After several years out of commission, the Locust Street Festival is back this summer, returning to Riverwest on Sunday, June 11.

According to Black Husky owner Tim Eichinger, who is organizing the festival's return along with the non-profit Garden Park Association, this summer's block party will return to the full-sized edition of years past, hosted on Locust Street stretching from North Holton Street and ending at North Humboldt Boulevard.

The festival will feature food, drink, local vendors, art, several music stages and the return of the beer run – which, according to Eichinger, will take place in its traditional route.

The last proper Locust Street Festival of Music and Art was held in 2019. Then, in 2020 and 2021, the event was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A return seemed possible last year, but less than a month before the event, Locust Street Festival's website announced that it was canceled yet again. 

However, to keep the neighborhood block party's spirit alive, two alternate Locust Street Festivals popped up in 2022: "Celebrate Riverwest" hosted by Linneman's Riverwest Inn and Worst Locust Street Festival hosted by Black Husky. And now this year, it's returning in its classic full-sized proper form (albeit without two long-time coordinators, Peter Wolbersen and Linda Maslow, who retired from the festival this winter according to the festival's website and a recent post on its Facebook page).

The 2023 Locust Street Festival is accepting vendor, band and sponsor inquiries; for more information, email tim@blackhuskybrewing.com. And for more updates about the Riverwest festival's return, stay tuned to Locust Street Festival's Facebook page. 

Stay tuned to OnMilwaukee for more summer festival announcements and updates.