City expects 400K people to attend the celebration
Milwaukee’s downtown was packed with Brewers fans for Friday morning’s World Series victory parade and rally.
Tens of thousands of people lined the streets as members of the team climbed down from atop buses to greet fans and sign autographs along Wisconsin Avenue near the start of the parade route.
The parade ran through downtown to the Summerfest grounds at Henry Maier Festival Park.
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The city said it expected 400,000 people to turn out for the event. By 7 a.m., families and fans were already lining the streets of the parade route, along with vendors selling World Series championship T-shirts, pennants and other gear.
Before the parade started Matt and Lydia Schulz took their daughters Leona, 8, and Clara, 5, to see the Bob Uecker mural.
Matt Schulz works near the mural and said he wanted to show his daughters “Mr. Baseball.”
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and it’s possible that it might not ever happen again,” Matt Schulz said. “So, we’re here to soak it all in, and I’m really enjoying watching the city do something out of the ordinary.”
Lydia Schulz said she has enjoyed sharing the experience with her young daughters, especially Leona, who watched every game of the World Series.
“We let her stay up for the final game, and we got to run out into the cul-de-sac with a bunch of other families and light off some fireworks,” Lydia Schulz said. “So this has been really incredible to to see. You know everyone is saying we did it for Ueck, but I think Ueck did it for us.”
“I was 14-years-old in 1982 when they went to the World Series,” said John Griffith of Milwaukee, “and, you know, having my heart broken when they lost Game 7, and just to see this team come back and play the way they did, and to be a part of the experience of a championship — you know, it’s been a long time coming for our fans and for our city, and it’s just beautiful.”
Pamela Mathis moved to Wisconsin three years ago from New Mexico. She said she has supported multiple baseball clubs but this was the first time she witnessed a World Series.
“My God, they can hustle, and they will hurt themselves to make the play. And they tell you by their actions they love the game, they want to be there. They honor their fans. They honor the team. These guys are special, and it shows,” Mathis said.
Tim Glynn of Ozaukee County has been an avid fan of the Brewers since the 1970s, and went to the see the team play in the 1982 World Series. This time, he found a spot along the parade route to celebrate their win.
“Had an excellent seat right under the freeway,” Glynn said. “The band was playing with the echo of the freeway overhead, it was perfect.”
Dylan Carley, a Marquette University senior, said the series win was “Just probably one of the best moments of my life. It was just like a sigh of relief for the whole city, and just everyone was so happy, and it just felt like a bigger moment than baseball.”
Carley said finding a spot on the parade route was a challenge.
“It has just been unbelievable, and I didn’t know I had to wake up at 5 a.m.” he said. “I heard people waking up at 4 or 5 a.m. to get front row seats. I didn’t get out of the house until 8:30, and I guess I’ll be watching it from the sidelines. But that’s better than nothing.”
Milwaukee Public Schools and many other districts in the area are closed Friday as families join the celebration.
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