Court Street will become host to dozens of flags, 27 booths and hundreds of Ohio University students and Athens residents this Saturday for the International Street Fair.
The street fair, which has been running for nearly three decades, strives to promote international relationships between students and residents in Athens, Krista McCallum Beatty, director of international student and faculty services, said. She added that she expects attendance to be high, with booths featuring face-painting and a variety of other activities.
Some booths will be regional, featuring multiple countries and showcasing the culture and food that dominates them, McCallum Beatty added.
“All of the booths have free interactive activities that are really geared toward children,” she said. “I think it’s really just the chance to hang out and enjoy all of the global diversity we have.”
The fair is a part of Ohio University’s International Week, which hosts events throughout the week and is capped by the fair.
City officials will be out as early as 9 a.m. to shut down Court Street so they can hang flags from the street’s light posts and begin setting up for the festivities, said Ron Lucas, deputy service-safety director. The event itself will begin at 11 a.m.
“We’ve been managing it for a long time,” Lucas said. “We provide them with necessary ordinances that they can close the street and it’s one of our events that we just do every year. We assume that it’s going to happen and plan for it.”
Lucas said the city also manages the event’s recycling and trash pickup, making sure Court Street resumes its normal appearance just after 5 p.m.
Lucas said he has been attending for the past 16 years, though he’ll be unable to make it this year due to Easter festivities out of town.
“From a collaboration standpoint, we know how important this is to the city,” he said.
If for nothing else, McCallum Beatty said that the street fair’s unique cuisine will be a highlight, as well as the parade of flags, which will occur around 11:30 a.m.
Mayor Paul Wiehl will be present to say a few words.
“I usually welcome everybody into the city,” Wiehl said. “It’s a good time for people to eat good food.”
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