Exhibit celebrates Big Gig’s history

Summerfest has booked an “opening gig” of sorts ahead of its 50th edition with a special exhibit at the Milwaukee County Historical Society.

“Summerfest 50,” opening Thursday, features brochures, tickets, maps, shirts, cups, posters and souvenirs across the festival’s five decades. Autographs from Metallica, Joan Jett and other performers are on loan from the Big Gig’s archives.

Large panels run through the festival’s history by decade, accompanied by Summerfest show pictures from past performances by George Carlin, Whitney Houston, Johnny Cash, Taylor Swift and the Rolling Stones. Visitors can also scan through old newspaper clippings to discover tidbits about the festival, such as the $1 admission price in 1972 that gave people access to David Cassidy, Glen Campbell and Aretha Franklin.

“Nowadays, people think of Summerfest as an inevitability every summer, this awesome, huge festival,” said Ben Barbera, the society’s curator and operations manager. “This exhibit shows that in the beginning, people had no idea if they would pull this off. It took six years of planning before there was the first one.”

The exhibit is available 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday through Sept. 29. General admission is $7, but the exhibit will be free from 4:30 to 7 p.m. June 14 for a happy-hour event correlating with the kickoff for the River Rhythms concert series in adjacent Pere Marquette Park featuring Willy Porter and Carmen Nickerson.

A separate traveling display is visiting select libraries and Pick ‘n Save stores through June. For location information, visit summerfest.com.

Summerfest will also have an interactive exhibit on the grounds during the festival, and a commemorative 124-page book, “50 Years of Smiles,” is available for $23 on Summerfest’s website and at the Summerfest store during the festival.

Summerfest runs June 28 to July 2 and July 4 to 9.