To paraphrase Bob Dylan, it looks like the times are changing. Even though the Mifflin Street Block Party has been around for more than 40 years, the Madison Police Department wrote in a recent letter to Madison residents, “There will be no Mifflin Street Block Party” this year and it “will no longer be a City permitted or sanctioned event.”

Although the city  will no longer sanction the Mifflin Street Block Party, the party will not end as quickly as the city anticipates. I do believe the end is near for the Mifflin Party, but it will take a few years or more for the party to end in practice.

It’s been obvious for some time that Mayor Paul Soglin wants to end Mifflin, which is ironic, given that Soglin was arrested at the Mifflin Street Block Party in 1969 when the party was still organized as a protest against the Vietnam War. Regardless, without expressing any personal views I may have about the Mifflin Party, I think the manner the city went about trying to end the Mifflin Party is problematic.

In recent years, the Mifflin Party had been getting quite large, with an attendance of approximately 25,000 people. Yet, just last year that figure dropped to approximately 5,000. This might be the beginning of the end of the block party. With the creation of the city-endorsed Revelry event this year, I think the demise of the Mifflin Party will be strictly a function of time.

But instead of letting the Mifflin Party fizzle out slowly with fewer and fewer people attending (due to the rival Revelry event and students who want to avoid municipal citations), the city decided to try and completely end it “right now.” 

This was unwise. Instead of letting Mifflin fizzle out somewhat naturally, the city has almost guaranteed that the Mifflin Party will continue for at least a few years, if not more. By writing a forceful letter to Madison residents declaring the end of the Mifflin Party, MPD has given students an incentive to make sure the Mifflin Party stays around for as long as possible. I don’t think any University of Wisconsin class wants to be known as the class that allowed the Mifflin Party to dissipate.

If the city really wanted to end Mifflin, it should have allowed the party to end somewhat naturally. By declaring to residents that the Mifflin Party is no more, the city has ironically guaranteed that the Mifflin Party will not disappear so quickly and easily.

Aaron Loudenslager ([email protected]) is a first year law student.