@ThePost's third fest coverage of the year. Make sure to follow @ThePostLocal for the live tweets!
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High Fest participants tried their best to keep the street party alive Saturday despite law enforcement that began shutting down house parties mid-afternoon.
Local law enforcement arrived to the fest around 11 a.m. and began shutting down parties around 3 p.m. By 5:30 p.m., most houses were cleared out.
Athens Police Chief Tom Pyle said High Fest was more crowded this year compared to last year’s festivities.
Houses were shut down around 5 p.m. on High Street last year, and the street was cleared by 6:30.
Police officers began shutting down Mill Fest, last weekend’s block party, at around 4 p.m. Parties at the same fest last year died down around 8:30 p.m., according to a previous Post HYPERLINK "http://www.thepostathens.com/news/arrests-down-in-peaceful-mill-fest/article_e7f8b81c-ad67-11e3-97f6-0017a43b2370.html" report.
When a house party was shut down this weekend, police typically offered fest-goers the chance to finish his or her drink before leaving the property. Students who were kicked out of the parties mostly went to the bars on Court Street.
“The problem is that it attracts too many people,” Pyle said. “Essentially it becomes a blanket nuisance party … each party is trying to merge with each other.”
Pyle predicted the arrest numbers for this year’s High Fest would be higher than last year, adding that the nicer weather could have contributed to more people participating in the fest.
Ohio University Police Chief Andrew Powers said the crowd peaked earlier than police expected.
However, Powers said the 15 to 20 houses law enforcement shut down Saturday were compliant with policing.
“We actually shut a couple of houses down around 2 p.m. and then started at about 3:30 p.m. looking very sternly at the houses that have been in violation numerous times that received numerous warnings,” Pyle said.
Athens Police Department arrest numbers for High Fest were not available as of press time.
Earlier on in the festivities, Michelle Dicken, a 41-year-old Athens resident wearing a green beer hat, handed out lemon Jolly Ranchers to festers Saturday afternoon.
“I just like to come by and watch the students and the police officers when it’s nice,” she said.
Dicken said she’s been coming to fests for several years and Mill Fest is her favorite.
Others held different opinions of which fest is the best to attend.
“(High Fest) is better than Mill Fest. It's more of a community since all the houses are closer and everything is smaller,” Noah LaChance, a freshman studying recreational management said.
Among the various outfits sighted during the fest, Brandonn Bussey, a junior studying physical education wore a referee costume.
“Somebody has to keep the order,” he said about his outfit.
Ben Buchanan, a senior studying recreational education, sat on the curb on High Street and reminisced about the events he had seen during the fest.
“I saw two girls make out in front of the whole crowd, it’s been a lot of making out,” he said.
Claire Melia, a freshman from Miami University, said that although she was trying to hate everything about Ohio University, she couldn’t help but love the mounted patrol officers’ horses traveling up and down High Street.
Nick Farley, a sophomore at the University of Missouri, felt that everyone was treated like family at the fest.
“Everyone here is like a big family,” he said. “The underlying tone here is accepting.”
@Fair3Julia
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