February 28 2026
Havenwoods State Forest
Save the Date:
Milwaukee, Wisc.
Winter Break is a winter festival for boosting morale during the long cold season.
Milwaukee needs something to look forward to after the holidays have ended, but the grey skies have not.
All areWelcome
Winter Break invites you out of hibernation for a free festival for all ages, experience levels, bodies, and genders. We offer activities that are gentle, fun, and surprising.
This event flexes with the weather. The forecast doesn’t need to look golden. If we have cold, snow, and ice, that just unlocks more activities!
Past events
Ways to support the festival…
We celebrate Milwaukee’s unique winter culture, support local businesses and creators, and promote sustainable winter tourism – while keeping the event free and accessible to everyone.
WE ACKNOWLEDGE
the stewards of these lands
& waters that came before us
Milwaukee and Wisconsin are or have been home to people from the sovereign nations of:
| Oma͞eqnomenew-ahkew (Menominee) | Bodwéwadmi (Potawatomi) | Očhéthi Šakówiŋ (Dakota/Lakota) | Kiikaapoi (Kickapoo) | Hoocąk (Ho-Chunk) | Myaamia (Miami) | peewaareewa (Peoria) | Ojibwe (Chippewa) | Onyota'a:ka (Oneida) | Odawa (Ottawa) | Meskwaki (Fox) | Muh-he-ka-neew (Mohican) | oθaakiiwaki (Sauk) | and more. |
Today, 7,000+ Milwaukeeans identify as Native, the largest concentration of Native people in Wisconsin. We recognize that the ancestors of the peoples of these nations preceded and survived European Colonialism, enduring racist and xenophobic policies aimed at cultural genocide and cultural erasure, like re-education at boarding schools, destruction of sacred sites, land seizures, and forced relocation. We acknowledge this traumatic history, the effects of which can still be seen today in the form of Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women, adverse health outcomes for native peoples, and the cycle of intergenerational poverty resulting from dispossession of their land and thus the resources on it.
We attempt to further dismantle white supremacy by educating ourselves about the sovereign nations whose land we are on, by reading work by native scholars and writers, and by donating to native causes and supporting native-owned businesses. We invite everyone to do likewise.