A journey through the history of Halloween in Athens

Following is the definitive history of Halloween in Athens — that is, modern Halloween in Athens. We really can’t say what those Ohio Company colonists back in the late 1700s were doing on Halloween night. Who needs a costume when you’ve got a cool tri-corn hat, nifty knee breeches, and a cracking muzzle-loader.

Following is the definitive history of Halloween in Athens — that is, modern Halloween in Athens. We really can’t say what those Ohio Company colonists back in the late 1700s were doing on Halloween night. Who needs a costume when you’ve got a cool tri-corn hat, nifty knee breeches, and a cracking muzzle-loader.

No, this history begins in 1974, when the street takeovers began in Athens on Halloween, and ends on the present day, which is the 30th year of the Athens celebration. Unfortunately, we don’t have photos going back to those early years.

One more note: throughout these articles, you’ll see mention of various city officials, local personages and students. Many of these people are no longer in the positions they were in when these articles were written. For example: former Police Chief Ted Jones, quoted as the police chief in the early years of the party, eventually became chief of OU Campus Safety, and Joel Rudy, former Dean of Students at OU, left. From here on out, please enjoy the history:

1974: The Beginnning

 “Last night’s full moon brought out all the crazies who took time off from their revelry … and halted traffic on Court Street in front of the courthouse.”

The above quote appeared as a caption for a front-page picture of costumed partiers who trapped a semi-truck on Court Street while it attempted to make a delivery at the former Baskin-Robbins on West Union Street in Athens. The date was Oct. 31, 1974.

Little did anyone suspect that the two-hour street takeover by Ohio University students on that historic Tuesday night would start an annual Halloween celebration. The event has occurred repeatedly for the past 24 years and has been sanctioned by the city of Athens for the past 10 years. After years of stonewalling, the city administration has finally given up opposing the Halloween celebration.

The Oct. 29, 1940 edition of The Athens Messenger reported a Halloween street party on Court Street. The article detailed how the Athens Kiwanis Club and the Junior Chamber of Commerce sponsored a community street party.

The modern-day Halloween street party first reared its partying head in 1974. According to the OU Post, the uptown bar crowd — decked out in costumes — attempted to trap a semi-truck’s delivery to the ice cream store on West Union Street as the costumed students took over the street “for close to two hours around midnight,” the Post reported.

Some of the ugliness associated with later Halloween parties also made an appearance on that warm evening in 1974.

The Post reported that several men “wearing flannel shirts,” took it upon themselves to assist police with controlling the crowd by arresting some of the celebrants, and got a little carried away. At one point, one of them threatened a celebrant saying, “Walk or I’ll break your arm.”

1975: Mystery Year

No written documentation can be found of any type of Halloween street party in 1975. Ohio University held homecoming during the Halloween weekend of that year, and the only reference to Halloween located in the Post or the Messenger is a picture in the OU student newspaper.

Some alumni recall Court Street  takeovers every year from 1974 on, but their memories are notoriously fuzzy. Suffice to say, uptown probably was full of drunken students in costumes; we just don’t know how many or whether they took over the street.

1976: out of control

In 1976, crowds again took over Court Street, and, according to news reports, things got out of control, both on the part of participants and those attempting to control them. “A sometimes unruly Halloween crowd, at times numbering around 500, spilled into Court Street,” the Post reported.

After closing the street shortly after 11 p.m., the crowd threw bottles and firecrackers, and jumped on cars and kicked vehicles. “Most participants were students dressed in Halloween costumes,” the Messenger reported. More than 500 people partied on Court Street, while police arrested 15 participants.

Athens Police, who had wanted to clear the street of the illegal crowd, expressed anger with then-Mayor Donald Barrett, who had been photographed with some of the costumed students and had forbidden police from taking any action to stop the celebration. The Fraternal Order of Police issued a statement, declaring they were “humiliated” by Barrett’s decision.

Calling for Barrett’s resignation, the police stated, “We feel there is no real law enforcement for politics.” Then-Police Chief Ted Jones stated the following week, “My men were humiliated and not allowed to do the job that is expected of them. They were forced to stand around and be physically and verbally abused.” Jones hinted that OU and the city’s bars were at least partly to blame.

Barrett, despite his involvement, took a stronger stance against the university. “Speaking in general, higher education has abdicated the serious responsibility of setting the tone and to create an environment where the people involved turned out a heck of a lot better than what we witnessed Saturday night.”

However, the mayor defended his action of preventing police from clearing the street, saying that the street should have been cleared but an “alternative” method was needed besides police force.

In retrospect, Barrett’s decision not to clear the street signaled a growing restraint on the part of the city — given that Athens had been rocked by bloody riots every spring quarter since the early ‘70s. While the annual riots may have started as an outgrowth of student activism in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, they deteriorated into raw expressions of frustration and antagonism between students and town police. The confrontations often ended with Athens Police, backed up by reinforcements from other southeast Ohio police departments, donning riot gear and spraying the crowd with large wooden pellets and tear gas, and receiving flying bricks in return.

