You would be forgiven for thinking that Sarah Smith Pancheri has one of the most entertaining jobs in the world.
For several years, Smith Pancheri’s now eight-year-old daughter certainly thought so. She was convinced her mom worked for “a magic show with an ice cream stand.”
She was not that far off: Smith Pancheri is President of Milwaukee World Festival, Inc., the nonprofit organization that hosts 52 massive events from May to October at the 75-acre Henry G. Maier Park along the shores of Lake Michigan — including and especially Summerfest, one of the world’s largest multi-day, multi-stage annual music festivals. Last year, more than 455,000 people attended; this year, Summerfest is celebrating its 55th anniversary, with its usual eclectic musical lineup (everything from the Dave Matthews Band to James Taylor and Odesza).
Smith Pancheri is at the heart of the operation, working with a core team of about fifty people, each of whom are experts in their area—food and beverages, entertainment, venue management, legal, etc. — as well as the more that 1,800 seasonal workers who make it all possible.
“Well, you get to hear a lot of music, which of course is a wonderful part of the job,” says Smith Pancheri. “In this role you go from the strategic to the tactical back and forth and in between and sideways pretty frequently. It's a privilege of a gig. It's a great opportunity to contribute to a mission that's really important to Milwaukee and beyond.”
If you had caught her as an undergraduate at UW-Madison, walking Bascom Hill and taking classes in Van Hise Hall, it’s doubtful she would have been able to predict this future.
“There are very few people in the music festival business that say, ‘I went to school to do this,'” says Smith Pancheri.
As a political science major who studied the Soviet Union and Russia in the late ‘90s, that observation seems especially true. But Smith Pancheri credits the communication and critical thinking skills she acquired at UW-Madison — and demonstrated through essays scribbled in blue books — as huge assets that have allowed her to navigate the complexities of managing Summerfest and working with the extensive line of ethnic festivals (Irish Fest, Mexican Fiesta, etc.) on the annual docket.
Smith Pancheri’s career path resembles that of a scrappy touring band working its way up the ranks, if the dive bars and music venues were instead Milwaukee’s nonprofit organizations. Her first official gig was as an intern with the Greater Milwaukee Convention Visitors Bureau, opening what was then the Midwest Airlines Center (now the Baird Center) in 1998. It was not an especially glorious job, but it taught Smith Pancheri the first of several professional truisms she carries with her today.
“In entertainment, you make a lot of copies, right?” she says. “You just have to do the next thing, and as I say with our team today, you always have to be willing to carry the box. It's your job to pull every piece of it off in a way that is seamless.”
She honed her events skills as the special events director of the nonprofit United Performing Arts Fund before becoming Milwaukee World Festival’s Director of Corporate Sales in 1999. She left in 2007 to do stints at Marquette University and the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee, then found herself back with Milwaukee World Festival, where she has remained since 2015.
For Smith Pancheri, the big draw of her job revolves around the powerful experience of shared music. During the interview, she turns the tables multiple times, asking the reporter to share favorite Summerfest concerts and memories. It’s a tactic she deploys with most of the people with whom she crosses path.
“When people say, ‘Music was one of my favorite things,’ they get a little distant look in their eye,” says Smith Pancheri, smiling. “They always remember one of their favorite concerts when they're talking to me. I love being a part of being able to contribute to memories that spark smiles. That’s a pretty special thing.”
Unsurprisingly, Smith Pancheri has plenty of her own special memories to share. She’s proud of the Northwestern Mutual Community Park, which opened on the festival grounds in 2021 — part of more than $160 million Milwaukee World Festival has spent to upgrade over the past two decades — with an expanded playground for kids and tons of accessible features. She also flashes back to the first post-COVID show at the new American Family Insurance Amphitheater that same year, a sold-out gig featuring the Foo Fighters.
“I remember walking in and, after the pandemic, seeing the video walls up, seeing the crew working to fly sound. I was a puddle,” says Smith Pancheri. “It was so great to have music back in a way that was really tangible for fans.”
Smith Pancheri’s business always involves looking and planning, maneuvering touring bands into a lineup like a never-ending game of musical Tetris. Her team’s already busily booking the Summerfest amphitheater docket for 2024.
“It keeps you on your toes,” she says. “It's challenging to come up with the next band, the next experience, the next event. It doesn't stay still. You really have to gather your wits and enjoy the ride.”