We call it Brew City for a reason. Next Thursday, find out why. Join Milwaukee’s foremost historian and author, John Gurda, for a fun and informative talk on the beverage that made our town famous: beer.
Celebrate Oktoberfest at the North Point Lighthouse on Sept. 21 from 6:30 to 9 p.m. for Milwaukee on Tap, as Gurda presents a lively look back at the brewing history, beer barons and growth of the industry that for decades defined the city. Naturally, beer will be served, and the first one’s courtesy of the Lighthouse.
Lakefront Brewery’s seasonal fall beer will be tapped fresh from a traditional German Stichfass keg; don’t forget to wear your special Oktoberfest shoes. In addition, you get a free pint glass with every ticket purchased, and you could win a drawing for a one-year Lighthouse membership and a signed Gurda book. There will also be hors d’oeuvres, refreshments and a cash bar available.
Tickets for the event are $35 ($25 for members), and proceeds benefit the North Point Lighthouse Museum. For more information, click here; to buy your tickets, click here.
Gurda, a Milwaukee-born writer and historian who has been studying his hometown since 1972, is the author of 21 books, including histories of Milwaukee-area neighborhoods, industries and places of worship.
His most ambitious and perhaps best-known efforts are "The Making of Milwaukee," the first full-length history of the community published since 1948, and "Milwaukee: City of Neighborhoods," a geographic companion that has quickly become the standard work on grassroots Milwaukee.
Stay tuned to OnMilwaukee for an "Urban Spelunking" feature on the lighthouse during next week's special Lake Week series of articles.
Born in Milwaukee but a product of Shorewood High School (go ‘Hounds!) and Northwestern University (go ‘Cats!), Jimmy never knew the schoolboy bliss of cheering for a winning football, basketball or baseball team. So he ditched being a fan in order to cover sports professionally - occasionally objectively, always passionately. He's lived in Chicago, New York and Dallas, but now resides again in his beloved Brew City and is an ardent attacker of the notorious Milwaukee Inferiority Complex.
After interning at print publications like Birds and Blooms (official motto: "America's #1 backyard birding and gardening magazine!"), Sports Illustrated (unofficial motto: "Subscribe and save up to 90% off the cover price!") and The Dallas Morning News (a newspaper!), Jimmy worked for web outlets like CBSSports.com, where he was a Packers beat reporter, and FOX Sports Wisconsin, where he managed digital content. He's a proponent and frequent user of em dashes, parenthetical asides, descriptive appositives and, really, anything that makes his sentences longer and more needlessly complex.
Jimmy appreciates references to late '90s Brewers and Bucks players and is the curator of the unofficial John Jaha Hall of Fame. He also enjoys running, biking and soccer, but isn't too annoying about them. He writes about sports - both mainstream and unconventional - and non-sports, including history, music, food, art and even golf (just kidding!), and welcomes reader suggestions for off-the-beaten-path story ideas.
