Madison city officials have spent the last year planning a Halloween weekend they hope will be free of rioters. A group of downtown bar owners and Madison police met Wednesday to discuss these new and improved Halloween plans, which include police officers on horseback, low-key music and increased police and bar employee staffing.
Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, organized the meeting. Verveer told bar and restaurant owners to be extra vigilant for particularly intoxicated people. He also said owners should be mindful of glass and help publicize the glass-free zones in the State Street area.
“We asked bars to think about if they could possibly cut back on glass served in bars, [but] we’re not forcing them,” Verveer said.
Like last spring’s Mifflin Street Block Party, Halloween will be glass-free for the second year in a row.
“The glass-free zones are in the immediate State Street areas, including side streets like Gilman and parts of Henry,” Ald. Austin King, District 8, said in a phone interview. “The glass-free zones go into effect at 9 p.m. Friday night and then again at 9 p.m. Saturday night … It really helped out last year and should help even more this year.”
With the implementation of glass-free zones for major UW festivities, local officials have seen less violence and fewer reasons for issuing tickets, King said.
Local State Street venues are upping their staffing and limiting capacity for this year’s celebration. Alcohol-serving establishments will serve cans instead of bottles and will pull all glassware from their shelves. They also are staying open a half-hour later until 2:30 a.m. over the weekend. The half-hour increase is coupled with a one-hour time difference in accordance with daylight savings time after midnight Oct. 30.
Verveer also encouraged alcohol-serving establishments with restaurant licenses to stay open later to serve food and non-alcoholic beverages. The Nitty Gritty, The Vintage and Pizzeria Uno’s said during the meeting that they might stay open later.
Other Madison fast-food favorites staying open past bar-time include Qdoba, Pizza Di Roma, Ian’s and Casa Bianca, according to Verveer.
In cooperation with the city of Madison and Madison Gas & Electric, UW has gathered more than $8,000 dollars for stadium-like lights to get crowds off of State Street.
UW senior Emily Gredler said the lights could create problems.
“I think it’s a really bad idea,” Gredler said. “Drunk people and bright lights aren’t a good mix.”
She added she enjoys Halloween and doesn’t think the new measures will stop her from having a good time.
While local bar owners said they hope to rely on the increased police staffing, some admit they aren’t counting on it to prevent all problems.
“The police need to take a lesson from the New Orleans Police Department on crowd control,” Jeff Mackesey, facilities manager at the Irish Pub, said. “There is just no excuse for stuff like that.”
