With Ohio University’s classes ending 36 days earlier on the semester system, this May will be the last chance for local businesses to soak up the benefits of the most profitable warm month in Athens.
Festivals and OU events fill every weekend in May, drawing people out to enjoy the warm weather and bringing in substantial revenue for Uptown bars and restaurants.
However, because students will head home for the summer earlier after the quarters-to-semesters switch, businesses will miss out on a time that is typically the year’s biggest moneymaker, said Paige Alost, executive director of the Athens County Convention and Visitors Bureau.
“Our biggest concern is May,” Alost said. “It’s always been the bread-and-butter month for most businesses. But (after this year), that month may just be the bread or the butter.”
The high profits generated by businesses during May enable them to compensate for the slower winter season, Alost said. After the switch, however, the month’s events will be broken up or pushed back — a compromise that might not be as profitable for some businesses.
“There’s a difference between one great weekend and four great weekends,” Alost said. “The ability to make that much in a month won’t be there anymore.”
Art Oestrike, owner of Jackie O’s Pub & Brewery, 24 W. Union St., said business tends to peak in May because of the warm weather and the string of festivals held throughout the month. He said people tend to flock to the pub’s outdoor patio during the daytime on festival weekends.
“The weather is better in May here than anywhere in the world,” he said. “If it was 70 degrees, we’d have 20 to 40 people on the patio. It definitely throws a wrench at the system.”
Like Oestrike, Josh Thomas, owner of Brenen’s Coffee Cafe, 38 S. Court St., is reluctant to adjust to a new routine brought on by the schedule change. On the semester system, he said May might be one of the slowest months of the year.
“We already have football games, Homecoming, Halloween and Dads Weekend in the fall,” he said. “If they move all these other things, we’ll be very busy August through December but not January through May.”
Even though the transition might lead to a busy fall, Thomas said he doubts businesses will see the same results as before. For instance, he said that moving the Number Fest to August could decrease participation from out-of-town guests.
“The advantage of having the Number Fest in May was that semester schools were out and students from other schools could come,” he said. “Now, all the other schools will be in session. Are they really going to want to come out here on their first weekend back?”
In addition to Number Fests, Thomas said Uptown businesses could also lose out if Moms Weekend, a huge business booster, is moved back to an earlier part of the year.
“If Moms Weekend (happens) during a time when it’s cold and snowy, you could have less people coming down,” he said. “They might get a sandwich from me, but maybe they won’t want to walk around and check out all the other shops.”
Although May is a crucial period for businesses now, Oestrike said there is no telling what might be in store for the future.
“I’m nervous about the switch because I think it’s going to change Athens forever,” he said. “But maybe I’ll like May more and I’m just reluctant to change.”
Thomas agreed that change is difficult to imagine now, but in time, he said businesses will be able to figure out ways to work around the switch.
“We’re disappointed to not have May, but three years from now, we won’t even be talking about it,” Thomas said. “I’m sure everything will find its place.”
kg278810@ohiou.edu
