For some business owners the fests make for more customers and publicity.
During last year’s Mill Fest, a flying cell phone struck Lynn Miller, the pastor of Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church, in the head so hard she required stitches.
“I was just standing here and somebody probably just found an old phone (and) threw it. I don't think I was targeted. I think they just threw it,” Miller said. “So I said, 'Maybe this year I’ll put on a helmet and walk up and down the street.' ”
Despite the blow to the head, Miller said she is thankful for the students in Athens and is happy her church is located at 69 Mill St.
That way of thinking is common among most other businesses and organizations located on fest streets.
“We’ve been surprised because when we opened up here 10 years ago because we thought, you know, we might have problems,” Wendi Smeeks, the owner and office manager of Trucks by Design, said. “Honestly we haven't.”
Trucks by Design is a truck accessory store located at 9 W. Stimson Ave. on the corner of Palmer Street.
“A lot of the college students down here, though, have kind of gotten to know us,” Smeeks said. “My husband and I will sit here sometimes and one year we sat here and watched when the SWAT team had to come come out. So, it’s kind of amusing from the safety of a building to kind of watch what’s going on.”
Roger Kasler, owner of Rollerbowl Lanes, 28 Palmer St., said in the past, customers have been deterred from bowling because of Palmer Fest, but that is no longer the case.
“I’m not opposed to it at all, and usually they take pretty good care and clean our parking lot up for us, because that way we don’t oppose it,” Kasler added. “It’s fun. They’re good kids.”
Miller added that, though there have been problems for her church, the congregation has chosen to stay on Mill Street.
“When you want to be in the midst of the students, that comes with the parties,” she said. “There have been issues. There have been windows broken periodically, but it comes with the territory. We recognize that that doesn’t represent — those few incidences — don't represent the larger student body.”
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For some business owners, the fests make for more customers and publicity.
Mo Denton, CEO and owner of the newly-opened lifestyle store 24.7 Dreams at 13 W. Stimson Ave., which is near Palmer Street, said he is looking forward to the street fests.
“I would like to have all that extra publicity, extra people in town to come inside and buy,” Denton said. “More people walking past, more people driving past and just (brand) exposure to more people that are outside of Ohio University, that are outside of Athens.”
He added that he plans to go out to the parties to promote his brand with T-shirt giveaways and free stickers.
Kasler said in recent years, Palmer Fest has created more business for Rollerbowl.
“We had a good Saturday night last Palmer Fest,” he said. “Now they'll close (the fest) by 5:30 p.m. and the ones that want something to do will come over here and bowl.”
Rollerbowl has a BYOB policy for bowlers over 21.
Signe Wasserman, the owner of the wine store Bellavino, 22 W. Stimson Ave. at the tail end of Palmer Street, said the store stocks up on beer that students enjoy during fest season. Though the store normally carries craft beer and wine, it buys Budweiser, Michelob and Miller for party weekends, she said.
“I think it increases our business, past and future,” Wasserman said.
From throwing phones to throwing rice, Miller has seen many cases in which activities at her church and fest season coincide.
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“(A couple) planned the wedding (at the church)," she said. "I planned the wedding a year or two before and didn’t realize that Mill Fest was going on."
Miller said the wedding party took a trolley from the church to the reception.
“When the wedding party came out ... as the trolley went down the street, I stood out here and watched everybody stop and raise their glasses,” she said.
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