12 hours later, State Street shows no Freakfest scars

By Dani Lever and Maddy Mahon

As Halloween weekend unwinds, storeowners said Mountain Dew’s 2007 Freakfest was calm as expected.
“We haven’t been worried about anything happening to the store since they started charging two years ago,” Sue Foster, manager of State Street’s Einstein Bagel said.

“The attendance dropped by half.”

Since 2006, city officials have tightly controlled Madison’s infamous Halloween celebration. In an attempt to prevent the riots and vandalism that dominated previous Halloweens, Madison enlisted hundreds of police officers to tame the crowds.

For the shop owners who once worried about mob violence, last year’s control tactics brought relief. By charging a fee to walk on State Street and increasing the presence of police officers, the city successfully quelled crowds.

After the success of last year, shop owners fear little about damage and danger to their stores.

Rick Ponto, manager of Steep and Brew on State Street, said the “corporatization” of the Halloween event has drastically decreased the energy on State Street.

“[Previously] it was really busy and crazy and then last year, after they started charging, it just was dramatically slower.”

Ponto said the majority of his business over the weekend came from local citizens.

“It was mostly a suburbanized crowd that came to spectate. We had really good, nice customers.”

One of the only concerns storeowners expressed were the taxes necessary to fund the event. “This whole party cost the taxpayers a fortune,” Kevin Conlin, owner of College Barber Shop on State Street, said. “Who has to pick up the bill for it, we do.”

According to the City of Madison, the event cost over $700,000 last year. However, with the increase in money allotted to the event, high control forces significantly lower storeowners’ risk.

Foster said Einstein Bagels didn’t worry at all about rowdiness. The managerial staff lacked concern after the new rules were implemented.

Storeowners said Halloween now poses no more threat than any other weekend. “Our window was smashed about three months ago,” Conlin said. However, the store suffered no damage Friday or Saturday night.

State Street was immaculate this morning, with not a piece of trash in sight. It was hard to believe that merely hours before, the street was dominated with costumed crowds; the same crowds that had damaged stores and cars just years before.

Even though Halloween is significantly calmer, the memories of previous riots still remain. “We just crossed our fingers and prayed,” Conlin said.

And luckily for him and other owners, their prayers came true.

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