MILWAUKEE — Fans returning to American Family Field was a major step toward normalcy, but for many fans, Monday’s first pregame tailgate represented a true return to the Brewers game day experience.

After just one homestand in which tailgating was prohibited, the Brewers reopened their vast parking lots to tailgaters beginning with Monday’s series opener against the Chicago Cubs.

“I had to tailgate at somebody’s house on Opening Day,” said Mike Clark, who made the drive Monday from Fond du Lac to grill with friends and family before the game. “It’s not quite the same. This is much better.”

For the first time since September 2019, beans bags were flying, cold beers were cracking and brats and burgers were sizzling before a Brewers home game.

“It’s a pregame ritual,” said Steven Ring, a Brewers fan from Milwaukee. “It’s pretty unique to Wisconsin culture.”

During the season-opening series in which many fans expressed disappointment in the no-tailgating policy, the Brewers front office promised it was working with the Milwaukee Health Department to allow the pregame tradition to resume as soon as possible. Just like inside the park, there are some COVID-19 safety protocols in tailgate lots. Parking staff direct drivers to utilize every other parking space to allow for appropriate distancing. The Brewers ask fans to remain in the immediate vicinity of their vehicles and only gather outside their cars with the group they will sit with during the ballgame.

“We’re almost there, you know?” said Josh Hernandez, a Marquette law student who celebrated his birthday Monday at the ballpark. “I think it’s going to take a little longer until we’re fully back. But we can’t beat the capacity here and the experience they’re putting on.”

Tickets are on sale for Brewers home games through May 2. The ballpark will stick with its current 25 percent capacity limit at least until then, though vice president of business operations Rick Schlesinger said before the season the club would like to increase crowd sizes as soon as it is safe to do so.