Sorry these aren't photos but I had to share these video's with you all.
These are all from the last three days...
Milwaukee, the City of Festivals, throws it's largest festival once every 5 years. Locals call it Harley Fest (as all the rest of our festivals end in fest) but it's officially known as the Harley-Davidson 105th Anniversary. Harley riders roll in on Wednesday from around the world (many have their bikes shipped to the coasts and then ride from there.) A massive stage is built in Veteran's Park which has a very large grass area and a picturesque location on a peninsula in Lake Michigan, where the main acts (Bruce Springstein, Foo Fighters) played. There are also concerts at all the stages on the Summerfest Grounds (a year round park with 11 permanent outdoor stages for our festivals) and numerous street festivals with music and TONS OF BEER. All told there were 19 stages with live music on them.
The festival was a blast, but it gets a little long for the residents here. The CONSTANT rumbling in the air makes it absolutely impossible to sleep and the drunks seem to loose control of their bodily functions after a few days. (I guess Milwaukeeans have a higher tolerance than the rest of the world)
Anyway, the festival is almost over. I still hear motorcycles go by every few seconds, but that constant roar left the air this afternoon.
Here are some videos from the event.
This is the lakefront. The big box in the distance is the Roundhouse that Bruce Springstein and the Foo Fighters played at:
These next two are of Brady Street (literally two blocks from my house...I got absolutely no sleep):
These two are of typical traffic at any given intersection within 4 miles of downtown (somethimes more):
This is a video of traffic and a parking lot at Miller Park (over 4 miles from downtown):
The next one is of the Harley parade. They choose 7500 members of the Harley Owner's Group (HOG) and have them ride in a parade:
These next few are just of typical streets around downtown. It was like this on EVERY random side street, open piece of grass, and intersection:
Architecture fans, check out the lighting on the building at the end of this video...it's won awards. Here's the Architectural Record article (click on the slideshow)
http://archrecord.construction.com/projects/lighting/archives/0808marcus-1.asp
These last two are promotional videos put out by Harley-Davidson:
The new H-D Museum:
And a promo of Day 1 (The Ride Home):
So yeah, that's Milwaukee for you. It was a blast, but I REALLY need sleep now. I'm going to enjoy tonight more than ever.
