This year Ohio University's Homecoming Parade will once again pass through Court Street.
Athens Police Chief Tom Pyle, who approved the route on Tuesday, said the route will turn left off President Street, traveling north up Court Street. Previously, the route turned right and ended at Baker Center.
From Court Street, the parade will turn east onto Washington Street and conclude at the south end of College Street, near College Gate, which will have had a "Grand Reopening" earlier that morning.
The parade will start at 10 a.m. on Oct. 8, according to the Ohio University website.
In the past, the parade route has taken West Union Street onto Court Street, but the route detoured down President Street last year due to construction on Union Street.
“I don't know (if the changes) were improvements,” Athens Mayor Steve Patterson said. “It was a change that had to be made.”
Last year's route also bypassed almost all of the commercial portion of Court Street, which led to disputes with members of the Athens Uptown Business Association, who said at the time that the route would discourage spectators from patronizing the shops and restaurants Uptown, according to a previous Post report.
“The Homecoming Weekend is our busiest event weekend of the Fall Semester, so any time you take the crowds away from that area you affect all of the uptown businesses,” Gene Armes, spokesman for the association said last year.
This year's route will pass by an increased number of uptown businesses.
Pyle said routes from previous years brought overcrowding concerns. Prior to 2012, the parade route started at the north end of Court Street and traveled the entirety of the street, passing by "fraternity row" and the bars Uptown.
“I want to be clear, the bars weren’t the problem, but the crowd in those areas … was so thick, and, at times unruly that it was a concern,” Pyle said.
At a Homecoming parade about ten years ago, Pyle said a girl was “run over” by a vehicle on Court Street near the bar area because the crowd was so dense. This year, his main concern is that the route will block entry and exit to the parking garage on Washington Street — but that is an access issue, not a safety issue, he said.
Patterson said the parade will block access to the garage from about 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
“Those in the parking garage will have to stay there until the parade terminates,” he said. “We will warn people about it.”
At a joint meeting between Athens City Council members and several university officials, Jason Pina, OU's vice president of Student Affairs, said the route will pass OU’s reopened College Gate.
“It creates an opportunity to highlight something we’re very proud of that a number of our students and alums look forward to being reopened,” Pina said. “So it seems like it’s going to be a win-win.”
Pina and OU President Roderick McDavis both said they would “revisit” the route if it didn’t work out this year.
“Going back to Court is a big deal,” McDavis said. “I’m optimistic. … The point is, we’re going to give this a try.”
Brook Endale contributed to this report.
