No FreakFest this year and maybe never again

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) – A Madison festival that was originally canceled because of COVID-19 restrictions will not happen again this year, despite the city, county, and state being well removed from any masking guidelines or caps on how many people can be at a public event.

FreakFest will not happen again this year and it does not appear to have much of a chance of returning anytime soon. Deputy Mayor Reuben Sanon confirmed the Halloween festival would not happen later this month and went on to say the city has been looking to get away from such an event “for many years now.”

Last year, Madison’s Central Business Improvement District (BID) acknowledged COVID-19 was not the reason for the 2022 cancellation. Rather, the organization cited difficulty drumming up funding to support bringing back FreakFest (see video above).

Thirteen months ago, District 4 Alder Michael Verveer predicted, “There’s a good chance as of now that we’ve ended the Freakfest chapter of a long State Street Halloween history.”

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