The Celebrations Committee is presenting Open Doors South Milwaukee this Saturday, September 9.
Join us for a public celebration of South Milwaukee’s art, architecture, culture, history, and people with behind-the-scenes tours of buildings throughout the city.
See the full and updated list of participating locations here.
New this year are tours at Caterpillar, an open house at the Mill Pond Warming House, and stops at several new local churches. And, yes, Schlaraffia Milwaukia is opening its doors again.
Most locations are open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., but check the list for specific hours.
We are also offering a new incentive! Stop at eight or more locations to receive a free branded City of South Milwaukee leather keychain. Return signed maps at City Hall between 1-3 p.m. Maps will be available at each stop and online prior to the event.
Summer may be coming to an end, but South Milwaukee’s truly special special events aren’t. Here’s what’s coming up this month (and it’s a lot) …
Thursday, September 7: South Milwaukee Downtown Market. Music by Reverend Jerry K. 3-7 p.m., Bucyrus Commons. Details
Friday, September 8: South Milwaukee vs. Cudahy football, first game at renovated Spaltholz Field at Bucyrus Stadium. 7 p.m. Details
Saturday, September 9: Open Doors South Milwaukee, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Go behind the scenes to celebrate South Milwaukee’s art, architecture, culture, history, and people. Details and locations
Sunday, September 10: Suburban Soles Nature Walk: “Legal, Not Legal: Patrol Grant Park With Warden Anderson,” 10 a.m., Grant Park Beach parking lot. Details
Thursday, September 14: South Milwaukee Downtown Market. Music by The WhiskeyBelles. 3-7 p.m., Bucyrus Commons. Details
Saturday, September 16: South Milwaukee Human Concerns 50th Anniversary Celebration, 2 p.m., Bucyrus Commons. Details in flyer.
Thursday, September 21: South Milwaukee Downtown Market. Music by Andy Braun. 3-7 p.m., Bucyrus Commons. Details
Thursday, September 21: Community Dinner, 5-6:30 p.m., First Congregational United Church Christ. Details
Thursday, September 21: “Free Fallin’: A Tom Petty Experience,” 7:30 p.m., South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center. Details
Sunday, September 24: Suburban Soles Nature Walk: “A Fungus Among Us,” 10 a.m., Grant Park Picnic Area 5A parking lot. Details
Thursday, September 28: South Milwaukee Downtown Market Fall Festival. 3-7 p.m., Bucyrus Commons. Details
Get the full list of local events here — and let me know if I missed one.
Two well-known mural artists are taking their talents to South Milwaukee — and the result will be some eye-catching public art downtown.
One of the artists helped create the huge Giannis mural in downtown Milwaukee.
The other has been behind some beautiful public art in the Los Angeles area, including at SoFi Stadium, the Rose Bowl and Angels Stadium.
This beautiful explosion of public art is the result of separate projects being led by the City of South Milwaukee and Artworks, a grassroots group that is planning a “mural tour” downtown.
Together, they mark the most significant investment in public art in South Milwaukee in a generation, maybe ever. And I can’t wait to see it (and in, one on case, help paint it).
Sorce Martial Arts Mural
First, information on the Artworks mural, which will kick off with a painting party on Saturday, October 8.
From the Artworks web page …
We’re creating a mural tour in Downtown South Milwaukee! In August we contracted a Milwaukee based muralist, Tone Gomez aka @sketchy_tony, to design and paint our first mural on the Sorce Martial Arts building at 924 Milwaukee Avenue.
The funds for our first mural going up in October were raised from the sponsors and participants of our first wine tasting event held back in May at the beautiful DBHW Wealth Partners building on Milwaukee Ave.
A group of local SM business owners created a group called ‘Artworks’ earlier this year with the goal to help bring foot traffic and life back to our downtown in South Milwaukee. Although the initial focus is Milwaukee Avenue, we hope to grow, expand, and collaborate with more local businesses, building owners, sponsors, and creatives to create a downtown full of artistic, eclectic, and interactive murals. As the list grows, so will the walking and bicycling groups tours that will follow them as we look to create a vibrant new image for our downtown.
We love our SM history but that will not necessarily be our focus of this group.
