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2021 Oktoberfest about “average” for emergency calls
Oktoberfest goes fast in La Crosse. It was just on Friday when they tapped the Golden Keg, and Mayor Mitch Reynolds urged festgoers to be safe.
On Sunday, the last official day of Oktoberfest, the main festgrounds were closed, and the northside grounds at Copeland Park had a shortened day of carnival rides.
Tri-State Ambulance says there were 208 total requests for service from Thursday to Sunday morning, up 3 per cent from the total during the last Oktoberfest in 2019. That’s 19 per cent higher than during a typical September weekend, according to Tri-State.
The number of ambulance responses, 192, was up 14 per cent this year, but the number of bike team requests went down, to only 17 compared to 26 two years ago.
About 30 per cent of all weekend responses involved alcohol, mainly people getting drunk or falling.