Milwaukee World Festival on Friday issued its annual Summerfest summary, with the topline item being the attendance numbers for 2024. Across the nine days, 555,925 visitors came through the gates — a decrease of just under 11% from last year’s attendance of 624,407.
Looking at earlier iterations of the three-weekend format, this year’s number does compare favorably to the 445,611 people who visited in 2022 and the 409,386 who experienced the September Summerfest of 2021. Looking at things from a “visitors per day” perspective:
- 2024 — 61,769
- 2023 — 69,379
- 2022 — 49,512
- 2021 — 45,487
- 2019 — 65,286 (last year that the 11-day format was used)
“Summerfest once again hosted one of the most unique music festival lineups available anywhere," Milwaukee World Festival president and CEO Sarah Pancheri said in a release. "While the frequency of the rain was a challenge, our team appreciates the support of our sponsors, artists, vendors, and fans as we absolutely found the Summerfest spirit throughout the run in 2024.”
Weather was, indeed, more of a factor this year, with precipitation butting its way into six of the nine days. The festival also reported that this year’s event experienced the highest total rainfall since 2000.
The other facets of this year’s report included Summerfest 2024’s community impact and sponsorship numbers. On the latter front, the festival reported “a record number of sponsorships” — 64 total, including 14 new ones, as well as 33 additional exhibitors and 87 marketplace vendors.
Milwaukee World Festival also shared results from the various community-oriented admissions promotions, which were utilized by 21% of patrons:
- 26,000+ meals for Wisconsinites experiencing food insecurity through Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin
- $13,500+ worth of hygiene products donated to United Way of Greater Milwaukee and Waukesha County’s Mary Lou’s Closet
- 4,000+ books for Next Door’s community literacy initiatives
- 70,000+ free tickets provided to the community
- $250,000+ in donations for local nonprofits through programs like the American Family Insurance Let the Music Play grants, BMO EMpower grants, Generac Power Up With Purpose, Alumni Charity Challenge, Milwaukee Celebrity Charity Pickleball Tournament and Iron Joc Hole-In-One Challenge.
