Hundreds of students gathered in the backyards Saturday for Palmer Fest, the last fest of the season.
By 1 p.m., Palmer Street was packed with students lining the sidewalks, sitting on roofs, crowding yards and playing beer pong on porches. Hosts set up speakers and cup pong tables, welcomed friends and received last-minute Snag deliveries.
With Palmer Place Fest being canceled last year, Palmer Fest attracted a large turnout of attendees, many of whom had previously participated in Palmer Place Fest.
Gabriel Constantine, a sophomore majoring in engineering, said this year marked the second fest season he participated in.
“I come out for the energy and the people,” Constantine said. “I can’t say the answer I really want to say, but we all know what it is. It’s a fun time.”
Beyond the partying, fest season brings a lot of students together to express themselves and grow closer to their peers.
Nicole Secic, who recently completed an associate’s degree in psychology, said the highlight of fest season for her is the outfits.
“I think the girls go way out with their outfits,” Secic said. “It’s such a fun and unique experience for everyone, and it’s kind of ‘everything goes,’ so it’s really unique to see what everyone thinks fest wear is.”
Ashley Rohm, a junior studying education, said she hoped people would be responsible so they could enjoy the day, especially concerning rumors about people trying to continue celebrating the fest at Palmer Place, despite the rules ending such activity.
“There are a lot of different stories that are going around,” Rohm said. “I feel like a lot of people are wanting it to be back, so they're trying to do it without permission, but I just hope everyone's safe.”
Despite her worries, Rohm expressed confidence in the character of students at Ohio University.
“OU’s the best,” Rohm said. “We have a good time, we make sure everyone’s safe, we’re a good group of people.”
Meanwhile, the Southeast Ohio Hope Center set up a table toward the end of Palmer Street, providing Narcan, fentanyl test strips and water bottles in partnership with the Collegiate Recovery Community. The table offered harm reduction services on Mill Street earlier in the fest season.
Chris MacNeal, the executive director of the Southeast Ohio Hope Center, said there will be talks to see if they will expand their presence to other fest weekends next year.
MacNeal said tabling was a successful method to reach out to students at Mill Fest, where they gave out over 85 kits of Narcan and 270 bottles of water. They were also able to talk to students about harm reduction and recovery.
“When we were at Mill fest, we certainly engaged with some students and folks,” MacNeal said. “We were able to engage with them, share about who we are and connect them to CRC since they're located on campus.”
During Palmer Fest, the Hope Center and CRC doubled the supplies they brought to Mill Fest, hoping they could go without running out until the afternoon.
“We’re hoping to be here until at least 2:00 p.m., hanging out and doing what we can,” MacNeal said.
Palmer Fest activities were expected to last through the night, with Athens Police Department cops crossing back and forth down the street on horseback.
Jack Solon and Lilia Santeramo contributed to this report.
