Summer Soulstice Music Festival

Summer Solstice is defined as "the solstice that marks the onset of summer, at the time of the longest day, about June 21 in the northern hemisphere". And so marks that time of year when all things Wisconsin are on the up and up. It's time to enjoy the warmer weather and hopefully it's dry out. This 2019 Solstice was a dry one despite the long wind up to summer we've all been waiting for. Eastside Summer Soulstice is a particular great event and this year would prove to be one of the best. Why you say, because there are so many new businesses on this corridor of street corners where all roads East intersect. Hacienda Beer, Crossroads Collective and it's many restaurants inside and so on... Plus, all of some of Wisconsin's finest vendors all on the closed of streets and all in the mix. This event is dog friendly and people watching equipped. The sun was shining and although not hot it was a perfect temp to relax and enjoy all this city has to offer. We sat at Hacienda outside and people watched, listened to the 88.9 stage and ate food with our pooch soaking up the sun. Cheers to Summer Soulstice!

Summer Soulstice Solid. Great local music- so muchso that you can't see everything great happening at once. It's All Happening (at once)! Three well-spaced stages of great local music is the big ticket hang, here. Besides the great local music there's a good selection of quality Makers showing here, and an okay but not great selection of beer (would like to see more local craft on tap or in cans). I liked that Landmark and Von Trier and other places had bars set up outside. Great local MKE festival.

wow. the summer after next this festival will have its 20th anniversary. Time flies!it's still fun. we went at evening time before sunset but if I had to guess, I'd imagine it's still a very different place depending when you go- daytime or nighttime. They close North from Oakland to prospect and some of the other cross streets (Farwell). Because of this, your best bet is getting here any other way besides a car - parking is hard to find, and maneuvering the streets with so many of them closed for the event is a challenge itself. That being said, there's several stages with music for different genres, food and drink booths, restaurant tables spilling out on to the street and a number of booths selling clothing, jewelry, etc. Oh yeah , and there were quite a few port o potties and they were pretty clean (at 8 pm anyhow).With the old west town/water st festival Riversplash having been cancelled (was it already a decade ago? wow), the summer soulstice seems to mark the start of summer - to me anyhow. Catch it next year and enjoy summer before it's gone!

This year, it was all about local music, and in a big way.Quality local music.Kick-ass local music.Really really good local music.Tiki drinks? Check.Beer vendors? Check.Foodz? Of Course.Dodgeball cage? Check and mate.Arts and DIY vendors on Murray? Check.Milwaukee awesome? Definitely.The East Side BID/Made in Milwaukee did a really stellar job "reclaiming" this particular North Avenue festival. Gone are the cheesy cover bands from days of yore, gone are the festival staples that don't boast any local flavor or tie-ins but did boast tons mindless crap for sale. Still present and inevitable, however, is the witching hour, when this or any festival of similar duration goes from day to night. Being a noon-midnight kind of deal poses challenges insofar as flow and demographic on a couple of levels. For me, it was like coming back to a whole different festival after 9pm. (I was there earlier in the day, and the whole thing seemed pretty tame, but post witching hour... well, let's just say we're definitely still on North Ave after 9pm!) The organizers did a great job having local police and security present to make sure drunk kids didn't wander out into traffic (Farwell doesn't shut down for this festival despite the fest itself lying on North from Oakland to Prospect). Overall, I'm really excited as to where this festival is headed, and I look forward to attending in the future. There's so much diversity of local business, art, and culture on the East Side, and it's great to see the festival (finally) reflecting that fact!

This was officially my first Milwaukee Festival. I have to admit I didn't know where I was going or what I was going to when I was invited to this event. Just decided to tag along and was to surprised to say the least. There were two large music venues at the opposite end of the festival playing different types of music, pop up bars every few feet and whole lot of people that have been drinking way before 8pm. I will be going next year and hope to go a little earlier to get the entire feel for the event.See you next year Soulstice!

Always a good time. Free music, delicious food, great vendors. One of my favorite festivals in Milwaukee. Bummer that Miller dominates but you can go into any bar and get your beer of choice.

Music, food trucks, Milwaukeeans and cocktails. All my favorite things on a bee-yoo-ti-ful summer day.

This festival is located on North Ave between Prospect and Oakland. Free admission. Music on both ends and in the middle (4 stages, one per block). They blockade the streets for the day. It is a cool idea. There are food trucks, but I found the selection to be limited. Fortunately, there are lots of other options close by on North Ave and surrounded. The vendors are kind of lame (I don't know how much more strange smelling soap I can see for sale!?). Evening is not appropriate for kids.

I live a block away, so its a easy walk. Its not real big, but good music, some food, some booths selling stuff, and alot of bars.