Will PrideFest Return This June?

A CONVERSATION WITH MILWAUKEE PRIDE PRESIDENT WES SHAVER

BY PAUL MASTERSON

WES SHAVER In these uncertain times, one question remains on the minds of Milwaukee’s LGBTQs: “Will we finally return to a June PrideFest in 2022?” According to Wes Shaver, president of Pride Milwaukee, the festival’s producer, the answer is an unequivocal “yes”—provided, of course, there’s not another pandemic shutdown.

Shaver joined Milwaukee Pride, Inc. in 2013 as a member of its board of directors. Since 2017 he has led the organization as its president, garnering recognition from the BizTimes in 2020 as a notable LGBTQ executive and, just last month, as one of the Milwaukee Business Journal’s “40 Under 40” honorees, an award for business professionals making a positive impact on the community.

In the 1970s, Mlwaukee’s Pride celebrations took the form of dances and other small events. Largely due to the fear of outing themselves, many community members avoided such public expressions of pride, limiting attendance. The traditional PrideFest celebration as we know it goes back to 1988. Again, attendance numbers remained in the low hundreds. Media coverage, as far as there was any, usually mocked the event by focusing on its most outrageously “gay” characters.

STEPPING OUT TO SUMMERFEST GROUNDS

Gradually, however, LGBTQ identity would be embraced and the festival’s attendance and recognition grew exponentially. In 1996, now a member of World Festivals, Inc, PrideFest moved to Henry Meier Festival Park (HMFP) grounds. Nearly a quarter century later, in 2019, a record breaking 45,500+ patrons celebrated at PrideFest. That year was also the most financially successful. Coming off that, according to Shaver, PrideFest 2020 would have been historic.

“The PrideFest 2020 budget would have been the first million-dollar budget in the event’s history,” he said. Included in that budget was also another PrideFest first, stipends for volunteer directors. Reconciling the idea of paying production staff is easy, according to Shaver, who points out the tremendous experience and contribution they have made to the PrideFest’s success. The security director, for example, has been a volunteer since 1997 and oversees 200 volunteers.

Shaver mentions the tens of thousands of dollars paid for equipment rental (tables and chair rental alone costs are $30,000), union grounds workers, professional fees, entertainment costs and all the rest.

“All entertainers at PrideFest are compensated,” Shaver explains, “and many directors take off work, use vacation or PTO days so they can dedicate the weekend to PrideFest. I learned in my early days of business and management, as the boss of any organization, you always take care of those on the team first. I have earnestly put everyone else first as a philosophy I will always adhere to that.”

UNDONE BY COVID

But that plan for PrideFest 2020 was undone by the pandemic. The 2021 event was also canceled but Milwaukee Pride did produce a smaller festival, PridetoberFest later in the year. For Shaver, the October’s shorter festival was necessary as a rehearsal for the upcoming 2022 PrideFest. Citing the two-year pause, Shaver acknowledged the need to give Milwaukee’s LGBTQ community a celebration of Pride as well as to get the production team back into practice.

Asked if the 2022 budget would be the historic million-dollar event intended for 2020, Shaver replied “this year’s budget has not yet been approved because there are a lot of changes. The festival’s footprint will be changed for a new refreshed feel taking advantage of the improvements of the park that have taken place in the last years.”

As for entertainment headliners, rather than costly international stars, Shaver noted “the response was overwhelming positive and energetic for local talent. It’s important PrideFest remains about LGBTQ Pride and not become a music festival. It’s about how we celebrate Pride.”

WHY WE CELEBRATE

That left a couple of final questions, where does PrideFest fit into the LGBTQ and the greater Milwaukee communities? To those Shaver answered at length. “My experience at the 2019 InterPride World Conference in Athens, Greece, helped me understand why we celebrate. I sat in rooms with people from places where LGBTQ people are still persecuted. They would do anything to be part of our community and celebrate Pride. They are taking a great risk to celebrate Pride in their own countries. But here we have people who do not appreciate what we have and its value.

“Our purpose is to create a banner event for LGBTQ people in the state and take responsibility to create equitable, safe spaces for our LGBTQ population and allies to celebrate their Pride,” he said.

In recent years, Milwaukee Pride went year-round with other projects like scholarships, but has pulled back. “We realized our role is solely to run a festival,” Shaver said. “Legally, we have a set list of criteria and we adhere to that. Other organizations do the other things. Part of the process of running a community organization is to recognize the roles of others and not encroach upon them. This is work to be done to elevate the community. Community work should never be a competition.”

Perhaps Milwaukee’s LGBTQ community is a bit spoiled to have a world class PrideFest without appreciating what it takes to accomplish it or its impact it has on Milwaukee?

“It’s a major contributor to the city’s cultural and financial life,” Shaver said. “Everyone should step back and think, PrideFest shares space with the world’s largest music festival. LGBTQ people have striven to be at the table and share space. I take responsibility that the world knows we share the same space. That’s why I do it.”

Paul Masterson is an LGBTQ activist and writer and has served on the boards of the Milwaukee Gay Arts Center, Milwaukee Pride, GAMMA and other organizations.