MILWAUKEE — The Milwaukee Brewers championship parade starts at 10 am on Friday, and will go through downtown Milwaukee before ending at Henry Maier Festival Park.
The parade ending at Summerfest is giving local vendors a chance to get in on the fun, and businesses like Ian's Pizza in Milwaukee have had the date circled for almost a week.
It was a late-night Wednesday on Bluemound Road, where the celebration stretched into the early morning hours.
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"Yesterday it felt like downtown until 2 in the morning on Wednesday," said Ryan Donovan, managing partner at Ian's Pizza.
But the work doesn't stop there. The team has a long next 24 hours ahead as one of the local vendors inside the Summerfest grounds, serving pizza to the countless fans heading to the Brewers celebration.
"We had some stuff ready to go in case there was a game six but we just pivoted that to the rally party," Donovan said.
While the parade details came out late Wednesday night, Donovan had a feeling when he was offered a job with little detail last week.
"We kind of got the call, we knew something was happening a week ago, it was very mysterious.. but we kind of put two and two together," Donovan said.
That math now adds up to a bit more money for the business.
"I know what Summerfest can be on a busy say, something tells me this will be busier," Donovan said.
And it's not just Ian's. Businesses across the area have reaped the benefits from the Fall Classic. According to Fiserv, spending across all industries rose 12% year over year during the first weekend.
Game days were the strongest, with sales rising 35% for Game 1 Friday and 44% on Saturday for Game 2. Restaurant sales rose 29%, and bars were up 28% on Saturday compared to the last five weeks.
For Donovan, it's more than just a business deal. It's a job he's always wanted.
"It's kind of like that moonshot, when you open a small business like us open a restaurant you think, what's your moonshot? Getting into the Brewers, being a part of this, like I said, the Brewers winning the world series as a fan, just die hard, but as a business owner you just feel even more a part of it," Donovan said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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