Despite poor weather conditions hampering attendance on Saturday, June 8, Milwaukee Pridefest was bigger than ever this year, with overall more attendees, more vendors, and more performers than ever before. In a press release sent out after the event, Milwaukee Pride, Inc, the parent organization of Pridefest, organizers said that this year’s event brought in 43,964 attendees, 200 vendors, 32 festival sponsors, and 500+ performers, all in a three-day timespan. Pridefest, which takes place on the Summerfest grounds on the lakefront in Milwaukee, welcomed a diverse lineup of performers, with priority placed on representation and local talent. “You cannot rinse and repeat in this business—coming off the heels of successful 2022 and 2023 festivals, our team was very intentional about how we’d build an all-star lineup of diverse, world class entertainment while doubling down on local representation and inclusion,” said Wes Shaver, Milwaukee Pride President and CEO. “The hope is: You’ll offer an attractive event to those here in Milwaukee, but also to those beyond city limits. And this year’s results prove our strategy was effective.”

Pridefest in particular wanted to expand its weekday attendance by selecting headliners for Thursday night that brought in an increase of almost 50% over the previous years, and Friday’s lineup brought in just over 20% more people than 2023. According to the release, “Saturday’s inclement weather proved to slow attendance numbers down during the peak hours of the festival’s family day festivities resulting in lower results, however as the rain stopped and skies cleared, festival gates saw some of the largest crowds start to enter the festival park heading into the 5 o’clock hour.” The release continues that by Midnight, numbers reached and then exceeded those from 2023, and speculated that had the weather been more agreeable, they might have hit their target attendance of 50,000. The release did not say how far short from that goal they were. Presale tickets were also up sharply, with 2.5x the number of pre-sale purchases of 2023.

Despite not hitting their 50,000 Saturday goal, Luke Olsen, VP of festival production for the event said “I couldn’t be more pleased with the outcomes of the 2024 festival, and that’s truly because of the people that own their respective duties and bring their talent, ideas, and passion to the table.” He continued, “This work requires the ability to be nimble and flexible despite having plans and procedures in place. Throughout the weekend, we saw great teamwork that ultimately allowed us to be able to work in the moment and find solutions and positive results fast.”