Best Event Logistical Move
Taking a Shuttle
Events – games, concerts, festivals, you name it – are great. The traffic and parking around them are not. But it’s so easy to just skip the annoying parts. Bars across the metro offer shuttles to a wider variety of events than you might expect. For example, Paulie’s in West Allis offers dozens of shuttles most months; why wouldn’t you want to start your night at The Nutcracker with a beer? – Chris Drosner
Best Trivia Host
Michael Landmann
The co-founder of America’s Pub Quiz is a trivia nerd’s trivia nerd. Landmann is funny and personable, provides insight beyond just the answers and plans extras like the “Mission Impossible” question with a rolling jackpot. He (tightly) runs the trivia most Monday nights at 6:30 P.M. at Walters’ on North. 6930 W. North Ave., Wauwatosa – CD
Stay in Your Lane!
Listen. I know we’re all just trying to be good citizens, to get where we’re going – through that lane on I-94 that’s going to be closed until 2033 – without being jerks. I know it’s a bad look in polite (mostly Midwestern) circles to speed by slowed traffic in a lane that’s ending, and then ask someone who waited longer than you to let you into their lane. But, folks, this is exactly how this is supposed to work. It’s called a zipper merge, and no less authority on niceness and traffic flow than the Minnesota Department of Transportation says doing it correctly can reduce the length of backed-up traffic by 40%. Milwaukee drivers have gotten better at this since I-94 began its marathon lane diet last fall. But too many of us are still A) merging early and B) getting mad at those who aren’t. I know it’s uncomfortable looking like someone trying to cheat the system. But using all available lanes and then taking turns is the system! Embrace the zipper merge!
Nominate Somebody Now!
Best Rescue of a Tradition
Summerfest’s July Fourth Fireworks
For two years, Milwaukee’s lakefront has been firework-free. (Let’s rephrase: legal firework free.) The county replaced its July 3 show with a drone show last year, and that’s cool but … they’re not fireworks. Thankfully this year, Summerfest stepped up with well-timed lakefront fireworks on the Fourth to fill the gap. – Archer Parquette
Best Golden Boy
Jordan Stolz
The Kewaskum speedskater came home from Italy with two golds and a silver medal, making him the most decorated American at Milan Cortina and setting two Olympic records. He’s already got his sights set on France in 2030. – CD
Best Flamethrowing Nerd
Jacob Misiorowski
In The Miz, Milwaukee has another generational athletic talent with a quirky charm. He seems to set a new record every time he steps off the mound at American Family Field – 105.5 mph, are you kidding me? – but we also love that he geeks out with (fellow) kids over Pokémon and baseball cards at local shops. The 24-year-old even showed up to the All-Star Game with his favorite Pokémon, Lugia, stitched into his suit. Never change, Miz! – CD
Best Formerly Unpopular Idea
The Bronze Fonz
In 2008, Dave Fantle took a lot of heat. The Visit Milwaukee VP was the metaphorical face of the Bronze Fonz, the literal face of which was Henry Winkler’s immortalized “Happy Days” character. Angry Milwaukeeans said the statue was kitschy, anti-artistic, a bad representation of the city. But more than a decade later, the Bronze Fonz has become a Fantle-vindicating monument to fun. Fantle, who passed away this year, had the chance to witness that at a riverside party celebrating Winkler’s 80th birthday in 2025 that saw a packed crowd cheering the statue. – AP
Best Visual Ambassador of Milwaukee
Nate Vomhof
Does anyone else make our city look so good? Vomhof’s aerial landscapes paint Milwaukee in sweeping, cinematic grandeur that comes from a love of his hometown. “I think a lot of people forget that we have a world-class city right here,” he says, “and I get excited to share it with people.” – CD
Best Birdwatching
Lake Park
Birdwatching is trending, and Milwaukee has no shortage of spots to spot – Schlitz Audubon and Havenwoods are both prime. But Lake Park is especially choice for warblers, the colorful, pint-sized birds in abundance in the springtime. The park’s concrete footbridge offers an elevated vantage point that won’t give you “warbler neck” trying to spot the high-up birds. – AP
Best Maurico Ramirez Mural
Ueck vs. Giannis
This summer, Mauricio Ramirez, Milwaukee’s muralist in chief, signed his second Downtown mural of a beloved sports figure. Which one of these towering works is best?
Bob Uecker
It’s him: The white shock of hair, the plaid jacket, the hawk nose, the half-smile that suggests he just got in a great one-liner. But … is it? I don’t know how – maybe the eyes? – but it just doesn’t look exactly like the Ueck in my mind. Perhaps I’m asking the impossible of Ramirez, and it is the shallowest of uncanny valleys, but I can’t unsee it.
Giannis Antetokounmpo
Faces are exceptionally hard to render in paint, let alone a 100-foot-tall portrait of one of the most recognizable faces in Milwaukee history. This fact is the genius of the three-story Giannis mural that Ramirez completed in 2022. By portraying him from behind, we see the subject’s hair, a hint of a cheek, his green Bucks jersey, his unmistakable name and his astonishing physique. It’s perfect; Ueck’s is almost perfect.
