MILWAUKEE - Mark Mathu has missed only two days of Summerfest in 18 years.
Six months before its 11-day run - when snow still covers the fest grounds - the 45-year-old starts looking at Web sites for bands playing there.
Right before it begins, he makes sure the bills are paid and the lawn is mowed. His wife and five kids flee to her parents' house in northern Wisconsin.
This year he's even skipping his in-laws' 50th wedding anniversary. There are many 50th wedding anniversaries, he said, but just one 40th anniversary of Summerfest - which it celebrates this year, starting June 28.
"I wouldn't say I am obsessed with it," he said. "I guess for 11 days I am ... I don't know if obsession is the right word. I'm pretty enthusiastic about it. OK, you got me, maybe I am obsessed with it."
Summerfest is the world's largest music festival, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. Every year, 800,000 to 1 million people pack its 75 acres to air out their bulging midriffs, drink beer after beer from plastic cups and go half deaf from listening to all types of music while dancing on picnic tables, steel benches and open-air seats. Tunes from the 11 stages can be heard from as far as a half-mile away.
Some hardcore Summerfest-goers - a.k.a. festheads - take vacation to revel or work on the grounds. Others make cross country treks to the shores of Lake Michigan.
Hundreds of performers have played its stages including Ricky Nelson, Dolly Parton, Santana, Pearl Jam, Prince, Dave Matthews, Tina Turner, No Doubt, Rod Stewart, Paul Simon and Bob Dylan.
This year's lineup includes Steely Dan, Def Leppard, The Fray, Ludacris, Roger Waters, John Mayer, Tool, Bon Jovi, Daughtry, Panic! at the Disco and Toby Keith.
The event's logo is a smiley face - but Summerfest officials say that had no bearing in the hiring of their president and chief executive officer three years ago - Don Smiley.
"I had nothing to do with the logo - that was created years ago," Smiley joked.
They even have a spokeswoman named Kristin Chuckel - a name acquired through marriage, she said.
Mathu, of suburban Whitefish Bay, said he started going in 1982 for the music. But now he equally loves the food, the beer, tradition and the camaraderie of the dozen or more festheads who meet every day at 6:30 p.m. wearing Hawaiian shirts. And of course - there's warmth in the air.
"Summerfest is that time where you know the weather should be pretty good and a lot of people have cabin fever - for 11 months of the year, and sometimes for 11 months and two weeks," he said.
Fred LeBlanc, drummer and vocalist for Cowboy Mouth, even recognizes it. This year will be the eighth year the band has played Summerfest and it draws 7,000 to 10,000 people.
After New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival - a cultural celebration in his hometown - Summerfest is one of LeBlanc's favorite events.
"It's not as much a celebration of their culture as much as it is ... a demonstration of it, how they live and how they act, how they are," he said. "It's very laid back and people are just there to have fun because it being Milwaukee, they don't get a lot of what you call summertime weather."
Former Mayor Henry Maier started the festival in 1968, after visiting Okotberfest in Munich, Germany. It was originally held at 35 locations around the downtown area, with Bob Hope headlining at the now-demolished Milwaukee County Stadium.
By the next year, it grew to 60 locations and by 1970 it was relocated to 15 lakefront acres. It has since expanded to 75 acres and has 45 food and drink vendors.
The largest percentage of people who attend are between the ages of 18 and 30 and live in Wisconsin, based on 2003 research.
But Summerfest isn't just a local secret, according to Jim Shanklin, founder and executive vice president of Festival Media Corp. About 22 percent of Summerfest-goers come from Illinois and other areas, the research says.
Summerfest has a reputation for having great music and attracts people from around the country, said Shanklin, who started festivals.com, which calls itself the Internet's largest festival and event resource.
Summerfest is one of the oldest and longest-running popular music festivals in the country, he said.
Smiley took over Milwaukee World Festival Inc., which runs Summerfest, in June 2004. He's the former president of the Florida Marlins Baseball Club and executive director of the Honda Classic golf tournament. He grew up in Racine, south of Milwaukee, and remembers having a ball going to Summerfest as a teen with six or eight friends
"It really wasn't band specific for us," he said as he laughed. "It was just having a good time. We were out of the house."
Summerfest is clearly important to Milwaukee as well. The annual economic impact on local businesses is $110 million, Smiley said.
He said that to keep Summerfest going for another 40 years, festival officials must keep improving the grounds - they recently spent $3.5 million to replace a longtime side stage.
"We'll add a twist here and add a twist there and we will tweak things so that we stay on top of the game, but we are a music festival and that's what we do, we offer very good music and a lot of it."
Tidbits about Summerfest
Summerfest - the world's largest music festival - features hundreds of performers on 11 stages for 11 days on Milwaukee's lakefront. Besides music, there's beer, martinis and food, plenty of scantily clad people, lake breezes and rides on the Sky Glider.
The lowdown on this year's Summerfest:
MARCUS AMPHITHEATHER LINEUP: Steely Dan; Def Leppard with Foreigner and Styx; The Fray with OK Go and Mae; Ludacris with Chris Brown; Ciara and T-Pain; Roger Waters; John Mayer with Ben Folds and Brett Dennen; Tool; Bon Jovi; Daughtry; Panic! at the Disco and Gym Class Heroes; Toby Keith with Miranda Lambert and Flynnville.
SOME SIDE STAGE ACTS: Phil Vasser, Puddle of Mudd, Fuel, Blue Oyster Cult, Goo Goo Dolls, Sara Evans, Lifehouse, George Thorogood, King Solomon, Sister Hazel, Heart, Ne-Yo, The Wailers, Clay Walker, AFI, War, Finger 11, Weird Al Yankovic, The Black Crowes, Los Lonely Boys, Reel Big Fish, Rusted Root, B.B. King, Bob Weir and Rat Dog, Morris Day & The Time, Dashboard Confessional, Cowboy Mouth, Live, Papa Roach, Guster, The New Cars, Lupe Fiasco, INXS, G. Love & Special Sauce, Brian McKnight.
WHERE TO GET A SAUSAGE: Usinger's Wurst Garden.
WHERE TO GET CHEESECAKE: Ultimate Confections.
WHERE TO GET A MARTINI: JoJo's Martini Lounge on the south ends of the grounds. They offer Cosmopolitan, Tony Martini, Margaritatini, Appletini, Chocolate Martini, and the new Summertimetini.
WHERE TO DRINKS LOTS OF BEERS: Everywhere!
DATES: June 28 to July 8.
HOURS: Noon to midnight.
PRICES: Ages 10 and older, $15 after 4 p.m. and weekends and $8 other times; ages 60 and over $3; ages 3 to 10, $3; under the age of 2 is free.
