Last year’s Halloween festivities on State Street were the first in several years that revelers weren’t dispersed by a plume of pepper spray. Credit for this went to the city, which fenced off State Street and charged an admission to offset the event’s roughly $1 million price tag, mostly for police.
Last year’s event, dubbed Freakfest, lacked the organic feel of Halloweens past, drawing a mere 35,000 people as opposed to the more typical 70,000. This year’s Freakfest aspires to be a more robust event, with three stages for entertainment and a costume contest.