21,000 Expected As Jehovah’s Witness Convention Transforms Downtown Milwaukee

Volunteers clean thousands of chairs at the Baird Center in preparation for the Jehovah’s Witness convention on Aug. 28-30. Organizers say they see the Baird Center as a place of worship during the event and want to leave it better than they found it. Elissa Eaton/WPR

With thousands of people expected to arrive in Milwaukee this weekend for an international Jehovah’s Witness convention, an army of volunteers has been busy cleaning up around the Baird Center downtown.

Wearing blue vests and lanyards, they’ve spent days pressure washing the streets and picking up trash before moving on to prepare the venue itself.

Tyrell Whiting is the spokesperson for the Jehovah’s Witness international convention. He said they are expecting over 21,000 people, including 5,000 international guests, for the event that runs through Sunday.

Inside the Baird Center, volunteers cleaned thousands of chairs and precisely spaced them into rows. Whiting said cleaning is an important part of the preparation.

“Jehovah’s Witnesses view the Baird Center as a place of worship while we are here, so whatever we can do to dignify the space and the event is worth the effort,” he said. “We want to leave it in better condition than we found it.”

The last time Milwaukee hosted this convention was in 1978. Tyrell said the city was capable of handling an event at this scale.

“Jehovah’s Witnesses will select a handful of cities around the world to host these very special conventions, and Milwaukee was one of two locations selected this year in the United States,” Whiting said. “We felt like it was a city that offers a welcoming environment for the thousands of international visitors.”

There are about 9.2 million members of the Jehovah’s Witness religion worldwide, 1.25 million being from the United States. Theo Vande Casteele traveled to the United States from France for the event.

“It’s pretty special to see that unity, and to see that in the city is pretty special. I guess it’s not really common for the local people, so it’s really nice to see their reaction too,” he said.

Bethel Breeden is from northern Illinois — she came to help prepare the Baird although she doesn’t plan to attend the convention. She said she has volunteered in other countries for Jehovah’s Witness conventions.

“I know how it’s affected my life, it made me a better person,” Breeden said. “Maybe we don’t speak the same verbal language or visual language, but the language of the truth, the language of serving Jehovah is the same.”

Erinn Christon is a volunteer and Jehovah’s Witness member from Milwaukee. She said there are kingdom halls, the name for places of worship and study in the religion, concentrated in Milwaukee and Madison, but they are few and far between in the rest of the state. She said she was surprised when she found out that the event was going to be hosted in her city.

“We’re right by Chicago, which is much bigger and I think more well known to the world,” she said. “But here in Milwaukee, it’s nice because it is smaller, and I think it’s easier to navigate just as a first timer here.”

Christon said that the event has given her more appreciation for her hometown.

“I think just being home is a different feeling than being somewhere else,” she said. “It really is emotional because people from all over the world get to really love your home.”

Over 21K people expected to be in Milwaukee for international Jehovah’s Witness convention  was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.