MILWAUKEE — Summerfest is now less than 40 days away, and this might be the most thought out line-up ever. That’s because it had to be planned several times. “This here is the fourth iteration of the festival that we started” said Vice President of Entertainment Bob Babisch.
The festival was originally planned for June/July of 2020, but was delayed until September of 2020 because of the Coronavirus Pandemic. Then the festival was canceled for the first time in 53 years and rescheduled for June/July 2021. But because of worries the vaccine would not be widespread enough by then, it was rescheduled for 3 weekends in September of 2021.
Booking the talent was a huge undertaking. Associate Entertainment Director Vic Thomas says “the agents that we were talking to, many times they were in tears. Because it was like I had everything set we were going to do this and it just didn’t happen.”
They also struggled to keep all the acts on the calendar.
“Every time we changed the dates of the festival we kind of wanted to keep the core lineup in tact as much as possible” said Scott Ziel Associate Booking Director.
In the end, some acts were lost and others were added because of the schedule changes. Some were put on the calendar for 2022.
Summerfest will be held September 2-4, 9-11 and 16-18.
