Miller Park hosts Jehovah's Witness Convention, stadium open to hosting other large scale events



MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- Friday afternoon Miller Park was about as packed as you would see at a typical Brewers home game. That's because there's a large Jehovah's Witness Convention happening here through Sunday, June 22nd -- and some are hoping it helps attract other non-baseball events to the ballpark in the future.

The sun glints off a sea of vehicles, as a steady stream of Jehovah's Witnesses close out the first day of their regional convention.

"Miller Park has not hosted anything, especially this scale, prior to the Jehovah's Witnesses," said Jason Hartlund, Brewers enterprises and event services.

Obviously the stadium's played host to other large-scale events, but Hartlund says ones like this help spread the message of the what the field can offer.

"Anytime we can get the word out that we're having non-baseball events at Miller Park, I think it allows people to think of the facility in a little bit different way," said Hartlund.

It can help spread the gospel of the greater Milwaukee experience too, especially when, as in this event, many have traveled from a far.

"Anything that comes to the city obviously many times these are new visitors, so they go back and talk about the great experience that they have," said Paul Upchurch, president and CEO of Visit Milwaukee.

They hope to attract more of the same in the future, but as Hartlund says, baseball always comes first.

"The priority is always to make sure the playing field maintains its integrity and if we look at an event and we feel it won't harm the field then we can take the next step and see if it makes sense to host it," said Hartlund.

Fox6 asked if other midwest ballparks, like Wrigley Field or Target Field, are competitors to host events like this. Hartlund says their counterparts at other teams do try to do similar things, but that Milwaukee Park has an advantage because they can close the roof.