Milwaukee's Summerfest reported a combined attendance of 613,475, a 1.9% increase. However, this figure also includes two Garth Brooks concerts held before the official nine-day programme.
Without the 44,764 attendees from those two concerts, 568,711 visitors were recorded across the official festival days — a 5.6% decrease compared with the previous year.
The case is a good illustration of why attendance figures should always be reported alongside their methodology: it makes a real difference whether related concerts, daily entries or unique guests are being counted.
Summary
The reported combined attendance figure changes significantly once two concerts held before the official festival days are factored out.
