Although Mother Nature gave Milwaukee a cold, wet slap in the face Wednesday, summer is still on its way. We think.

At any rate, it's time to preview what's going on in the city over the summer. To rid yourself of the depression that comes with a springtime blizzard, just think of teeming crowds, festivals and thirst-quenching beer.

Bring on the beer

Speaking of drinking, the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company is marking the start of summer with a new beer that hit the shelves April 1.

The brew, called Summer Shandy, is a mixture of beer, lemonade and honey.

Legend has it that a German man serving beer to passing bicyclists added lemonade to his beer in an attempt to make it go further, said Lori Barthelemy, public relations manager for Leinenkugel's. Leinie's has German roots, so the brewing company decided to recreate the drink and market it in the United States.

Barthelemy said while Leinenkugel's doesn't have specific projections on how well Summer Shandy will sell, the company expects the beer to do to well based on distributor orders.

"We find that consumers crave the newest thing and the momentum behind a seasonal beer is there right from the start," Barthelemy said. "It's certainly not meant to take the place of the yearlong favorites but to add something refreshing."

Sounds of summer

One of the most popular music festivals around, Summerfest is celebrating its 40th summer of bringing big names to Milwaukee.

This year's Summerfest lineup includes The Fray, John Mayer, Bon Jovi and Toby Keith. Summerfest begins June 28 and lasts for 11 days, featuring performances on 13 different stages, food and rides.

According to Jeannine Sherman, public relations manager for VISIT Milwaukee, all of the city's festivals draw different crowds.

"All of the fests are popular amongst their own audiences," Sherman said.

Summerfest ticket prices vary based on which – and the number of – concerts you want to see. The music festival is held on the lakeshore just south of downtown at 200 N. Harbor Dr.

Family of festivals

Besides Summerfest, Milwaukee hosts several ethnic festivals over the course of the summer at the same lakefront site.

The 25th anniversary of African World Festival is this year. It will be held from August 3 to 5. Other popular ethnic fests include Polish Fest, German Fest and Irish Fest.

Breaking away from the downtown lakefront festivals, the Wisconsin State Fair will run August 2 to 12. The fair has been held at its Milwaukee site, just south of Interstate 94 between 76th and 84th streets, for 114 years.

While the fair draws visitors from all over the state and beyond Wisconsin borders, most attendees don't travel very far.

Wisconsinites make up 87.5 percent of fairgoers and of those, 55.9 percent come from the Milwaukee metro area, according to 2006 demographic information collected by the Wisconsin State Fair.

The fair falls over two weekends, and in 2006, the weekends drew the fair's biggest crowds. The final Saturday of last year's fair was packed with 112,995 visitors, making it the fair's busiest day.

Fair admission prices vary from $3 to $8, depending on when the tickets are purchased.