RNC Build Out Takes Over Westown

Pro-Trump t-shirts for sale at Baird Center during RNC. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Milwaukee is ready for the Republican National Convention, well, almost.

Workers, predominantly from Freeman Exhibitions, have been scrambling to build out the convention infrastructure at Fiserv Forum, UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena and the Baird Center.

Fiserv Forum will host the stage where Donald Trump will accept the nomination, while the Panther Arena will house “Media Row” and the Baird Center will serve as a media filing center.

Surrounding the venues have been workers from dozens of other firms, including fencing contractor James Thomas Productions, working to completely transform the Westown neighborhood into a secured area as part of the federally-designated National Special Security Event.

Our photos capture the action, including Turner Hall‘s transformation into the CNN | Politico Grill, Fiserv Forum’s transformation from Bucks green to RNC red, white and blue, Kilbourn Avenue becoming Convention Fest and a dizzying array of black barricades.

Media Row, including Wisconsin Media Row where Urban Milwaukee will have a desk, is nearly finished. Surrogates and other attendees will be able to interact with media members, while many audio or video outlets will use the space to broadcast from. The political leanings of the participating outlets run the gamut from progressive YouTube show The Young Turks to many conservative outlets, like Ben Shapiro‘s The Daily Wire (which can’t be missed due to the dozen images of Shapiro himself on the booth).

Convention Fest includes a mix of food and gift vendors, along with conservative groups like the Ripon Chamber of Commerce and its rolling replica of the Little White Schoolhouse where the Republican Party was founded.

The Baird Center is primarily a media filing center, with Visit Milwaukee having assembled 15,000 welcome bags for visiting media members and several Milwaukee resources. But the first floor includes a series of booths, including vendors selling “I’m Voting for the Felon 2024” t-shirts.

The area inside the Secret Service-designated “hard zone” is expected to be closed to the public starting Friday evening for a security sweep. It will be opened to credentialed attendees, including media and workers, through the convention and reopen to the public on Friday, July 19.

Businesses that are on the edge of the security perimeter are hoping to cash in. That includes Major Goolsby’s bar and restaurant, where the windows now support a serious of humorous slogans including “conservative values, liberal pours.”

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