By: Lara Gates (gatela08@uwgb.edu) and Josh Hadley (hadlj20@uwgb.edu).
Green Bay has long been a purveyor of the arts in Northern Wisconsin. Movies, performance art, theater, and music have been staples of the art scene. One central venue to consume these forms of entertainment is the Tarlton Theater.
Located on Walnut Street in Green Bay, The Tarlton Theatre (formally known as the West Pitcher Show) opened in late 2018, with a mission to restore a historic art deco building and to revitalize theatre and performing arts on the west side of Green Bay.
But in 2024, the reputation of the venue, named after its owner and donor, Tarlton Knight, began to waver.
Knight, an aspiring musician and unsuccessful City Council candidate for Green Bay’s ninth district, was named Green Bay’s Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2025. Since his run for office, Knight has had his sights set on the local arts scene.
The Green Bay UFO Museum, a record and novelty item shop that was founded in 2022 to fill the void from The Exclusive Company closing, launched Invasion Fest and teamed up with the Tarlton to help host the three-day event, with the goal to broaden the Green Bay music scene.
However, GB UFO announced that Invasion Fest 2025 would be looking for a new home, leaving many in the arts community wondering what happened.
Grace Marquardt, a senior at the University of Wisconsin – Green Bay and supporter of the arts, said, “I was surprised more than anything because they seem like two businesses in the area that would have a lot of the same clientele, they both cater to a more artsy, indie crowd, so I thought what happened must have been pretty bad.”
In August 2024, the Tarlton hosted a band called 4onthefloor. According to an InForum article, due to one of the band members being accused of sexual assault, the band was forced to pull out of a show at the Fargo Brewing Company in Minneapolis. That same concern resurfaced when they were booked at the Tarlton.
Pierre Jacque, owner of GB UFO Museum, said, “There was a person contacting us because we were doing business with the Tarlton and they had not been able to get any kind of a response from them [The Tarlton] about their concern, which was, this band, 4onthefloor, that had been booked there.”
This concern was a deciding factor that led GB UFO Museum to sever ties with the Tarlton. “We weren’t looking to pick a fight–it was just literally a business decision. And, I mean, as business decisions go, it wasn’t that big of a deal. We didn’t have a contract signed with them or anything
there. We had sort of planned on doing it there, barring finding somewhere else that would better suit our event,” Jacque added. According to a Facebook post from the Tarlton Theatre, the venue stated that 4onthefloor was booked through a third-party talent buyer. The Tarlton hosted the band due to their contractual agreement with the talent buyer and claimed that there was no other evidence to support the accusation.
Additionally, the Tarlton noted that both it and the GB UFO Museum received backlash from the individual who raised the allegations, particularly regarding their business partnership, and doubting their standards for protecting their patrons.
In the same post, they cite this backlash as the reason for the termination of their business relationship and that they are “coordinating with a professional legal team in order to address defamatory activity,” which resulted in a cease-and-desist letter being sent to GB UFO Museum.
“I thought that’s where the whole thing would end–like we don’t need to discuss this. While I did sort of include in that posting that it was, you know, because our values don’t align and what have you there, I buried the lead on that one. It was down in the bottom in like a Q&A sort of situation that like, I really didn’t want to have to discuss it with people that much.” Jacque said.
Tarl Knight has a history of questionable accusations. According to police records and local reporting, Knight was accused of assaulting a female friend in 2018 and in 2019, when he was accused of assaulting the co-owner of the Tarlton theater. Knight denied all allegations.
The Fourth Estate reached out to both the Tarlton Theatre and Knight for comment but received no response.
With public fallout online, Invasion Fest’s relocation process has gained attention in the local arts sector.