Halloween on State Street starts tonight

The Wisconsin State Journal story about Halloween on State Street is calling tonight the dress rehearsal for the main event on Saturday. But if the lagging ticket sales for Saturday and my college-aged babysitter are correct, everyone is heading down tonight. The crowds in the past might have been smaller on Friday, but this year could be different. Students may protest the bizarre plan for the event laid out by the city by simply changing the date.

Only about 10,623 tickets have been sold according to the State Journal and we all know about four times that are really heading down to State Street at some point this weekend. I'm guessing the Madison Police Department is prepared for the fact that the real Halloween Party on State Street could very well be tonight instead of Saturday.

The kids that are looking to cause trouble are probably going down tonight. Or maybe both nights. Or maybe they are going to try to get in without a ticket on Saturday. But let's face it, no matter what the city tries to do, there is going to be a group of kids that has the goal of getting gassed. So the mayor's goal of trying to have a night where no one gets gassed is a pretty unrealistic goal for the police to attain.

The mayor's tantrums about Halloween night for the past couple of years aside, I think the police have done an incredible job containing the crowd. Yes, some students were gassed, but the event has been pretty well controlled by the police for the last couple of years. Screaming about the crowds and threatening to shut the whole thing down have only made enemies out of a lot of students and is pretty much the equivalent of a double-dog dare to out of town students.

Here's hoping the event goes well, there is no major property damage and no one gets seriously hurt.