will run until 8:30 p.m.

November 22: Maranta Plant Pop-Up

Maranta Plant Shop, a new Milwaukee plant pop-up started by Michelle Alfaro, will make its debut on Sunday at the Zocalo Food Park at 636 S. 6th St. The event will run from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. and requires those interested in purchasing plants to pre-order before showing through this link. Plants for sale include Calathea Pinstripes, Monsteras, Silver Satin Pothos and Snake plants.