Summerfest admission tickets cost $20 Saturday night but it appears one would-be patron tried to avoid buying a ticket, waiting in line and going through security in a novel way.

He swam across the lagoon from Lakeshore State Park, possibly to sneak into Summerfest through the music festival's watery back door.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel photographer Mike De Sisti was at the park shooting photos of Summerfest and the Milwaukee skyline at night when he noticed something swimming in the water. At first, De Sisti said, he thought it was a dog but then as he looked through a 400-millimeter telephoto lens, he could see it was a man.

The unknown man appeared to jump into the water either from the pier or next to the pier at the park around 9:24 p.m. and then swam – mostly breast stroke and back stroke, but he did manage to swim a short distance freestyle – before he was noticed, De Sisti said. No one else was on the park side where the man entered the water.

A crowd gathered at the large rocks at the outer edge of the Summerfest grounds noticed him, De Sisti said. And soon, several red-shirt-clad Summerfest security members did, too. A few Milwaukee police officers also came to the scene. One shone a flashlight at the man.

The swimmer tread water for a short time after the light found him and then apparently decided to finish his swim. Security guards clambered down on the rocks and pulled out the shirtless, shoeless man.

A Milwaukee police boat with red and blue lights motored slowly through the lagoon shortly after the man was taken into custody.

The swimmer's name and fate are unknown. A Summerfest official acknowledged a man was helped out of the water Saturday night but deferred other questions to Milwaukee police which did not immediately respond to an emailed query.

He didn't have to swim to Summerfest to get in free. Saturday was Northwestern Mutual "Make a Child Smile" Day with the first 1,500 patrons donating new or gently used children's books receiving a free ticket.