Much like jersey-chasers to the KK or John Moffitt to Fat Sandwich Company, the Mifflin Street Block Party will inevitably attract partiers from outside of Madison once again. It is unavoidable. There is day-drinking with mass quantities of beer, live music and (fingers crossed) beautiful weather. You don’t need to know any friends in Madison to be convinced to head over from Milwaukee on that day — high-speed rail or not.

Unfortunately, it is these same inexorable out-of-towners who often cause the most problems come that glorious first Saturday in May. They have been known to wander into random house parties, swipe beer that doesn’t belong to them and generally have little respect for a block party that is, at its core, still meant for UW students.

Among the proposed additions of a second music stage and increased restroom facilities — both of which this editorial board supports — local sponsor DCNY Pro claims to have an answer to this problem.

Welcome them with open arms.

At least, that is what the proposal of a beer garden to accompany the sound stages and bathrooms sounds like. In last Thursday’s Badger Herald (“Organizers begin preparations for Mifflin Street Block Party”), DCNY Pro co-owner David Coleman said the addition of a beer garden would better provide for out-of-town visitors who don’t know anyone on Mifflin, while fellow DCNY Pro co-owner Ny Bass added, “We’re confident it could cut down on the number of random people wandering into house parties.”

Why exactly do we want to provide for friendless visitors? Hasn’t Halloween shown us that non-locals often wreak the most havoc? In fact, UW has been trying to slow the flow of outsiders on Halloween for the past four years by forbidding residence hall occupants from housing guests that weekend. The attitude toward Mifflin shouldn’t be any different.

Furthermore, the effect of the beer garden on preventing strangers from wandering into random houses is dubious. Many visitors for Mifflin weekend aren’t 21 in the first place, and those who can consume legally probably don’t want to spend $5 for a MGD 64 when a case of Genny Light can be carried in a backpack for $10.

Ideally, the Mifflin Street Block Party should be a way for UW residents and friends to blow off steam before finals week. The surplus of strangers may be inevitable, but it certainly shouldn’t be encouraged. Although it pains us to reject the addition of beer, this garden idea should be weeded out quickly.