The number of arrests at the annual Mifflin Street Block Party increased by more than 100 people since last year, although the Madison Police Department estimates fewer people to have attended the event.
According to the MPD, 366 arrests were made Saturday, most of which were alcohol-related, in comparison to 263 arrests at last year’s celebration. The MPD also estimates approximately 10,000 people attended this year’s party, which is down from last year’s estimated 15,000 in attendance.
Despite the increase in arrests, no major incidents were reported to the MPD.
“I think most everybody was able to have a good time,” said Common Council President Mike Verveer, whose district includes West Mifflin Street. “To my knowledge, there were no serious injuries or property damage or any other incidents.”
Verveer said one possible reason why this year’s arrest numbers increased is that police officers did not have any serious incidents to take care of, and were able to focus on minor, alcohol-related offenses. Also, Verveer said in past years, police have become overwhelmed with the number of people at the party and stopped issuing minor citations to focus on keeping the crowd under control.
“The citations were almost all for very minor alcohol violations — the No. 1 offense was, of course, open intoxicants on a public street or sidewalk, followed by underage drinking,” Verveer said. “This year, it was more like fishing in a barrel, and the police only briefly suspended citing people compared to other years.”
Although attendance estimates have put the party at about 10,000, Verveer said he thinks that number is low.
According to the MPD, only seven of the 366 people arrested were taken to jail.
While past years have seen problems with noise violations on Mifflin — often related to live bands or DJs performing at parties — the number of noise violations, live music and house parties decreased this year.
While these decreases led to a quieter block party, some attendees felt the event needed more activities other than drinking.
“I think it would be more positively viewed by the public if it was an event where there were activities instead of just a bunch of people with alcohol,” UW senior Tiffany Atkins said. “You actually would have something to go there for, instead of just getting drunk.”
Verveer said many Mifflin residents were too afraid to host large parties this year, in particular after attending his neighborhood meeting with the MPD last week. He said he was disappointed in the decrease of live music this year.
“I didn’t see anywhere near as much music as I’ve seen in other years,” Verveer said. “I think that really leaves the main theme to be just drinking, and I prefer to see more music.”
This year’s improved weather meant less of a mess after the party finished — last year’s rain coupled with the close to 15,000 attendees made a wreck of the residential street.
However, members of the Blackhawk Church on the west side of Madison had once again cleaned up the litter and mess before most Mifflin residents woke up Sunday. The church has organized cleanup efforts for the block party for the last three years.
“It took up about an hour and a half or so, and we had about forty or so [UW] students that showed up to do it,” said Matt Metzger, college pastor for the church.
Although the church is not located on campus, Metzger said Blackhawk Church likes to see itself as a university church because of the large amount of UW faculty, staff and students who attend its services.
In addition to the church cleanup, two Madison street sweepers were able to go over Mifflin Street by about 9 p.m., when the party had mostly died down. The streets were then open to traffic, and police officers left the neighborhood.
The police will contact houses that received citations in upcoming weeks, but Verveer said he has no knowledge of which citations will stick.
