Fun Riversplash Turns Chaotic

Riversplash is a three-day event that is the official opening of the long-awaited summer season.

At its core, Riversplash is simply a beer fest, period. It helps provide Water Street bars with the needed revenue as they head into the slower months of summer. Frankly, I have no problem with this. There’s no need to sugarcoat this aspect of Riversplash because, all in all, Riversplash indeed offers more than just Miller Lite. What I have an issue with is that during the three-day festival the Water Street and Old World Third Street areas have become mini-Bourbon Street parties, at least after dark.

According to the website, Riversplash was originally launched in Pere Marquette Park as a development tool to bring people downtown. Since then, it has grown in size and popularity, which was, perhaps, the festival’s downfall last Saturday night.

The unofficial launch of Milwaukee’s summer festival season was spoiled over the weekend by what was said to be the first-ever shooting at Riversplash. In fact, this incident was the first in all of Riversplash’s 19 years, says news sources.

I normally feel safe at Riversplash, which is why I had no qualms about heading there last Saturday night. But because of the high volume of people combined with flowing alcohol and the lack of security on hand, a drastically overblown melee ensued.

Now, I might reconsider attending the downtown festival next year.

My sister Terry and I decided to meet up with a couple of friends at Riversplash to eat and drink and to listen to music and to people watch. Around 7 p.m. we made our way to the festival’s primo location along a 10-block district that features popular restaurants and bars, in addition to the picturesque Milwaukee River front and Pere Marquette Park.

Despite Riversplash primarily being an extension of Water Street bars – a scene I normally try to avoid – I’ve always enjoyed myself. Perhaps this is due to the free admission or that Riversplash is the first festival of the summer, but what I think I like most is that Riversplash is central to downtown Milwaukee. It’s a real city festival that’s steeped in Milwaukee’s culture. Plus, it’s always amusing to parade around the normally traffic-filled urban streets, ducking in and out of bars and restaurants with food and drink in hand, and just taking in the cityscape and the people who live there.

We got to the festival grounds a little later than anticipated since we opted to walk from our apartment near North Avenue, but we still arrived before the rest of our friends. Since we had time to kill, we decided to do a full lap around the grounds.

Terry and I both had never been to Riversplash before 9 p.m., so it was enjoyable checking out all of the activities and attractions that the festival boasts. There were eight stages scattered throughout the grounds that featured music from over 40 local, regional and national bands. As we strolled up and down the Milwaukee River, a smorgasbord of music – rock, country, blues, big band, even reggae – rattled the neighboring buildings.

Besides stopping at several stages to listen to each band, we paused for a few moments to watch the buskers perform spontaneously throughout the streets. One street performer near Pere Marquette Park juggled everything from fire to chainsaws while another near Have a Nice Day Café on Third Street demonstrated his mastery in “acrobalance.” Crowds hemmed in on each performer and gawked at their amazing feats, gasping in astonishment with every back flip or toss of a flaming torch.

Also scattering the streets were an abundance of beer vendors, as well as, stands serving up typical festival fare like hot dogs, brats, burgers and soft pretzels. Besides the street carts, most of the restaurants along Third and Water Streets were offering tastes from their extensive menus, including dishes ranging from spicy ethnic cuisine to popular picnic foods to delectable desserts.

Last, Terry and I found ourselves winding through the marketplace. The profusion of temporary stands offered an eclectic assortment of specialty jewelry, contemporary paintings, unique clothing, unusual pottery and many other one-of-a-kind trinkets. Although I never want to pony up the cash to buy anything, I always like admiring the handmade work. But I must say, maybe the number of vendors should be limited. There was such an overabundance that they not only cluttered the park, but spoiled the setting.

Additionally, there were canoe rides and 30-minute cruises on the Brew City Queen that provided a scenic spin down the river. Cooking demonstrations and samplings entertained festival-goers, as did the nighttime firework displays, while a plethora of activities kept the youngsters occupied for several hours as well. Yes, even though Riversplash is a beer fest, it still positions itself as family-friendly. Truth be told, it is, especially on Sundays and during the day on Friday and Saturday.

Finally, 10 p.m. rolled around and we met up with my friends on Water Street. We conjugated at The Corner and listened to the band playing directly outside. The cover band got a little tiring after a while since I know that’s not the last I’ll hear of them this summer, so we went indoors to get a beer and to take shelter from the night’s chilly breeze. For most of the time we walked around Water Street, stopping in bars like Sullivan’s and Brothers, and then leaving right away – they just don’t appeal to me.

The night was a lot of fun though, at least until about an hour later when the place started to get unruly and the summer kick-off festival was marred by alcohol-fueled disorder.

Once we decided to cross the bridge over to Old World Third Street, we were engulfed by a horde of people that was so thick that it took almost an hour to walk just two blocks. As we wandered around the area, we saw groups of young guys fake-fighting and some men even trying to pull women out of cars that were stuck in traffic. Evidently, too many people had too much to drink and were starting to cause unforeseen problems.

Terry and I chose to leave soon after and later were startled by phone calls from our friends who told us that just after Riversplash closed for the night, a bunch of brawls broke out, and they heard multiple gunshots fired among the “mob.” As my friends left, they saw groups chucking beer bottles at police as people fled the vicinity drunk and very scared. I’m still feeling a little perturbed and disgusted by the whole situation.

I honestly was very surprised by the atmosphere this year – the crowd was among the roughest I’ve seen. Like I said, in previous years I’ve felt safe at Riversplash, but it seems as though it has transformed itself over the years from a somewhat family-friendly celebration, or at least a controlled block party, into what Saturday was – in many regards, a drunken brawl. It’s a little disturbing.

According to the news the next day, police said that there was a non-fatal shooting that hit an 18-year-old in the foot, in addition to the six disorderly conduct arrests and 20 tickets issued on Saturday night. That’s unacceptable.

Media comments that suggest that the shooting was an isolated incident that shouldn’t reflect on a 19-year safe record is a bit of an exaggeration though. Without massive security and an organized setting, things will get out of hand. And they did. Drunk people will do drunk things and stuff will inevitably happen. The fights, the immense crowd issues and the drinking that lead up to the shooting have become a bigger and bigger problem every single year.

Perhaps there needs to be some radical changes made in the way Riversplash operates. Although I’m not the one who decides what needs to be fixed, I was there and I love downtown and Milwaukee’s festivals and I expect to have a good time at them. But, it’s no longer fun when you have people getting shot.

Comments

[wfbdoglover]

I am glad you had fun and I'm glad you are safe! From what I understand it was gangs hanging around. I bet next year, they will be all over it!

You can catch the pod cast of the head of security and Charlie Sykes here. http://badgerblogger.com/?p=7099

[Amanda]

Yikes!

I've never liked Riversplash. The Water Street scene definitely doesn't appeal to me and it's the same during Riversplash. I just get really annoyed when I'm there.

[SuzieQ]

I heard several reports about Saturday night's Riversplash and was completely disgusted.

I wouldn't care if they cancelled this event. From what I've heard it's just a drunk fest and that's never going to lead to anything good. Isn't Milwaukee already the drunkest city in the U.S? Obviously, people here don't need another reason to guzzle beer.

How pathetic.