1. Raise a Glass at Milwaukee Oktoberfest
Oct. 2-4, Henry Maier Festival Park
These grounds were made for stein-hoisting – sort of. Munich’s traditional Oktoberfest inspired our city’s Summerfest; now, Milwaukee has its own autumnal German bash on the lakefront, replete with bier, polka, brat-eating contests and wiener dog pageants. Prost!
2. Check Out Nō Studios Dance Fest
Oct. 3, Marcus Performing Arts Center
This dance extravaganza makes space for all sorts of styles to be celebrated as an art. It waltzes its way to the Marcus Center’s outdoor Peck Pavilion during the day and leaps to its Wilson Theater at night. Performances come from regional troupes like Milwaukee’s own Nova Linea and Chicago’s Visceral Dance.
Celebrate this year’s winners of the Betty Awards!
3. See Beet Street Fall Festival
Oct. 3, Cactus Club
Cactus Club’s family-friendly block party crams Wentworth Avenue with live music, local farmers, craft vendors, a punk rock rummage sale and a pie championship.
4. Look Behind the Craft During MKE Studio Tour
Oct. 3-4, Multiple Locations
Milwaukee County’s crafty. For one day, 16 studios open their doors to the public to prove it. Learn from local artists demonstrating pottery throwing, sgraffito decorating, corn husk flower making and much more – and possibly take a work home with you.
5. See Go Dog Go!/Ve Perro ¡Ve!
Oct. 3-Nov. 1, First Stage
¿A dónde van los perros? P.D. Eastman’s classic kids book gets the musical treatment in this bilingual adaptation where canines drive cars, ride bikes and roller-skate.
6. Laugh at Milwaukee Comedy Fest
Oct. 5-11, Multiple Locations
With The Laughing Tap’s new club as home base, the annual array of local jokesters and national headliners winds its way back to Milwaukee stages for its 21st year.
7. Come Undone with Weezer
Oct. 7, Fiserv Forum
What’s with these homies? The cult favorite geek rockers are back on the road behind their seventh self-titled release, The Gold Album. They’re tagged along by indie opening acts The Shins and Silversun Pickups.
8. Pounce on OctoPURRfest
Oct. 10, Ope! Brewing Co.
Collecting scratch for Almost Home Cat Rescue, this fundraiser promises a silent auction, bingo presented by drag performer Ester Flonaze and live music from bluegrass outfit Frogwater. While the shelter won’t be bringing any kitties, dogs are welcome to the party.
9. Shop the Holy Hill Art & Farm Market
Oct.10-11, Holy Hill Art Farm
Make a lovely fall day of perusing local art and fresh produce circled by colorful foliage. Visitors can also find bites, drinks and live music on the 168-year-old farm.
10. Spirits and Spirits
Oct. 8-10, 15-16, Multiple Locations
Not all frights entail a potent potion, but these ones do. Staged by immersive arts troupe Trove Arts, this show pairs five specialty cocktails with partly scary, partly comedic ghost stories and legends – all heightened with dramatic lighting and theatrical effects. It appears at the Waukesha Civic Theatre from Oct. 8-10 and The Grey House Studio in Tosa from Oct. 15-16.
11. Get Creative During Fall Gallery Night MKE
Oct. 16-17, Multiple Locations
It’s the last Gallery Night of the year! Get a big dose of artistry when over 60 galleries and other venues in the Third Ward, Walker’s Point and beyond open their doors for new exhibitions of emerging and established talent, artist talks, live music and more.
12. See Great White Throne
Oct. 18-Nov. 8, Renaissance Theaterworks
A pastor’s wife braces for bad news in her lavish bathroom when she’s bothered by an unwanted visitor. They reckon with their faith in this world premiere dark comedy, written by local playwright Cara Johnston and workshopped during Renaissance Theaterworks’ Br!nk New Play Festival.
13. Listen to Sylvan Esso
Oct. 21, Riverside Theater
We have one fateful night at Bay View’s Cactus Club to thank for the North Carolina electropop duo Sylvan Esso, who met each other at the venue in 2010. Now, they come back to Milwaukee touring for their new album, Ow ∞.
14. Go Gourd at the Humboldt Park Pumpkin Pavilion
Oct. 21-24, Humboldt Park
It’s a horde of gourds! One thousand glowing pumpkins, in fact. This beloved Bay View fall festival is known for its big jack-o’-lantern display, community carvings and other family- friendly Halloween activities. This year’s theme is “The Legend of Sleepy Howell.”
15. See After the War: 1919
Oct. 22, The Cooperage
Madison-based ensemble Mobilize the Poets bring their elaborate “rock and roll history show,” transporting audiences via a melding of music and theater to a post-war America reckoning with great societal upheavals.
16. Offer Tributes to Day of the Dead Ofrendas
Oct. 22-Nov. 18, Latino Arts
Vibrant altars to lost loved ones, often adorned with flowers, art, food and drink, are a vital part of the Mexican tradition of Día de los Muertos. Latino Arts will share authentic ofrendas from community members inspired by corn and wheat – symbols of life.
17. Hear the Movement and Melody
Oct. 23-25, Bradley Symphony Center
Ravel’s dazzling ballet Daphnis et Chloé – with sweeping strings and floating melodies – leads a lineup of Impressionistic works by Chopin and Debussy that brim with emotion at this performance by the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.
18. Look ‘Beneath the Surface’
Oct. 23-Jan. 18, 2027, Milwaukee Art Museum
Traveling from the National Gallery of Art and co-curated by the Art Museum’s Kristen Gaylord, this acclaimed exhibition excavates the hidden, sprawling reach of the American mining industry through 180 years of photographs and interrogates its ongoing impact on modern life.
19. Listen to Chad Harbach
Oct. 29, Boswell Book Co.
Fifteen years ago, Wisconsin native Chad Harbach took the sports and literary worlds by storm with his debut novel, The Art of Fielding, a Badger State-set college baseball story. Now, the founder of n+1 magazine returns with The Brightness, about two Wisconsin graduates figuring their way in the world.
