Athens City Council met Monday night to discuss a number of street closings for events including King Midget and Boogie on the Bricks.
Many came forward to plead their case for street closures at Monday night’s Athens City Council meeting.
Judy Wymer came forward as event coordinator for Boogie on the Bricks, an event featuring art and live music being held Uptown on July 16.
Wymer said she hopes to get the streets closed by 6 a.m., as opposed to closing them at 7 a.m. like they have in the past, so that workers have more time to set up this year.
The event would be occupying part of West Union to Court to West State streets, Wymer said.
Athens Mayor Steve Patterson said he had concerns over the fact that the event will overlap with Brew Week, which takes place from July 15-23.
Ann and Glen Goins, coordinators of King Midget, a car show, both came forward to request street closures for their event, happening on Aug. 12.
“This is an international event that happens every 10 years in Athens,” Councilwoman Michele Papai, D-3rd ward, said. “King Midget cars actually used to be built in Athens.”
This year will mark King Midget’s 70th anniversary in Athens.
The couple requested the closure of High Street to Union Street, along with Congress Street.
“We’re hoping to have 100 cars, so this is a pretty extensive closure,” Glen said. “We have people from California, Florida and New York coming in, so we’re expecting it to be a pretty big event.”
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Two Ohio University engineering students also requested street closures for their American Society of Mechanical Engineers Human Powered Vehicle Challenge, happening May 13-15.
Matthew Mackenzie, a sophomore studying engineering, said the pair was selected to host this national event in Athens this year.
“We plan on bringing in between 350 to 500 participants and judges,” Mackenzie said. “It’s going to enable Athens youth who are interested in engineering to come and pursue challenges to improve themselves.”
The two students requested street closures on Mill Street from North McKinley Avenue to South Green Drive on May 14.
Patterson said he will definitely be attending the event.
“I’m so intrigued by this,” Patterson said. “This is the kind of stuff I geek out over.”
Matt Green, director of Athens Community Television, also gave a report to council members during the meeting.
“In 2015, one thing that really took off was our online video presence, receiving 7,120 views on our YouTube page,” Green said. “We also had 436 programs to be aired and a total of 418 hours of locally produced programming.”
Green also said the company improved student involvement in broadcasting last year, as it reached out to Alexander High School and is hoping to reach out to Athens High School in the future.
@alyseitbe
