NEWS

Freakfest a Success for the Second Year in a Row

Reporting By: Ryan Reszel

Videography by: Abby Riese

Unlike in past years when partygoers looted and trashed State Street businesses, Freakfest 2007 turned out to be even more successful than it was in 2006.

State Street was packed with over 34 thousand Freakfesters at its peak early Sunday morning. By 2:00 a.m., however, police had dispersed the crowd of Halloween revelers without major incident.

Public Information Officer Joel DeSpain praised partygoers for their good behavior, saying that there were “no reports of any property damage” and “no reports of any serious injuries.”

“I was on the streets for awhile, it seemed like people were having a good time,” said DeSpain.

According to DeSpain, weekend arrests dropped 22 percent from 2006 and 68 percent from 2005. Even though arrests were down, some students felt that the increased ticket prices and police presence negatively affected the atmosphere.

“You know what, it’s not as crazy as it used to be,” UW-Madison student Jim Higgins said. “You figure, at each intersection you have to pay for tickets now, and…it’s not as fun as it used to be. It’s still good, but it’s not the same.”

Despite hearing some complaints, Fourth District Alderman Mike Verveer said he was pleased with the overall results of the weekend. Yet he made several suggestions on how Freakfest could be improved in the future.

“It would be really awesome if, down the road, in future years, people did come for the music as much as they do for the costumes,” Verveer said. “Are we going to turn this into Summerfest? Of course not, but it would be really cool to continue a relationship with Frank Productions.”

Whether that partnership will continue remains to be seen, but police and students agree that Halloween in Madison has come a long way since the riots of 2002.