The City of Milwaukee started a tradition a few years back putting all different types of sculptures through the city. They called it Sculpture Milwaukee. Some are very pretty pieces of art. Some are a little weird like the hot dog vendor last summer that was outside the Northwestern Mutual building. They expanded to the Third Ward this year. One of the things they added in the Third Ward was a giant ass red solo cup called ‘The Jokester.’ If this is not the most Milwaukee sculpture of all-time, I do not know what is.

The red solo cup has been a thing for years, but when beer pong took off in the late 2000s and early 2010s, red solo cups became a must-have at every party. In college, people would get shit on if they did not have the right kind of cups. You could never do the 16 oz cups, rather, you had to get the 18 oz version or everything was thrown off. They would be used for beer pong or to supply the keg of whatever shitty beer we were drinking. Typically, it was Milwaukee’s Best Light or better known as Beast light. Red solo cups got so big they became a name of an awful song by Toby Keith.

For Milwaukee to have a big red solo cup sculpture says everything you need to know about Milwaukee. We like to drink. Our drinking culture gets celebrated all the time. And it is a fitting sculpture in the pandemic because most people are still going out in the City of Milwaukee. Your opinion on that can be whatever you want, but the pandemic has not slowed down the drinking community here in Milwaukee.

Have a good weekend everyone, enjoy your red solo cups wherever you are, and check this out if you’re around the Third Ward area.

Charlie.