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Milwaukee’stBy Kris KodrichFeature writerA delightful blend of music, food and drink will enliven Milwaukee’s lakefront when Summerfest opens its 11-day run Thursday.At Summerfest you can:✓ Listen to some hard-driving rock, funky blues and crisp jazz just by wandering to several of its 11 stages.✓ Taste fried clams, pizza and baklava for an unusual yet scrumptious sort of meal by visiting a few of the 26 booths set up by popular restaurants in the Milwaukee area.✓ Wash it all down with ever-popular, Wisconsin-made beer or the refreshing wine coolers from the numerous refreshment stands.Now in its 19th year, Summerfest can be summed up in one word — fun.Officials expect another 700,000 to partake during the 11 days, Thursday through July 6. Gates are open from 11:30 a.m. to midnight daily.Billed as the world’s greatest music festival, Summerfest will feature a variety of headline entertainment on the Main Stage. Other stages include the Miller Jazz Oasis, Pabst Festival Stage, Old Style Country Stage, Rock State, Music Pavilion, Comedy-Vari-ety Showcase and Folk Stage.“During those 11 days we have over 1,500 different performers in and out of our gates,” said Mary Farley, marketing director of Summerfest.The Main Stage acts include country singer Willie Nelson on June 29, pop artist Julian Lennon on June 30, blues master Stevie Ray Vaughan on July 2, the funky Kool and the Gang on July 3 and the Australian rock band INXS on July 6.Some of the other performers are Herbie Hancock, Stanley Clarke, Spyro Gyra, Buddy Rich and Maynard Ferguson on the Jazz Stage; UFO, John Hiatt, Autograph and the Romantics on the Rock Stage; Dr. Bop and the Headliners, Gerard, the Coasters and the Crystals on the Pabst Festival Stage; and Los Lobos, Bonnie Raitt, R B Cadets and the Marshall Tucker Band on the Old Style Country Stage.Several bands from the Madison area are scheduled to play at Summerfest, including Swamp Thing, Tara Paraphernalia, Stereotypes, the Cheeters, Java, Spooner, Tony Brown, Piper Road Spring Band, E*I*E*I*0 and the Rousers.Music, food and drink are not Sum-merfest’s only attractions. A circus, children’s play area and theater, sports area, arts and crafts booths, sky tram, water ski shows and more complete the bill.Summerfest has grown a lot since 1968, when the first Summerfest featured activities scattered at 70 locations throughout Milwaukee County. In 1970 the festival was consolidated into one site.Organizers have kept Summerfest tickets at a moderate price in keeping with the original intention to have a festival affordable to nearly everyone. Tickets are $6 at the gate or $5 in advance — available at several locations in Madison, including Kohls and Sentry grocery stores.To get to Summerfest, take Interstate 94 east to 1-794 and then take either the Civic Center/Seventh Street exit or the Plankinton Avenue exit. Continue east on St. Paul Avenue to Milwaukee Street and follow the signs to Summerfest.New for 1986 will be additional programming for senior citizens day, July 1. Persons aged 55 and older will get in free between 11:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. that day. Special health screenings for seniors will be offered. Also a special performance on the Main Stage for seniors will begin at noon.The Pabst Festival Stage and Old Style Country Stage also have been rebuilt and relocated this year to improve the listening and viewing, Ms. Farley said.A new amphitheater to replace the Main Stage will be ready next year.Ms. Farley said changes will always be a part of Summerfest.“I think it will continue to get better,” she said.Summerfest officials also are pleased that several other festivals held on the grounds during the summer continue to grow in popularity, Ms. Farley said.Those festivals are: Festa Itali-ana, July 17-20; German Fest, July 25-27; Children’s Fest Day, July 30; Afro Fest, Aug. 1-3; Irish Fest, Aug. 15-17; Fiesta Mexicana, Aug. 22-24; and Polish Fest, Aug. 28-31.rtp*-LongtimeI love Summerfest.The addicting mixture of sunshine, music and suds keeps me returning year after year.The love affair began when a big sister allowed her 8-year-old brother to tag along in 1968, the first year an assortment of* Milwaukee activities was known as Summerfest.Every year since, I’ve made Summerfest my home for at least a few days — putting up with the good and the bad.The number one attraction is, of course, the music.I usually find the smaller stages have the best bands, like Los Lobos last year or R.E.M. a few years ago. The best concert I ever saw, however, was on the Main Stage in the 1970s when the audience would not let Steve Miller stop playing.Summerfest also is a place toaffairmeet old friends or form new friendships.Once I met a New York woman over a plate of Chinese food andwe kept a long-distance friendship going for some time.I kindly overlook the bad times at Summerfest. slopping through mud to listen to jazz bands, fighting crowds for hours just to get a peek at Huey Lewis and the News, misplacing a girlfriend while dancing on benches, waiting impatiently in rest rooms while standing in puddles of something I hoped was just water.Through it all, my love affair with Summerfest has endured.Certainly I’ll be there again for a few days when Summerfest’s 19th season opens an 11-day run Thursday.If for no other reason, I’ll be there for a chance to hear the best in blues, jazz and rock.The lineups — Old Style, Pabst and M iller — at the beer tents also aren’t too shoddy.With or without alcohol, Summerfest has always been eagerly anticipated by friends and myself. Together, we always have quite a few stories to share.Like when a friend, Mike, wanted to stay at my mom’s house — less than a mile from the Summerfest grounds. Somehow, Mike, whose only possessions were a few dollars and a pillow, got lost beforewe could walk home.Knowing my mother lived on Washington Street, Mike hopped on the first bus he saw. After riding several hours, going across the city to Washington Avenue, Washington Boulevard and even Washington Park — where he walked in the rain with only his pillow as protection — he found a taxi cab.We found Mike the next morning on the living room floor with a kitchen rug w-apped around himself and a wet pillow.Summerfest does weird things to people.—By Kris Kodrich
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