Deck: Local festival brings flair and Milwaukee pride

Milwaukee is known as the city of festivals. But during an outing to Summerfest or Festa Italiana, you are not likely to run into a zombie painter, modern dancers performing in the street, or an up-and-coming movie director.

Chances are you’ll encounter one of these characters at Made in Milwaukee.

Made in Milwaukee (MiM) is coming back for its 10th year, and the festival is bigger than ever. Taking place Saturday, Sept. 3 in Cathedral Square Park from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., the festival celebrates all things Milwaukee. MiM showcases the area’s fashion, art, live music, film and dance with over 100 local vendors and a farmer’s market. Admission is free.

Chuck Watson, MiM founder, came up with the idea of a festival to attract audiences for his hip-hop bands’ shows. He wanted to integrate different genres of local music with hip-hop. The festival continued to grow throughout the past decade with the addition of different mediums of art.

“I founded it over a beer with a friend. We did it to make shows a little more interesting and bring different genres of music into a show,” Watson said. “It started with music, photography and paint. We then added fashion and dance. And now we have film.”

The festival’s usual art forms are returning this year. Eight different local bands will be performing: The Tristan Royalty Squad, John the Savage, Group of the Altos, Trapper Schoepp and the Shades, Ethan Keller, Rae Cassidy, The Celebrated Workingman and a Milwaukee favorite, The Wildbirds.

The 50 different food stands at the farmer’s market may grab the attention of area foodies. Alterra Coffee Roasters, Stone Creek Coffee Roasters, Adonyne Coffee Roasting Company and Valentine Coffee Co. are holding free coffee tastings. 50 different beers from 18 Wisconsin breweries will also be available, with tickets for the tasting $25 in advance and $30 at the door.

Some visual artists, such as Timmy Kramp, a painter specializing in zombie portraits – yes, portraits of zombies – will be making reappearances, but there are many new artists joining the festival as well. The works showcased at the festival are all for sale, but while art is often pricey, these trendy decorations do not have to be expensive.

“One of the great parts of the festival is how affordable art is. Here you can buy pieces for $10 or $20,” Watson said.

Kristopher Pollard, an artist who primarily creates abstract portraits, will be showing and selling his art at the festival. “I used to live in St. Louis,” Pollard said. “The art scene in Milwaukee is much bigger than in St. Louis. There are a lot of opportunities here.”

Some artists are also taking the opportunity to go green at the festival, according to Jen Funk, art director of MiM. She said much of those greener artists’ work is made from recycled products.

On the cinematic side of things, the Milwaukee Film Festival, which has a regular spot at MiM, is screening festival film trailers at the event for the first time. Funk said it gives Milwaukee filmmakers a chance to display their work to the public before the Milwaukee Film Festival Sept. 22 to Oct. 2.

“The trailers for the movies that we are showcasing are really quite brilliant,” Funk said.

Along with these films, DJs have matched local music to video compilations of the city and surroundings. Watson said these music videos are intended to present a series of ideas of Milwaukee and its community.

“This is a unifying experience,” Watson said.  “The more people focus on the city that they live in, the better city you have for everyone.”