The mayor’s actions on that evening in 1976 could be credited as one of the origins of the modern Halloween street party in Athens, while at the same time it marked the beginning of the end of the spring riots. Through the efforts of several campus and community organizations, the spring riots disappeared two years later in 1978.

Halloween, however, continued to grow.

1977: Organized

In 1977, after two years of illegal street takeovers, impromptu parties and a lot of community discussion, both the city and the university attempted to organize the festivities. Early in the fall, Athens City Council passed a resolution closing the street and endorsing an “official Halloween celebration.” University officials took charge of the event and planned a variety of activities.

One possible reason for the sanctioned event was the fact that OU’s Homecoming coincided with Halloween in 1977. Although a previous homecoming in 1975 occurred during Halloween and no street takeover took place, city and university officials cannot be blamed for wanting to take no chances after the chaos of 1976.

After the street was blocked off at dusk, an “all campus/community costume judging contest” was held at Baker Center and, beginning at 10:30 p.m., music was provided to the crowd from a large stage constructed in front of the Athens County Courthouse.

Shortly after midnight, the OU Marching 110 paraded through the crowd, led by then-Dean of Students Carol Harter, who was dressed in appropriate green and white as an OU cheerleader. On the heels of the band, OU’s Food Services rolled in a 4-by-8 foot cake, which was then immediately sliced into 2,300 pieces for the crowd. OU’s then President Charles Ping and Provost Neil Bucklew reportedly attended the party.

“I think things went incredibly well,” then-Associate Dean of Students James Hartman said. Mayor Barrett echoed Hartman’s observation, saying: “I think the OU students conducted themselves very well under the circumstances.”

Athens police estimated the crowd at 7,000, while Barrett placed the figure 1,000 higher. A total of 65 people were arrested (36 for open container violations, 28 for disorderly conduct). Eight of those 65 were OU students.

1978: Fop cries foul

The city and university once again sanctioned uptown revelry the following year in 1978 — and the event grew larger.

Discord over a Halloween street party surfaced as soon as plans for the event were announced, however. The Fraternal Order of Police stated publicly that the party placed a tremendous workload on the police, city and university, and it “inconvenienced” the community. The police also expressed concern that the Halloween party possessed the “potential for destruction and disaster.”

Planners of the event, however, said they felt a safe and fun evening was possible. “I’m genuinely optimistic,” Mayor  Barrett said prior to the weekend.

Despite opposition from the FOP, the “Community Halloween Festival Night” went on as scheduled. “The atmosphere was one of a country fair,” described the Post.

Once again OU Food Services provided a giant cake, and Harter again joined the party — this time dressed as the Madwoman of Chaillot, complete with black cape and pointed hat. Families with children were in abundance, lending a community atmosphere.

Officials estimated that 12,000 attended what was later tagged as “the largest uptown street party in the history of the city.” Police arrested 124 people over the weekend, 14 of them OU students. Approximately 28 percent of those arrested listed their college address as Columbus, lending support to the belief that the event attracted a large contingent from Ohio State.

The night was described as “relatively quiet,” with “minimal damage.” However, the large crowd and the arrest figures frightened many city and university officials, who cited the large out-of-town contingent as a deterrent to any future parties.

Police Chief Jones stated that the event “borders on the uncontrollable.” Police Sgt. Ernie Antle was cut on the head during an altercation and received six stitches, the Post reported.

1979: the crowd rules!

Because of the large and boisterous crowd that attended the previous year, in 1979 the “Community Halloween Festival Night” lost both its official community designation from the city and sponsorship from the university.

In addition, Police Chief Ted Jones warned that no street takeover would be permitted. Jones cited growing fear of the city’s liability for the event and the nagging question of what would happen if a fire or other disaster struck uptown during the party.

OU’s Student Senate sponsored informal “rap sessions” (remember this was pre-Public Enemy) during the fall quarter, warning students — especially freshmen — and reviewing the dangers of participating in uptown “disturbances.”

In an effort to do something about the situation, OU administrators began planning for Halloween during the summer. Compounding the Halloween dilemma was a scheduling snafu. OU had scheduled Parents Weekend for the same weekend as the now-traditional street party.

In order to appease students and avoid situations where parents would witness student/police confrontations, the university sponsored a Halloween party in the Convocation Center, led by OU official Carol Harter. The party included refreshments, costume judging, live music and other activities.

Approximately 4,000 students and their parents attended the Convo party, university officials estimated. But as soon as the Marching 110 — the star attraction of the evening — performed, more than 3,500 of the crowd left, presumably for uptown, where an illegal street party was already underway.

