The Sheboygan Jaycees announced on Monday that in 2023 there will be no Bratwurst Days celebration. The event, which first appeared on Sheboygan streets and in city parks 70 years ago, has seen both good times and bad, but recent challenges had prompted the Jaycees to announce last year that changes were in the wings. Changes, it seems, have become a part of the festival given its history.
The event had drawn as many as an estimated 100,000 people during the ‘60s. After crowds that large brought troubles like vandalism and rampant drunkeness the festival was cancelled by referendum in 1966, but then returned as “German Days” four years later. That observance would morph into “Sheboygan Days” until 1978 when the beloved “Bratwurst Days” returned.
Recent pressures of time, effort and the people power required to put on the annual event brought an advisory from the Jaycees last year that changes would be coming, and this year’s cancellation is one of those. However the Jaycees added that Brat Days isn’t going away entirely. And they’re asking for patience and understanding as the organization works to put a new Bratwurst Days on the Sheboygan Calendar in the future.
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