Off-campus students have found a new way to fund and gather supplies for house parties and street festivals: finding sponsors for their events.
For Palmerfest, seniors Allison Garfunkel and Brianna Gaudio said they sent unanswered letters to businesses such as Papa John's, Hungry Howie's, W.G. Grinder's and Anheuser-Busch. D.P. Dough agreed to sponsor them by donating $100, as well as enough coupons, cups, shot glasses and T-shirts with the company's logo for the girls in the house.
We did it for the extra money
said Garfunkel.
Garfunkel said she did not feel the company gained much from the sponsorship because D.P. Dough did not give them any signs to display during the party, though they did wear the T-shirts.
Michelle Frost, a manager at D.P. Dough, said there wasn't enough time to make signs for the one or two houses the business sponsored on Palmer Street this year, unlike past years.
It is hard to determine whether the sponsorships have been beneficial for the company, as the weekends of the events are usually big for most businesses anyway, she said.
But local businesses aren't the only sponsors. Senior Eric Baum contacted the makers of Four ' a brand of caffeinated, malt beverage ' to sponsor his house party during Palmerfest.
To get sponsored, people contact the company through its Web site and the company verifies that the hosts involved are 21, said Spencer Shrader, an Ohio brand manager for the company. They are then supplied with signs, posters and cups and given information about where to buy Four in their area. Near OU, the top distributors are Dale's BP and Happy Cat Drive Thru.
Baum also said the company donated cases of Four equivalent to the number of cases he purchased, but Shrader denied that Four supplied any beverages to Baum's house party or any others.
We don't do that he said. There have been a lot of rumors. I don't know how they got started but we're not allowed to do that.
Sponsoring Baum's house definitely helped (Four) get their name out there
Baum said.
Chicago-based Four has been in business for two years and has been doing sponsorships for about a year and a half in Athens, said Shrader.
The company sponsored about four events in Athens this year, he said.
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Ashley Rowland
