Henry Maier Festival Park is a 75-acre festival park located in

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

on the shore

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...

and is the site of the annual

Summerfest Summerfest is an annual music festival held in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. First held in 1968, Summerfest is located at Henry Maier Festival Park, adjacent to Lake Michigan and Milwaukee's central business district. Summerfest attracts app ...

musical festival and the home of the American Family Insurance Amphitheater.

History

Before Summerfest

In 1927 Maitland Airport was opened. It was one of the city's first airstrips. The airport remained in operation for more than 20 years before it was replaced by a

Nike missile The United States Army's Nike Ajax was the world's first operational guided surface-to-air missile (SAM), entering service in 1954. Nike Ajax was designed to attack conventional bomber aircraft flying at high subsonic speeds and altitudes abov ...

installation, established during the height of '50s

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

tensions. The site was one of eight in the Greater Milwaukee area and hosted both the

Nike Ajax The United States Army's Nike Ajax was the world's first operational guided surface-to-air missile (SAM), entering service in 1954. Nike Ajax was designed to attack conventional bomber aircraft flying at high subsonic speeds and altitudes abov ...

and nuclear-capable

Nike Hercules The Nike Hercules, initially designated SAM-A-25 and later MIM-14, was a surface-to-air missile (SAM) used by U.S. and NATO armed forces for medium- and high-altitude long-range air defense. It was normally armed with the W31 nuclear warhead, bu ...

missiles as a means of last resort against a possible attack by the Soviet Union. The military installation, along with a radar station at Lake Park, remained in use until 1969 when the Army closed them in an effort to reduce costs. The land was then sold to the city and became a top possible destination by Summerfest's early leaders, who worried for the fest's future after bad weather caused a poor turnout in its second year. Organizers believed that a centralized location was crucial, and the lakefront site appeared ideal. In 1970, the Harbor Commission, which took ownership of the land from the Army, constructed a deal and began leasing the site to Summerfest for one dollar a year. The recently formed Summerfest quickly set up makeshift offices from the remaining barracks and the control building.

Summerfest

The history of the Henry Maier Festival Park starts with

in 1968. The music festival was created that year, and found some success, being held in 35 different locations. The next year, however, was inundated with horrific weather, forcing cancellation of the last day and ensuring financial losses for that year. In 1970 a central location was decided upon: an abandoned strip of land along the lakefront in the downtown area, which was the former Maitland Airport and served as a Nike missile site during the Cold War. The early Summerfest Grounds consisted of little more than concrete blocks with wooden slabs placed on top to serve as stages, in the middle of a grassy, muddy field. Despite this, the central location was key to the festival's success, ensuring the existence and expansion of the grounds. Construction continued through the 1970s and 1980s, with the highlight of the creation of the

Marcus Amphitheater The American Family Insurance Amphitheater (formerly known as the Marcus Amphitheater) is an amphitheater on the south end of the Henry Maier Festival Park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The amphitheater serves as the venue for headlining acts perfor ...

, a 23,000 seat partially covered venue, in 1987.

Festivals

Various ethnic and cultural festivals came to be held at the festival park beginning in the 1980s, as well as several run/walks for charity events. *African World Festival *Arab World Fest *Asian Moon Festival * Festa Italiana *

German Fest German Fest is an ethnic festival in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at the Henry Maier Festival Park, on the Lake Michigan lakefront. The genesis of German Fest occurred when Mayor Henry Maier challenged the local German-American community during a speech ...

*Indian Summer Festival * Irish Fest *Labor Fest *Mexican Fiesta *

Polish Fest Polish Fest is an annual ethnic festival held at the Henry Maier Festival Park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and was established in 1982. One of the largest Polish festivals in the United States, it attracts Polish Americans from all over Wisconsin an ...

* PrideFest

References

External links