Creative Director & LUNA Creative Collabs Owner: Katie Avila Loughmiller
Co-Lead Artists: Aisha Valentin & Whitney Salgado

Assistant Artists: Carlos Herrada, Nati Rosa Rodriguez, Manny Vibes
Documentation: Adam Ossers

Commissioned by: The Brewers

 

As the sun sets during the golden hour, it fills the sky with a cotton candy haze that cascades on all of Milwaukee. Flowers grow from the iconic buildings of Milwaukee's South Side, framing a group of children gathering around a Paletero and his cart. They are looking down, browsing their choices as the Paletero leans forward to help them. 

 

This mural reflects the talks of nostalgia that Salgado and Valentín had regarding Milwaukee’s South Side and the Latino experience. How Paletero bells chiming around the corner are the sounds of a warm summer’s day. Despite a segregated landscape, when the sun sets and casts a pink glow, it highlights all of Milwaukee’s beauty and the people that live underneath. As paletero carts move around the city, they become cultural and intergenerational gathering places. Paletas and sweet treats create connections in an largely immigrant-dominated workforce, mirroring a neighborhood that transcends borders.