Coronavirus Concerns Cancel Milwaukee's Polish Fest Until 2022

Milwaukee WI

16 March, 2021

11:40 AM

Description

MILWAUKEE, WI ­— The coronavirus pandemic continues to impact Milwaukee's summer festival schedule as another weekend celebration scheduled for June has been canceled after Polish Fest officials announced their plans on Tuesday. The annual lakefront festival, which was postponed but never rescheduled last year due to the pandemic, was scheduled to take place from June 11-13 at Maier Festival Park. But as the pandemic continues amid efforts to get more people across the state vaccinated, event organizers said they would not move ahead with the festival again this summer. "At present, COVID-19 is currently a part of everyone's lives (and) we believe the best decision is not to hold Polish Fest this year so early in the summer to allow for more vaccinations to the broader community," Steve Chybowski, president of Polish Heritage Alliance, said in a statement Tuesday. "We believe this is the best decision for our attendees, volunteers, entertainers, and vendors – our entire extended Polish Fest community." Organizers said they plan to host smaller events later in the summer at the Polish Center of Wisconsin in Franklin. Tickets for both last year's festival and this year's weekend-long event will be honored at the 2022 festival, organizers said. Polish Fest was the latest ethic festival to be canceled all together after organizers of the city's German Fest and Festa Italiana had already announced plans to scrap their push their events back to 2022. Milwaukee's Summerfest has been pushed back until September while the city's PrideFest, which was slated to take place from June 3-6, is tentatively rescheduled for sometime this fall.