A new mural on the south side is a colorful homage to street vendors, youthful exuberance and summer in Milwaukee.
The Milwaukee Brewers unveiled the community mural May 20. Painted on the west wall of Paleteria Yayo, a Mexican ice cream and popsicle shop at 1727 W. Lincoln Ave., the mural honors the unsung arbiters of Latin culture on the city’s south side.
The mural depicts a tradition Mexican street vendor, known as a paletero, selling frozen treats out of a wheeled pushcart in front of American Family Field. Surrounded by kids of all ages wearing Brewers gear and waiting expectantly, the paletero gently leans over his cart, ready to hand them their sweet treat.
Done entirely with spray paint in almost exclusively with sunset hues, the scene is aptly titled “South Side en La Hora Magica” (South Side in the Magic Hour).
Part of the Brewers’ ongoing community mural program, “South Side” is the sixth the organization has commissioned.
“In our state, and admittedly in our city, art funding is woefully low, and that’s perhaps a conversation for another time, but it does underscore how important it is to have valued institutions like the Milwaukee Brewers who also understand the value and impact of art and the artists who create it,” Milwaukee Development Commissioner Lafayette Crump said at a press conference for the mural unveiling on May 20.
Lead artists Aisha Valentín and Whitney Salgado created the mural in collaboration with Luna Creative Collaborations, owned by Katie Avila Loughmiller, and Paleteria Yayo co-owners Rene Adan and Galy Montes. The Brewers gave the artists total creative control, only requiring that they include baseball and frozen treats in the final design.
Early on, Valentín and Salgado wanted youth to be at forefront of the design. The mural faces Lincoln Avenue School, where over 80% of the students are Latino and over half consider Spanish their first language. For the artists, this mural was an opportunity to empower those students, some of whom contributed to the design.
“The kids are the next generation and the next hope out there, and I’m just hoping it inspires them to be proud of themselves and Latinidad,” Salgado said.
A paletero, which also figures prominently in the mural, was chosen not simply for his representation of Paleteria Yayo’s work. For the artists, paleteros represent some of the most at-risk members of the Latino community as increased illegal immigration enforcement actions continue to aggressively target Latino populations.
“It’s a risk everyday for our street vendors, our paleteros, to be outside just trying to make it, make a living,” Valentín said.
While both artists were inspired to create work that united the community, helping residents on the south side feel confident that they belong, they also were driven by personal loss. Artist Reynaldo Mexicano Jr., who died in a motorcycle accident in 2025, was a close friend. The artists included a small tribute to him on the right side of the mural.
“Our friend Rey’s presence is here. In the colors, in the collaboration, in the spirit of this project, and especially in the way this mural brought people together, because that’s exactly what Ray always did,” Avila Loughmiller said during the press conference.
Anya Sesay covers arts and culture for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Send her story ideas, things to see and people to meet at asesay@usatodayco.com. Follow her on Instagram @anyanic0lette.
Anya’s reporting is supported by the Richard and Ethel Herzfeld Foundation, the Maine-based Rabkin Foundation, and reader contributions to the Journal Sentinel Community-Funded Journalism Project. Journal Sentinel editors maintain full editorial control over all content. To support this work, visit jsonline.com/support. Checks can be addressed to Local Media Foundation (memo: “JS Community Journalism”) and mailed to P.O. Box 85015, Chicago, IL 60689.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brewers unveil new paletero mural on Milwaukee’s south side
Reporting by Anya Sesay, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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