Milwaukee is the one place in Wisconsin where a shopper's address can add two more taxes to the state's 5 percent, and where a summer's worth of festivals share a single lakefront park. The Department of Revenue's rate chart lists the City of Milwaukee as the only municipality in the state with its own sales tax, 2 percent, and shows it under three counties, so the total for an order depends on which county the address sits in. This page works out those totals, explains the test the Department uses to decide where an online sale takes place, and sets them beside the 2027 festival calendar at Henry Maier Festival Park: three Summerfest weekends from June 24 to July 10, German Fest from July 30, and Irish Fest from August 19. It then builds a festival-link code plan, one tagged link for each festival, so a store can tell which one sent each order.
Create one campaign code per festival: a Summerfest link for June 24 to July 10, a German Fest link for July 30 to August 1 and an Irish Fest link for August 19 to 22. Visit Milwaukee lists Summerfest in three weekends, so decide whether one code covers all nine days or each weekend gets its own, and keep the choice simple enough to explain in one line.
Name the festival in the link and the code, and give the code the same end date as the festival. German Fest marks its 2027 dates as subject to change, so confirm them on its site before you print anything.
Source: Milwaukee German Fest
Irish Fest lists August 19 to 22, 2027, so open the code on the Thursday and close it on the Sunday night. Skip any claim about attendance, since this page found no figure.
Source: Milwaukee Irish Fest
Say that tax is added at checkout from the shipping address. Inside the city the Department's chart gives 7.9 percent in the Milwaukee County part, 7.5 in the Washington County part and 7.0 in the Waukesha County part, by our sums of the published rates.
Use the shopper's delivery address to find the rate. Publication 201 says the sale takes place where the purchaser receives the product, including the location in delivery instructions you hold, and the Department says a registered retailer collects county and city tax wherever the retailer is located.
Count the orders that used each code and compare the three. A code only shows which link an order came from, so use the counts to choose next summer's offers, and read the measurement post before you judge them.
Build it with the Campaign code template.
Requires: Pro plan or higher.
A shopper with a Milwaukee address can be in Milwaukee, Washington or Waukesha county, and the chart gives a different county tax for each. Do not write a banner that promises one all-in price for the city. Say that tax is added at checkout from the shipping address.
Three festivals share Henry Maier Festival Park, so a store with a local audience has five dated windows from late June to late August. Keep each offer to its own festival, and end it with the festival so shoppers do not learn to wait.
Print the German Fest link on a card in a local order and the Irish Fest link on another. A campaign code works only from its own tagged link, so the code that arrives tells you which festival sent the order. It is a count of codes used, not proof of cause.
Source: Milwaukee German Fest
The Census Bureau counts 105 food manufacturing and 28 beverage manufacturing establishments, so a local-gift bundle has makers to draw from. Check each maker's shipping rules before you list a product, because this page verified none for perishable goods.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau: County Business Patterns 2023, county file
Henry Maier Festival Park on the Milwaukee lakefront hosts Summerfest, German Fest and Irish Fest, so one place carries five dated summer windows that a store can match with one short offer each.
The Department's rates page says the city of Milwaukee is the only municipality that imposes a city sales and use tax, 2 percent, on sales to a location in the city, and that Milwaukee County's tax rose from 0.5 percent to 0.9 percent, both effective January 1, 2024.
Wisconsin Department of Revenue: Tax Rates (effective Jan. 1, 2024) (accessed October 10, 2026)
The Department's rate chart lists the 2 percent City of Milwaukee tax under Milwaukee, Washington and Waukesha counties, with a county tax of 0.9 percent in Milwaukee County, 0.5 percent in Washington County and none listed for Waukesha County, so adding the 5 percent state rate gives 7.9, 7.5 and 7.0 percent in the three parts of the city (our sums of the published rates).
Wisconsin Department of Revenue: Tax Rates (chart footnote: the city of Milwaukee is located in multiple counties) (accessed October 10, 2026)
Publication 201 says a sale takes place where the purchaser receives the product, including the location in delivery instructions known to the seller, and the rates page says a retailer registered to collect Wisconsin tax must collect county and city tax on sales sourced to a place that has adopted them, wherever the retailer is located.
Wisconsin Department of Revenue: Publication 201, Wisconsin Sales and Use Tax Information, Part 7.C (with the Tax Rates FAQ) (accessed October 10, 2026)
Visit Milwaukee lists the 2027 Summerfest dates as June 24 to 26, July 1 to 3 and July 8 to 10, over nine days at Henry Maier Festival Park, and describes 12 stages on 75 acres of festival grounds.
Visit Milwaukee: Summerfest (2027 festival dates) (accessed October 10, 2026)
German Fest's site gives its 2027 dates as July 30 to August 1, 2027 with the note that the dates are subject to change, and says the festival is held at Henry Maier Festival Park.
Milwaukee German Fest (accessed October 10, 2026)
Milwaukee Irish Fest's site lists August 19 to 22, 2027 at Henry Maier Festival Park and describes 17 stages of music, dance and cultural entertainment.
Milwaukee Irish Fest (accessed October 10, 2026)
The Census Bureau's 2023 County Business Patterns lists 105 food manufacturing establishments (NAICS 311) and 28 beverage manufacturing establishments (NAICS 312) in Milwaukee County.
U.S. Census Bureau: County Business Patterns 2023, county file (accessed October 10, 2026)
The Census Bureau's Vintage 2025 estimate puts the population of the city of Milwaukee at 562,407 on July 1, 2025.
U.S. Census Bureau: Vintage 2025 city and town population estimates (accessed October 10, 2026)
Not tax advice. Confirm current rules with the state revenue department before you rely on a date or an exemption.
