Anime Milwaukee’s Polkalator Memorial: Sites of Memory, Community, and Participation 

Back in 1998, artist Dick Blau created an interactive art piece called “Polka Time!” at the Wisconsin/Baird Center in Milwaukee.

The piece, which featured an escalator with 22 pictures of polka dances and a button that plays 1 of 200 polka songs at random, was affectionately dubbed “The Polkalator” by fans. Anime Milwaukee (AMKE) attendees were among the Polkalator’s devotees. However, when the Polkalator was removed in 2023, fans were devastated at the loss of what had become an AMKE tradition. 

Enter the Polkalator Memorial. 

Established by AMKE staff in 2023, the memorial stands next to the same elevator where it once charmed tourists and locals alike. Throughout the weekend, the poster is adorned with ribbon badges and small gifts as fans come to pay their respects. AMKE Director of Communications, Luke Marsden, said that the memorial’s creation came from people having a very strong opinion about the button’s disappearance. “It actually just  came from our community reaching out about that and just saying they love [the Polkalator].” 

The true reason for the installation’s removal remains a mystery. Marsden heard an unconfirmed rumor that a security staff member at the venue was driven mad and quit because of the amount of polka he heard. Others believe it may have to do with the number of times the button was broken or vandalized, including once in 2019 when the button was smashed so hard it created a hole in the wall. In 2022, the button was briefly replaced with a QR code before it polkaed for the last time when the convention center underwent renovations.  

The memorial acts like a shrine now for fans to come and remember the polka button, while new attendees get to hear stories about the escalator. Leaving small gifts at the memories is one of the first things you can do at AMKE, before the con floor even opens up. The items left behind, which range from Pokémon cards to small figurines to battery-operated candles, are displayed until the end of the weekend. I left a bag of shrimp-flavored chips and a packet of Fun Dip at the shrine (though the chips disappeared within the hour). Unfortunately, most of the items are thrown away afterwards, though any money left at the shrine is donated to that year’s charity (the Milwaukee LGBT Center in 2026). 

Marsden’s favorite gift is one that showcased the community’s affection for the escalator. “It was a couple of years ago, but someone had gotten one of those little books that you see in a funeral where you write your name as a kind of a guest log. They scratched out the other words on there and just wrote Pocolator. I think that was my favorite though, because you flip through and there’s like three pages of names in there and people write just a short little, you know, we miss you sort of note.” As silly as it may seem, this act of coming together is what makes AMKE and the Polkalator so special. 

Often called fan pilgrimages or sites of participation, fans will gather around any location that signifies something of cultural or personal significance to them. J. Caroline Toy writes in her article Constructing the fannish place: Ritual and sacred space in a Sherlock fan pilgrimage that these “sites concentrate and bring into focus the multiple geographies of fans’ relationships to texts and celebrate– even sanctify– their entanglement”. 

While the Polkalator may not be the same thing as visiting a filming location, it served that same purpose for AMKE attendees. When fans get together to enjoy anything, it solidifies their relationships and emotions within the context of a physical space. The way we feel about things, even polka playing escalators, can be difficult to put into words. So we use our bodies to pay tribute, leave tokens of acknowledgement, or just share memories. Sometimes you have to connect with a physical space to connect with others. 

Marsden said that AMKE has considered a more formal shrine, or even having a local accordion player to come and pay tribute to Milwaukee’s rich ties to polka music. Either way, fans will be remembering the Polkalator for many more years to come.

AMKE was held March 6-8, 2026.

Author: Abby Kirby

Abby Kirby is an English teacher and fan studies scholar. She holds an M.A. in Media and Cinema Communications from DePaul University.

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