Lakefront Brewery is taking its popular indoor Handcrafted artisan market outside for the first time, turning its newly finished riverfront green space into the site of a one-day Handcrafted Fest of Ale on October 11. The free event runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and will bring more than 70 local artisans, food trucks, live music and the brewery's own beers to the freshly landscaped lot next to the Holton Street Bridge.
The move outdoors is possible because Lakefront finished expanding its landscaping to the east, transforming a 34,000-square-foot lot that once served as construction staging space into a riverfront hangout with sod, trees and public seating, according to a Milwaukee Record press release. Hoodline previously reported on that riverfront conversion, which replaced what had been an enclosed industrial lot rented out during a nearby bridge project.
From Sunday Pop-Up to Full-Blown Outdoor Fest
Lakefront's Handcrafted market started as a Sunday indoor pop-up in early 2024, running monthly through the colder months to showcase local makers, per the release. The Handcrafted Fest of Ale scales that concept up considerably, offering handmade goods, thrifted and vintage wares, prepackaged food, antiques, fresh produce, and florals or plants alongside the usual beer and live music from local talent.
This is not the brewery's first attempt at moving an indoor draw into a bigger outdoor footprint. The brewery's 5th annual Maifest expanded onto Commerce Street and an auxiliary lot back in May, doubling its festival footprint to accommodate more than 40 celiac-safe vendors and up to 4,000 attendees. That expansion suggested strong regional appetite for Lakefront's gluten-free and maker-focused events, a pattern the Handcrafted Fest of Ale appears to be following on its own new turf.
Gluten-Free Staples Return, But It's Not an Exclusively Gluten-Free Event
Despite the heavy gluten-free presence, the Handcrafted Fest of Ale is not a strictly gluten-free event, per the release. Attendees can expect the all-gluten-free Curdwagon making one of its final appearances before winter hibernation, alongside Curds à la Carte serving fresh fried cheese curds and gluten-free New Grist beers pouring at outdoor service stations alongside other award-winning releases and seasonal favorites.
Lakefront's gluten-free identity traces back two decades. In 2005, the brewery's New Grist pilsner became the first gluten-free beer to win label approval from the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, after Lakefront successfully petitioned regulators to drop a rule requiring 25 percent malted barley in beer. Curds à la Carte itself is a more recent addition, born in May 2025 when the brewery converted a retired hot dog cart into an outdoor food station to run alongside the Curdwagon.
Kids' Treats, Bloody Marys and a Full Vendor List Coming
Beyond the beer, the fest will offer canned soda, lemonade, Golden Maple root beer, Purple Door ice cream and other treats for kids, plus Bloody Marys for the grown-ups and additional local food and beverage trucks. Lakefront Brewery Executive Chef Kristin Hueneke, who oversees the culinary concepts behind the brewery's beer hall menu and its mobile food fleet, said breweries attract amazing, creative individuals in comments included in the release.
The brewery says it will post a full vendor list on its website ahead of the event. Lakefront's beer hall, which offers a full menu and 18 additional taps, opens at 11 a.m. the day of the festival, and the brewery's regular hourly tours will continue to run.
Parking and Getting There
Free street parking is available for the festival, and nearby Schlitz Park will provide additional paid parking if street spots fill up. Lakefront draws more than 80,000 visitors annually for tours at its Beerline B neighborhood facility, making it one of the most visited craft brewery tour destinations in the country, according to VISIT Milwaukee.
A Brewery Built on Firsts
Lakefront's habit of turning niche offerings into large-scale community draws goes back to its founding. Brothers Russ and Jim Klisch started the brewery in 1987 in a former Riverwest bakery before relocating in 1998 to a historic 1908 coal-fired power plant at 1872 N. Commerce Street, purchased from the City of Milwaukee. In 1996, Lakefront also became the first certified organic brewery in the United States, producing Organic E.S.B., the nation's first certified organic bottled beer made entirely with organic malt and hops.
That pattern of leaning into hospitality and experience-based events rather than just production fits a broader shift across Wisconsin's craft beer industry. The state was home to 262 active beer-producing companies in 2025, more than double the 121 operating a decade earlier, according to the Badger Institute, as breweries increasingly compete on taproom experiences, artisan pop-ups and community events rather than shelf space alone.
