The Return of Sherman Park Harvest Fest

Sherman Park Harvest Fest. Photo courtesy of Chairwoman Marcelia Nicholson’s office.

The Sherman Park Harvest Fest is returning next weekend.

The community event returns Oct. 28 after a successful first year in 2022. The annual festival is organized by Milwaukee County Board Chairwoman Marcelia Nicholson, who said the family-friendly event will allow the residents to interact with the county government and their community.

Along with free food and entertainment, the festival invites a number of county departments and community organizations to set up booths to inform the public what resources are available in the community. Each booth will also have candy so children and families can trick-or-treat from booth to booth through the park.

“It’s meant to serve as an opportunity to build community,” Nicholson said. “And then just bring folks together from all across the county to just learn more about resources that are available, and just have some food together and play some games and win some prizes.”

The festival has doubled the number of resource booths this year, Nicholson said, and the festival will include a performance by the Milwaukee Flyers Tumbling Team, spring rolls from Funky Fresh Spring Rolls, face painting and free costumes. There will also be opportunities to win prizes, Nicholson said, which will include things like a membership to Milwaukee Film or free admission to local museums and other county amenities. The event will run from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Nicholson began representing Sherman Park on the county board in 2022 after redistricting. Her previous district included Washington Park.

“And what I found in representing that park for six years, was that the more you did to bring community together and into the park, the safer and more active our parks could be,” she said.

Sherman Park residents told Nicholson they wanted “more vitality, more vibrancy, they wanted more people in the park, and they wanted a safer park.” And so her office decided to organize more community events in the park and Harvest Fest was born.

“It’s really meant to be an entry point for people who don’t know much about the Sherman Park community, and it’s also meant to be a point of pride for people who do live in a Sherman Park community,” Nicholson said. “And we hope that through this event, folks can feel welcomed to start coming into the park a little bit more, and wrapping their arms around Milwaukee County Parks as a whole because they really do mean a lot to our communities.”