Freakfest planners were optimistic about this year’s Halloween celebration when they presented the final plans for the annual State Street party Monday at the Overture Center.
Joel Plant, assistant to Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, compared the planning for Freakfest to a “recipe,” as a certain formula for success has been seen in previous celebrations. Planning for the event, Plant said, starts the week after the previous year’s event ends.
“Four years ago we announced an initiative to fundamentally change the Halloween event,” Plant said. “We now have a community-based event we can all be proud of.”
Plant said planners analyze the event as a whole, and there is an ultimate goal in mind for the event: to drive down the public cost to put on the celebration while maintaining a safe event.
According to Plant, based on last year’s numbers, the cost of the police presence for the event is $255,000, in addition to “out-of-pocket” expenses such as renting out the gate materials. The ticket revenue offsets some of the expenses, with the revenue from the previous Freakfest coming in at $125,000.
The event has the potential to break even, but it will not for the next couple of years, Plant said.
Dave Maynard of Freakfest promoter Frank Productions detailed the process of planning for the event and the philosophy behind setting up a large event such as Freakfest.
Maynard said every year, from a marketing standpoint, Frank Productions starts from scratch, getting bands to play at the event and providing entertainment.
“That’s what we’ve been doing — trying to have something for people to do, and put the bands on the stage that are quality and people will recognize,” Maynard said, adding the bands encompass a wide variety of genres so there is something for everyone.
While the majority of the event is similar to last year’s in terms of logistics, there are a few changes to this year’s events.
According to Plant, the last few years have seen a small decrease in the number of officers for the event, and the detention center for arrest processing will not be set up at the start of the event. If it is necessary to have one during the night, however, the resources are available to set one up.
Madison Metro buses will be parked near the State Street area as a means to process people and issue citations, Plant said.
The police are also looking to keep Johnson and Gorham streets open for as long as possible on Saturday to accommodate the large amount of people in the area.
Maynard said Budweiser, in partnership with Union Cab, is offering free cab rides for people until 2:30 a.m. People must print out a voucher at the Freakfest website ahead of time to utilize the service.
Tickets for the event are $7 in advance and $10 the day of. They can be bought at a variety of local businesses or online at Frankproductions.com. A booth on Library Mall will be offering the last chance for the discounted ticket rate from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. the day of Freakfest.
