Homecoming is one of the busiest weekends of the year here at Ohio University. With current students excited to participate in the weekend festivities and alumni coming back to relive their college days, homecoming weekend is always a packed house. One of the big festivities of the weekend is the annual parade. This year there has been much discussion about the route of the parade being modified to bypass the construction on Union Street as well as most of Court Street entirely.
Many people and business owners are unhappy with the change of the parade route. According to The Post this change has been in discussion for a few years now. Many people may not have noticed, but since 2012 every year they have shortened the time that the parade is on Court Street. With the parade usually on Court Street there have been many inappropriate behavior from spectators at uptown bars, which has led university and city officials to alter the route.
A big part of homecoming weekend is hanging uptown especially for alumni who are coming back. Local businesses look forward to these big weekends because it’s their busiest weekend of the fall semester. If the parade is not on Court Street, local business owners worry because when you take the crowd away you also take the business too. The new route will travel from Union Street to President’s Street before heading toward Baker Center. Many people assumed the new route was because of part of Union Street being closed off from the fire, last November, but according to the Athens Uptown Business Owners Association this route is here to stay. There will be modifications in the future, but they are proposing an alternative route that will bypass the bars.
Personally, I always enjoyed having the parade on Court Street. Court Street is such as big part of Campus and what we love about OU. Our favorite restaurants, bars and shops are all located uptown in what many people call the heart of Athens. This new route to the parade may not be on Court Street, but it won’t stop the alumni and current students to enjoy all the things they love uptown for homecoming weekend. You can take the parade out of Court Street, but you can’t take Court Street out of our hearts.
