We are into the second weekend in July, and plenty of festivals, fairs, and fun await. Milwaukee has Festa Italiana along the lakefront and Bastille Days just blocks away in the nearby East Town district. Plenty of fun adventures await on your Wisconsin road trips. Some of our features are below! Check out our Routes, attractions, and more. Enjoy these great event ideas to get you started. Pick Some Roads and GO!!
Milwaukee: Bastille Days says Vive la France! with wine, food, music, art, and fun
It’s Milwaukee’s annual French festival, one of the largest French celebrations in the United States, and it’s tres magnifique! This FREE four-day bash attracts over 250,000 visitors each year. In 2026, Bastille Days runs Thursday, July 9th through Sunday, July 12th. Set around Cathedral Square on the east side of downtown, Bastille Days begins with a 5K “Storm the Bastille” run on Thursday night and then plenty of live music, an international marketplace, chef and wine demos, French and Cajun cuisine, roaming busker entertainment and a signature 43-foot Eiffel Tower replica offering hourly light shows. Bastille Days is known for the impromptu street performers, roaming minstrels, and a variety of interactive and musical entertainment along with some of the best restaurant vendors in Milwaukee! It takes place literally right ON U.S. 18 and Highway 32 downtown. More…
Also Milwaukee: Festa Italiana brings fun, games, and amazing food to the lakefront!
Festa Italiana is BACK on Milwaukee’s lakefront in the heart of July! Dance, eat, drink, learn, and have fun during all the Festa events from Friday through Sunday – and the weather is supposed to be amazing! Its right under I-794 and U.S. 18, Highway 32, and nearby I-43, I-94, and Highways 38, 59, and 145 bring you within blocks! More…
Chippewa Falls: Northern Wisconsin State Fair is underway!
Chippewa Falls hosts the Northern Wisconsin State Fair every July at its eponymous fairgrounds. The five days of the fair feature midway carnival excitement, numerous exhibits, animal judging, contests for milk drinking, pie eating, karaoke, animal shows including a draft horse show, a pedal tractor pull, and much more that you would expect from a fair like this. Furthermore, you can check out or participate in the Lego Pre-Build Contest, talent competitions, and of course, the food is always a highlight along with great live music and national headliners. U.S. 53 and Highways 29, and 124 bring you there! More…
Brussels: Belgian Days
It’s pretty obvious a town called Brussels in Wisconsin would have major ties to Belgium, right? Sponsored by the Brussels Lions Club, this annual event has been a tradition for 65 years featuring Belgian food, live music and a parade. Event also includes baseball, softball, run-walk, cornhole tournament and a cooyah tournament. Get a full list of events here. Highway 57 brings you right to it! More…
Madison: Art Fair on the Square
Surrounding the Capitol with over 300 artists along with other vendors, lots of food, drink, and music options and more, Madison’s Art Fair on the Square is one of the more highly-regarded art fairs in the nation. Check out the action and fun Saturday and/or Sunday! Visit the UW Campus, Lake Mendota and Monona, and the wonderful museums, restaurant, and historic sites nearby while you’re at it. U.S. 151 brings you right to the Capitol… for now. More…
Iola: the massive Iola Car Show runs through Saturday!
The 54th annual Iola Car Show, happening now through Saturday, is the Midwest’s biggest and best car show and swap meet, with over 100,000+ attendees, 2,500 Show Cars, 4,000+ Swap Spaces, and more! Join them as they celebrate all things automotive across the decades. With a huge variety of vehicles, a great lineup of celebrities, even Mother Nature cooperating with nice weather predicted, this should be fantastic! Enjoy all the cheese curds, chocolate shakes and fun you could ever wish for at the car show. You can get to Iola along Highway 49 and/or Highway 161 in Waupaca County; it’s not too far off the U.S. 10 freeway. More…
Spooner: Heart of the North Rodeo
The annual Heart of the North Spooner Rodeo welcomes professional rodeo’s top competitors from around the country to vie for points and prize money. Cowboys and women barrel racers from around the Midwest and beyond participate in the Spooner Rodeo each year. For fans, plenty of thrills, spills, chills, and the overall excitement – to watch, to take part in, to enjoy – great fun, great food, and great memories to take home from each performance. Extras include shopping at the vendors’ booths all three days, special happenings at each show, prizes to win, great music after each rodeo performance, and old friends to visit and party with. And on Rodeo Saturday afternoon uptown, the huge Spooner Rodeo Parade with more than 100 units, bands, floats, horses galore, fire trucks, politicians, prizes, kids and more. U.S. 53, U.S.. More…
35+ Drive-in Burger Stands across Wisconsin… many are open for the season now!
A burger, fries or rings, a shake or ice cream – delivered to your car… perhaps by a car hop onto a tray hanging off your window. It’s a quintessential American experience, and Wisconsin represents well. Check out our 35+ Wisconsin Drive-Ins to Try Across the State!
State Trunk Tour Podcast dives into Wisconsin Dive Bars
Wisconsin is known for its dive bars (as some say, it’s a precious asset!) In this episode of the State Trunk Tour Podcast, we meet up with Jared Schutz. His Wisco Dive Bar Reviews videos and website are a phenomenal catalog of dive bars across the state. He has showcased over 1,000 so far and plenty more await. We discuss how he got this whole thing started in 2022, how it’s developed (he was his own Wisco Dive Bar Vodka now), why his rating system for each dive bar is based on the Busch Light system, and of course we highlight a number of dive bars and dive into what makes them special. Come along for the ride on Spreaker, iHeart, or Apple Podcasts! More…
STATE TRUNK TOUR PODCASTS
The State Trunk Tour Podcast covers Wisconsin’s roads, cities and towns, quirky features, and more. You can access all the episodes on our Podcast Page! Check out some of our most recent ones here:
