Author: Lee Matz

Inclement weather on June 19 could not dampen enthusiasm and excitement for Milwaukee’s 47th Annual Juneteenth Day Festival, along Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive between Center and Burleigh Streets, attracting crowds of thousands to celebrate the end of slavery that still lacks recognition as an official federal holiday. The annual Juneteenth Day Celebration is the oldest known commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. Juneteenth marks the African American proclaimed of freedom to all slaves in the South by Union General Gordon Granger on June 19, 1865 in Galveston, Texas. The news came nearly two...

“People are trapped in history and history is trapped in them.” – James A. Baldwin “When we cannot tell ourselves the truth about our past, we become trapped in it. That’s exactly why this museum is important.” – Danny Glover The Grand Opening of the Griot Apartments and the Re-Emergence of America’s Black Holocaust Museum (ABHM) was celebrated on June 18, with attendance by a full house of hundreds of residents and city leaders. “It took years of collaboration and leg work to develop this project, one that will be an economic catalyst for the area while paying reverence...

As a former illustrator of children’s books and studio painter, Stacey Williams-Ng fell in love with mural painting. She has gone on to become one of the driving forces behind Milwaukee’s renaissance of street art, most notably the Black Cat Alley project and at various community sites around the city. Her latest project has been working on a special mural on the new Urban Farmhouse of the Victory Garden Initiative (VGI) at 249 East Concordia Avenue in the Harambee neighborhood. The artistic work covers the two street-facing sides of the building, located across from the organization’s farmland. The idea...

With a new Mother Nature mural adorning the 1904 facade, the building’s conversion is well underway as an Urban Campus for the Victory Garden Initiative (VGI), positioning it at center of urban agriculture in the Harambee neighborhood, and the fulfillment of Gretchen Mead’s long time dream. VGI started ten years ago in the basement of Gretchen Mead’s home, as an idea to build communities that grow their own food for a socially just and sustainable food system. As Executive Director, Mead recently completed the organization’s move to its new location at 249 East Concordia Avenue. The building was originally...

Thousands of visitors gathered along Milwaukee’s lakefront for the inaugural Water Lantern festival on a damp evening with inclement weather to celebrate community, and cast their candlelit wishes upon the dark surface of the Veterans Park lagoon. The One World Water Lantern festival presented the June 9 event in Milwaukee as a venue that would bring people together for a magical night of food, music, and an awe-inspiring experience around the release lanterns onto the water. Family attendance was diverse not only for ethnicity, but also numerous languages could be overheard including German, French, Russian, Spanish, Korean, and Japanese....

The June 8 event featured behind-the-scenes access to the new streetcar maintenance facility, with two of the five fleet vehicles on display for access. The Milwaukee community was invited to get its first glimpse at the future of transit in city. The free open house for The Hop, presented by Potawatomi Hotel & Casino, gave curious visitors a unique opportunity to go inside Milwaukee’s new streetcar system. “The Hop is an integral piece of the vibrant Milwaukee community we’re building,” said Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. “I’m thrilled that the public will had the occasion to come downtown, get a...