Thousands of Brewers fans packed Milwaukee streets early Friday morning in anticipation of the team’s first World Series victory parade. 

The small-market Brewers gave their long-suffering fans the championship they had been waiting for with a 4-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday, clinching the Series in five games.

Milwaukee Public Schools canceled classes on Friday, allowing fans to enjoy the parade that will run through downtown and conclude with a fan fest at Henry Maier Festival Park, not far from the shore of Lake Michigan. 

Meanwhile, beer lines along the parade route stretched out into the streets as some fans complained of waiting ’45 minutes’ for a morning brew. Technically public consumption of alcohol remained prohibited, but the city’s notoriously vibrant beer culture wouldn’t be constrained on Friday morning. 

Thousands arrived hours beforehand to get the best possible view as the parade went through Wisconsin Avenue, a route similar to the one the 1982 team took during its parade after losing the World Series in seven games to the St. Louis Cardinals. The Brewers hadn’t been back to the Fall Classic since until this year.

For the city, Friday marked just the second ever World Series victory parade following the 1957 Milwaukee Braves title. But that team would leave for Atlanta nine years later, and although the Seattle Pilots would relocate to Milwaukee to become the Brewers in 1970, the city’s second team would go 55 seasons without winning the Commissioner’s Trophy.

Of course, most of the fans attending Friday’s parade weren’t old enough to celebrate with the Braves in 1957.  

Marty Casey, second from the left, collects payments for his merchandise stand along Mason Street during the Milwaukee Brewers World Series championship parade and celebration

Milwaukee Brewers fans arrive for a rally during the baseball team’s World Series parade

A fan arrives with a Brewers’ wrestling champion belt during the team’s World Series parade

A Milwaukee Brewers’ fan holds up a sign as he waits for the baseball team to arrive

Kasey Diedrich, one of the fans at Friday’s parade, said he attended his first Brewers game as a four-year-old in 1983, the year after that World Series appearance. Little did he know at the time how long he would have to wait for the Brewers to make it back.

‘I don’t think we still think it happened,’ Diedrich said. ‘It seems like a dream.’

Diedrich was at the parade with his father, Mark Diedrich, a 76-year-old who has been an on-and-off partial season ticket holder since the 1980s. Diedrich said he actually owns the seats from the old Milwaukee County Stadium where he and one of his sons were sitting when Hall of Famer Robin Yount got his 3,000th hit in 1992.

‘We could tell you stories for days of all the games we went to,’ Mark Diedrich said. ‘I remember going to opening day with these guys and there was ice on the steps of County Stadium. We’re sitting down to get ready for the game and a guy’s spreading salt to melt the ice on the steps.’

Mark Diedrich showed off a picture he took during the World Series of him and his sons wearing T-shirts detailing his bucket-list items, which included attending an All-Star Game, going to a Rolling Stones concert and seeing Brewers back-to-back World Series appearances.

They already had gone to an All-Star Game when it reached Milwaukee in 2002. They also saw the Rolling Stones. Now they finally have seen the Brewers in the World Series.

‘Unbelievable,’ said Mark Diedrich, who was wearing a Jackson Chourio T-shirt. ‘You just never thought it would happen. But it did.’

Braves’ hurlers Lew Burdette (L) and Warren Spahn toss confetti during the 1957 parade 

Fans of the Milwaukee Braves hold a parade and celebrate the Braves 1957 World Series title which the won in a seven-game series against the New York Yankees 

The Milwaukee Brewers celebrated their World Series victory in Tampa on Wednesday night 

A fan arrives with a Milwaukee Brewers’ Champions hat during Friday’s World Series parade 

The Diedriches were one of many families who had multiple generations representing them at the parade.

Craig Muehl, a 42-year-old from the Milwaukee suburb of Brookfield, said he inherited his Brewers fandom from his father. Muehl woke up early to attend the parade with his young son and daughter.

‘It all started, just like many families around here, sitting outside in the summer and fall,’ Muehl said. ‘My dad had the Brewers game on the radio everywhere we went. Some families have music on the radio. We had the Brewers games all summer long.’

Several Brewers, including team captain Christian Yelich and Cy Young Award favorite Jacob Misiorowski, went to Lambeau Field for Thursday night’s Green Bay Packers game. They received a huge ovation, especially when pitcher Brandon Woodruff emerged from the tunnel in the second quarter holding the Commissioner’s Trophy.

A few players attempted a ‘Lambeau leap’ into the crowd, with outfielder Sal Frelick having the most success. Those Brewers players later were shown on the video board cheering as they wore cheeseheads that included the message, ‘2026 WS Champions.’

A large police presence is expected for the parade to handle the big crowds and heavy traffic.