A little rain didn’t put a complete damper on Saturday’s Palmer Fest, where many Ohio University students slowly traded in boat shoes and tank tops for rain boots and hooded jackets to shield themselves from the cold drizzle that dominated the day.
“The weather’s kind of sucky right now,” said Jessica Pettis, a senior at OU. “But turn down for what? Not the weather. So we don’t really care.”
The fact the rain didn’t keep students off Palmer Street was backed up by city officials in a news release that stated, “a significant number of people were present throughout the daytime hours.”
During that time, three law enforcement agencies made 33 arrests. That’s about 40 percent fewer arrests compared to 55 last year, according to a previous Post article.
Athens Police arrested five people Saturday, mostly on alcohol-related charges. OUPD arrested seven people on nine charges and the Ohio Investigative Unit arrested 21 people for mostly alcohol-related charges, though there was one felony drug arrest.
Athens Police Chief Tom Pyle said the five arrests were booked at the police department, though the charges won’t be released until later this week. He added fewer than 10 houses were shut down for party violations.
The house parties started at 11 a.m. and most were over by 5:30 p.m., according to the news release.
By noon Saturday the fest was in full swing, with a mid-sized party occupying each residence. But when the rain hit around 12:30 p.m., some students began to head back to their homes, or at least indoors.
One party-goer said he spent $300 on a plane ticket to be present at Palmer Fest, only to be disappointed by the law enforcement presence.
“I’ve been to a few of these, and this year is so much more strict,” said Chris Oglespi, a junior studying communications at Texas Christian University who grew up in Cincinnati. “There are cops everywhere. I flew here for this.”
By 1 p.m., Ohio University Police Chief Andrew Powers said students were likely planning to retreat early due to the weather.
“This year it seems like they’re peaking earlier than 3 o’clock, which is good for us,” Powers said. “But the biggest Halloween I ever saw took place with four inches of snow. Sometimes weather makes a difference, sometimes it doesn’t.”
APD Capt. Ralph Harvey said Palmer was “more light than he had seen in years.”
“I’ve never seen Palmer so dead,” Sandy Pesuit, a senior at OU said after 15 Palmer was shut down by APD around 5 p.m. “I don’t think there is any need to shut down parties.”
Friday’s Palmer Place Fest was also quieter this year than in years past, according to students and security.
Rob Boyd with Cornwell Security said out of the 268 tenants at Palmer Place, only out-of-towners intend to “raise hell,” adding this year was a calmer year for Palmer Place.
“All of the kids are good kids,” Boyd said. “Let them have their fun. As long as they’re not doing any damage, we don’t care.”
Derek Daubenmire, a sophomore studying civil engineering, expressed his love for Cornwell Property around noon Friday while chatting with his friends at the Sigma Alpha Epsilon annex at Palmer Place.
“They even set lights up for us,” Daubenmire said. “They’re expecting us to rage.”
William T. Perkins, Lucas Daprile, Suhyeon Park, Joshua Lim, Allan Smith and Heather Hare contributed to this report.
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