MILWAUKEE — Summerfest attendance decreased by about 5% this year from 2025, according to a release put out by festival officials on Thursday.
Not including the Garth Brooks performances prior to the three-weekend festival, Summerfest saw 568,711 attendees in 2026.
That’s down from 602,231 in 2025. Attendance had actually increased in 2025 by about 8%, up from 555,925 people in 2024.
Summerfest numbers have not been able to rebound since the COVID-19 pandemic. The festival also switched to a three-weekend format in 2022; previously, the festival had been a week-long 11-day affair.
The Big Gig said nearly half of the people who purchased tickets this year traveled from outside the state. Thirteen percent of attendees got into the festival through one of the admission promotions.
From some of these donation promotions, Summerfest said it got 38,400 meals for food insecurity, over 18,000 diapers and 67,193 wipes for United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County’s Diaper Bank Network. It also got over 4,000 children’s books for Next Door, 7,000 hygiene and school supply items for Boys and Girls Club of Kenosha and close to 3,000 blood donations for Versiti.
When it comes to entertainment, there were about 600 performers, 176 of whom were making their festival debut.
Of all nine nights — June 18-20, June 25-27, and July 2-4 — there were three sold-out shows: Ed Sheeran, Post Malone, and Megan Moroney. The two Garth Brooks concerts prior to the festival were also sold out.
Summerfest also announced its 2027 festival dates. They’ll be slightly shifted back next year to keep it in line with other festivals happening on the grounds, Summerfest said.
The 2027 dates are: June 24-26, July 1-3, and July 8-10.
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source spectrumnews1.com ’
