Thousands of people attended the 54th annual Mifflin Street Block Party Saturday. Local safety officials from the Madison Police Department and Madison Fire Department patrolled the event. In a release published after the event, MPD commanders said the block party’s 2024 turnout was the largest since the pandemic.
City officials held meetings ahead of Saturday to discuss safety plans and policies.
Among those patrolling the event were 150 MPD officers, including members of the department’s Special Events Team and Mounted Patrol.
Officers assisted around 2:35 p.m. as a front porch partially broke at 527 W Mifflin Street. No injuries were reported, and the property was blocked off.
A car flipped over around 2:40 p.m., and officers cleared the backyards for homes on the 500 block of Mifflin Street. No injuries were reported due to the incident, but another car in the area was also damaged. During this time, first responders were also notified of a downed power line, which Madison Gas and Electric determined to be a low-voltage communication wire.
Roads reopened around 5:45 p.m. MPD reported that 80 people were arrested throughout the day, mainly for minor alcohol-related offenses. Of those arrested, six were booked into the Dane County Jail.
The number of arrests in 2024 is nearly double that of the year prior, when MPD reported 44 arrests, according to previous reporting from The Badger Herald. Statistics related to additional citations and arrests Saturday will be released in the next week.
One MPD officer was injured after being hit by a vehicle while working a traffic post. The officer was walking and alert when taken to the hospital.
