PrideFest Breaks Festival Records for 2024
2024 PrideFest. Photo by Meg Strobel, official PrideFest Photographer.
Milwaukee Pride, Inc. – parent organization of PrideFest, Wisconsin’s largest LGBTQ+ event announces record breaking stats for the 36th edition of the lakefront festival. PrideFest took place at Henry Maier Festival Park June 6-8, 2024 and welcomed 43,964 attendees, 200 vendors, 32 festival sponsors & partners and a record setting 500+ performers over the three day festival.
“It’s hard producing events that break records and benchmarks year after year- if not for the sole fact that no two festival seasons are alike and there will always be external factors impacting attendance,” said Wes Shaver, Milwaukee Pride President & CEO. He added, “You cannot rinse & repeat in this business- coming off the heels of successful 2022 and 2023 festivals, our team was very intentional about how we’d build an all-star lineup of diverse, world class entertainment while doubling down on local representation and inclusion. The hope is: you’ll offer an attractive event to those here in Milwaukee, but also to those beyond city limits. And this year’s results prove our strategy was effective.”
PrideFest’s SKYYLine Mainstage welcomed R&B, pop and hip-hop sensation Mya, American Idol favorite and pop culture phenom David Archuleta, Swedish Synth-Pop duo Icona Pop, rap artist Cupcakke, “Murray’s Misfits” Las Vegas Spectacular featuring five of Vegas’ top illusionists, country up and comer Dixon Dallas and for Thursday night’s top spot: an exclusive, curated for PrideFest showcase featuring RuPaul’s iconic performers Alaska, Violet Chachki, and Envy Peru along with Ada Vox, American Idol Season 16 alum. Other festival headliners included DJ Minx (an original Woman of Wax from Detroit, MI), Mz Worthy (credited as providing “the most cutting-edge tech house coming out in the world”), DJ Shawna, as well as 88NINE Radio Milwaukee’s Kenny Perez.
Before opening the gates on Thursday, June 6th, PrideFest saw a record number of pre-sale festival tickets through the online box office, representing more than 2.5X the 2023 pre-sale figures. The expanded Thursday footprint included programming on four stages. In addition, guests experienced 100% of festival food & beverage vendors in operation and well over 50% of the festival marketplace and vendor booths open (The festival’s Health & Wellness area is only open Friday & Saturday to allow more participation from small, grass roots organizations that can only operate limited hours away from their physical spaces).
The investment in a full stage lineup paid off with an increase of 46.9% of festival attendees on Thursday night year over year. Friday’s lineup proved successful as attendance numbers climbed 20.7% for 2024 over 2023. Saturday’s inclement weather proved to slow attendance numbers down during the peak hours of the festival’s family day festivities resulting in lower results, however as the rain stopped and skies cleared, festival gates saw some of the largest crowds start to enter the festival park heading into the 5 o’clock hour. By midnight on Saturday, June 8th, PrideFest caught up with 2023 facts and figures and raced past them to yield record setting numbers at the close of business that day. Without the rain, PrideFest’s attendance very well could have met the 50,000 number festival organizers hoped to reach.
PrideFest welcomed the largest group of festival sponsors and partners for 2024 totaling 32 independent organizations. For a full list of festival partners, visit pridefest.com/sponsorships
“I couldn’t be more pleased with the outcomes of the 2024 festival and that’s truly because of the people that own their respective duties and bring their talent, ideas, and passion to the table,” said Luke Olson, VP of Festival Production. He added, “This work requires the ability to be nimble and flexible despite having plans and procedures in place. Throughout the weekend, we saw great teamwork that ultimately allowed us to be able to work in the moment and find solutions and positive results fast.”
NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.
Mentioned in This Press Release
Recent Press Releases by Milwaukee Pride, Inc.
It was heartening to see so-oo many folks show up on the rainy nasty day on June 8th! If the weather was better, the numbers certainly would have increased!! Congratulations to Milwaukee Pride!