MILWAUKEE — For the second year in a row, the Milwaukee PrideFest has been canceled due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Milwaukee Pride Inc., the parent organization of PrideFest, announced Tuesday its multi-day festival on Milwaukee's lakefront would be canceled. The festival was supposed to take place from June 3-6 at the Henry W. Maier Festival Grounds.

“After much consideration, we cannot move forward with planning a June 2021 festival without knowing how and when a vaccine will be distributed throughout our community equally” Milwaukee Pride, Inc. President Wes Shaver said. “It is still unclear as to how (or if) public gatherings will happen in 2021 and we cannot risk the health and wellbeing of our community by putting the festival ahead of the people it serves."

The Milwaukee Pride Board of Directors is working with Milwaukee World Festival Inc. on possible alternate dates for later this year, hoping there’s a more clear path for public events. The Board is also exploring the possibility of different formats and locations if the Henry W. Maier Festival Park is unavailable.  

“We don’t want people to think there will be no PRIDE this year,” PrideFest Festival Producer and VP of Milwaukee Pride, Inc. Luke Olson said. “We simply want to ensure we’re taking the right steps forward.”

Milwaukee Pride first postponed the 2020 festival last March and planned to move the event to October before it was ultimately scrapped.