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The Daily Cardinal Est. 1892
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Freakfest’s low attendance contributed to a relatively calm weekend for Madison police, who reported only 12 arrests at the event.

Freakfest’s low attendance contributed to a relatively calm weekend for Madison police, who reported only 12 arrests at the event.

Few arrests while over 20,000 attend Freakfest, Madison police say

This year’s Freakfest drew a crowd of over 20,000 people, a small increase from 2017 but nearly 10,000 less than the crowd in 2016.

Organizers attributed last year’s small crowd of 19,000 to cold weather, but Saturday’s event was nearly 10 degrees warmer and only resulted in a minor increase in attendance.

Madison police said there were “no major problems or incidents” at the festival, aside from a homicide that occurred in a nearby parking ramp around 2 a.m. Police reported only 12 arrests during the event, with most cited and released for open containers or disorderly conduct.

The weekend proved to be relatively calm for police in downtown Madison before Saturday night. However, on Thursday afternoon a 22-year-old man was arrested near Langdon Street for disorderly conduct after spraying multiple people with a fire extinguisher.

Multiple women in the area said the man had approached them, chasing two of them to their apartment building. When police apprehended him, they determined he had been drinking and asked why he was covered in yellow and white powder. He told them he had been baking a cake. Police say they will request the district attorney forbid the suspect from owning a fire extinguisher as a condition of his bail.

Around 3 a.m. Sunday morning, police reported to State Street for reports of a battery. A woman observed a man going through a car which she knew did not belong to him and alerted the owner. The suspect saw this, approached the woman, and punched her in the face. He then reportedly threw bottles at her and punched her again before fleeing.

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