South Milwaukee’s Crusherfest won’t happen this year. Here’s why.
Some may be feeling crushed that South Milwaukee’s Crusherfest is canceled for 2024.
But this announcement follows a trend for the festival that was unplanned at first but is now official going forward.
Debuting in 2019, the gathering in celebration of Reggie “Da Crusher” Lisowski drew a large crowd eager to see the unveiling of a life-sized bronze statue of the South Milwaukee native professional wrestler.
The following year the festival was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
It returned in fall 2021 but was canceled again in 2022 due to construction of the multi-million Bucyrus Commons plaza project.
Crusherfest returned in June 2023.
The official Crusherfest Facebook page announced Feb. 18 the festival will be held every other year going forward, returning June 7-8, 2025.
“We’ve always done it biannually,” said Crusherfest Chairperson Peggy Clark. “It seemed like it’s working, why break it?”
Clark said the decision came down to time availability of organizers as “it’s such a huge amount of work.” She hopes sticking to the biannual schedule will allow additional time for fundraising “to maybe bring even bigger talent in.”
Crusherfest has attracted many names from the wrestling industry including Eric Bischoff, “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase, “Cowboy” Bob Orton, the High Flyers, Madusa and more.
Nobody was yet scheduled to appear this year, Clark confirmed, saying appearances aren’t typically finalized “until really close.”
Discussions on the event’s frequency began after last year’s event and the decision was finalized about two weeks prior to the social media announcement, Clark said.
Talks are continuing about the possibility of holding a smaller fundraiser in summer such as a brat fry or some kind of roundtable discussion, but nothing is finalized.
Crusherfest is known for polka music, a "polka mass" church service, special sausages, live wrestling and the Mr. Saloon competition. Clark said the festival costs tens of thousands of dollars to put on.
“Each year we seem to be breaking even,” she said.
About Da Crusher
Lisowski, a World War II veteran, wrestled professionally for over 40 years. He was a three-time AWA Heavyweight Champion and a five-time AWA Tag Team Champion with Dick the Bruiser.
Known as “The Man That Made Milwaukee Famous,” he’s also part of the WCW Hall of Fame and Minnesota Wrestling Hall of Fame.
Lisowski died of a brain tumor at age 79 in 2005.
Contact Erik S. Hanley at erik.hanley@jrn.com. Like his Facebook page, The Redheadliner, and follow him on X @Redheadliner.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: South Milwaukee’s Crusherfest is a no-go for 2024, will return in 2025
