The Milwaukee Bucks have announced that the ninth annual Milwaukee Oktoberfest will be the first event on the plaza outside the Fiserv Arena.
The free event, a German-style beer and food festival, is slated to take place Oct. 5-7 and will include a bratwurst-eating contest, live polka music, a stein-hoisting competition (it's harder than it looks!), a wiener dog contest, a Miss Oktoberfest competition, a cornhole tournament and music from The Klaberheads and The Mike Schneider Band.
"We are excited to make Milwaukee Oktoberfest the first-ever event on the plaza outside of our world-class arena," said Milwaukee Bucks President Peter Feigin Tuesday. "We are committed to making the plaza a fun destination, and this family-friendly event will start it off in a great way."
The event will take place from 5 until 11 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 5; 11 a.m. until 11 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 6; and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 7.
In previous years, the Milwaukee Oktoberfest has been held at Cathedral Square Park, down at the lakefront and at Pere Marquette Park, around the corner from the arena plaza.
"We look forward to holding Milwaukee Oktoberfest on the plaza," said Michael Sampson, owner of Swarmm Events, which is organizing the event.
"German restaurants, bars and architecture can be seen across our great city, so it is important for us to keep this event moving forward and to continue growing each year."
For more information, visit milwaukeeoktoberfest.com.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He can be heard weekly on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories.
