The story behind Shrekfest, Milwaukee’s strangest summer festival

Maybe much more than beer, Milwaukee is town of festivals. Right here, you will discover a competition devoted to a tradition, a neighborhood, a meals, a drink, a season or merely the truth that the solar got here up that morning – absolutely anything. And now that features a competition devoted to a inexperienced, swamp-dwelling animated ogre with emotional layers like an onion and a penchant for farting. 

On Saturday, Sept. 3, a band of native web creators/associates/ogre uber-fans will host Shrekfest, a celebration devoted to a hero as inexperienced because the Humboldt Park grass it’s going to name residence. Operating from 3-9 p.m. (plus an afterparty at Certainly Brewing in Walker’s Level) the free all-ages occasion options all of your typical competition components – reside music, video games, honorary ceremonies – themed in far-less-typical trend to the film “Shrek.” That features a costume contest that includes the franchise’s fractured fairy story characters, a roar-off impressed by the inexperienced grump’s swamp-clearing bellows and an onion-eating competitors, all finally topped off with a screening of the profitable (and, lest you neglect, Oscar-winning) movie. 

The one factor extra outstanding than the existence of a competition devoted to “Shrek”? {That a} competition devoted to “Shrek” has existed for years – and solely grown, beginning in a small Madison park in 2014 and increasing yr after yr within the capital metropolis till now touchdown for the primary time in Milwaukee.  

“We preserve out-growing our shell, like a hermit crab,” stated competition co-creator Grant Duffrin. 

Shrekfest is the beloved and weird donkey-dragon hybrid child of 3GI Industries, a band of web creatives headed by Duffrin together with southeastern Wisconsin natives Kevin Gonring and Eric Nitschke. Nevertheless, it’s certainly not their first surreal brainchild. 

Earlier than the times of Shrekfest, the trio made equally ornate oddball tasks by 3GI – albeit for the web moderately than in-person occasions. One in every of their first viral sensations got here a little bit greater than a decade in the past: an ever-increasingly intricate sequence of live-action “Tremendous Smash Bros.” tournaments, mixing collectively their love of films and video video games with an off-kilter “Tim & Eric Superior Present, Nice Job!”-like humorousness, extremely creative lo-fi manufacturing worth and an excellent larger tolerance for ache. 

One other of their popular culture obsessions: “Shrek,” a collective favourite from their childhoods that they made the centerpiece of some later comedy movies together with the horror parody “Shreknomicon.” So after they stumbled upon a Fb occasion for a Shrek-themed competition in Madison again in 2014, they have been thrilled. 

“We thought, ‘That is superior,’” Nitschke recalled. “We’re going to point out up, and we’re going to actually wild out at this occasion. We’re posting on this web site, and it’s trying actually cool – and so many individuals are saying they’re going to go.”

Only one downside: The competition didn’t really exist. 

“The man who created the occasion was like: Do individuals actually assume that is actual? … That is so not actual; why would anyone do that? It’s clearly pretend,” Nitschke stated.

“The joke went over our heads,” Duffrin added. “Shrek, to us, wasn’t on my radar as a meme … it was identical to, ‘Keep in mind Shrek?’”

The occasion itemizing was a joke – however the enthusiasm Duffrin, Gonring and Nitschke felt was very actual. And judging by the guy feedback within the Fb occasion, they weren’t alone – so that they determined to show this on-line prank into an offline actuality, throwing the primary Shrekfest in 2014 at Demetral Park in Madison. A number of dozen followers joined them. 

“It was intimate,” Duffrin stated with a smile.

“However among the individuals who went that yr at the moment are serving to out with the fest or nonetheless go,” Nitschke added. “Most individuals have been completely gained over by that.”

Certainly, identical to the animated franchise that spawned it, Shrekfest has solely grown since. Some featured components have stayed, just like the onion-eating contest and the end-of-day screening; others, like a Pin The Tail On Donkey competitors and selfmade “onion wine” refreshments, made like Lord Farquaad and received killed off. (Although throughout our chat, Duffrin and Nitschke have been already pitching one another concepts for a brand new and improved Donkey sport for subsequent yr’s version.) Due to phrase of mouth from completely satisfied followers in addition to write-ups each native and nationwide, celebratory and side-eyeing, the occasion additionally expanded out of a number of Madison swamps through the years, shifting from Demetral Park to James Madison Park to Warner Park – and now, for the primary time, to Milwaukee, with Humboldt Park serving as the newest locale to remodel into Duloc for a day. 

“We most likely weren’t prepared for Milwaukee – undoubtedly not yr one,” Duffrin stated. “Madison was an ideal place for the coaching wheels, however that is going to really feel totally different. That is going to really feel like a giant deal.”

So sure, Shrekfest is actual – however is it, , actual? Is that this a honest celebration of a 20-year-old animated film for youths? In any case, greater than a decade faraway from its final big-screen look (2010’s middlingly acquired “Shrek Perpetually After”), the character is maybe extra often called an web meme than a film. Even the competition’s creators aren’t solely positive, with Duffrin notably fascinated by the philosophical questions of whether or not or not the occasion is ironic. They know the place they stand, although.

“We’re not hate-going to this. We’re not saying, ‘Oh, ‘Shrek’ is so silly; it might be hilarious to have a competition a couple of silly film.’ No, that’s not it,” Nitschke stated. “It’s humorous, and it’s enjoyable – but it surely’s not a joke.”

“It’s an excessive amount of effort for a joke,” Duffrin added.

“I believe it’s a mode of film that’s tremendous fashionable, particularly now: a parody of one thing that finally ends up being the real model of that factor – within the case of ‘Shrek,’ a fairy story,” Gonring famous. “In Shrekfest’s case, it’s a competition that began ironic and must be ironic, but it surely’s in some way healthful and actual.”

The Shrek-ffection – and the work that goes into it – goes past simply Shrekfest, too, for the 3GI guys. In 2018, with the participation of dozens upon dozens of fellow followers and creators, they assembled “Shrek Retold,” a feature-length unfastened re-imagining of the unique movie that includes a plethora of various animation kinds and interpretations from the primary film.

And whereas some could eye-roll “Shrek” greater than 20 years after its authentic launch, with its now-commonplace referential fashion, there’s no such sarcasm or cynicism from the trio when requested concerning the film.

“’Shrek’ is a message of inclusion,” Gonring stated. “It’s a couple of man who hates everybody totally different from him however learns to like type of love them by the top. And by way of Fiona’s arc, she learns to like who she is and settle for who she is.”

“For us, the meme looped again round to us only a true appreciation for the film – as a result of it’s a very, actually good film,” Nitschke added. “You actually can’t contact it. It’s received a great ethical. It’s received good motion, hilarious jokes, a great forged. The animation for the time really was actually good and even now holds up fairly good. It’ll by no means be ‘Polar Categorical.’

“It’s a satire that loops round again to being honest, as a result of the top ethical and the top state of affairs isn’t comedy. It’s a very honest, romantic finish to the film. It’s nearly like us: It’s type of a joke however loops round again to sincerity.”

Irrespective of in case you’re a hardcore fan of ogres, irony or someplace within the center, identical to the characters in its inspiration, Shrekfest has made fairly a neighborhood – one which’s now come to Milwaukee and, on Saturday, would possibly simply flip you right into a believer, not a hint of doubt in your thoughts.