While the sky glider remains the same, the grounds below change as improvements are made to the Summerfest grounds

What's on your to-do list at Summerfest? Order up some Saz's mozzarella sticks and wash em' down with a beer or lemonade? Or is it to dance on a picnic table to your favorite band? For thousands of festgoers every day, it's checking out the sights and sounsd of Summerfest from above!

The sky glider has been providing unbeatable views of Maier Festival Park, the ever-changing downtown skyline, and the natural beauty of the lakefront for decades. Built in the early 70's, the ski lift-like ride takes you above the treetops and stages.

While the sky glider above hasn't changed much over the decades, the grounds below have.

New this year, a completely renovated Miller Lite Oasis. The U.S. Cellular Connection Stage will be redone during the coming year. And in time for Summerfest 2020, a rebuilt American Family Insurance Amphitheater. 

"When I first saw the grounds, the stages were in really bad shape and there was no situation where we could have just spent money to improve the stages, they really needed to be bulldozed and re-built. And that's really what we're doing here from, from the north end to the south end and back to the north end again. That's really been the goal. And we're not finished. We haven't completed the task but we're on our way," said Summerfest CEO Don Smiley.

Once that amphitheater project is done, nearly 135 million dollars will have been spent on improvements since Smiley became CEO in 2004.