'Community has always kind of been at the heart': OnMilwaukee plans to host more in-person events and festivals

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- OnMilwaukee is an online publication that thousands of readers go to to find out what's happening in and around the city.

After a recent purchase of Swarm Events, it now hopes to bring more people together in person, too.

"They already come to us for food and dining content and what to do in the city," said OnMilwaukee's chief operating officer, Carolynn Buser. "Couldn't we do more events like this?" 

That was the thought after hosting a successful food truck festival last summer in partnership with Summerfest. 

"We can also help our sponsors and our partners grow.  The more that these things happen in the city of Milwaukee, the better we'll all be," said Buser. 

This summer, OnMilwaukee will host a few more events, starting with some already existing "foody" events and a new spelling bee. 

Buser said the spelling bee will be a fun, light-hearted version of the well-known, national spelling bee. There will even be a section for local words.

So, we decided to talk to some OnMilwaukee readers and people on the streets, to see how they'd do spelling some local names that are not so common -- words like Ozaukee, Cudahy and Oconomowoc. How do you think you would do? 

"O-S-A-K-I?" said Dan Mackowiak. To be fair, Mackowiak was visiting from Illinois, and he's never been to Ozaukee. He did get close to Cudahy. "C-U-D-D-A-H-Y, there used to be a baseball player in Minnesota with the name Cuddahy," said Mackowiak. 

But how would local people do? 

Grant Leiendecker has lived in Ozaukee County for two years now, so he did spell Ozaukee and Cudahy right. But Oconomowoc proved to be a little harder. 

"O-C-O-N-O-M-O-N-O-W-O-C," he said, adding a couple of letters.

If you think you could do better, you can sign up for the adult spelling bee that will take place on Friday, Feb. 25. 

Buser says the idea behind all of the events is just to bring OnMilwaukee readers together to connect in Milwaukee. 

"Community has always kind of been at the heart of OnMilwaukee," said Buser.