Wisconsin is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by land area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north.
Summerfest is an annual music festival held in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. First held in 1968, Summerfest is located at Henry Maier Festival Park, adjacent to Lake Michigan and Milwaukee's central business district. Summerfest attracts approximately 800,000 people each year, promoting itself as "The World's Largest Music Festival", a title certified by Guinness World Records in 1999, but has been surpassed in attendance by Donauinselfest with over three million in 2015. While Summerfest has one of the highest aggregate attendances in the world, the daily attendance of Summerfest is lower than other major American music festivals. In 2022, the daily attendance of Summerfest was 49,500.
Milwaukee is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee also is the 31st-most populous city in the United States, and the fifth-most populous city in the Midwest. It is the central city of the Milwaukee metropolitan area, the 40th-most populous metro area in the U.S.. Milwaukee is categorized as a "Gamma minus" city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network, with a regional GDP of over $102 billion in 2020.
Frankenmuth is a city in Saginaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 4,987 at the 2020 census. The city is surrounded by Frankenmuth Township.
Over 50 million Americans claim German ancestry, which makes them the largest single claimed ancestry group in the United States. Around 1.06 million people in the United States speak the German language at home. It is the second most spoken language in North Dakota and is the third most spoken language in 16 other states.
German Americans are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. The 2020 census results showed over 44,978,546 Americans self-identified as German alone or in combination. This includes 15,447,670 who chose German alone.
Polish Americans are Americans who either have total or partial Polish ancestry, or are citizens of the Republic of Poland. There are an estimated 8.81 million self-identified Polish Americans, representing about 2.67% of the U.S. population, according to the 2021 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Von Steuben Day is a holiday traditionally held on a weekend in mid-September, celebrating the Prussian-born Baron Friedrich von Steuben, who arrived in the United States as a volunteer offering his services to General George Washington in the American Revolutionary War. Von Steuben is still regarded as one of the most important German Americans, as his training of the young American troops made victory against the British possible. Thus, his work helped gain independence for the United States of America. The day is generally considered the German-American event of the year, and many participants wear tracht costumes, including dirndls and lederhosen, to celebrate their heritage. Celebrations focus on parades where participants march, dance, and play music.
Lincoln Square on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois, is one of the city's 77 community areas. It encompasses the smaller neighborhoods of Ravenswood, Ravenswood Gardens, Bowmanville, Budlong Woods as well as Lincoln Square itself.
Milwaukee Irish Fest is a yearly Irish-American festival held at the Henry Maier Festival Park, on Lake Michigan, United States, every third weekend in August. Over 130,000 people attend the Fest each year to watch nearly 250 acts on 17 stages. The four-day festival started in 1981, founded by Edward J. Ward. Irish Fest is the largest of the ethnic festivals held at the Summerfest grounds which report attendance, and holds claim to the largest celebration of Irish Culture in the world.
Kitchener–Waterloo Oktoberfest is an annual nine-day festival in the twin cities of Kitchener–Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Based on the original German Oktoberfest, it is billed as Canada's Greatest Bavarian Festival, and is the second-largest Oktoberfest in the world. It is held every October, starting on the Friday before Canadian Thanksgiving and running until the Saturday after. Estimates indicate that the event attracts roughly 700,000 visitors to Waterloo Region, Ontario every year.
The Shamrock Club of Wisconsin is the oldest and largest Irish American membership organization in the State of Wisconsin. It was founded on March 17, 1960, in Milwaukee. Currently there are chapters in Milwaukee, Fox Cities, Green Bay and Northeast Wisconsin, South Central (Baraboo), Dane County, (Madison), New London, La Crosse, and Lafayette County, (Darlington). The Rock County chapter folded in 2007.
Polish Fest is an annual ethnic festival held at the Henry Maier Festival Park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and was established in 1982. One of the largest Polish festivals in the United States, it attracts Polish Americans from all over Wisconsin and nearby Chicago, who come to celebrate Polish culture through music, food and entertainment.
Czech Americans, known in the 19th and early 20th century as Bohemian Americans, are citizens of the United States whose ancestry is wholly or partly originate from the Czech lands, a term which refers to the majority of the traditional lands of the Bohemian Crown, namely Bohemia, Moravia and Czech Silesia. These lands over time have been governed by a variety of states, including the Kingdom of Bohemia, the Austrian Empire, Czechoslovakia, and the Czech Republic also known by its short-form name, Czechia. Germans from the Czech lands who emigrated to the United States are usually identified as German Americans, or, more specifically, as Americans of German Bohemian descent. According to the 2000 U.S. census, there are 1,262,527 Americans of full or partial Czech descent, in addition to 441,403 persons who list their ancestry as Czechoslovak. Historical information about Czechs in America is available thanks to people such as Mila Rechcigl.
The Oktoberfest is a two-week festival held each year in Munich, Germany during late September and early October. It is attended by six million people each year and has inspired numerous similar events using the name Oktoberfest in Germany and around the world, many of which were founded by German immigrants or their descendants.
Music tourism is the act of visiting a city or town, to see a music festival or other music performances. This sort of tourism is particularly important to small villages such as Glastonbury, as well as large cities like Glasgow.
PrideFest is an annual gay pride event held at the Henry Maier Festival Park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on the second weekend of June.
The German American National Congress is a national German-American nonprofit organization in the United States founded in 1959. It was established to unite Americans of Germanic descent, while preserving their heritage and traditions. With over 30 chapters and more than 100 associated members throughout the country, DANK is the largest organization of German-Americans.
DANK-Haus German American Cultural Center is a cultural organization located in the Lincoln Square, Chicago community area. Founded in Chicago in 1959, it seeks to preserve and promote German and German American culture. The center contains the DANK museum, Scharpenberg art gallery, a library, facilities for social gatherings, and offers German language classes. It is a member organization of the Chicago Cultural Alliance.
Milwaukee, just like the state of Wisconsin itself, has one of the largest German-American populations in the United States, with an estimated 40% people claiming German ancestry. In addition, the Greater Milwaukee Area has over 60% self-identified German-Americans.
