For many, The Union Bar & Grill was the heart of the Athens music scene.
After the building’s destruction in the Union Street fire Nov. 16, numerous fundraisers have emerged in an effort to assist the recovery of the employees as well as the building itself.
“The Union just meant music to me,” said Kevin Bednar, bassist for William the Accountant. “It was the foundation where music happened that was bigger than Athens. It felt like The Union was your chance to maybe reach a larger audience. We were always very thankful and extra excited when we got the chance to play music there.”
Bednar, an Ohio University alumnus, performed at the venue throughout his time in Athens. At William the Accountant’s album release show Saturday night at Casa Nueva, the Columbus-based band donated its cut of the cover along with proceeds from the album sales to “Rise of the Phoenix,” a benefit fund and music event focused on rebuilding The Union. The combined album proceeds and door charges accumulated to $180.
Bednar attended a Black Keys concert at The Union before the band received national fame.
“It was really exciting to see an Akron band still in Ohio, playing here in Athens,” he said. “Patrick Carney (The Black Keys’ drummer) was actually taking the door charge.”
The Hip Hop Shop, which was hosted at The Union for six of its nine years, was temporarily relocated to the Theta Chi fraternity house for the show on Thursday. Admission was free, but donations were accepted and encouraged. The show raised about $100.
“I always associated The Union with the Hip Hop Shop in my mind, which makes this so difficult to see The Union literally going up into fames,” said Peter “MC Freeman” Vilardi, a junior studying music production and one of the planners for the show. “When I was a freshman I was not sure how far I was going to take the rap thing but The Union was a space for me to do that. … I might not even still be rapping if it weren’t for The Union.”
Apart from local benefit shows, online efforts have seen success as well.
A GoFundMe fundraiser titled “Union Street Fire: Employee Relief Fund” has accumulated $42,745 of the $50,000 goal at press time.
The funds generated will be given to Union Street employees affected by the fire. The amount given to individual employees will be “directly proportional to his or her loss as compared to the total loss of all applicants,” according to the fundraiser’s description.
Dominic Petrozzi, the founder of the Athens-based music festival #Fest, donated all proceeds from 13Fest ticket sales from Thursday through the event’s website to the employee relief fund.
“When I heard about the fire Sunday morning when I woke up, I instantly started churning ideas in my head about how could we help,” Petrozzi said. “Unfortunately, it’s one of those cases of such a profound scenario and tragedy that it only makes sense to leverage our brand and give back to help out students and business owners.”
Ticket sales generated $1,085 in proceeds, which fest organizers increased to a $2,000 donation to the GoFundMe fundraiser and the Ohio Parents and Family Endowment.
Fundraising efforts extended even from outside Athens — Ohio-based clothing company Homage donated all proceeds from OU apparel sold on Thursday to the employee relief fund. The founder of the business, Ryan Vesler, attended OU with Petrozzi.
“It’s pretty outstanding the amount of relief and donations accumulated already,” Petrozzi said. “It’s a good feeling that the community I spend time in and went to school in really holds this Athens and OU community near and dear to their hearts.”
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