Madison Area Gay Interim Committee (MAGIC Picnic)

In July 1973, Rodney Scheel, a prominent Madison bar owner and community leader, held an appreciation picnic for employees and customers of his Back Door bar. The event was so successful that Scheel began using it to raise money for local LGBTQ organizations. 

In 1977, the picnic became a citywide fundraiser known as the MAGIC Picnic, named for the Madison Area Gay Interim Committee. MAGIC formed as a local response to Anita Bryant's homophobic campaign of the late 1970s.

The MAGIC Picnic became an annual Madison tradition, traditionally held on the third weekend of July at Brittingham Park, near Park Street and West Washington Avenue. In some years, the date was adjusted to avoid conflicts with other major regional LGBTQ events. The picnic also became closely associated with the gay volleyball community, which frequently held a tournament in Madison on the same weekend.

From 1989 to 1998, GALVAnize organized the local pride march and rally events, while MAGIC remained an independent organization. Over the years, the Pride march and the MAGIC Picnic became complementary parts of Madison’s annual LGBTQ calendar: Pride offered a public march, rally and political presence, while the picnic provided a large social gathering and fundraiser for community organizations.

In 1999, the MAGIC Picnic merged with GALVAnize to form Madison Pride, a new all-volunteer community organization that operated both events for the next decade.

Madison Pride came to an end in 2008. A new organization, Wisconsin Capitol Pride, emerged to continue local pride traditions. The 2009 celebration was held August 15–16 at the Alliant Energy Center. 

Wisconsin Capitol Pride continued through 2013.  Afterwards, OUTReach LGBT Community Center began working with local LGBTQ organizations, businesses, and social groups to rebuild local pride. On August 10, 2014, OutReach hosted its first pride parade, traveling along Williamson Street to the Capitol Square, where the event concluded with a rally and music. The parade returned in 2015, when the route moved back to State Street, and again in 2016. The OUTReach Pride Parade continued, larger and larger every year, until 2018.

On August 18, 2019, OUTReach revived the MAGIC Picnic as OUTReach MAGIC Festival: A Pride Celebration. The event, held at Warner Park, drew more than 3,000 people.  The annual OUTReach MAGIC Festival continues to this day.