Moms and their children flocked to uptown bars this weekend for Moms’ Weekend.
Many Ohio University students experienced a bit of role reversal during the weekend — tasked with the responsibility of tending to their inebriated mothers at uptown bars.
“My friend’s mom puked on him in the back of a taxi,” said Brandon Loader, a freshman studying management information systems and finance. “She was a rough time to get in the room, I guess.”
During OU’s popular Moms Weekend, Loader said he and his mother stopped at four different bars on Saturday before ending up at The Pub, 39 N. Court St., at 9 p.m.
His mom, Chris Loader, a 46-year-old from Canton, said her favorite part of the weekend was dancing at the bars.
“She even picked up some college kids,” Brandon Loader said.
He added he and his mom generally maintained an equal pace of inebriation all weekend — which he said was more than he could say for some of his friends’ mothers.
Darian White, a taxi cab driver, said this was his first year driving during Moms Weekend, and that he was prepared for an unpredictable night.
“I know it’d be awkward for me to drink with my mom,” White said.
Dennis Allen, an employee at Goodfella’s Pizza, 35 N. Court, and member of the kitchen staff at Lucky’s Sports Tavern, 11 N. Court St., said the weekend can sometimes make for uncomfortable situations.
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“Of course, employees get moms wanting to grind on them,” he said. “Moms just want to have fun. I get it.”
He said this year was tamer than it had been in years past.
“They cleared out really early,” he said.
Beth Naylor, a 54-year-old from Cincinnati, said she and her two sisters, Kim Appel, 52, and Tammy Tew-Besterman, 55, have been coming to Moms Weekend for six years.
They started coming when Naylor’s son was attending OU. Now both Naylor and Appel have daughters at the school, they said.
The sisters spent Saturday night at Lucky’s.
“I like the camaraderie with my niece,” Besterman said. “It’s another generation of women we get to support.”
Appel had other motives for making the trip to Athens.
“I’m just here for the alcohol,” she said. “I like to morning drink, day drink and evening drink.”
Will MacMillan, a bouncer at Cat’s Eye Saloon, 12 N. Court St., wasn’t thrilled about the weekend.
“It’s pretty infamous,” he said. “They’re way worse than the dads. I think they all think they’re really funny and make a lot of noise … (But) you meet a lot of sweet older women. You tell them they’re pretty and they eat it up.”
He said it only gets worse as the night draws closer to 2 a.m., when the bars close.
“That’s when you get into the nitty gritty,” he said. “You see a lot of respectable women at their all-time low.”
But not everyone spent Saturday night getting wild on Court Street.
Christina Shehata, a freshman studying biology, said she and her mom, Noreen Bouley, a 49-year-old from Cincinnati, spent much of the day shopping Uptown, where lines were out the door at clothing stores, before heading to Courtside Pizza, 85 N. Court St., for dinner.
“I’ve heard moms come down and get crazy,” Bouley said. “I feel sorry for them if they come down and don’t get what they expected.”
Robin Clark, a 50-year-old from North Ridgeville visiting her daughter, said the weekend met her expectations.
“There’s a lot of bars at OU, I must say,” she said. “I’ve had a blast. Everybody is so nice.”
Clark said she and her daughter’s friends would be heading to High Street for a party. She said she was excited to play beer pong for the first time.
“These’ll be the fond memories you look back on,” said Molly Cornish, a senior studying communication. “You’ll be able to look back and say you spent time with your mother and your friends.”
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