As many Ohio University students’ moms descended upon Athens to be introduced to a taste of their child’s Athens lifestyles, several preparations were made to ensure that the city was a safe environment for the weekend’s festivities.
Cpt. Ralph Harvey of the Athens Police Department said APD prepares for Moms Weekend the same as any other busy weekend in Athens.
Harvey added that he mainly just works with the OU Police Department for the event because other agencies are not usually needed. Extra officers were called in and a few mounted officers were on duty just because of the time of year not necessarily because it was Moms Weekend.
“It’s a busy spring weekend,” Harvey said.
But as OUPD Chief Andrew Powers noted, “it isn’t anything like a fest weekend.”
After safety precautions were taken, local stores made their own preparations for the weekend.
On Friday night, bars like Lucky’s, Pawpurr’s and The J Bar had lines of people waiting to get into the bar before midnight.
Lucky’s saw Moms picking songs on the jukebox like “We Will Rock You” and “Come on Eileen” and moms were the first to create a dance floor to groove to their old favorite tunes.
Casa Nueva also allowed moms to reminisce and dance with their children for 80s Night.
On Saturday, Wal-Mart and Kroger stores were filled with Moms buying the essentials for their children before round two of bar hopping began. As the night went on, the bars were once again night packed, and several students became concerned with how much their moms — throwing back mixed drink after mixed drink — were enjoying themselves.
Aside from drinking, there were university-sponsored activities as well as deals at uptown shops, where managers have noted an increase in sales and foot traffic.
Amy Mangano, manager at Artifacts, 2 W. State St., said the store was expected to receive three times more business because of the busy weekend.
“We just love Moms and we love that Moms love to shop,” Mangano said.
