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There has been a significant backlash over the events that happened at RiverSplash on Saturday night. I was there both nights and would just like to say that there were virtually no problems I encountered on Friday night and again I have to stress that the bars did a phenomenal job carding people. However Brian and I have still been debating how close we were with proximity and time to the shooting that occurred. Based off phone records and texts we put together and police information we either walked past right before or right after the shooting occurred.
Here are two videos from TMJ4 about the event.

Those videos from TMJ kind of allude to the idea that these events were mostly caused by out of control ‘frat boys’ (notice the arrests) even though as Charlie Sykes has pointed out, during his radio show, it was not like that at all. And some are even calling for RiverSplash to end.

Visibly angry over what he and other city officials described as a festival marred by alcohol-fueled disorder and violence, Ald. Robert Bauman said Monday that “the jury is out” on whether RiverSplash will be held next year.

Unless there are radical changes made in the way RiverSplash operates, RiverSplash is as good as finished as far as I’m concerned,” said Bauman, who spoke during a news conference at City Hall alongside Mayor Tom Barrett and Police Chief Edward Flynn.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said the festival has devolved over the past few years from “a family-friendly event” to Saturday’s “drunken brawl,” a description that - based on the accounts of those who were there - was no exaggeration. Unfortunately, RiverSplash’s future may be in jeopardy, and if it is, some of the organizers, particularly the establishments in the area that serve alcohol, need only look in the mirrors over their bars to find some of the culprits.

I feel like this fest has gone the same way as State Street in Madison, and perhaps the same steps could be taken to keep the crowd down and keep problems more under control. I suggest cordon off the streets and charge people $8 to get in, this would also keep people from sneaking in alcohol of their own and problems would be limited. This, coupled with adequate security should be able to keep the ‘hooligany’ and ‘rowdiness’ down.

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