A new city ordinance in Oshkosh could make students at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh foot the bill in the future for an annual bar crawl, which took place last Saturday with its largest attendance in history.
The ordinance, effective in 2011, mandates organizers of any event with over 250 people where alcohol, beverages, food or merchandise will be sold to fill out an application subject to review by the City Council, Oshkosh Police Department Chief Scott Greuel said.
Greuel said it would be up to the event organizer to pay for the determined expenses for having city departments present, including the fire department, police department or any hired entertainment.
With the large attendance and requirement of security measures, the Pub Crawl would be considered a special event once the new special event policy is in effect.
After Saturday’s event, Oshkosh police reported 28 citations given out and 32 complaints filed. There was also a fight that broke out on the street, but it was a few blocks from the strip of bars in the Pub Crawl, Oshkosh Tavern League President Pat Purtell said.
Greuel said in the future, the group of UW-Oshkosh students who organize the crawl will be the ones responsible for paying the fee from City Council.
According to a UW-Oshkosh statement from 2007, the event was started by a group of students called “The Goat Pack” who originally started the crawl as a charity function. The university did not condone the actions of the event, saying the crawl promoted excessive drinking.
Since then, attendance has been increasing rapidly and was at an all time high at the latest Pub Crawl this past Saturday, with an estimated 2,000 people attending.
According to Purtell, the attendance was much higher than expected and only 11 police officers were present for the event, causing it to get a little more chaotic than expected.
But, he said he does not believe that there were any major problems with the event besides the citations.
“In my experience with the event there has been no damage and no problems. The kids have always been fine and, trust me, we don’t put up with any crap. I think the police were just surprised with the attendance this time around,” Purtell said.
Despite the controversy surrounding the most recent Pub Crawl, Greuel said the ordinance was not passed in reaction to the event and has been discussed for a while.
“This ordinance has been in planning for over a year now and it was not made as a result of the Pub Crawl. We just wanted help in better managing the hundreds of events in Oshkosh to keep things under control,” Greuel said.
