GREEN BAY (NBC26) — The city of Green Bay and its partners have announced a free music festival downtown the nights before and after the NFL Draft in April.
Northeast Wisconsin is just 99 days away from hosting its biggest event ever. On Wednesday, city officials revealed plans for the Draft City Music Fest, a family-friendly celebration at Leicht Memorial Park to bookend the Draft days.
"We might be the smallest market, but boy, we are committed—and we are committed in a way that other cities sometimes have a hard time understanding," Brian Johnson of On Broadway, Inc. said during a news conference at the Neville Public Museum. "But we understand it, and it's because it's who we are. It's our identity."
The music festival will kick off the night before the Draft and conclude the night after the event wraps up. Mayor Eric Genrich said the idea stemmed from discussions with leaders in other cities that recently hosted the Draft, including Kansas City and Detroit.
"They said, you know, it's a massive opportunity, but you really have to take advantage of it," Genrich said. "You have to leverage the chance to have this event within your community and do whatever you can to attract people to all elements of the city."
The festival is being described as family-friendly.
Watch: Free downtown music fest set for NFL Draft: Leicht Park upgrades in the works
"We don't want community members to stay in their homes," Genrich said. "We really want them to come downtown, to the Draft itself, to all of our business corridors … to act as ambassadors."
Additional events surrounding the Draft include a Kringle Combine, a 5K, and a Booyah Battle, among others.
As I've previously reported, Green Bay passed a law last year making it legal for city employees to sell alcohol in city parks for certain events in preparation for the Draft.
As far as who is playing this music festival, the city says we have to wait about a month for that announcement.
Leicht Memorial Park may be the home of the upcoming Draft City Music Fest, but the city wants to make changes to the park well beyond the Draft. Genrich says things like a pavilion and a biergarten are in the planning stages and likely wouldn't be built until 2026.
The construction company presenting their designs for the pavilion to the city Wednesdaysays it will cost more than $3 million.
Genrich says any additional sponsorship money the city receives for the music fest during the Draft will go towards the planned additions to the downtown park.
