For the second consecutive year, Ohio University’s Homecoming Parade will follow a route that travels the opposite way of normal traffic on Court Street.
The route, approved by President Roderick McDavis and city officials last year, goes down University Terrace and ends in parking lot 93 next to Ping Center.
“I am not aware of why they made the route changes last year because that decision was made by the Alumni Association, not by our organization,” said Vincent Victoria, University Events executive.
McDavis and city officials previously cited safety concerns and traffic congestion on Court Street as reasons for the change.
For Luar Romero, manager at Jackie O’s Pub and Brewery, 24 W. Union, the new route means opening earlier and offering breakfast for the influx of people.
“When the parade didn’t pass us, there was nobody here very early in the morning so there was no reason to open that early,” Romero said. “Starting last year, there was a lot of people in the bar around 9:30 in the morning, so it made a big difference.”
Jackie O’s usually opens at 11:00 a.m., but Romero said Homecoming is one of the special weekends in which it opens its doors earlier.
Samantha Caulfield, University Program Council president, acknowledged that Homecoming goers will miss going down Court Street, but a change had to be made.
“We had to make sure there was a parade to come out to, we have put in a lot of work,” Caulfield said.
The parade will start on Factory Street and take a right on West Union Street.
It will then take a right on Court Street, the opposite way of normal traffic flow, and travel down Park Place. The parade will take a right on University Terrace and end in parking lot 93, located next to Ping Center.
With lots of OU alumni visiting campus, Andrew Lampela, co-owner of Haffa’s Records, 15 W. Union, said he expects large crowds in his shop, but more of the “walking crowd’ rather than the “buying crowd.”
“I have to get here way before the parade even starts just so I can get across the street that morning,” Lampela said, adding that he typically parks across the street and the parade can sometimes interfere.
“Homecoming is always fun though,” he said. “There will definitely be some more foot traffic than usual, but that always comes with Homecoming.”
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