It happens every year… brats brat brats (and hotdogs).
This event has grown from the days when it was held in a parking lot (when it was cute and adorable), to the full blown event on Willow Island with midway rides and music, inflatables and an army of Brat Fest t-shirt wearing staff and volunteers.
I’ve spent an afternoon or two in my day getting sunburned, heartburned, and burned out at Willow Island, but I really do miss the parking lot days myself where it wasn’t a huge event and you could just zip over, get a couple brats and zip out and the Weiner Mobile was the only on site “feature”.
If you are going… this year there are 2 particular headliners that bear mention.
Of course there is Bret Michaels. His face is everywhere. Yes, I had Poison back in the day (on cassette), though I think I may be without it now. Sorry Brett.
His bio on Wiki adds some depth to him however I must say: Bret Michael Sychak, professionally known as Bret Michaels, is an American singer-songwriter, musician, actor, director, screenwriter, producer, and reality television personality.
Director? Good for you Bret.
I have been seeing his face around town, billboards, and even on busses. I shot this the other day. The bus was right in front of me at first, Bret staring at me giant sized. By the time I got out my camera the bus was ahead and turning, but I had to immortalize the encounter.
You can check out the entire lineup of musical acts at the Brat Fest website:
The other headliner of note is Scott Stapp. He will be there headlining with his new band if that grabs you. You remember Scott Stapp, right? Creed. Epic spiral into crazy and SNL spoofs. I still have “My Own Prison” the author admits sheepishly. Only the memory of hearing it play on the radio in my Erdman days and finding some excuse to stay at the end of the aisle where I drove forklift to listen to the entire song before heading out again can outweigh the memory of watching his drunken breakdown on the poker playing show, or Creed’s fall short second album. I applaud his continued efforts though.
You would think that an event built around sausage would be free from controversy and simply be a day to enjoy meat, but there is plenty of controversy. There are plenty of sites that will fill you in on the new stuff at Brat Fest and the behind the scenes issues, but I particularly liked this one.
Don’t be worried about the “sex” in the name. The site is Arts Extract. A Madison blog.
http://artsextract.com/2014/05/22/brat-fests-prison%EF%BB%BF/
We will be grilling at home this weekend.
They will taste awesome.
I do love me some brats.
Addendum: They WERE awesome.
The Aural Retentive 