Memorial Union Terrace

The University of Wisconsin's beloved lakefront terrace, famous for its sunburst-painted chairs

The University of Wisconsin's Memorial Union Terrace is one of the most genuinely beloved public spaces in the American Midwest. Perched on the southern shore of Lake Mendota, the terrace is open to everyone — you don't need to be a student — and on any warm evening from May to September it fills with students, faculty, families, and anyone else who wants a cold beer, a bratwurst, and a view of the lake.

The chairs are famous: brightly painted metal sunburst designs in orange, yellow, and red, arranged in clusters along the waterfront. The Union's Rathskeller bar serves Wisconsin's own Union Southshore Wheat beer, and the outdoor stage hosts free music most nights in summer.

The Chazen Museum of Art is a short walk away on the same campus. The terrace is at the foot of Langdon Street, about a mile from Capitol Square.

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The iconic sunburst chairs — painted in orange, yellow, and red — have been a fixture on the terrace since the 1970s. More than 50,000 of them are stacked and unstacked each season, and former students who moved away sometimes describe them as the thing they miss most about Madison. On a warm summer evening, with a pint from the Rathskeller and a sailboat on the lake, it's not hard to understand why.