OPENING DAY

March 26, 2026

If you grew up in the North, more specifically the upper Midwest, you already know there’s a single date on the calendar that carries more emotional weight than anything else in the first half of the year: Opening Day. Around here, it's not just the return of baseball. It’s the moment the entire region exhales after months of cold, dark, restless winter. It’s the unofficial start of spring, the first time we step outside without bracing for impact, and the annual reminder that we’re going to make it after all.

Milwaukee does Opening Day differently. You feel it before you even see the stadium. The smell of charcoal drifting through the morning air, the laughter coming from two rows over, the friends you came with and the ones you’ll meet simply because fate parked you next to each other on a slab of concrete. You grab a beer from a communal cooler, sit in a lawn chair that has definitely seen better decades, and settle into the beautiful chaos of it all. It’s community, it’s tradition, and it’s pure Wisconsin.

Bill Schroeder once joked that during his first Brewers Opening Day, he thought the stadium was on fire because of all the smoke rolling out of the parking lot. And honestly, he wasn’t wrong. Brewers Opening Day is a sight, a smell, a feeling… you don’t just attend it, you live it you celebrate it, and you become part of its story.

This year I was lucky enough to score a ticket, but instead of tailgating I decided to grab my camera and make new friends in the parking lot. I walked for miles all around the stadium capturing images both inside and out. Milwaukee Brewers fans are the best, as I walked I was offered beer, bratwursts, and everything in between.