Milwaukee: More than the Brew City

By Claire Edwards


Milwaukee is known as the city that beer made famous. Indeed, the history of modern Milwaukee is built on the brewing and selling of beer, and you will see many reminders of that history throughout the city from the Pabst Mansion to the various bars and microbreweries. But, I assure you, despite prominent marketing that might suggest otherwise, there is plenty for a sober Milwaukee visitor to do during their CCCC downtime.
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Here, I offer some suggestions for sites to visit and activities to partake in during your visit to Milwaukee that do not showcase alcohol consumption as well as some completely alcohol-free options. 
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• Visit our cat cafe, Sip & Purr. This is an adorable and relaxing venue featuring petable cats, coffee, teas, snacks, a place to hang out and read, and even yoga with cats.  

• ​Go to The Oriental or The Downer for a movie. I don’t know about you, but one of my favorite things to do in any city I visit for a conference is to sneak away for a bit and watch a movie. This is an especially pleasurable outing when the city has beautiful historic movie theaters like ours. 

• Enjoy some great food and a mocktail. There are several restaurants and bars in the city that feature mocktails, and I recently discovered that The Original (arguably the best restaurant in Milwaukee) will happily transform some of their numerous classic and original cocktails into delicious alcohol-free renditions.  

• ​Visit a museum. We have many! Two popular options are the Harley Davidson Museum and the Milwaukee Art Museum, which is housed in what might just be Milwaukee’s most interesting structure. 
  

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• Try one of the Walking trails: Milwaukee and its surrounding areas feature a variety of walking, biking, and running trails, many along one of our many bodies of water. The Milwaukee Riverwalk is relatively close to the CCCC’s conference venues and provides beautiful views of some of the city’s most beautiful areas.

If you have other Milwaukee sober and sober-friendly options, please share them in the comments below or tweet us @writingmke with #4c20 and #writingmke.



-Claire Edwards is a second-year PhD student in Public Rhetorics and Community Engagement at UWM. She spent several years in teaching, tutoring, and administrative positions at community colleges and online universities in Southern California before moving to Milwaukee to pursue her doctorate.  She spends her free time watching movies with her husband and cat.