Police will start clearing Halloween celebration at 11:30

The thousands who flock to Franklin Street on Halloween might have to leave earlier this year.

The town is taking its campaign to limit the Sunday celebration a step further, in order for Chapel Hill to function as usual when the work week starts.

“We would like to start clearing the streets around 11:30 so we can bring in the clean-up crews and open it up to traffic,” said Kevin Gu?nter, spokesman for the Chapel Hill Police Department.

And Gunter said he thinks crowds will cooperate with the plan to open the street earlier.

“We’re hoping that because people have class in the morning and people are having jobs in the morning that they have to go to, that hopefully people will leave earlier anyway,” he said.

Gunter said officers attempting to clear the street in past years haven’t been met with heavy resistance.

“In most cases, officers merely need to tap people on the shoulder and ask them to exit the street,” he said.

Town Manager Roger Stancil started the effort to make the Oct. 31 celebration smaller, known as Homegrown Halloween, in 2008.

Despite these efforts, crowds last year surpassed 50,000 people, costing the town nearly $200,000. Gunter said he hopes the town will see at least 15,000 fewer visitors this year.

“In recent years the crowds had grown to sizes that were 25 percent greater than the population of Chapel Hill,” Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt said.

“This was just not a manageable number of people, especially when large amounts of alcohol are involved.”

Gunter said planning for this Halloween started soon after last year’s celebration. Town leaders will host a conference Friday to announce the changes.

Special Events Coordinator Phil Smith is a key designer of the plan, which involves everything from rerouting traffic to notifying businesses when the streets will be closed.

Smith is also charged with coordinating police forces to provide the 250 to 300 officers needed to run the night’s security operations.

This year, officers will be at all major entrances to downtown checking for alcohol and banned items. Residents can refer to the town website for a list.

The Chapel Hill Fire Department will also play a key role this Halloween, riding around in several utility task vehicles to monitor the crowd.

“We use these vehicles to transport injured individuals because they are better at navigating the large crowds than an ambulance or a fire truck,” said Deputy Fire Department Chief Caprice Mellon.

Town spokeswoman Catherine Lazorko said keeping Halloween safe means the town must work with University officials to inform the student body of event restrictions and timelines.

“We really just want to see people having a good, safe time,” she said.

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.