I can't take credit for the idea behind this blog, but it's a good one. Just as the idea of year-round Daylight Savings Time is the issue I preach from atop my soap box, my wife espouses the notion of starting Wisconsin's summer a month later.
It makes sense, really. Even though many of us think summer runs from June through August, that's not particularly accurate here in the upper Midwest (technically, it runs from around June 21 through around Sept. 22). With temperatures hovering in the low 60s this week -- and it's already June 9 -- it doesn't really feel very summery, does it?
On the other hand, the month of September in Wisconsin tends to be a lot hotter than what one would expect for fall. Crisp days and cool nights -- that sounds more like October around here than the first few weeks of Packers season.
Maybe seasonality is just semantics, but the tourism industry could thrive if Wisconsin jogged its summer back by a month. Think about it: let kids out of school a month later (and bring them back a month later) and capitalize on outdoor destinations when they are really weather appropriate -- in early September not early June. Because frankly, the idea of freezing my butt off at a water park doesn't sound so appealing when I still have the heat on at night.
Summer in Milwaukee doesn't start around Memorial Day, it starts around Summerfest. And it doesn't end on Labor Day, it ends around Octoberfest.
Who is with me on redefining the great Wisconsin summer?
Andy is the president, publisher and founder of OnMilwaukee. He returned to Milwaukee in 1996 after living on the East Coast for nine years, where he wrote for The Dallas Morning News Washington Bureau and worked in the White House Office of Communications. He was also Associate Editor of The GW Hatchet, his college newspaper at The George Washington University.
Before launching OnMilwaukee.com in 1998 at age 23, he worked in public relations for two Milwaukee firms, most of the time daydreaming about starting his own publication.
Hobbies include running when he finds the time, fixing the rust on his '75 MGB, mowing the lawn at his cottage in the Northwoods, and making an annual pilgrimage to Phoenix for Brewers Spring Training.
