They’re firing up the grills in Madison this Memorial Day weekend for the self-proclaimed ‘World’s largest Brat Fest.’ BratFest runs May 25 – 28 at the Willow Island Energy Center. The event redefines the term Bratwürst.
After loading up on brats, kraut and strudel you might want to rest for a while. Then, get up early the morning of Saturday May 26 and run it all (well, some of it anyway) off. The Brat Fest Run is a 5k event that will help you do precisely that. The course is laid out along the shores of Wingra Creek, and finishes up at Willow Island.
If all of this is a bit beyond either capacity of your stomach or legs to handle, wait a week and imbibe the music at the Isthmus Jazz Festival. June 1 – 2 are the dates. The setting: Memorial Union Terrace, with glittering Lake Mendota as the backdrop. The jazz runs the gamut: Dixieland, swing, bebop, Latin and free – with variations of funk and Hip-Hop thrown in for variety
Something more sedate? A landscape tour to the Taliesin Preservation and Frank Lloyd Wright Visitor Center should do the trick. Come see how Wright envisioned architecture in relation to the surrounding land. See how organic form and shapes made his creations architecture for the ages.
Something yet more serene? June 2 there will be an Arboretum Night Walk. Naturalists guide you through a twilight Wisconsin summerscape. Listen carefully as the insects bring life to the night. If the evening’s clear, see what the starts and planets are up to. This is Mother Nature’s soporific. The twilight sojourn sure beats hitting the bars before you go to bed.
Story by Jerry Chandler
(Image: Jellaluna)
