The popular Storm the Bastille night time Downtown 5K run/walk returned in-person in 2022 after a two-year Covid-induced hiatus.
And now the tradition is back on track as the event, which traverses the streets of the city center, returns on Thursday, July 13 at 9 p.m. to kick off the 40th annual Bastille Days festival.
The event begins on Jefferson Street at Cathedral Square Park and the course runs through Downtown and the Third Ward.
Storm the Bastille has typically drawn as many as 5,000 runners, some of them donning French-themed outfits.
Early bird race registration is $30 (but rises on June 1) and includes a Storm the Bastille T-shirt through July 4 at runsignup.com/stormthebastille5k.
Participants can also choose to donate some extra blé (that's moolah, lucre, scratch, coin, loot in English) to restore the mini Eiffel Tower.
Read more about that effort here.
The four-day Bastille Days festival and the 5K are a celebration of the the storming of the French prison, an event that lit the fuse for the French Revolution.
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.
