Milwaukee Summerfest chief Don Smiley looks back on 20 years leading the Big Gig

It was in 2004 when Racine native Don Smiley returned to Wisconsin to run Summerfest.

He had been away from Wisconsin for so long, cutting his business teeth in Florida, that he only knew one person in town, Bud Selig.

And Selig, then Major League Baseball Commissioner, offered Smiley some words of advice:

"You've got a tiger by the tail, there."

The implication: Summerfest is a high-profile event that a lot of people care about.

Twenty years later, after so many big shows and big building projects across the festival grounds, Smiley is letting go of the tiger.

On Thursday, the group that oversees Summerfest, the Milwaukee World Festival, formally agreed to complete a well-choreographed leadership transition.

Smiley, who was the CEO, will step into a year-long, part-time adviser's role beginning Jan. 1.

Sarah Pancheri steps up and assumes the role as Milwaukee World Festival CEO, adding the top title to her current position of president.

During a recent interview, Smiley, who soon turns 69, reflected on his years overseeing the Big Gig.

Here are the highlights.

Smiley never wanted to be a 'big person in town.'

When Smiley took over at Summerfest in 2004, he replaced Elizabeth "Bo" Black, who guided the festival during its early years and was the face of the event. Black was very much out front, something the festival needed in those days as it found its place on the entertainment map, both locally and internationally.

Smiley had his own style, cultivated while working with businessman Wayne Huizenga as president of the Florida Marlins baseball team and chairman of Miami's Pro Player Stadium, and before that, getting in on the ground floor at Blockbuster Entertainment, the former video rental and sales empire.

"I didn't want to come here and try to fill her shoes as a big person in town," Smiley said of following Black. "I wanted to come here and be recognized as a contributor to the community and a business person who was going to run this music festival, improve the music festival, leave it in better shape than what I found. And that's no shade on her."

Summerfest no longer draws a million people annually and that's not such a bad thing

In the early 21st century, Summerfest twice drew a million spectators. In 2023, 624,407 people walked through the turnstiles, a 40% jump from 2022, after seeing attendance declines from 2018 through 2021 to some record lows.

"One million people is not the benchmark of success," Smiley said. "What the benchmark of success is drawing enough people where you can pay your expenses, fuel your reserves and rebuild this place. That million people would never have been sustainable with the shape the grounds were in. People would have stopped coming."

For Smiley, the big push was to rebuild the stages

During his 20-year run, Smiley oversaw the overhaul of Henry Maier Festival Park. Milwaukee World Festival spent around $160 million to rehab the grounds and every stage, capping it off with the $51.3 million rebuild of the American Family Insurance Amphitheater.

Following the rebuild, Summerfest has managed to score a couple of tours usually routed to stadiums, such as Guns ‘N Roses and Green Day with Fall Out Boy and Weezer. The amphitheater also went from largely being dark outside of the festival to hosting 19 concerts in 2022 and again in 2023, thanks to a partnership with Live Nation-backed Madison promoter FPC Live.

"The stages were falling apart," he said. "Remember the old Harley stage or the old Briggs and Stratton stage, the old Miller stage? They were all done. They had to be redone."

More: Summerfest, Advocate Aurora unveil plans for Aurora Pavilion at prominent festival site

Summerfest used to be held over 11 days. Now it's 9 days over three weekends. And that's working just fine.

Coming out of the pandemic and the canceled 2020 festival, Summerfest altered its schedule, moving to three weekends. The formula proved to be successful this past summer.

"I don't think that we're plowing new ground here," he said. "When you look and see how restaurants operate. And other entertainment venues. Everyone knows that people spend money on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. That's not a secret. So when you look at our fixed expenses, on a Tuesday and a Wednesday in a Sunday, I mean, either you can draw enough people on those days of the week or you can't and we're confident that with the right lineup and with the right marketing plan and and everything that goes with that, that people are more apt to go out on Thursday, Friday and Saturday."

He added: "We didn't make that decision blindly. We have all the numbers to back it up."

Yes, there were acts the festival wanted but couldn't land. Think U2 and Springsteen

"We've tried a lot for U2," he said. "In my 20 years, Bruce Springsteen hasn't played here. He has played in town. He hasn't played the festival. I kind of focus on the big ones that we've had. We had Prince and we had the Rolling Stones and we had Paul McCartney. Tom Petty, rest his soul."

The Stones at the amphitheater in 2015 was a major coup, the most intimate venue on a tour that largely hit stadiums and bypassed “must-play” markets like Chicago. Summerfest also scored the first festival headlining appearance ever for superstar Billie Eilish in 2019.

When asked about best decisions, he focuses on people

Smiley lauded Summerfest's staff, and noted the careful succession planning that has taken place in key positions. In the last two years, the organization has seamlessly dealt with the retirements of senior VP of entertainment Bob Babisch (succeeded by Scott Ziel), CFO Sue Landry (succeeded by Zach Hasenstein) and general counsel Frank Nicotera (succeeded by Mary Schanning).

Smiley acknowledged one of the best hires he made was bringing Pancheri back to Summerfest in 2015 as vice president of sales and marketing. She rose through the ranks, becoming chief operating officer in 2019 and president in 2022.

"This festival is in great hands," he said.

The key to success is remembering the festival business is a 'people business.'

"It all comes down to people. Do they trust you?" he said. "Do you deliver or do you over-deliver? And I think we over deliver and I think I know we keep our promises."

Journal Sentinel music and entertainment reporter Piet Levy contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Don Smiley reflects on 20 years leading Milwaukee's Summerfest