Pride month may be over, but Milwauke’s celebration will be carrying over into the next season; Milwaukee Pride Inc., the parent organization of Milwaukee PrideFest, announced a “scaled-back version” of the annual festival happening this October in a news release Thursday.
Aptly called PridetoberFest, the two-day festival will take place on the weekend of Oct. 8-9, bringing together a “diverse lineup” of local acts, performers, and shows to the community on a “smaller footprint” of the Summerfest grounds.
Milwaukee PrideFest was canceled for the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the organization canceling this year’s June event back in January.
Luke Olson, PrideFest producer and vice president of Milwaukee Pride, spoke about the new event in the release posted on Thursday.
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“We just couldn’t wait until 2022 to see our LGBTQ+ family and allies again,” Olson said in the release. “October is LGBTQ+ history month along with National Coming Out Day. What better moment to gather and reflect on the long journey that got us to this point – and of course, to celebrate!”
Wes Shaver, president of Milwaukee Pride, said the organization was excited to “bridge the gap” between the previously-postponed past two festivals and the next summer’s event with a smaller holdover celebration.
“For the last two festival planning seasons, our planning processes were guided by science, direction from local government, the health department, and of course the needs of our community,” Shaver said in the news release. “Now these same sources have offered new guidelines and pathways to come out of the pandemic and it’s time to listen and act accordingly.”
The events will take place from 3 p.m.-midnight Friday and noon-midnight Saturday. The organization said they will follow up with tickets, lineups and additional information in late July or early August.
“It’s time to bring businesses and communities back to life!” Shaver said.
