There are three pivotal facts I learned from my first Halloween experience in Madison last year. First, Zachery Binx, the loyal, scrawny brother-turned-black-cat devoted to thwarting the three witches of Salem in the movie ""Hocus Pocus,"" is actually named Thackery. Salem folk celebrated their virginity by lighting candles and speaking with heavy lisps. Second, pumpkins, pre-Jack-o-lantern, are unusually long-lasting vegetables that can add a festive touch to a windowsill for up to seven months. And third, Freakfest, with its newly minted safe and positive reputation, is a contradiction in itself that is not worth students' time.
In 2006, after reaching 100,000 festive revelers bombarding State Street, coupled with riots, fires, property damage, arrests, tear gas and all around mayhem, the City of Madison sanctioned the previously unstructured Halloween celebration and renamed it ""Freakfest."". According to a Halloween series in the Isthmus by Kristian Knutsen from the same year, the original goals of the reorganization were to lower the cost of the event by charging entrance fees, provides alternatives to alcohol and employing clever public relations experts to change the Madison Halloween's
badass reputation.
When it comes to the big bucks, Mayor Dave Cieslewicz deserves some hoots and hollers. Hovering around $700,000 in public cost in 2005, the free-for-all event needed to be regulated in some form, and charging the people that were actually partaking in the party has proven to be successful over the past few years. Costs have been decreasing since 2007, when Madison budgeted about $82,000 for Freakfest. This year, Madison Board of Estimates budgeted only $35,690 and Mayor Cieslewicz told The Daily Cardinal that he anticipates the city breaking even.
Freakfest's evolution from a financial standpoint is positive.
However, the original objective to curb drinking by providing entertainment has in no way been a success. What a surprise. Halloween in Madison is to drinking as the fourth quarter is to ""Jump Around""—each event unquestionably results in these celebratory practices that have traditionally been ingrained in Badgers' systems. State Street is still a drunken debacle. But with Freakfest's limitations, we uninhibited masked fiends are fenced in a small area and given no other option than to grope, suffocate and trample each other. Last year, I paid my dues for a full 25 minutes of molestation in a gyrating crowd of Alan's from ""The Hangover,"" ""Ninja Turtles"" and Dicks in a box before I escaped to the salvation of other Madison parties.
This unappealing scenario begs the question how well Freakfest achieved its final aim of erasing the madness from Madison's Halloween reputation. Cieslewicz was quoted on Channel3000.com last year propagating that, ""Each year, we've made tremendous progress on transforming what was once a black eye for the city into a safe and fun event for all our residents.""
In my opinion, that ""black eye"" has been carefully concealed by work in public relations to ""re-brand"" the event as something that it is not. Here lies the annoying irony. Unfortunate and gullible students buy into this positivity campaign expecting to have a fun and safe, albeit hammered, time at Freakfest. Then they are slapped in the face, or in most girls' case, the ass, with the truth. On the other end of the spectrum, experienced festers realize that our mischief is not, and will never be, managed, even though authorities keep trying to make our reputation R.I.P. We don't evoke the use of tear gas anymore, but we deserve some kind of status for the fanatical beings we become on All Hollow's Eve.
For those who, like me, pride themselves on UW's history, debauchery and all, it's annoying that our antics haven't changed much, but our reputation has. Rebranding Halloween on State Street is dangerous for unaware novices and irksome to those who like our traditional reputation.
A quote I personally enjoy, yet regret to admit is from ""Grey's Anatomy,"" strangely applies to Freakfest: ""Boundaries don't keep other people out. They fence you in. Life is messy. That's how we're made. So you can waste your life drawing lines. Or, you can live your life crossing them.""
In words that come from Melissa Grau and not Meredith Grey, you can waste your Halloween inside the suffocating fences of the messiness and sloppiness that is Freakfest, or you can freely get your freak on at the numerous other Halloween parties in the city that are infamous for crossing lines.
Melissa Grau is a sophomore majoring in journalism. We welcome all feedback. Please send responses to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
