The Big Gig just made perhaps the 2021 festival's most important booking, as Summerfest announced it hired a private operator to provide bus shuttles to and from the grounds this year. 

The festival made the booking after the Milwaukee County Transit System announced back in June that it would cancel its bus services to Summerfest this year.

“The buses are back," said Milwaukee World Festival, Inc. president and CEO Don Smiley, in a release. "We know that many of our fans utilize bus transportation to get to Summerfest, and we wanted to provide them with a convenient and affordable option to attend the festival. Milwaukee World Festival, Inc. is organizing this service and have secured a national company, Vectour Group, which has run shuttles for major events nationwide, to offer this service during Summerfest."

The shutttles will run during the nine official days of Summerfest – aka Sept. 2-4, 9-11 and 16-18, not during the three Wednesday kick-off concerts – starting at 11 a.m. and running continuously throughout the day. The shuttles will take off from three park-and-ride locations – both lots at College Avenue on I-94, the State Fair Park lot at S. 76 St. and W. Kearney, and the East West Brown Deer Road lot – and drop-off and pick-up at Summerfest just west of the mid-gate entrance. 

Round-trip shuttle tickets will cost $12 and can be pre-purchased online or purchased upon exiting the bus at the Summerfest grounds. For more information on the shuttle system, buying tickets and rules on the road, visit the Big Gig's website. 

And stay tuned to OnMilwaukee for more Summerfest updates, as the return of the Big Gig is just over a week away!