With artists currently postponing tour dates, it is no surprise that other musical events like Coachella, may cancel their planned dates. Summerfest, which takes place in Milwaukee at the Henry Maier Festival Park every summer and is the worlds largest music festival, has decided to postpone until the fall.
The festical usually takes place during the last weekend of June into the first weekend of July, but organizers decided to move the dates to September 3-5, 10-12 and 17-19, 2020 due to COVID-19.
For some Marquette students like Adiah Balz, a junior in the College of Health Sciences, the date change made her more excited.
“I’m actually excited for it because it’s in the beginning of our semester so we’ll be able to go enjoy it during school,” Balz said. “The last few summers I wanted to be there, but I never had time to go there and experience it with my friends.”
She said she may even be able to have work off for the occasion, making her more apt to attend the event.
Balz has attended Summerfest with her sister in the past and said she loved the experience. She saw the Pentatonix and said one of her favorite parts was being at a smaller stage where a young boy was the DJ. She said she remembers the crowd cheering for him as he was having the time of his life.
“You get there right in the morning and you’re going stage by stage and eating all this different food. For a music lover like me, who likes various different kinds of music, everything I love is in one spot,” Balz said.
The junior said she thinks this year may have more college students present, as it is around the time when students are back at school. She is also curious to see which acts will still be performing, especially the bigger names.
“Definitely more college kids … I definitely think that it’s going to be more diverse because Marquette has such a wide outreach of people,” Balz said.
James Neuson, a junior in the College of Business Administration, also said he thinks the number of college students will increase, since students typically return to campuses in August.
Neuson attended Summerfest for the first time last summer and was excited to finally see what all of the hype was about. He thinks there will be a similar hype around the September dates, despite the changes.
“It’s going to be different, but everyone’s going to be ready to get out of this mess and getting back to normal,” Neuson said.
On the other hand, Hannah Puff, a junior in the College of Nursing said she thinks having Summerfest in September could make it harder for her to plan on going, especially with having to work around classes.
“It’ll be weird because it’ll be during school, so I’ll have to really plan it out,” Puff said.
Puff attended the festival last summer and said she had a lot of fun. She’s interested to see the hustle and bustle during September, especially because more people look forward to going to Summerfest during the summer. But she does think it could be busier and a lot more hectic. She is also interested to see what the weather will be like, especially with Wisconsin and its unpredictable track record.
This story was written by Ariana Madson. She can be reached at [email protected].