I do want to state that this would not have happened without the vision and planning of Darlene Piszczek (Dar). Over the years, Dar has travelled all around the country for work and has seen the positive impacts of murals on communities of all sizes. This has not been a simple process to execute and Dar has gone above and beyond to pull this off in fantastic fashion.
Murals have the ability to attract new local businesses, help bring customers to pre-existing locations, and boost the economy of an area. All we can say about this first mural is that it is quite simply a game changer and will be the first of many that we will plan to bring to South Milwaukee. Our first mural will be revealed soon, but we have all taken an oath of secrecy, so ‘mums the word’ until our community event that is scheduled for Sunday 8th, October.
So who is behind the group? Artworks consists of Darlene Piszczek, Chuck Winn, Leah Minue, Ernie Wunsch, Tamara Janowski, and James Moran. All six (6) volunteers have businesses in South Milwaukee, five (5) of them located on Milwaukee Ave, and five (5) of us live in SM, with two (2) of us actually on Milwaukee Ave.
Human Concerns Mural
Another mural is coming a block away from Sorce Martial Arts, this one sponsored by the City of South Milwaukee. From the city …
The Common Council approved a contract with Mika Revell of LLP Studios for the mural at 1029 Milwaukee Avenue at their meeting on August 15, 2023 by a 6-1 vote. 116 mural designs were reviewed by a committee of seven stakeholders to determine the final design.
Design description: In the foreground are native flowers found in Grant Park, set in front of Grant Park shoreline, showing a beach, Lake Michigan and our city’s connection to the thriving Milwaukee region. The design also has the illusion of coming out of the wall and inviting people to step into nature.
The mural is slated to be started in September and should be completed over a seven day period.
Learn more about Mika Revell here, and check out some of her work …
Excited to see all of this support for Rocket, the department’s new K-9.
From South Milwaukee Police Chief William Jessup …
The fundraising initiative has been well-received and is ongoing. We have received many other generous donations from individuals and businesses. Rocket and Officer Edwards will be undergoing six weeks of intensive training and then he will begin working in the community in October. We will be having a swearing in ceremony but that date hasn’t been set.
Do you need a place to go to get out of the extreme heat? Visit any of the following Cooling Center locations as needed. Please call your local center or the Health Department with any questions you may have! #StayCool#StayHydrated#StaySafe
With classes beginning Sept. 5 for the South Milwaukee School District, it’s a great time to celebrate the value of public education in our community and all communities — amplifying the message of the Wisconsin Public Education Network, which had its annual conference last week in our fair city.
It was an honor to attend for even half a day and see firsthand the pride and passion shared by educators from the around state to help our kids, and to hear what they are doing to overcome the continued challenges they face each day in doing their jobs.
From fighting for funding in Madison to battling for respect and support and respect in and out of the classroom, this is not easy work. But I am heartened and hope-filled by what educators are doing on behalf of our kids, led by organizations like WPEN and brought to life each day in school hallways.
I saw it in the faces of those at the South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center, including my own daughter, who served as a panelist and singer at the conference. And I see it in the thousands of South Milwaukee families who are made stronger by the quality education their children receives at our local schools.
Strong public schools = strong communities. Public schools unite us, indeed.
Here is a recap from WPEN …
The Summer Summit brought together public education advocates from every part of Wisconsin and every angle or role that reaches our public schools—from administrators and board members to educators and staff to parents and community advocates to students themselves—on the tails of one of the most gutting, shocking, and disappointing state budget cycles we could’ve imagined.
The eagerness to put accountability into action was palpable, and every session was directly tied to this urgent theme. Participants asked tough questions, held themselves accountable for understanding how school funding works, dove into the trickiest topics threatening students’ freedom to learn in urban, suburban, and rural districts alike, and collaborated to build a shared toolkit for better, louder, more effective advocacy in the coming year.
“We want to make sure we’re building and maintaining our collaborative relationships based not only on hard work but also on accountability,” State Superintendent Dr. Jill Underly said in her remarks at our Morning Meeting. “And to be clear, accountability is not about expressing disappointment—or at least not exclusively. It can be, and should be, also about expressing appreciation, or communicating importance, or proposing alternatives, all in the furtherance of our goal of stronger public schools.”
That statement captures the work of the Summer Summit perfectly, as we dissected where Wisconsin has gone wrong in delivering yet another less-than-inflationary budget and massive giveaways to private schools, but also where we have gone right, and how we can amplify those successes in order to generate more of them.
