This Saturday, May 1st, is the much anticipated Mifflin Street Block party. Although students from all over come to party not many of them know the history behind this event.


It all started as a street protest in 1969 against the Vietnam War. The event arose as part of a continuing conflict between students and police in the "Miffland" area. The image on the left is from the Wisconsin Badger of 1977. It gives a nice description of "Miffland Days" and the Block Party.

Then in 1996 riots broke out after students started throwing bottles at a fire truck putting out a bonfire that the students had started. The image on the right shows some of the after effects of that year's party.

The Mifflin Street Block party had 20,000 attendees in 2002. After that year the police started making strict laws to keep the party under control.

The Mifflin Street Block Party is legendary and the people attending should know a little bit of the history behind the chaos.

Take a look though our Badger yearbooks and UW-Madison collections and party like its 1969 tomorrow!

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