Brawl of the Wild Brings Calmer Weekend, Police Say

The biannual Brawl of the Wild weekend is always a wild one in Missoula. Whether the Griz win or lose, you can guarantee that downtown will be PACKED with both Griz and Cats fans. Really, all of town is packed with out-of-towners rolling in for the Brawl.

Amazing shot from last weekend's Brawl of the Wild - won by MSU. Credit: University of Montana Athletics

With the hectic energy that accompanies the Brawl, it's easy for the town to turn into a nuclear explosion. However, this year was tamer according to the Missoula Police Department.

Missoula DUIs were down last weekend

Public Information Officer Whitney Bennett informed us that DUIs were down over the Brawl weekend.

Throughout the weekend, the Montana Highway Patrol, including members of the Strategic Enforcement Traffic Team (SETT), reported 17 DUI arrests. The Missoula County Sheriff's Office reported 6 DUI arrests, and the Missoula Police Department made 9 DUI arrests within city limits." - Missoula Police Department press release

17 DUI arrests still seems to be a lot to my ignorant eye, but the press release led off by saying "The Missoula Police Department would like to thank the community for a largely responsible Brawl of the Wild weekend." So it couldn't have been too bad.

The best news was that there were zero DUI-related crashes.

READ THE FULL PRESS RELEASE HERE

Well done, Missoula. You guys stayed under control and didn't get carried away. I was downtown and didn't see any major disruptions, so I'm proud of most of you.