MILWAUKEE — What was supposed to be a festive Halloween celebration on Milwaukee's Brady Street turned chaotic Saturday night, prompting police to shut down the popular entertainment district and some businesses to close early.
Watch: Business owner, tourist recount Halloween crowds that shut down Brady Street
Milwaukee police records show 13 calls for service on Brady Street between 10 p.m. Saturday and 3 a.m. Sunday, as thousands packed the narrow sidewalks for Halloween festivities.
"It was really hard to get around, the sidewalk's so narrow and there's just hundreds of people everywhere. We lost our friends a few times, but it was tough," said Robert Stevenson, who was visiting Milwaukee for the weekend.
As crowds continued to grow throughout the night, Milwaukee police decided to close the street around 1 a.m., more than an hour before many bars and late-night restaurants typically shut their doors.
"I thought it was hectic, but I didn't feel like it was too dangerous. Maybe just the people in the street, the cars come by and stuff," Stevenson said.
The chaotic behavior extended to local businesses, with some owners deciding to close early rather than deal with disruptive customers.
Amr Farah's family runs Shawarma Palace on Brady Street. His restaurant made the difficult decision to close at 10:30 p.m., well before police asked businesses to shut down.
"They're making so much noise, and we have customers sitting down, so you're just making us look bad," Farah said.
For a business that typically thrives on the late-night crowd, closing early Saturday represented a significant financial loss.
"It makes us think about how much we could have made today, because today was Halloween, just like New Year's. We had to close early," Farah said. "We lost out on a lot of money today because of the trouble that was caused in the business."
TMJ4 reached out to the Brady Street Business Improvement District and Third District Alderman Alex Brower to ask about any measures taken to prepare for the celebration, but neither could accommodate an interview.
Milwaukee police did not respond to questions about whether any tickets were issued or arrests were made during the incident.
Farah hopes next Halloween will be different for Brady Street businesses.
"Don't go into businesses causing trouble and making us have to close early. We're supposed to stay open, but we have to close early. We don't want to deal with all that trouble," Farah said.
This story was reported on-air by Brendyn Jones and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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