Before the Green Wave rolls into Baton Rouge on Saturday night, Michael Jackson impersonators, vampires, pirates and athletes will come together on Carlotta Street for the annual block party as they have for more than 25 years. Organized by the North Gate Merchants Association for the second consecutive year, residents will close the street and eventually close the adjacent streets of State and Ivanhoe, said NGMA President Jared Loftus. Baton Rouge Police Department has worked with the NGMA to plan the block party both in 2008 and this year, said BRPD Sergeant Don Kelly.”Last year’s event was very mild, and that was the first time they did it the right way,” Kelly said. “We’re going to be there to make sure it’s a safe and orderly event … We have a big plan that goes on with the Carlotta Street party and some of the other permitted parties”The combined cost of city permits and the insurance required to attain a permit is about $2,000, Loftus said. Additionally, security costs will increase each year.Loftus said the party could cost upward of $20,000 in the future, and NGMA could possibly look for sponsors to help bear the sum. A smaller-scale block party on Harwich Drive will also be Friday night.Tori, a Harwich Drive resident who declined to give her full name for fear of repercussions because the party is not permitted, has taken part in the annual Harwich Halloween for five years. She said this will be the seventh or eighth party.”Everybody just kind of hangs out underneath each other’s carports and stuff like that,” Tori said. “We each organize our own houses.”Tori said about 300 people attended the 2008 Harwich event throughout the night.CARLOTTA STREET, 2007The Carlotta Street party was closed by law enforcement officials in 2007 because the streets were overrun with pedestrians, which made it difficult for vehicles to travel on Carlotta, State and Ivanhoe streets.”The party sort of took over some of the streets around there,” Kelly said. “You had a large amount of pedestrians [that started to mix with traffic]. The straw that broke the camel’s back was a young lady that was driving that nearly got her car flipped over because [pedestrians were rushing the car].”Law enforcement officers could not provide security for the party in 2007 and in previous years because Carlotta Street residents did not have a permit to close the streets, Kelly said. The Daily Reveille reported in October 2007, as per a BRPD announcement, Carlotta Street party attendees would not be allowed to loiter in the streets or interrupt the flow of traffic. Residents were also told they were not allowed to gather in the streets or play music loud enough to hear from the street. Once the event was permitted in 2008, Carlotta Street residents were allowed to close the street, and police officers were able to do some things to ensure “vehicles and pedestrians don’t mix.” “Two years ago, the party was shut down by the city just because it was too many people in one area. They didn’t have a street closure, and it was unsafe,” Loftus said. “The next year, the city approached us and said, ‘It’s got to be made into a legitimate party with permits and insurance.'”POST-PERMIT CARLOTTARachelle David, communication studies senior, said she will go to the Carlotta Street block party this year for the third time — once during her freshman year and again in 2008.”It was a lot more fun last year, and there were a lot more people … because of the anticipation from the year before,” David said. “Whenever we got it back, everyone was so excited, and they had to go out and show what we were really missing. I just remember walking through it last year, and there were so many people in crazy costumes.”Steve Struck, who has lived on the nearby Ivanhoe Street since 1996, said two notable changes have occurred in the last 13 years — the overall “vibe” of the neighborhood and the block party’s slow move toward commercialization.”Now that they’re doing a permit and doing a beer truck and making it an official event, it’s kind of lame that it’s turned into a commercialized event because the city’s required them to have permits,” Struck said. “I’m a fan of the old tradition … It’s always been people who live on their street having parties at their houses.”Carlotta has always been about residents opening their homes for Halloween parties, but Struck said the neighborhood’s year-to-year turnover changes the mood of the party each year.”This neighborhood is always in flux with people moving in and out every semester,” Struck said. “There’s a different vibe that changes over the years. There seems to be a larger swing of sort of personality that changes every few years.”Struck said the main problem residents face each year is cleanup.The NGMA pays to clean up the area the day following the party, Loftus said.”A lot of people would tell you that it looked better last year after than before,” Loftus said.—–Contact Lindsey Meaux at [email protected]