Friday night’s Phish concert at Hilton Coliseum, which brought fans from across the country to Ames, was marked by many drug- and alcohol-related arrests.

A total of 57 arrests were reported over the weekend, most of them drug-related charges against Phish fans.

Iowa State’s Department of Public Safety reported six arrests over the weekend for public intoxication, according to DPS records.

Sgt. James Robinson, Ames Police public information officer, said his department had a total of 39 arrests over the weekend, and that nearly all of them involved out-of-state individuals charged with drug-related offenses.

Capt. Gary Foster, Story County Chief Deputy, said Story County deputies recorded seven drug arrests on Friday, and Iowa State Patrol Troopers brought five individuals on drug charges to the Story County Jail on Friday as well.

In fact, because the Story County Jail was already near capacity Friday morning, the extra arrests created a major squeeze on space in the jail.

“We’ve been running over capacity for over several months,” he said. “We kept trying to fit more people in on Friday. We even converted the exercise room to an extra holding area.”

Foster said when the amount of people being held in the exercise room reached nearly 20 at about 8 p.m. on Friday, the decision was made to hold any further prisoners in the Ames City Jail.

“It was a combination deal; all of the prisoners went to Ames Police because we were too full here to handle them,” he said. “It was a really good cooperative effort.”

Foster said Story County deputies assisted Ames Police officers Saturday morning by attending initial court appearances and by helping guard the Ames City Jail.

Robinson said the influx of Phish fans to the Ames City Jail was hard on every facet of his department.

“When you have these kinds of numbers, it causes problems,” he said. “From extra meals, to the court staff, to the janitorial staff, everyone feels it.”

As of Monday, space was still a scarce commodity at the Story County Jail, with 65 prisoners being held in a facility only designed to accommodate 31 people.

Jail staff still were searching for places to transfer overflow prisoners on Monday, Foster said.

“We’ve sent prisoners to other counties already,” he said, “and the exercise room is still being used as a holding area.”

Some Story County inmates were shipped temporarily to the Pocahontas County Jail Monday, and others were expected to be transported to the Cherokee County Jail today, Foster said.

Jail staff also is looking to send prisoners to Fremont County Jail in the near future.

Law enforcement officials seemed to be taken aback by the amount of drug arrests at the concert. “We knew Phish had a large following of drug users, but it was more than we expected, to be honest,” Foster said.

Stewart agreed with Foster’s assessment of the concert.

“We certainly anticipated making arrests,” he said. “Any time a large group of people is gathered at an event such as this, some arrests usually occur. We checked with previous sites who have hosted Phish, and there were no severe problems there. We did not anticipate severe problems, either.”

Stewart said the drugs of choice at the concert seemed to be marijuana and LSD. However, one drug commonly found at past Phish shows seemed to be missing.

“Luckily, we did not see a great deal of nitrous oxide, a substance generally known to be prevalent at Phish concerts,” he said.

The amount of arrests was increased when compared to Phish’s last visit to Ames in November of 1996, Stewart said.

“We certainly had more arrests than when the group was here [three] years ago,” he said.

Robinson said he also noticed a spike in arrests from the last show to this one.

The 1996 concert saw 17 drug-related arrests by the Ames Police Department, according to Daily archives.

“There was quite an increase,” he said. “We would not be heartbroken if they left us off their schedule in future years.”