Putting On PrideFest

by

Few have any inkling of the incredible effort made to put on PrideFest. For the tens of thousands of attendees walking through the festival gates, PrideFest is simply there.

 As a 10-year member of the Milwaukee Pride board of directors, production manager and long-time participant, I am familiar with the technical intricacies, emotional commitment and sheer exhaustion of the behind-the-scenes side of PrideFest. I also had a long conversation with MKE Pride President Wes Shaver who has led the organization since 2017 to provide details for this exploration of putting on PrideFest. 

PrideFest has come a long way since the first Pride event, a softball tournament, picnic and ball in 1988. An official Milwaukee Gay/Lesbian Pride Committee was formed to plan future events. A more politically conscious Pride Rally and March took place in 1989 on Cathedral Square with an estimated attendance of 1000. Over the decades, PrideFest evolved, drawing ever larger crowds and featuring entertainment and vendors. Suffice to say, the challenging and politically charged move to Henry Meier Festival Park in 1996 under the leadership of PrideFest founder Bill Meunier was a vital moment. When PrideFest became a member of Milwaukee World Festivals Inc. not all its members were happy with the queer presence on the lakefront festival grounds. Still, PrideFest overcame the opposition, raising the profile and stature of Milwaukee’s LGBTQ community in the process. If any historic moment galvanized the LGBTQ community, it was this momentous occasion when PrideFest, breaking major social and political barriers, achieved equity with the other festivals and, by extension, the greater Milwaukee community.

Mustering the financial means, organizational and business expertise, emotional commitment and political will to produce any event of such magnitude demands incredible dedication under the best of circumstances. Add to that the increasingly empowered community with all its diversity, differences and expectations--the inevitable personalities clash, snafus occur and … it rains.

PrideFest wrestled with all of those, including a washed-out festival in 2003 that caused a near bankruptcy. Another disastrous year, 2011, saw a perfect storm of lousy weather, a headliner cancellation and other unforeseen calamities. Yet, PrideFest persevered and carried on regardless. Perhaps it was the realization of PrideFest’s importance not only to the LGBTQ community but to the City of Milwaukee. MKE Pride President Wes Shaver reflected on that reality. “Its success is largely based on community support. Other festivals have not fared as well. African World Festival and Arab World Festival, Indian Summer have closed down. Festa Italiana temporarily moved off the Festival Park grounds as it recouped after the pandemic.” 

Broad Spectrum of Support

Whatever the motivation, the broad spectrum of producers, volunteers, attendees, sponsors and entertainers have remained wholeheartedly engaged and have overcome those obstacles.  Ironically, while Cream City Foundation’s financial assistance rescued PrideFest after that disastrous Rain Pride two decades ago, today Milwaukee Pride is a financial supporter of CCF. Thanks to an appreciative and supportive public, PrideFest’s attendance has grown exponentially. Over 42,500 attended in 2023.

The quid pro quo of community engagement has long always been a key to PrideFest’s success. Beer pods staffed by local organizations present a fundraising opportunity (the Castaways leather club has run a beer pod for decades). The Health & Wellness Area offers festivalgoers exposure to the city’s LGBTQ and other social and health organizations; the Stonewall Stage compliments that mission, offering educational presentations and panel discussions focused on LGBTQ issues. A decade ago, trans organizations consulted MKE Pride to establish its transgender outreach and bathroom policies. Meanwhile, for decades, PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) has acted as a welcoming committee outside the PrideFest gates, providing a defensive line between attendees and the gauntlet of Nazis and rabid Evangelical fanatics hell-bent on harassing them.

Speaking of carrying on regardless, days after the first COVID cases were confirmed in Wisconsin, the pandemic effectively closed down life as we knew it and with it, the lakefront festivals (including Summerfest for the first time in 53 years). Even then, despite PrideFest’s cancellation, in solidarity with the city’s Black community MKE Pride provided infrastructure, logistical assistance and acted as fiscal agent for the March with Pride for Black Lives Matter (BLM) organized by LGBTQ activist Broderick Pearson. In 2021, like other festivals, MKE Pride decided against producing its main event. Instead, in celebration of Pride Month, it lit the Hoan Bridge in rainbow colors for the first time. Returning symbolically to its roots, MKE Pride’s Wes Shaver lead a ceremony held at Cathedral Square attended by city and county officials, Mayor Tom Barrett and Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley cut a rainbow ribbon launching the first MCTS Pride Bus and Milwaukee’s “Hop” streetcar, both adorned in rainbow array (with MKE Pride ensuring a design that acknowledged Transgender people and POC). Artworks were displayed on the Square as well. Still, in an effort to not let the year go by without a proper Pride festival, MKE Pride produced Pride-toberFest, a better-late-than-never, abbreviated PrideFest held in October, LGBTQ History Month.  

Community Partners

Corporate partnerships have been developed over the years as well. Among the earliest were Miller Brewing Company and Potawatomi Bingo Casino. Strides made over the years in corporate relationships have added many more. PrideFest’s recent partnership with Vivent Health’s food bank spawned a collaboration with Kohl’s Foods which provided matching grants for the food collected (this year, MKE Pride is matching the match!). PrideFest 2024 boasts a new sponsor, none other than the Milwaukee Brewers. 

Meanwhile, putting on the physical festival itself is a yearlong endeavor. “Major vendor and entertainment contracts and for Henry Meier Park are signed months in advance. Others are negotiated at the last moment. This year because of the RNC we started working with vendors in Fall of 2023,” Shaver explained. The set-up begins almost a week in advance; the break-down after takes two days.

Still, not everyone is a fan. Like any effort, there is inevitably a small but shrill contingent of sideline snipers, sneering and complaining about just about everything. Sadly, some hateful community members vehemently criticized MKE Pride for its support of BLM. But, for those toiling away to produce PrideFest, it is beyond a distraction. Yet, the show goes on. “It’s a challenge of making and keeping everybody happy.” Shaver said, “Community relations are such a layered eco-system. It requires flexibility and nimbleness. You have to pivot every day, jumping from one crisis to the next. Petty complaints can rise to the level of a crisis while ignoring the greater mission. In the past, there were conflicts between the various parts of the movement of gays, lesbians and trans, but there was a common goal of fairness. It was mutually agreeable. Today, people are less concerned for equality than what’s trending for self-image.” 

Ultimately, Shaver places PrideFest’s enduring success on its staff and volunteers. “It’s run like a small business. People get autonomy for talent and innovation and are put into positions where they bring ideas and knowledge. It’s a democratic structure. There’s communication and a common belief in our philosophy. If the festival were run any other way, it would not work. People are empowered and take ownership of their space. Expectations are set with the individual so they will succeed. As a result, the festival succeeds.”