The 1972 Annual Halloween Masquerade Ball was the last of the Halloween Balls held on the Plaza of the Americas that was produced by the Rose Community Center at the University of Florida campus, and was the most well-attended with about 15,000 revelers, almost all of whom were in costume. Mudcrutch (featuring Tom Petty, Mike Campbell, and Benmont Tench) performed. The Annual Halloween Masquerade Ball ran for 22 years starting in 1970 and were originally organized by the Rose Community Center. The Rose Community produced the next two years shows off campus and Jeff Goldstein returned the show to the UF Plaza of The Americas for the 6th Annual Halloween Ball. The Ball continued in the Plaza until the 10th Annual Ball when it moved to Flavet Field where it remained from then on. Shows would draw around 10,000 people into the Plaza to dance, smoke A LOT OF weed and listen to music late into the night, a tower of smoke rising from the crowd. At the 1972 Halloween Masquerade Ball, university administrator Eleanor Roberts, past manager of Ringling Brothers, pulled the plug and ripped the drumsticks from Stan Lynch's hands. Here is why that happened and it was the demise of the Rose Community Center on campus; The University made a rule that no outdoor events could be held for longer than 4 hours. This was to prevent us from doing the Ball from 10:00PM until Sunrise, they weren't having any more of that! So Jeff Goldstein scheduled the show for the night that time changed. They "officially" scheduled the show for from 10:00PM until 2:00AM. Ms. Roberts came to Jeff about 15 minutes after 2:00AM and said she had given some extra time but it was 2:00AM and the show had to end. Jeff pointed out to her that his watch, yes we had watches back ten, said it was only 1:00AM. She immediately knew what the Rose was up to and after 10 minutes of arguing, she pulled the plug. The fans were NOT happy and responded accordingly. The next day the Rose Community Center was thrown off campus and it's members suspended from the University. Jeff Goldstein was not a student at the time and survived the may-lay to return as Chairman of Student Government Productions (SGP) for Student Government at the University of Florida.
