MADISON, Wis. -- To get a firsthand account of Freakfest on State Street, WISC-TV sent reporter Brad Chaimson downtown this weekend.

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Armed with only a camcorder, Chaimson was told to "blend in."

Chaimson reported that he arrived at the party around 10 p.m. and immediately ran into a line to get in.

"It was relatively early, so there didn’t appear to be much going on," said Chaimson.

That gave him time to check out students' costumes.

"The most popular costumes seemed to be bananas and beer kegs," said Chaimson.

Chaimson said he was impressed with the teamwork of some costumes, which included a Viking ship, a table of beer pong and the Harlem Globetrotters.

At 11 p.m., Chaimson reported that there was still no craziness downtown or students stumbling in a drunken stupor.

"Nothing that resembled the reputation I had heard of during my college years," he said.

Near the entertainment stage, students began jumping, but that too was broken up quickly by police.

"That was a trend for the night," said Chaimson. "At any sign of roughhousing, the police moved in."

According to Chaimson, the band took the stage just after midnight.

Most of the drinking was taking place in bars, he said.

"I think I was the only one not drinking," he said.

At closing time, the floodlights were switched on.

"It oddly felt like daylight," said Chaimson. "There was one last gathering of costumes before the streets began clearing out."

Chaimson said he'd expected to be on State Street until at least 3 a.m. on Sunday.

"But at a quarter to 2, police were already pushing people to the sidewalks," he said.

The only disturbance Chaimson reported was an argument on the sidewalk, but police broke it up before it escalated.

Chaimson said that by 2:30 a.m. the streets were cleared out and public works crews went to work.