Milwaukee is known for its summer festivals but none is as anticipated as the Big Gig. Crowds will flock to the lakefront as Summerfest gets underway tomorrow.

To help you plan your first weekend of Summerfest, our friends at Radio Milwaukee are here to share their recommendations. They’ll be joining us throughout the run of the festival to talk about the music and what sets Summerfest apart from other music festivals. Carolann Grzybowski and Anthony Foster join Lake Effect's Audrey Nowakowski in studio.

June 19th, or Juneteenth, commemorates the day in 1865 when enslaved Black Americans in Galveston, Texas learned they had been freed from bondage. It was two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed.

Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021, and a city of Milwaukee holiday one year later.

But Milwaukee has been celebrating Juneteenth for much longer -- 55 years. It’s thanks, in large part, to community leader Margaret Henningson and Northcott Neighborhood House, which put on the first Juneteenth celebration in 1971. Henningson says she learned about Juneteenth in a conversation with her grandmother, during a family trip to Georgia when she was a teenager.

Henningson tells WUWM Race & Ethnicity Reporter Teran Powell that message came full circle for her when she began working for Northcott in the 1970s.

American Science & Surplus is a Milwaukee staple for many science enthusiasts and DIYers. While its online store has closed, its brick-and-mortar locations in Milwaukee and Illinois, remain open under new employee ownership.

The previous owner, Pat Meyer, started a GoFundMe last year to try and keep the stores open. But when efforts failed to reduce inventory and relocate its warehouse, Meyer stepped down as owner. Now, former store manager Kim Stenglein owns the Milwaukee location. Stenglein spoke with WUWM’s Eddie Morales last December about how a challenging economy is shaping the store’s inventory and future.

As part of WUWM’s Economic Check-in series, Stenglein shares some of the ongoing and new economic challenges the store is facing.