Stories you might have missed from across Wisconsin.
Luxemburg: Local woman named “Fairest of the Fair”.
It’s never too early to start thinking about summer and the Wisconsin State Fair. Food, music, livestock and creampuffs get most of the attention, but each year young women from across the state compete to be named “Fairest of the Fair”. This year, the honor was awarded to Luxemburg native and current Kewaunee County Fairest of the Fair Megan Salentine. Megan was awarded the crown Wednesday night at the Wisconsin Associational of Fairs Annual Convention in Wisconsin Dells. She competed against 30 other young ladies from around the state to become the Ambassador for Wisconsin State Fair and an advocate for the agriculture industry. Megan told the Door County Daily News that she was not ready for her fair story to be over. She said last week that she received great advice from former Wisconsin Fairest of the Fair Isabella Haen leading up to the competition. Salentine’s reign will include crisscrossing the state to promote the positive aspects of fairs, including the Wisconsin State Fair from July 31st to August 10th in West Allis. Full Story
Waukesha: UW-Milwaukee’s Waukesha campus could make way for housing.
The UW-Milwaukee Waukesha campus will permanently close in June. After that, City and county officials are hoping to sell the land to housing developers. The Waukesha City Council voted Tuesday night to change the land use plan for the 71-acre campus lot to residential. That allows Waukesha County — which owns the property — to field proposals from builders. Waukesha Mayor Shawn Reilly told WPR, “Residential is the only thing that seems to make sense. You wouldn’t want to put an industrial park in between all the residential there.” Developers will have to demolish the buildings on campus, which has a central heating and cooling system. Keeping any individual buildings would require installing new systems in each one, which Reilly called “cost-prohibitive.” UW-Milwaukee announced in March 2024 it would close the two-year satellite campus after the spring 2025 semester, citing declining enrollment and budget gaps. Full Story
Milwaukee: Chris Stapleton, Hank Williams Jr. to headline Harley-Davidson’s 2025 Homecoming Festival.
There’s no mistaking the roar of a Harley , and in July that roar is combined with music during the annual Harley-Davidson Homecoming. This year the festival will be headlined by Country music superstars Chris Stapleton and Hank Williams Jr. The country stars will be the centerpiece of the motorcycle company’s hometown bash: two days and nights of concerts at Veterans Park at Milwaukee’s lakefront downtown. The Journal Sentinel reported that Stapleton — whose Traveller Whiskey was a sponsor of last year’s festival, suggesting a possible 2025 booking — will close out the concerts on July 12, while Williams Jr. will headline the concerts on July 11. The Homecoming Festival will take place July 10 to 13. More details will be released at a later date. Full Story
