Despite thousands of rowdy party-goers and the use of pepper spray, many State Street and downtown businesses deemed Halloween weekend safe and successful.
Though Mayor Dave Cieslewicz said he believes Madison and its taxpayers would be better off without the event, State Street business owners said they thought otherwise'particularly because the Halloween party is a State Street tradition.
'We like to carry on those traditions. We are one of those places people like to come and have a good time, and if we can provide a safe and comfortable environment for people and they have a good time,' said Jason Sisk, manager of State Street Brats, 603 State St., '[and] that's what we like to do.'
There were no problems in the establishment, but pepper spray leaked inside.
'When we were getting people out at the end of the night, they were pepper spraying. Everyone exited onto Frances Street,' Sisk said. 'No one was allowed to go back onto State.'
Dean Hetue, owner of the Plaza Tavern, 319 N. Henry St., also reported no major problems and good business and would 'like to see Halloween continued.'
'I think the city needs to embrace the idea that Halloween is going to happen instead of trying to prevent Halloween from happening,' Hetue said.
Restaurant owners said they agreed the celebration should continue. Pete Moore, assistant manager of Jimmy John's, 527 State St., said cancellation 'would hurt us financially. It's one of the busiest weekends of the year'this and Mifflin Street.'
The pepper spray came an hour before close and halted busy business.
'We probably would have done another $800 to $1000 after everything had wrapped up,' Moore said.
Though State Street's Ian's Pizza was closed during the Halloween festivities, manager Clayton Scherer said at the 319 Frances St. establishment [that site] was 'the busiest night of the year.'
Extra staff helped control the crowd and kept business running smoothly until approximately 4 a.m., Scherer said.
'We enjoy having it even though it's a lot of extra work; it's definitely something we look forward to,' Scherer said.
Many bars and restaurants benefited from Halloween, but area hotels were relatively unaffected by the festivities.
Manager Tom Zebraiarnik said The Doubletree Hotel, 525 W. Johnson St., had very few Halloween-crowd guests, and manager David's Beach of Campus Inn, 601 Langdon St., said Halloween left only a 'small negative impact' because the hotel did not have many visitors this weekend.
'We were not full. Most of our people are with the university or business, so [Halloween] is a deterrent,' he said. 'We let them know in advance that it's going to be extremely loud outside.'
