PrideFest breaks records in its big June return
2022 may perhaps have marked a return to standard for PrideFest, with the festival returning to its regular early June weekend dates for the first time in several years. Judging from the quantities, nonetheless, its reception was something but just frequent. 

In accordance to Milwaukee Delight, 38,731 men and women attended PrideFest in 2022 – a new 3-day file for the celebration, breaking 2017’s prior title-holding three-working day full of 37,682. Within the festival grounds this past weekend, people 1000’s upon countless numbers of people uncovered far more than 300 performers, from dance to DJs to drag queens and far more, across the PrideFest’s 5 levels – with at least 90 per cent of those people in the highlight primarily based in Wisconsin. 

“The weekend was particularly what I dreamt it was heading to be,” claimed Milwaukee Pleasure Inc. president Wes Shaver. “It was the kickoff and the return to the pageant park that I experienced hoped it would be. It hit each and every mark throughout the board.”



The competition, which ran from June 2-4 at Henry Maier Pageant Park, was the very first PrideFest back on the Summerfest grounds in early summer time considering the fact that 2019. In 2020, the in-human being function was canceled owing to COVID-19, shifting to an online celebration. The adhering to year, PrideFest returned – albeit not throughout Satisfaction Month but rather in October with a “Pridetoberfest” celebration. But now, the PrideFest was capable to return in its traditional form – and soon after a two-12 months hiatus, the crowd and perception of group luckily came back with it. 

“It was the productive return that I felt it needed to be,” Shaver observed. “It was as if we hardly ever skipped two years. It is what I call the household reunion that this neighborhood seems to be ahead to each individual calendar year. And (this year) was just that: just one big family reunion of new and familiar faces, all alongside one another. It was electrical.”

This year’s edition featured a extraordinary array of amusement and engagement, from storytellers, activists and historians at the Stonewall Stage to the yearly fireworks show on Saturday night time and the weekend’s headlining functions – like Martha Clean, Frenchie Davis, Prince Poppycock of “America’s Bought Expertise” fame and Friday night’s trio of Cindy Foster, Sam Morrison and Marik Mavrakys. But whilst the weekend showcased loads of significant glitzy names and even even bigger, glitzier personalities using the phases, one of Shaver’s most memorable moments from this year’s PrideFest was a comparatively subdued one, though one also close to the event’s background and coronary heart.

“Invoice Meunier – the president of PrideFest who introduced the celebration from the park to the festival grounds in ’96 – was my visitor at the opening ceremonies, and he shocked me by handing me the ribbon they lower in 1996 at the opening ceremonies,” Shaver recalled. “He gifted that to me, and he gave very touching remarks about what it intended in 1996 and, now 25 festivals later on, what it suggests these days to still be there. That was the most unique second of the pageant for me.”




In truth, while PrideFest is regarded as a single of the greatest events of the 12 months, the festival also leaves a great deal of space for schooling, activism and dialogue, both on the stages and off. This year’s event also included a Family members Working day on Saturday, June 4, featuring kid-friendly programming – a significant ingredient for Shaver on the lookout back again at the past weekend. 

“It was packed,” Shaver mentioned, “and to see all the LGBTQ people there with their children in a harmless and inclusive party was truly going. And it really is something which is very specific to our event keeping that family members part as a vital component and preserving that best of brain is a little something that tends to make PrideFest genuinely distinctive as significantly as Satisfaction festivals go.”



What’s up coming for Shaver and Milwaukee Delight Inc. now that the competition has appear to a profitable close? More work. Following all, though PrideFest could be above, Delight Month has just started – and Shaver and company seem forward to maintaining the pleasure, neighborhood and celebration heading over and above its three times and further than the Summerfest grounds. 

“We are just excited to get guiding the group and what our fellow neighborhood organizations have prepared,” Shaver claimed. “This is form of our function in the local community: kick points off with a fantastic PrideFest knowledge in the town of festivals and bring a earth-class event to the town. Now, it can be our task to amplify and get driving all the other wonderful matters that are taking place.”

For much more facts on other Satisfaction situations, initiatives and more in Milwaukee – in the course of Pleasure Month and through the other eleven months of the 12 months – check out Milwaukee Pride’s internet site as well as the organization’s Twitter and Fb. And for info on the rest of the Milwaukee summer time festival slate, simply click listed here. 
