Madison is known for the massive Halloween party that breaks out every year on State Street (the main pedestrian/bike/bus drag adjacent to campus). In the past few years, either the celebrations or the police (depending on who you talk to) have gotten out of hand, and riot shields, pepper spray, and even tear gas have made appearances. So naturally, I had to go see what all the fuss was about.
This year, the city sought to contain the partying, and worked with students to find a happy medium between bedlam and boredom. They solution at which they arrived was to fence off State Street, charge admission, and add a couple of live music stages to enable them to call it an ‘event’ and justify the entrance fee. The status of the event was sort of up in the air; in fact, the following legally dubious disclaimer was printed on the back of the tickets:
The Halloween event on State Street is not sponsored by the City of Madison or any other entity. No permit has been issued for this event. An admission fee is charged solely for the purpose of paying for some of the public safety costs generated by the spontaneous occurrence of this event…
Tickets for a spontaneous, non-sponsored event? An admission fee for an event that takes place on a public street and has no permit? I make no claims of real legal knowledge, but something seems wrong here.
Anyway, I went out with friends Veronica and Chelle at first. We walked all the way up State, looking at costumes, but ended up at a bar outside the official party zone, as we didn’t feel like waiting in line. Then, we connected with another group and did a little party hopping on and around State. By about 1:15, we had ended up back in the thick of things, and were waiting in line for a restaurant/bar. As we were standing there, a long line of policemen started filing in the nearest entrance. There must have been twenty-five or thirty in that group, and there were many entrances up and down the street.
Curious about how the time change would be handled, we asked a cop and learned that they would start clearing the street at the first 1:30 (2 a.m. becoming 1 a.m. at the change). Since that meant we only had about ten minutes left, most of us decided to bag the bar and started walking up the street. Our destination was the second floor State St. apartment of Jennifer (who was part of the group we’d joined earlier), from which we would have a good view of whatever happened when the cops started breaking up the party.
We thought we had plenty of time, but as we reached an intersection, the police started dragging fences across the road, in order to compartmentalize the partying. We managed to run past two moving fences and made it to the block for which we were aiming. We proceeded to watch from Jennifer’s windows (later, we ventured back down to the street to watch, as well) as police on foot, motorcycle, and horseback proceeded to clear the area.
the stadium lights
The whole thing had a very 1984 sort of vibe. The police presence was massive, and the officers were garbed in something between standard uniforms and full riot gear. A recorded announcement played periodically, thanking partygoers for attending, but encouraging them to leave the area so that clean-up crews could prepare for the following business day. Also, huge portable stadium lights lent an otherworldly glow to the entire area.
Apparently the new measures worked, there were about half as many arrests as last year, and no riot shields or large-scale chemical weaponry were employed. It was a fun time, but a little odd. Oh, and what was my costume? I’ve been waiting for this one:
Click any of the thumbnails above for larger versions, or look at the entire (small) gallery here.
