Milwaukee, WI
The Oak Creek man preserving American highway signs and Milwaukee beer culture
OAK CREEK, Wis. — From the inside, you’d never be able to tell Eric Polinski is a collector.
“I mean this is pretty much just basic living,” he said.
He lives with his three cats, a dog, and dozens of cut-off plaid shirts.
“If I could have my way, I’d cut them all off. But I need some winter shirts also here,” he said.
But you may have seen his house before. If you drive down Howell Avenue in Oak Creek, you’ve likely seen the large railroad sign and Phillips 66 sign in a driveway. That’s Polinski’s house.
James Groh
“It brings a smile to a lot of people’s faces and when it brings a smile to their face it brings a smile to my face, and it also it just keeps me more motivated to keep going and doing the things I enjoy doing,” he said.
Polinski is an Americana collector. His driveway is full of old Coca-Cola placards, highway signs, and a Texaco pump. He likes the highway culture which is why he also has stop lights, miles-per-hour signs, and other road signs.
Some people collect Winnie the Pooh items and others have world-record Smurf collections. For Polinski, he is like a curator and this is his museum. He’s preserving parts of the past.
“Everything just brings back beautiful memories,” Polinski said.
James Groh
Simply put, he likes the look. It makes him feel good. Inside a shed in the yard, there is even more. It’s a man cave that looks like the museum of Wisconsin beer signs. There’s Pabst, Blatz, Highlife, and Leinenkugel neon lights, mirrors, and collectibles.
“I collected it because of the fact that I love neon signs as I grew up. I loved the looks of them, the lighting of them, the coloring of them,” he said.
A lot of his collecting has come from his work as a basement waterproofer. He is able to take a lot of the items clients don’t want to keep anymore. Since he is in a basement, he finds neglected collectibles. Also, some people have personal bars in their basements, so that’s how he amassed such a large collection of beer gear.
“If it looked good to me, I picked it up.”
He also uses Facebook Marketplace, rummage sales, and his network of friends to find deals.
Despite a sign that says road closed in front of his house, people from all over the Midwest can’t resist pulling into his driveway to take a look around. It happens, “a couple of times a week,” he said.
Maybe that’s because next to his road closed sign is a McDonald’s drive-thru sign.
“I don’t mind wasting the Illinois people’s time because they’re Bears fans, you know.”
James Groh
Eric has been putting this collection together since he was in his early 20s back in the early 1980s. He has put blood sweat and tears into this. Recently, he got a deep cut. He bandaged the cut himself and kept on working in the yard.
“Ain’t the first cut. It ain’t going to be the last.”
Now 62, Eric is beginning to think about the next steps in his life. He would love to move up north and spend his days by a lake. Before that, he must take care of his home and collection.
Ideally, he’d like to sell the home to someone as is with all the collectibles. Polinski wants someone to continue the work he has done for the past four decades. If he can’t find anyone, he said many of the items will go to an auction.
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Milwaukee, WI
RNC Milwaukee 2024; airport preps for first-time travelers
![RNC Milwaukee 2024; airport preps for first-time travelers](https://images.foxtv.com/static.fox6now.com/www.fox6now.com/content/uploads/2024/07/1280/720/10P-RNC-AIRPORT-READY-FOR-ITS-CLOSEUP-PKG_WITId355_00.01.56.50.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
MKE airport preps for 2024 RNC
Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport will have thousands of first-time visitors walking through its terminals as they arrive for the 2024 Republican National Convention.
MILWAUKEE – Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport will have thousands of first-time visitors walking through its terminals as they arrive for the 2024 Republican National Convention.
They will arrive by plane load, from California to the Carolinas, on jet airliners and private planes. The airport is the first chance Milwaukee will have to impress.
“It’s very important to us,” airport director Brian Dranzik said. “We want to showcase the airport as the first impression for people coming in from where they’re coming in”
Dranzik has now prepared for two national political conventions.
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“We’ve been very thoughtful over the past couple of years of what this experience is going to be like for people,” he said. “We were prepping like this for the DNC in 2020.”
This time, though, people are really coming. And the airport will be ready in ways we can and cannot see.
“One of the things we did a few weeks ago is recapped the entire terminal space, which took about a week and a half to complete,” he said. “Also things like runway safety, making sure the airfield is in good condition. We’re going to suspend some of our work activity. Work will conclude before the even and start up again.”
In terms of air traffic volume, the RNC will make Milwaukee’s airport just a tad busier than it would be during a normal spring break week. It’s more than equipped to handle commercial traffic.
![](https://images.foxtv.com/static.fox6now.com/www.fox6now.com/content/uploads/2024/07/932/524/10P-RNC-AIRPORT-READY-FOR-ITS-CLOSEUP-PKG_WITId355_00.01.56.50.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
A bigger challenge is handling the scores of private planes coming to Milwaukee, sometimes on short notice.
