Tickets for Halloween 2006 will go on sale Monday, marking the first time visitors to the event will have to pay to get onto State Street.
The tickets will cost $5 each, and will be sold at a city ticket trailer outside the University Book Store, on the 700 block of State Street. Prospective partiers can also purchase tickets at the Madison Parks Office, 215 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
The State Street trailer will open at 3 p.m. Monday and will close at 9 p.m., a schedule that will remain roughly the same until Oct. 27. On Saturday, Oct. 28, the trailer will remain open until the State Street gates are closed at 1:30 a.m. There will also be three additional ticket booths open along State Street during Halloween festivities. Only four tickets will be sold per person and credit cards will not be accepted.
Charging admission to State Street has been unpopular with students since Mayor Dave Cieslewicz unveiled his Halloween plans this summer. Cieslewicz later compromised with students over several elements of his plan, but would give no ground on this issue of $5 tickets.
UW-Madison junior Mike Ullmer lives only a block from State Street but will have to buy a ticket if he wants to see State Street on Saturday night. Ullmer said charging admission to the street was ""ridiculous"" but would not rule out the possibility of paying.
""I'm definitely not going to buy tickets in advance,"" Ullmer said. ""But if it's Saturday night and I want to get on State Street, then I might be willing to pay $5.""
The city plans to sell 80,000 Halloween tickets, which would leave State Street just as crowded as it has been in years past. However, a Parks Department release stressed that Halloween is not a city-sponsored event.
""The City of Madison cannot and does not guarantee your safety at this event,"" the statement said. ""You enter the event area at your own risk and are responsible for your own actions and safety.""
