Can four-keg limit tame annual UW block party?
Last year, some houses had as many 50 kegs
Sunday, May 2, 2004 Posted: 3:46 AM EDT (0746 GMT)
MADISON, Wisconsin (AP) -- Police set a beer quota on an annual spring block party that draws thousands of drunken revelers, but Saturday's partiers weren't exactly tapped out: The limit was four kegs per household.
The keg crackdown for the annual Mifflin Street block party near the University of Wisconsin still gives each apartment between 700 and 800 beers. And the block is lined with wood-frame houses divided into apartments, giving some addresses as many as 16 kegs.
But police said what sounds like a lot of beer is much less than what has been available in the past. Last year, some houses had as many 50 kegs and were essentially operating unlicensed taverns out of their kitchens and front porches, acting Madison Police Assistant Chief Luis Yudice said.
The Mifflin Street event started 35 years ago and is part of the campus culture that put UW-Madison second on The Princeton Review's national "party school" rankings in 2003, behind only the University of Colorado in Boulder.
Police spokesman Larry Kamholz said Sunday that preliminary numbers showed 190 had been arrested, mostly for such violations as disorderly conduct and carrying open intoxicants, and there were no major problems.
Police warned that violators' parties could be shut down, but Dan Hudson, the party's coordinator, said few of his neighbors were adhering to the limit.
Hudson, a 25-year-old senior, said a reasonable cap would have been "at least 10."
"A lot of our normal barbecues -- we'll have more than four kegs just for our friends," he said.
John Lucas, a university spokesman, said four kegs amount to an "ungodly number of pitchers," but praised the new policy.
"We want people to have fun and enjoy student traditions," he said, "but it's kind of frightening."
Last year, some houses had as many 50 kegs
Sunday, May 2, 2004 Posted: 3:46 AM EDT (0746 GMT)
MADISON, Wisconsin (AP) -- Police set a beer quota on an annual spring block party that draws thousands of drunken revelers, but Saturday's partiers weren't exactly tapped out: The limit was four kegs per household.
The keg crackdown for the annual Mifflin Street block party near the University of Wisconsin still gives each apartment between 700 and 800 beers. And the block is lined with wood-frame houses divided into apartments, giving some addresses as many as 16 kegs.
But police said what sounds like a lot of beer is much less than what has been available in the past. Last year, some houses had as many 50 kegs and were essentially operating unlicensed taverns out of their kitchens and front porches, acting Madison Police Assistant Chief Luis Yudice said.
The Mifflin Street event started 35 years ago and is part of the campus culture that put UW-Madison second on The Princeton Review's national "party school" rankings in 2003, behind only the University of Colorado in Boulder.
Police spokesman Larry Kamholz said Sunday that preliminary numbers showed 190 had been arrested, mostly for such violations as disorderly conduct and carrying open intoxicants, and there were no major problems.
Police warned that violators' parties could be shut down, but Dan Hudson, the party's coordinator, said few of his neighbors were adhering to the limit.
Hudson, a 25-year-old senior, said a reasonable cap would have been "at least 10."
"A lot of our normal barbecues -- we'll have more than four kegs just for our friends," he said.
John Lucas, a university spokesman, said four kegs amount to an "ungodly number of pitchers," but praised the new policy.
"We want people to have fun and enjoy student traditions," he said, "but it's kind of frightening."
