Editor’s note: This is the second in a four-part series exploring the different aspects and history of the Athens Halloween Block Party.
In the mid-1970s, students at Ohio University could click open a lighter to ignite a cigarette from the back row of a classroom during lectures.
They could blame cigarette machines, then located in residence halls, for eating the money they intended to spend on Uptown brews — which in the mid-70s could be purchased for less than a dollar at now-defunct Court Street bars such as The Phase.
“I’m not going to lie,” said Claudia Perry, 56, an Ohio State University alumna who spent the first two years of her collegiate career at OU. “Things were a lot different.”
The well-reputed Athens Halloween Block Party also took on a different guise for Halloween in the mid-70s than it does today.
“Everybody was dressed in costumes that they made themselves, and there weren’t any really themed costumes, and everyone was pretty much covered up,” Perry said of the Halloween festivities of ’75 and ’76.
She added that the majority of students crafted their costumes by hand as opposed to purchasing pre-made getups at the store. Perry and her friends created angel costumes from white graduation gowns and halos.
“I think we were all pretty poor,” she said. “We went out and bought stuff and made our costumes.”
Perry noted that the costume choices varied from recent years’ Halloween attire in that they were more conservative and exposed very little.
Like Perry, Scott Eisenhauer, an OU alumnus who graduated in the spring of ’87, said he never spent a lot of money creating his Halloween costume.
“We were more into the party aspect,” Eisenhauer said. “We spent our money on beer, not costumes.”
However, unlike Perry, Eisenhauer said his four years parading the streets of the Halloween Block Party yielded less conservative sights than those from the mid-70s.
“I thought it was pretty wild,” he said. “I can’t imagine what it’s like now. I can imagine it being more conservative than it was then.”
Eisenhauer said it was popular for female students at the time to dress as either Madonna or Pat Benatar. During Perry’s run at OU, she said many people dressed as Gary Wright, Peter Frampton or Bruce Springsteen.
Suzanne Lehky-Minute, who attended the Block Party in 1998, posted on the OU Alumni Association’s Facebook page that she and her friends dressed as the Spice Girls and that in 1999, her neighbor dressed as Monica Lewinsky in drag.
Local bars that line the streets of the block party charades have also seen myriad costumes, including both unique getups and more cliché costume choices.
Pete Holey, manager at Jackie O’s Pub & Brewery, 24 W. Union St., said he has seen a range of costumes, including Teletubbies and a Lion-O costume worn by a Jackie O’s coworker. He added that male students tend to get creative, while female revelers often aim for revealing costumes.
“You know what the girls wear,” he said. “It’s like the sluttiest version of whatever they can find.”
Kaeleb Schweiger, a bartender who has worked at Lucky’s Sports Tavern, 11 N. Court St., for almost three years, said the costumes become increasingly provocative each year.
The most creative costume Schweiger said he has seen parade the streets was a group of 10 people who dressed as Solo cups and walked in a beer pong formation.
Pop culture trends are also reflected in costume choice, including an abundance of mock Snookis and Lady Gagas that have tread the streets in recent years, Shweiger said.
“We’re going to get a lot of Honey Boo Boos this year,” he added.
sg409809@ohiou.edu
