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Milwaukee Magazine's 2017 City Guide Savors the Summertime

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Don’t look now, but we’re already into June and into that fleeting period in Wisconsin known as summer. Maybe you have big plans for the summer - but even the busiest among us have those summer days, or nights, where we’re considering how to spend our time.

"The best part of summer is that it always revives that child-part in us, and here in Milwaukee I think it really does that," says Milwaukee Magazine editor-in-chief Carole Nicksin. 

The magazine's City Guide issue is on newsstands now and offers some new ways of looking at a season we thought we knew well. Organized by 14 weeks of summer fun to take us all the way through Labor Day - the feature includes things you can see, experience, and eat in Milwaukee according to Nicksin's own experience of exploring the city her first summer here. She shares her recommendations with Lake Effect:

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1. Take a Trolley ride- "On the trolley there are people telling you about what you're seeing and about the history of Milwaukee. And my two friends came off that trolley ride knowing more, not only than I knew, but than my colleagues living here all their lives here knew."

2. Stay Up All Night Itinerary - "We came up with some activities to keep you busy while you're waiting for the sunrise." The list includes going to a bakery to smell and see the bakers starting the day's work, utilizing the 24 hour Starbucks at the airport, going bowling, visiting the Jazz Estate, and eating at Ma Fisher's before going to the lakefront to see the sunrise.

3. Enjoy Summerfest Like a Pro - Helpful tips include how to use coupons to get in for free and return before 7 pm, "the witching hour." Learn strategies to see multiple bands in one night, take advantage of promotions, shuttles, and find out where to go on the grounds to catch a break.

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Great Lakes Dragaway

4. Visit the Great LakesDragaway - A vintage 1950s quarter mile drag strip in Union Grove, "I like to watch from the finish line so I can see the whole thing and I can see them go from their top speed back down to zero. It's very dramatic, and...it's a total sensory experience. The noise, the visual of seeing them, the smell of the burning rubber and gas - it just does it for me."

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roadamerica.com

5. Visit Road America - "As gritty as the Dragaway is, the opposite is true of Elkhart Lake... You can't see the whole track at once, so you typically wander around to one vantage point to another. In general it's a nice civilized way to spend the day, and they have all types of races there."

6. Explore Milwaukee by foot - "I think it's a gem. It's something you can do by yourself, you can bring your visitors - it's one of the top ten things to do this summer."

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Milwaukee Magazine