Live music stirred up the crowd at the inaugural Revelry Music and Arts Festival on Saturday, with the University of Wisconsin year-end event selling more than 3,000 tickets to the event.

The Wisconsin Union Directorate’s Revelry Music and Arts Festival hosted 11 different artists and other entertainment activities in a daylong event, held in and outside Union South and on Randall Street.

The student-organized and student-run event sold 3,050 of the 3,700 available tickets for the event, reaching about 82 percent of its intended capacity, according to a WUD statement.

With the purchase of a wristband, those in attendance were given an all-access pass to the day’s planned activities including performances by headliners Hoodie Allen and Toro Y Moi, a foam party, “Before I Die” art instillation and body paint.

Revelry’s Executive Director Sarah Mathews said attendance in the first hour of the day was slow, but reached around 1,000 when Delta Spirit performed and peaked with Hoodie Allen’s performance. She reiterated the event’s intention was to “add to and enhance the Madison social scene, not take anything away.”

The event saw a positive reception from its attendees, despite accusations toward the event planners for attempting to replace Mifflin. 

“A lot of people are saying, ‘Oh no, it’s like counter-Mifflin,'” UW senior and Revelry volunteer Greg Smith said. “Honestly, Mifflin is pretty busy right now, so I think you’re way better off to have something like Revelry in place. This is a great thing to do today that’s actually sanctioned and, if the cops are going to be dicks anywhere, it’s probably not going to be here.”

However, Jessica Borniger, a UW senior attendee who said she appreciated the vision for the event, emphasized the festival as simply another option for the day, in addition to the Mifflin Street Block Party.

“This is not negative Mifflin,” Borniger asserted. “If you get good bands to come, I will go see them. People are still enjoying the day on Mifflin and surrounding streets. It is the coolest scenario that could have happened…Well done, UW-Madison.”

Attendees with wristbands had the opportunity to leave and re-enter the event freely.

WUD Vice President of Public Relations Jose Cornejo said he saw many Mifflin-themed shirts at Revelry, specifically during the Hoodie Allen concert, adding this showed students were able to embrace Revelry as a complimentary event.

However, Anthony Lovenheim Irwin, a UW teaching assistant, said many of his students said they were not going to attend the festival as they were unfamiliar with the artists and wanted to show their support for the Mifflin Street Block Party.

“[My students] all said they were going to go to Mifflin to make a point,” Irwin said. “If Revelry were maybe held a different weekend, I think there would be so many more people here. Having them the same weekend makes the two events so much more opposed, and students don’t want to be told what to do.”

UW Police Department spokesperson Marc Lovicott said no arrests or citations were made at Revelry. One person, however, was transported to a detox facility, Lovicott said.

He said the festival was a very “peaceful” event, adding UWPD was happy to work so closely with WUD and looks forward to working with them at any potential Revelry Festivals in future years.

UWPD did not charge the venue for their services, Levicott said, adding WUD spent $10,000 on security staff to manage crowd control and safety.

Security Officer Paul Staufiger, who said he found the event to be more in control than a Badger football game, said 52 people worked security at Revelry.

Overall, organizers were pleased with the event’s turnout and reception, and Revelry Operations Coordinator Josh Levin said in the future they plan to find even more ways to garner student input to improve the lineup.

“Revelry is about the chance to stand out in the sunshine with my friends, listen to great music and walk around with a beer in my hand without getting a $400 ticket,” Mathews said.”From the organizers’ perspectives, Revelry is about providing a service for our peers and putting on an event worthy of our school and its incredible work-hard-play-hard culture.”