By Heather Gjerde
Freakfest security measures may be comforting to some daytime shops on State St., but others say aren’t so positive about the organization and management of the Halloween celebration.
Shop owners that are open during the day say they are mostly satisfied by plans for the event; others have seen only a slight effect on their business.
Tony Azad, owner of Vic’s Corn Popper, 127 State St., said he welcomes the event annually and that the business of his store has not been affected by the Freakfest operations.
“I get trick-or-treaters, but I’m running a business so I can’t give popcorn away,” Azad said. “People understand. They don’t get upset.”
The store will be closing at it’s regular hours of 7 p.m., shortly before police begin to collect tickets in order to enter the gated-off Freakfest area that will begin at 7:30 p.m.
For the first year of the event, Ron Lamberty, manager and part owner of Uno Chicago Grill, 222 W. Gorham St., said police closed nearby parking lots, which led to a loss in some of their regular business and daytime customers. He said they usually have families who enjoy watching the celebration unfurl during the early hours of the night. The restaurant bar will be open until it’s regular time of 2:30 p.m. Saturday night according to Lamberty.
“With the home game and homecoming we want people to be able to come downtown and enjoy the Freakfest during the day as well as during,” Lamberty said.
He hoped to work with the Madison Police to keep open the nearby Buckeye parking lot, 214 W. Gorham Street, but it will be closed to the public.
The owners of the stores that are open later at night tend to be more skeptical of benefits of having an organized event. Some stores along State St. fear being hit by vandals and potential Halloween-night violence.
For Mark Wilson, the general manager of the renovated KFC-Taco Bell, 534 State St., the additional security precautions set up for Freakfest is taking away from his business of past Halloween celebrations. He added that he has seen little difference in the crowd behavior.
“Last year was touted as a huge success by the city,” Wilson said. “From a retail standpoint we were down at least 25%.”
Four years ago, he said the store made over $10,000 in sales, while last year it was down to only $7,000. According to Wilson it is still his biggest day of the year.
“My team loves it, they get excited about it. The harder they have to work on Halloween the better they seem to like it,” Wilson said.
He suggested a different solution: Stagger bar closing times, so they don’t all close once. He suggested just allowing a natural flow of people out of the bars, keeping them open later.
“You put an extra 1,500 kids on the street at one time and it’s going to lead to a problem,” he added.
Bill Clarke, general manager of Qdoba Mexican Grill, 548 State St, said the event has been a success. He said one of the greatest advantages of having an organized event, with ticket admission, was reducing the crowd.
“Sales are lower, but I think it’s a safer and better product than what they had previously,” Clarke said.
Qdoba and KFC-Taco Bell will maintain regular weekend business hours, will be open until 3 a.m. or later.
But, Wilson said, police have told his business to close early in the past.
Wilson said some there’s one Halloween-related tradition he hates.
“It seems to be an annual tradition to kick my door in,” Wilson said.
For the last three years, he has had to replace his front door. As a result, KFC-Taco Bell will have at least three of their own security guards on duty Saturday night.
Others with shops located on State St. expressed mixed feelings.
A shop worker for Shangri La Collections, 125 State St., who wanted to remain anonymous, said the added security of the event has diminished some fun.
“It’s better for our businesses because it’s more controlled, but at the same time it’s not as free. It’s gated, and they break it up early,” the worker said. “It takes out the fun, because it was more spontaneous when it wasn’t gated.”
Most store owners said they expect Freakfest this year to be similar to the 2006 event.
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