As the years go by, some Milwaukee residents are looking back at events that have come and gone in the city. Things to do that they want back, and believe would improve the community.
Aziz Abdullah, co-founder of INPOWER Solutions, helped spark those conversations with a post onto Facebook, asking users about local events they wish to have back.
“I would actually love to see an event that brings all these ideas together,” Abdullah said. “It could celebrate Milwaukee while bringing different neighborhoods, cultures and generations together in one space.”
INPOWER is a local public-health organization that works to engage residents and improve communities.
Here are some events residents said they wished to have back, and how the city has changed since they left.
UniverSoul Circus never returned to Milwaukee
One event that Sherman Park resident Melody Williams hopes to attend again is the UniverSoul Circus, a circus that originated in Atlanta, Georgia and has all Black performers.
According to Williams, the UniverSoul Circus performed in Milwaukee twice and she attended both with her son. She said the circus hasn’t been back since 2012.
“It had a great turnout and we supported them, so I don’t know if it was because of a location problem or if they were being overcharged by whoever was bringing them here, but I know they just stopped coming,” Williams said. “They come to Chicago every time, so why not Milwaukee anymore?”
Williams said she loved UniverSoul Circus because it was different from the traditional circuses like Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey because it was interactive, soulful and family-friendly.
“UniverSoul Circus gets the crowd hyped up and they play our music,” Williams said. “Everything that was for us (Black people) seems to fade away.”
Williams said she hopes the circus finds its way back to Milwaukee so that children can see the talent that the Black community has.
Bring back African World Festival
Residents like Mac Strawder and Akilah Young wish to bring back the African World Festival, which ran from 1983 to 2013 at Henry W. Maier Festival Park, 200 N. Harbor Drive, to celebrate African and African American heritage in the city.
“The African World Festival holds a special place in my heart and I attended each year as it was such a cornerstone of Milwaukee’s summers for three decades,” Strawder said.
According to Shepherd Express and Strawder, the festival closed due to financial challenges.
“There are several other major concerts, festivals and great events at Henry Maier Festival Park and I wish efforts were made to bring it back,” Strawder said.
He said the festival’s music, food and marketplace brought in a mix of local and national talent that created an unmatched sense of pride and community.
“It was a huge, vibrant family reunion,” Strawder said.
Young, a Lincoln Park resident and former volunteer at the event, said she enjoyed seeing women and men attend the festival in their traditional garb, and Black families gathering to enjoy performances.
“My grandmother was a volunteer for the festival for as long as I could remember and I joined her the last three to four years that the festival was around,” Young said. “I also loved the stilt walker, once I was old enough to no longer be afraid.”
Since the festival was discontinued, Young feels like there’s been a loss of culture.
“There is no real representation of what that looks like anymore,” Young said. “Although the African World Festival was only three days, that’s three days more than what we have to offer our culture.”
The city does host a day-long Black Arts Fest MKE in the same location where African World Festival had been held.
Offer more citywide reading challenges
North side resident Brion Nash, 29, wishes that the city could bring back more reading challenges for Milwaukee youth.
Though the Milwaukee Public Library has its annual Summer Reading Challenge and schools host Scholastic Book Fairs, Nash doesn’t know of any events beyond that.
“Maybe I’m too young, but I don’t remember a citywide reading challenge where multiple agencies and schools were involved that was pushed by the city or MPS,” he said.
Nash said he does a lot of volunteering and mentoring in the community and thinks that the city could host a teleprompter reading challenge event for children. The challenge is a viral trend on social media that gives users a chance to read a script as fast as they can without making a mistake.
“It would not only address the reading crisis but it also builds confidence in children and teaches them public speaking,” he said. “I initially thought about a spelling bee but everyone doesn’t know how to spell.”
Nash believes that a citywide teleprompter reading event for children will help community members join in and support the youth.
“I can see people helping the children sound things out and just the crowd getting involved,” Nash said.
Nash also believes that rappers must be held accountable in helping the youth learn how to read.
“If they have this hold on the youth and can teach them how to dance then they can help them read too,” he said. “The basis of that profession is words, so they should be in the forefront teaching them how to read.”
Bringing it all together
Overall, Abdullah believes that a large community festival in Milwaukee that combines culture, youth activities, sports tournaments and more should occur.
“Not just another festival, but something created with the people who responded to the post, so their ideas become part of the experience,” Abdullah said.
Strawder said he wishes that he would have taken photos to document his experiences at the African World Festival before it was gone.
“Unfortunately we didn’t take cameras with us,” he said. “Just didn’t know it would end so abruptly.”
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