“We’re trying to get information from them as to what that private air traffic looks like, but the problem with that is that they don’t have to notify us until 24 hours before they arrive, but they’ll be shutting down two runways,” Dranzik said.
The signage is already up, reminding visitors about the event. A Dunkin’ Donuts will be open just in time to greet them.
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Perhaps the first test of readiness will be how things go at baggage claim.
![](https://images.foxtv.com/static.fox6now.com/www.fox6now.com/content/uploads/2024/07/932/524/10P-RNC-AIRPORT-READY-FOR-ITS-CLOSEUP-PKG_WITId355_00.01.58.34.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
“That’s our conversation with the airlines because they’re the ones pulling the bags off and making sure they’re getting back to the causal system,” Dranzik said. “I’m not expecting too may issues that way.”
To learn more on how to handle the mass departures on the two days following the convention, Mitchell officials reached out to the airport in Louisville which handles such crowds each year on the day after the Kentucky Derby.
![](https://images.foxtv.com/static.fox6now.com/www.fox6now.com/content/uploads/2024/07/932/524/10P-RNC-AIRPORT-READY-FOR-ITS-CLOSEUP-PKG_WITId355_00.00.04.52.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
It’s all hands on deck until the last plane leaves, and the two days following the convention will be the busiest.
“When people are leaving, that’s equivalent to a Super Bowl scenario,” Dranzik said. “Everyone’s gonna want to get out at pretty much the same time.”
Dranzik is confident the airport’s final impression will be as impressive as its first.
Milwaukee, WI
Milwaukee Music Roundup: Valley Fox, Shorelining, Old Pup, The Quilz
![Milwaukee Music Roundup: Valley Fox, Shorelining, Old Pup, The Quilz](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/691281e/2147483647/strip/true/crop/709x372+398+0/resize/1200x630!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fc2%2F36%2F0cc5b9cd48459542f9874afe2880%2Fmusicroundupjune.png)
It’s festival season here in Milwaukee. With events happening nearly everyday, there are a lot of opportunities to get outside into the community and hear some live, local music.
Matt Wild is the co-founder of Milwaukee Record. Every month, he creates a list of some of the best, new releases from local musicians called the Milwaukee Music Roundup. Here is this month’s list:
Roll On Mary by Valley Fox
Currents by Shorelining
Spider Towns by Old Pup
Wild Cat by The Quilz
Milwaukee, WI
Tuesday forecast shows rain throughout Wisconsin, central-southern areas to get the most
Torrential rain drenches southern Wisconsin amid severe weather
Torrential rain battered southern Wisconsin on Friday, June 21, as a severe thunderstorm warning was issued for the region. Footage from X user @packbrewfan shows heavy rain coming down in Sun Prairie. The National Weather Service warned of a severe thunderstorm bringing possible quarter-sized hail, wind gusts up to 60 mph, and a possible tornado on Friday. The agency said the severe weather would end on Friday evening and resume with a second wave on Saturday . Credit: @packbrewfan via Storyful
Parts of central and southern Wisconsin are forecast to receive the heaviest amounts of rain on Tuesday as a system is expected to dump up to 2 inches of rain in parts of the state.
That’s according to the latest forecast from the National Weather Service that shows the most significant rainfall southwest of the Madison area, in Dodgeville and Darlington. Milwaukee and other parts of southeastern Wisconsin are not expected to receive as much rain, with the forecast between .1-1.25 inch of rain for Milwaukee.
“You could see some heavy rain with that stuff, not necessarily for the Milwaukee area, but the areas west of the I-90 corridor,” said Kevin Wagner, a meteorologist at the Milwaukee office of the NWS.
Heavy rainfall and potential localized flooding in some areas is the main concern with the system, but Wagner said that wind gusts could be high as well. Those concerns are more likely southwest of Madison and into Iowa, he said.
Milwaukee should see scattered showers through the morning, before a brief lull in the midday, Wagner said. Around 5 p.m., rainfall is expected to return in central Wisconsin and gradually move towards Milwaukee.
Rain should return in heavier amounts to southeast Wisconsin with thunderstorm potential at night.
The NWS has also issued a high swim risk along the lakeshore line, between Sheboygan and Kenosha, through Tuesday evening. A high swim risk indicates that currents can be strong and that waves could be three to five feet tall or higher.
The alert says to “stay out of the water and away from dangerous areas like piers and break walls.”
Fourth of July forecast
The forecast for the Fourth of July is showing chances of rain in the Milwaukee area, but it may not ruin most of the day’s activities, Wagner said.
However, the rainfall is expected to have the highest chances later in the night and into Friday morning. That means that most of the holiday should be dry, he said.
“The trends have been pushing those rain chances back, so better chances for rain are going to be as early as Thursday evening and the better chance into Thursday night into Friday morning,” he said.
Wagner said there will likely be persistent showers on Friday.
Read mores about the July 4 forecast here.
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