You’ve had mozzarella sticks, topped them off with eggplant strips, maybe a brat and washed it all down with a beer. It’s dessert time at Summerfest and luckily, there are sweets all around – healthy and not so – to make your festival feast complete.
Here are nine great options:
If you enter at the North Gate you'll be greeted by the eye-catching booth erected for Sil's Mini Donuts. Yes, you heard right. Sil's is here at Summerfest. Though the alluring scent of mini donuts has disappeared from North Avenue, you can still experience it at the Big Gig.
Dippin’ Dots. You can get the ice cream of the future at a number of booths around the grounds. There’s one across from the Johnson Controls World Sound Stage near the north end and another on near the south end, too.
Just up from the north end Dippin’ Dots is a roasted nuts vendor selling cinnamon roasted almonds, cashews or pecans, cotton candy, sugary candies and salted cashews for ($5 and up).
Just south of the Mid-Gate is Catalano’s Fresh Fruit, selling fresh grapes, strawberries, melon and other healthy sweet treats. They also have fresh squeezed orange juice if you wake up some morning to find you spent the night sleeping in the splash pad after a rough night at the Big Gig.
Just a bit down the road apiece, south toward the Miller Lite Oasis, is Sciortino’s stand, selling cannoli, eclairs, tiramisu, Italian cookies, brownies and gelato. You might as well just stop here because it gets no better than this ... at Summerfest or anywhere else.
Kitty-corner to the southeast, facing the Miller Oasis is Cedar Crest, selling sundaes, malts, shakes, cones and dishes of Wisconsin-made ‘scream. Prices range from $2.75 for a single scoop dish to $5 for sundaes.
Much further south, almost to the Marcus Amphitheater forecourt is Greek Village, where you can nosh delicious baklava for a mere $2.75, perhaps the bargain of the Big Gig.
Near the south end of the Sky Glider, Ultimate Confections has a booth that sells cheeseckae, smoothies, ice cream, carrot cake, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate dipped strawberries and pretzels and more.
Back up on the north end in the low building between the U.S. Cellular Connection and World Sound Stages there is a Cold Stone Creamery and an Auntie Anne’s pretzels, if you crave something a little more ubiquitous and familiar.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
