[1] The party has typically featured local and out-of-state musical acts playing on house porches, balconies and backyard stages.

Anti-war sentiments had accelerated in Madison since the 1967 Dow Chemical protest in which thousands of students occupied and were violently expelled from Ingraham Hall.

[4] The original event arose as part of a continuing conflict between students and police, centered on Mifflin Street.

The co-op dropped its greater involvement in 1991 after the city requested that organizers keep alcohol within fenced-in beer gardens.

Mayor Dave Cieslewicz refused the date change at first, citing the additional cost and strain it would place on the police.

[14] With support from WSUM radio station they produced one live music stage at the intersection of Bassett and Mifflin street.

The city also granted the sponsored a small beer garden in a parking lot on the 400 block of Mifflin street.

[17] In 2011, open alcoholic beverages were allowed in the street for individuals of legal drinking age if they had a wristband.

Madison police reported that this change was an attempt to bring people from backyards into the streets to allow for greater observation.

Police officers reported the crowd size, and the number of significantly intoxicated people was far greater in 2011 likely due to the change in open intoxicants rules which resulted in more underaged drinking arrests.

[19] Patrick Kane, a star forward for the Chicago Blackhawks, reportedly choked a woman at a house party and made anti-Semitic slurs.

At the 2012 event some attendees sold T-shirts mocking him, using the image of his face from the city's website with "Sorry for Partying" next to it.

Houses that were playing music that was audible from the street were given a police warning to turn it off or else they would be in violation of a new city ordinance.

That same year, a riot during Madison's Halloween festivities prompted police to begin systematically clamping down on the Mifflin event.

This has included the banning of glass containers on Mifflin, the limiting of the number of kegs that a house party can have, and the creation of a processing center for dealing with those arrested.

[6] Police are also notorious for handing out open container citations and targeting especially loud and raucous house parties.

[6] The Madison Police Department reported 60 arrests in 2018, and most offenses were for consuming alcohol in the street, public urination, or carrying glass containers.