I like this picture becaus it's sort of the essence of Summerfest: all sorts of different people coming together to listen to music and drink beer. If you've never been to Summerfest, it's hard to imagine just what it's like. I wasn't expecting anything too big, but Summerfest is HUGE. The stages aren't temporary either … they're permanent. In fact, the whole festival grounds seemed to be permanent structures, sort of like an amusement park. There were rides as well and tons of food stalls. Every genre of food (practically) was represented, including the WI favorite, beer-battered cheese curds. Corporate America was also well-represented. They pitched tents and let the masses try out their new stuff. Matt and I got our pictures taken with cool props (and then promptly printed) at the HP tent. We got to try out the new N-Gage (that video game cellphone thingy) and watched a very very drunk dude do Karaoke at the SoBe tent (I think he got a bottle of SoBe for his trouble). Of course, seeing that there was beer-aplenty, there were tons of the funny drunk folk. Matt wore his Pacman t'shirt and attracted lots of attention … drunk girls and guys were very into the t'shirt. Hilarious.
Of course, the music is the real draw. There are about a dozen stages (all of varying sizes and layouts) scattered throughout the grounds … with live music or other acts ALL day. We looked through their lineup and Matt and I could have easily seen a band every single day that we like… just a few that were playing THIS weekend (this thing goes on for 2 weeks): Guster, Sister Hazel, Matt Nathanson, Fountains of Wayne, Kenney Chesney (with Uncle Kracker! haha), Leann Rimes, Boo Radley, Kid Rock (not that I care, per se), Ben Folds and Live. We got to see Matt Nathanson, Sister Hazel and a few other bands as we walked through the grounds. And we got to sit out by Lake Michigan and eat some truly greasy food.
I highly recommend this festival!!
Sounds a lot of fun!