Though fall is rolling in now, when spring hits Athens, Ohio University students celebrate its bravura with a series of fests on streets with high numbers of students living off campus.
Traditionally, the six fests are held on Palmer Street, Mill Street, High Street, Oak Street and at the Palmer Place apartments, with Number Fest taking place outside the city limits.
In past years, OU’s fests have landed hundreds of students behind bars or with citations and helped the university earn the title of the top party school in the country. The city’s nuisance-party law, though, has helped limit the amount of unruly parties.
Last fall, Athens City Council proposed the nuisance-party law ordinance with the intention of cracking down on parties in the city deemed a “nuisance” and holding partygoers accountable for their actions.
After Palmer Fest ended with a house fire — and Mayor Paul Wiehl declared the area a riot — two years ago, law enforcement didn’t hesitate to shut down parties last Spring Semester.
Palmer Fest and Palmer Place Fest ended with a combined 74 total arrests this year, compared to 124 in 2012 and 159 in 2011, according to previous Post articles.
Though each street fest attracts large numbers of students, Number Fest serves as the last hurrah before summer break and typically draws in the largest crowds.
Held in an open field, attendees ride on the free buses provided by the university or hitch rides with students looking to make some extra cash.
This year’s 11Fest featured the crowd-surfing, birthday cake-throwing DJ Steve Aoki and rapper Kendrick Lamar as headliners, along with several other artists as openers.
Number Fest founder Dominic Petrozzi said the event was a success this year with a record number of tickets sold.
“There were times when we were overwhelmed with the amount of people that were there, but the acts were tremendous and the fans were super stoked,” Petrozzi said.
Since the university’s switch to semesters in fall 2012, two Number Fests will be held each school year — one in the fall and one in the spring. 12Fest is slated for September or October this Fall Semester.
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