One week after cancelling the Mifflin Street Block Party, the Madison Police Department said Thursday it added a list of other May 4 events, though not officially sanctioned, that they will be supporting in addition to the Revelry Arts Festival.
Those events included—but were not limited to—going to a party on East Mifflin Street, attending Wisconsin high schools’ National History Day presentations at the Pyle Center, and going to your sister’s graduation from Indiana University–Bloomington.
MPD spokesperson Joel DeSpain suggested UW-Madison students also consider having “a nice day in, rent some ‘Super Troopers,’ some Chinese take-out, have some gossipy time with your best girlfriends, you know, the safe kind of fun.”
Following MPD’s suggestions, 10,000 students responded with a collective pause, moment of pondering, and resounding “Huh?”
But junior Mike Bagedy said he was not fazed nor bothered by the city’s announcement.
“I think Mifflin is still a thing... I think Revelry is also a thing… a new thing. I think as long as I’m smurshed the whole day I don’t really care which of those things I go to,” he said in an interview during his African Storytellers lecture.
Revelry, a music festival being held near Union South the same day as Mifflin that is not considered an alternative to Mifflin, will however offer an alternative space, alternative activities, and an alternative outlook for a May 4 fun-filled frolic, according to Revelry organizers.
“Revelry is the new beginning, the beginning of a chapter, the chapter of a new story, the story of tomorrow, the tomorrow of tradition!” Revelry organizers said on Facebook.
A new tradition indeed.
