MILWAUKEE — Next year, Summerfest will take place over the span of three weekends, following suit from this year's festival.
Summerfest 2022 will be held June 23-25, June 30-July 2, and July 7-9, from Thursday to Sunday and noon to midnight.
Festival organizers made the announcement Thursday morning.
In a statement, Milwaukee World Festival Inc. said, "the reasons for the three-weekend format remain unchanged since we made a similar announcement in March 2020: increased interest from fans to attend on the weekends, a larger booking window for entertainment, and the opportunity to reset the festival park to provide the best possible live music experience."
Fans heading into Summerfest on Thursday said they were happy to see the three weekend format continue into next year.
"It's just way more convenient on the weekends. We're usually here on the weekends," said fest-goer Carrie Kirsch.
Summerfest Vendor Courtney Hellendrug said she's also been happy with the three weekend format.
"It feels very similar to what a lot of the other big national festivals are doing, so I think it makes sense,' Hellendrung said. "From the vendor perspective they're definitely long days, so the three weekends is actually really nice to break it up a little bit."
But not everyone was happy about the changes. On our TMJ4 Facebook page many people commented saying they prefer the 11-days straight format.
One person commented: "You have now elminated any guests that come from out of town for the whole festival or even half of it. People would plan summer vacations around the 11 day festival... This is the worlds [sic] largest music festival but they just made it 3 times as hard for the rest of the world to attend. Sorry but i think this format will do more harm than good."
Summerfest is already working to get fans excited about next year's festival. For fan appreciation day Saturday Sept. 18, fans can enter the festival for free from noon to 7 p.m. Additionally, the first 30,000 fans to enter the gates of Summerfest between those times will receive a free ticket to Summerfest 2022.
“As we were forced into September dates, we knew it would be a novel experience to host the festival in late summer. That said, it was the only viable option to accommodate artists and fans within this fluid environment,” said Don Smiley, President and CEO of Milwaukee World Festival, Inc. “Our team pulled it off and provided an economic boost to the local economy and gave patrons live outdoor music on the lakefront. We want to thank all our attendees, vendors, and sponsors for their support - we can’t wait to see them again next year.”
You can view the lineup for the last weekend of this year's festival and buy tickets here.
