Milwaukee’s dining community is grappling with a recent string of restaurant closures that includes longtime neighborhood fixtures and newer concepts. The losses have sparked disappointment among diners and raised broader questions about why even popular locations and prime riverfront spots are struggling to survive.

On Milwaukee’s Lori Fredrich told WTMJ’s Adam Roberts that restaurant owners are increasingly speaking candidly about the realities of running a business, using social media to share financial pressures and warn customers when closure may be imminent. The shift marks a departure from past practices, when restaurants often closed quietly without explanation.

With January and February historically among the toughest months for restaurants, local leaders are urging residents to buy local. Programs like Visit Milwaukee’s Buy Local Bonus aim to provide short-term relief, but many in the industry worry about what the year ahead may bring.

Hear more about this story on WTMJ’s Reporter’s Notebook, on Sundays at 10 am or wherever you get your podcasts.

It’s time to sip, stroll and make merry memories as you bring cheer to Minneapolis with the Polar Bear Pub Crawl. 

Twelve downtown Minneapolis bars are taking part in the cool adventure with each serving up festive libations to warm your holiday spirit.

The Local on Nicollet Mall is one stop along the pub crawl ready to help you celebrate winter.

“This year we have what we’re calling The Bear Hug. Essentially we are saying it’s a warm embrace in a glass,” said general manager Brad Johnson. 

The Bear Hug is bourbon, pomegranate, raspberry with Chambord, maple syrup and a little bit of lemon juice.

Participants ride the Holly Trolley to the stops, said Kitty Fahey with the Minneapolis Downtown Council.

“Kind of on or near Nicollet Mall is the primary pubs, then we also have two other spots in North Loop,” Fahey said. “We have early check-in over at Fulton and then we have an afterparty at Graves.”

The Minnesota Lottery will be on hand to give away prizes at certain locations.

“We’re also doing this really fun new thing this year, a scavenger hunt. It’s an app called Goose Chase,” she said. “So you download that and we have activities in each of these locations that you have to find.”

Participants can win theater tickets, and retail is open as pop-up shops along the pub crawl route.

Barrio is another pub using libations to warm those who take part.

“Just seeing people have fun during Christmas and the holiday season, everyone’s coming around, they’re smiling, they’re having a good time and we get to fuel some of their fire, with alcohol [laughs]!” said assistant general manager Steffani Vestal. “We are making Coco Festivo. So it is a fun twist on the piña colada with tequilla instead of rum. We use reposado tequila. It’s going to have notes of vanilla, that’s why it plays so well with the sweetness and the fun. And Coco Lopez, which is our coconut cream, and fresh-squeezed pineapple juice, a little bit of fresh-squeezed lime.”

The Polar Bear Pub Crawl is just one part of Winterapolis, according to R.T. Rybak, former Minneapolis mayor and current CEO of The Minneapolis Foundation. He says it’s all about celebrating the creativity, culture and community that makes Minneapolis shine all winter long.    

“This year in Winterapolis it’s really about taking that same spirit of the ‘Bold North’ and tying together things like the light-up we had of the holiday trees, with this pub crawl, with all of the things in the Dayton’s Market, with Nordic Soundscapes down at the Orchestra, and put it all together with the kite festival and the loppet, and just tell people, ‘Hey, it’s cold. Yeah! Good! Get out there and do stuff!’”

Tickets are still available. They’re only $30 dollars per person or $100 for a group of four.