PrideFest is an annual gay pride event held at the

Henry Maier Festival Park Henry Maier Festival Park is a 75-acre festival park located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on the shore Lake Michigan and is the site of the annual Summerfest musical festival and the home of the American Family Insurance Amphitheater. History Be ...

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 ...

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 second weekend of June.

History

In 1988, the Milwaukee Lesbian/Gay Pride Committee launched the first officially sanctioned pride celebration in Milwaukee. The event was held in Juneau Park and later to Veterans Park on Milwaukee's lakefront. In 1996, PrideFest secured its current venue at

. PrideFest celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2007, which was also a record-breaking attendance year with 27,467 tickets sold over three days. In 2008, the National Socialist Movement, a hate group according to the

Southern Poverty Law Center The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white s ...

, protested the event. They were outnumbered by pro-gay protesters. In 2017, PrideFest Milwaukee's 30th anniversary celebration was attended by over 37,000 people. One year after celebrating its 30th anniversary, PrideFest broke its attendance record again with 45,400 attendees. In 2020, the event was cancelled due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

and again in 2021.

References

External links

Official website
LGBT events in Wisconsin Festivals in Milwaukee Recurring events established in 1987 Henry Maier Festival Park {{LGBT-event-stub

History

See also

References

External links