As museum guests approach the Streets of Old Milwaukee, the sound of Christmas music swells. Educators dressed in period-appropriate clothing share holiday traditions with visitors at the Milwaukee Public Museum's one-day event.
Museum guide Robin Taylor, who is originally from England, is wearing a black hat and gray suit. Taylor greets guests as their shoes touch the cobblestone road. He is standing in front of the trolley, resting both hands on a walking cane. He shares his role for the day’s event called European Village Alive.
"I’m representing Mayor Rose from the early 1900s," Taylor says. "I’m welcoming everybody in to take a look at all of the Europeans that used to come and live in Milwaukee and the styles of buildings that they used to have. They’re all very different."
Taylor is one of 14 docents, or guides, representing some of the European Village’s 33 cultures, including Danish, French, Ukrainian and German. Nearby, Dave Zersen, a former educator, hands out bakery recipes for a German cookie called a pfeffernuesse.
"The guy sitting here is dressed in Bavarian garb, and he’s a wood carver," Zersen says. "He’s carving toys for the children at Christmas time."
I approached two guests peering through a window: Milwaukee resident Sibylle Tasker and German exchange student Skyla Wintzer. Wintzer shares her thoughts on the museum’s representation of German culture.
"It’s definitely unique because some of my traditions, I’m not familiar with them," Wintzer says. "When I looked in the German household, it’s like, I get some memories from back home."
It’s a bittersweet experience for Tasker, who wanted Wintzer to see the iconic streetscape exhibit but also came to visit the European Village before it’s gone.
"I did not realize it was a streets come alive day," Tasker says. "I’ve had that on my radar for years. I grew up in this community, so I’ve grown up with this village and Streets of Old Milwaukee."
The Streets of Old Milwaukee debuted in 1965. It predates the European Village by 14 years. Today, the exhibits are connected, and guests travel between them through the trolley.
The future museum opens in 2027. It will include a spiritual successor to the Streets of Old Milwaukee called Milwaukee Revealed, with interactive elements, homes to explore and returning favorites like the Haymarket Candy Shop.
Tasker and Wintzer share what they learned about a common Christmas tradition. There's an eye-catching tree that slowly rotates as it hangs above guests from the ceiling. Docent Bob Truitt stands beneath it, holding a string of bells that jingle as he talks to guests.
Truitt tells me about the upside-down tree. It originated with St. Boniface, a British monk in the 8th century whose aim was to deliver the Christian message to pagans.
"He used an evergreen tree because they used them in their rituals," Truitt says. "He took the evergreen tree and he turned it upside down. It makes a triangle, and the points of the triangle represent the holy trinity."
While that tree is easy to spot, some holiday decorations may go unnoticed. High on a shelf inside one European home, a row of Bing & Grondahl plates from the museum’s backroom collection is on limited display.
Each plate is decorated using shades of blue and white to depict different winter scenes, like a cityscape view from a frozen windowpane. The Danish company released its first Christmas plate in 1895. They’re still making plates today, and the museum adds each new one to its collection.
Museum educator Stephen Petrie explains what makes the plates unique.
"After Christmas, the company will break the molds because it is just for that year," Petrie says. "So, they don’t continue to print former years. It’s available for that year, and then once it’s not, they’re moving on to the next one."
European Village Alive was a one-day event, but the museum’s Deck the Streets and Village event runs through Jan. 26.