To be clear, there’s a lot of work to do, and there’s no time to lose in doing it. Wisconsin continues to sit on a massive budget surplus that could still be put to good use. New legislation is coming down the pike as the school year begins. Many districts face a budget with less state aid in the new year than last year, and all of them face a budget that puts us on a path for 16 consecutive years of falling behind inflation.
“We’re not here to cheer for crumbs,” our executive director Heather DuBois Bourenane declared at the Summer Summit.
That’s why it’s on us—all of us—to hold ourselves accountable for telling our local-level public school stories, demanding strong, equitable public school resources, and staying involved at every level, every day. Please join us in putting Accountability In Action all year.
Summer Summit Archive! Almost all sessions and some breakout sessions are already archived on our website. Follow this page to access video recordings and other resources from the Summer Summit to refer back to sessions you loved, check out the ones you missed, and ensure that what was learned last Thursday stays with us moving forward. (We are continuing to update this page.)
Bucyrus Commons is home to two car shows this week, as the impressive list of summer events in South Milwaukee continues. Click on the images for more details.
The current South Milwaukee Water Tower was built in 1999 and is due for significant exterior and interior rehabilitation work. The surface of the tank will be sandblasted and repainted. The water distribution pumping system has already begun to account for the water tank being out of service.
Residents who experience low water pressure or cloudy water should call the South Milwaukee Water Utility at 414-768-8070.This project is expected to be completed by the end of October.
Of note, the water tower is not being rebuilt, just refurbished. So it will look like what you see below in shape. Sandblasting begins this week.
And I’m told there will be a Rocket logo painted on the side facing Bucyrus Stadium.
Thanks, J&JDoubleTake, for the photo. Beautiful shot, as always.
Join us at Bucyrus Commons (1028 Madison Avenue) at 5 p.m. for hot dogs, popcorn, drinks, bouncy houses, and more! The movie starts at 8 p.m.
And bring a lawn chair!
Learn more about all the city Celebrations Committee events here. Next up after Movie Night:
Saturday, September 9: Open Doors. 10am – 3pm. Go behind the scenes to celebrate South Milwaukee’s art, architecture, culture, history, and people. We have 20 stops booked, including several new ones for 2023. Learn more here: Open Doors Event Webpage
Saturday, October 21: Family Spooktacular at the Commons. 4pm – 7pm. Movie begins at 7pm. Event to be held at the Bucyrus Commons. More details coming soon!
Saturday, December 2: Christmas at the Commons. Mark your calendars for a new holiday event with food, music, family fun, and the lighting of the Bucyrus Commons Christmas tree. More details coming soon!
South Milwaukee is our schools. Our schools are South Milwaukee.
The fortunes of both are inexorably linked, their bonds strengthened by issues of common interest and concern, existing (and hopefully new) areas of collaboration, and, most importantly, passionate people who understand just how important the success of one is to the other.
That’s why all of us — whether you have one the nearly 3,000 kids in the South Milwaukee School District or not — should care about what the district’s new superintendent, Diedre Roemer, has to say, from concerns over the state budget to early observations since she joined the district this summer.
Diedre appears in the latest edition of the #SMWay Podcast. Access it (and all of Season 1) here.
From the school district …
We can all learn something, right? The #SMWay podcast answers questions from South Milwaukee parents about education, how the school district operates, what challenges are in front of us, and what we as a community can do about it. When we’re not answering parent questions, we’re sharing what’s best about our schools – our student successes, and our teachers’ dedication.
Today we’re introducing South Milwaukee’s new superintendent, Deidre Roemer. We’ll hear a little bit about her family, her career, where she’s been and what led to South Milwaukee. I’ll ask her about first impressions of the District and the city, about what we should celebrate, and what we need to work on. Spoiler alert, she’s hit the ground running. I’ll also ask her about the state’s education budget, what’s changed since our last podcast episode, and what it means for South Milwaukee.
It’s worth a listen. And welcome, Superintendent Roemer!
It’s Da Crusher, of course! Shot the night of Crusherfest, as we unveiled this statue to the world. Do you have a photo you’d like to share on the blog? Send it along.
South Milwaukee Blog 