Ponyville Ciderfest celebrates the “Magic of Friendship”

Important Points

• My Little Pony Fan Convention returns for 5th year as a music festival celebrating the music from the show and fandom
• Anticipating 1,300 attendees at the Hyatt Regency Milwaukee
• 58 guests and panelists, 39 music acts, and 41 vendors can be found at over 170 events over the course of the weekend
• Multiple charity efforts will support Generations Against Bullying, a Milwaukee-based charity. At Ponyville Ciderfest 2017 we raised over $21,000 to support their efforts towards eliminating bullying from schools.

We’re just days away from coming together to celebrate the Magic of Friendship in Milwaukee for the fifth time! The 2018 edition of Ponyville Ciderfest will take place from October 26-28 at the Hyatt Regency Milwaukee, and will be three full days of fun and friendship. We are expecting approximately 1,300 attendees, which will be a 25 percent increase over last year.

For our most ambitious theme ever, Ciderfest will become the biggest music festival ever seen in the My Little Pony fandom. We’ll be celebrating all things music in “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” and the talented creators who make music inspired from it. For three days, music lovers will be immersed in the sounds and melodies that makes My Little Pony music so great.

In total, we have 39 different musical acts to keep everyone entertained throughout the weekend! Because of that, we’ll have music playing from our musicians for the entire convention. You can catch most of our acts on the Mane Stage and the Apple Orchard Stage. A full listing of the weekend’s acts are on our website.

We’re also incredibly proud to once again be partnering with Milwaukee-based charity Generations Against Bullying for our charity efforts. In 2017 we managed to raise over $21,000 for GAB across our various efforts, which was a record for us! We look forward to seeing if we can top that number yet again!

And it wouldn’t be a My Little Pony convention without some of our favorites from the show and comic books! This year, we have eight Guests of Honor joining us at Ponyville Ciderfest.

• Daniel Ingram – Songwriter and composer for “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” and “My Little Pony: The Movie”
• Rebecca Shoichet – Singing voice of Twilight Sparkle and voice of Sunset Shimmer
• Shannon Chan-Kent – Singing voice of Pinkie Pie; voice of Smolder, Silver Spoon, and Wallflower Blush
• Kazumi Evans – Singing voice of Rarity; voice of Adagio Dazzle, Moondancer, and Octavia
• Willa Milner – Voice of Ember and professional singer
• Michelle Creber – Voice and singing voice of Applebloom
• Gabriel Brown – Singer, songwriter, and voice actor
• Tony Fleecs – IDW comic artist and former karaoke DJ

All of our Guests of Honor will be available throughout the weekend for attendees to meet and greet; whether it’s autograph signings or VIP events.

Even though we’re a music festival this year, we have non-musical events and activities for everyone to enjoy as well! This year for the first time, Ponyville Ciderfest will be hosting the North American MLP:CCG Continental Championship. Over two days, 32 of the best players in the My Little Pony Collectible Card Game will be battling to see who is the top player for 2018.

In addition, we have our annual Thirsty Thursday Pub Trot, which tours some of the best pubs and bars in Milwaukee. And we have not only one, but two cider tasting events during Ciderfest weekend, featuring our friends from Cider House of Wisconsin!

Other returning favorite events include our Grand Galloping Gala, our formal catered dance, and our daily Guest of Honor panels, where you never know exactly what’s going to happen!

For a full listing of our over 170 panels, performances and events, check the schedule on our website. You can also find a full listing of the 41 Vendors selling a wide variety of merchandise and art in our vendor hall.

And on a final note, we have something special planned for our 5th year. Ponyville Ciderfest wouldn’t be what it is without the support of our attendees, and we want to honor those who have been with us from the beginning and have come back every year. To honor everyone who has been at Ponyville Ciderfest for all five years, we are giving them a special pin to signify their support. Attendees can prove prior attendance by showing older badges, showing past order emails, or even photos that you were at the convention! Details on how to get the pin is on our website.

We’re on the verge of another fantastic edition of Ponyville Ciderfest in just a few short days. We can’t wait to hang out with all of our friends again, whether it’s those coming back or those joining us for the first time. We hope to see you for our 5th edition!

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.