Milwaukee World Festival’s 57th annual Summerfest music festival kicked off Thursday afternoon at Henry Maier Festival Park along the downtown Milwaukee lakefront.
Although early in the festival’s calendar, crowds gathered at the festival grounds on day one for School of Rock daytime concerts, new food and beverage options, a unique art display on the north end of the grounds, and several new amenities like The Phoenix’s Sober Lounge and the Lasso Lounge.
This year, 600 acts will play across Summerfest’s 12 stages between June 19-21, June 26-28, and July 3-5. Headliners including Def Leppard, Hozier, Megan Thee Stallion, Lukas Nelson, The Killers, Benson Boone, and The Lumineers will play at the American Family Insurance Amphitheater while others like Lindsey Sterling, Third Eye Blind, The Fray, Offset, Loud Luxury, Japanese Breakfast and The Isley Brothers will play at the festival’s other stages.
New to this year’s festival is a variety of food and beverage options including apple crisp rolls and mac n’ cheese lumpia from Beats & Eats, smoothies from Jamba Juice and mac n’ cheese from Nino’s Southern Sides. A new venue called the Lasso Lounge is also open on the south end of the grounds and features a mechanical bull for $10 per ride and a saloon-style bar.
Last year, attendance for Summerfest was 555,925, an 11% drop from 2023. The 2024 festival ran over three weekends in June and July, using the weekend-focused model introduced in 2021 instead of the festival’s original 11-day run.
Summerfest attendance has not yet returned to its pre-pandemic levels. See below a list of attendance figures from recent years:
- 2024 – 555,925
- 2023 – 624,407
- 2022 – 445,611
- 2021 – 409,386
- 2020 – canceled
- 2019 – 718,144
- 2018 – 766,192
- 2017 – 831,769
- 2016 – 804,116
- 2015 – 772,000
