Harley-Davidson’s mid-summer party in Milwaukee was apparently a big success, because the MoCo says they’re doing it again in 2024. While this year’s Homecoming event was tied to the brand’s 120th anniversary, it looks like this now might become an annual thing, not just a special every five or 10 years.

This year’s Homecoming saw riders come in from all over North America, many of them arriving to the party via one of six pre-scouted Ride In routes. These routes stopped at Harley-Davidson dealerships along the way for riders to meet up with old friends or new, to work on their bikes, to grab a bite to eat, and more. Alas, none of these Ride In routes were of the ADV variety, but maybe next year we can get a Pan Am-friendly option?

According to Harley-Davidson’s PR, 80,000 attendees took in the event’s concerts in downtown Milwaukee, and 73,000 bikes parked at the company’s museum and along Sixth Street over the July 13-16 party. Certainly not Sturgis numbers, but that is undeniably a lot of motorcycles (and if you know how the big rallies do their counting, the actual number of visitors might not be that far off).

The concerts from Green Day, Joan Jett and Foo Fighters attracted a lot of attendees, but the H-D party also had a lot of other stuff going on, including stunt shows, vintage bike shows, factory tours, police riding demonstrations, and other free concerts downtown. As you would expect, there were product demos from machines like the LiveWire and Staycyc electric bikes, and of course the newly-unveiled CVO Street Glide and CVO Road Glide.This alone might be reason enough to keep the Homecoming going year-over-year, as CEO Jochen Zeitz has committed to. Having this party every year allows Harley-Davidson to control the narrative around its own products.

So, it’s no surprise to see Homecoming scheduled again for 2024, running July 25-28—this is exactly what companies like BMW, Ducati and Moto Guzzi have been doing for years in Europe. And if thousands of Harley riders are happy to attend, why not? We just hope that next year, there’s an ADV route to get us there on a Pan America, although we do get that adding unpaved surfaces might be a little more risk than any manufacturer wants to take.