An exceptional level of violence at Saturday’s Mifflin Street Block Party led Mayor Paul Soglin to say the future of the event could hang in serious jeopardy.

At a Monday press conference, Soglin reacted to the stabbing of a 21-year-old University of Wisconsin student and what he said was a disturbing level of belligerence among drunken partygoers.

Soglin said he believes the high number of partygoers attending only to consume alcohol led to a more belligerent party atmosphere on Saturday afternoon.

“I saw far more inebriated people … at 1:15 on Saturday than I did at 4 o’clock two years ago,” Soglin said. “It usually takes, as we saw, more than one officer to deal with an inebriated person – not just for the officers’ sake, but also for the safety of the individual.”

Soglin added, however, the city has no definitive plans for the party’s future. He did say he plans to make the event uninviting by shifting the event’s alcohol-based culture over the next year.

“My guess is despite whatever we do for next year, some folks will show up,” he said. “It would be my intention to make it as uninviting as possible for anyone who planned to get falling-down, stupid drunk.”

Although he declined to mention specific examples of what the city might do to prevent future violence, Soglin said he would consider forcing the event to move to the next Saturday in May to discourage students studying for final exams from attending the party.

Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, told The Badger Herald he plans to meet with Mifflin neighborhood residents to hammer out new plans for the party’s future.

He also said he understands negative reactions from UW students disappointed with the possibility of a diminished or canceled block party.

Verveer said students should remember one of their own suffered nearly fatal injuries because of a stabbing on the 500 block of Mifflin Street Saturday afternoon.

“I just can’t condone an event that someone could have been killed at – and it wouldn’t have been accidentally,” Verveer said. “I don’t think it was an isolated incident, sadly.”

City officials were not the only individuals associated with Mifflin to condemn Saturday’s events. Scott Leslie, co-owner of event sponsor Majestic Live, repeatedly said before Saturday he believed Majestic would participate in Mifflin in future years.

On Monday, Leslie said he was disappointed with the event’s outcome.

“I can’t see [Majestic] being involved with this in any way in the future,” Leslie said.

The disappointment over Saturday’s stabbings and police injuries might also have implications for Madison’s annual Halloween party, currently known as Freakfest.

Soglin said any event that includes the distribution of alcohol at a non-licensed establishment should be seriously reconsidered – including Freakfest, the Mifflin Street Block Party and home-game tailgating near Camp Randall Stadium.

Hannah Somers, Legislative Affairs Committee chair for the Associated Students of Madison, said she hopes student representatives will work with the city to find a solution to the problems at Mifflin.

“I really hope that the city tries to work with students to come up with the solution that everyone can agree with to a certain extent,” Somers said.