Local newspapers estimated that 5,000 people took part in the uptown party. Police closed off part of Court Street at 9: 30 p.m., when the crowd became too large for the sidewalks. The rest of the street — between Washington and Union streets— fell to the crowd at 11:30 p.m., shortly after the marching band finished its performance in the Convo. The Post later remarked in an article, “It appeared most of the fears of the city and university were realized as students generally ignored the OU administration-sponsored party in the Convocation Center and joined the large wave of out-of-towners uptown.”

The party lasted until well past 3 a.m., with many parents obviously attending, even though a 45-minute rainstorm shortly after midnight forced much of the crowd to leave for shelter. Police arrested 141 people (another 63 had been arrested the night before), and Jones called the crowd “large and belligerent.”

Harter, whose Convo party was considered by many a “bust,” said afterward that the Court Street “festivities lacked a festive mood…”

1980: Party Gets reliGION

During the years when no organized party was held and crowds pretty well took over Court Street at will, post-mortems often focused on just when and how the street takeover occurred. In 1980, the first year of the Reagan Revolution, the party started on a religious note.

According to media reports, the street didn’t fall to the crowd until shortly before 10:30 p.m., but on Friday, not Saturday. At 10:20 p.m., the Post reported, the sidewalks were packed with costumed revelers impatiently awaiting some sign that the street party had arrived a day early. As luck would have it, two men, both dressed as the Pope, spotted each other from opposite sides of the street. The ersatz pontiffs stepped into the street, joined and embraced, signaling the crowd (estimated at more than 6,000) to follow. As one police officer later said, there were “too many of them” to prevent the street takeover.

Court Street was closed for more than five hours; 145 people were arrested, primarily for disorderly conduct charges.

One problem developed when the crowd engulfed cars left parked on Court Street before the party. During the Friday night party, the crowd rocked cars caught in the crush and harassed their drivers. Police wrestled two men, dressed in petticoats, to the ground after the pair climbed on a car roof. These incidents presaged future problems of this type at Halloween.

On Saturday, another large crowd gathered along Court Street sidewalks, but the street didn’t close. Overall, a total of 222 people were arrested during the weekend.

1981: Students step in

Several student groups attempted to deal with the Halloween problem in 1981. Early in September and after a meeting with Police Chief Jones, Student Senate President Greg Moore announced plans for a Senate-sponsored party uptown. Moore’s plan hinged on holding the party in the Intramural and College Street parking lots, and the owner of the Intramural lot (now Secure Parking) gave his permission without charging any fee for its use.

Moore approached City Council with the idea, but received a cold shoulder.

Athens Law Director Garry Hunter reflected that attitude in his opposition to the parking lot entertainment. Hunter said that the Court Street takeover was due to a “concerted effort” by pedestrians to take over the street. He voiced the fear that if the party were held in the parking lot, the crowd could possibly spill not only onto Court Street, but onto College Street as well.

Chief Jones again criticized any attempt at an uptown party. “The goal (city and university officials) worked towards is to remove the Halloween party from Court Street,” Jones told the Post. “That was the goal when I met with Greg Moore and (then-Post editor) Andy Benson in May. Now for Senate to come back and engineer a party adjacent to Court Street is exactly opposite of what we’re trying to do.”

Undaunted by Moore’s failure, two other student government groups stepped into the void. Mike Baker, president of the South Green Council, announced at the beginning of October that the green’s government would sponsor a “Mock Court Street Halloween Party.” Featuring live bands, vendors, beer, games and contests, Baker said the event would be an attractive alternative to keep students off Court Street.

For the party South Green residence halls constructed mock facades of popular uptown businesses, allowing students to party on the grass and under trees in the green’s commons and still enjoy a quasi-uptown street party atmosphere.

Nonetheless, costumed students returned to Court Street. Police estimated the crowd at 8,000 — some 2,000 more than the previous year. The takeover began at 9 p.m. when four males dressed as motorcycle gang members walked into the street at the intersection of Washington and Court streets and began ushering the crowd off the sidewalks.

Police arrested 118 people, including an OU student who reportedly put his head through an Athens County Courthouse window. “We should have enough policemen to get these people off the streets,” lamented Chief Jones. “It’s time we put a stop to it.”

As Jones and the approximately 100 police officers monitoring the crowd nervously watched uptown, the two OU-sanctioned parties rolled along successfully. An estimated 8,000 people attended the South Green function, organizers said.

At least two national publication highlighted Athens’ notorious party during October 1981, lending credence to university officials’ fears that the event would attract more unwanted out-of-town visitors.

1982: GOIN’ SOUTH

Capitalizing on the success of the South Green Council, Joel Rudy, who later became dean of students at OU, joined the “Halloween Party diversion” game in 1982, this time calling the South Green function, “Halloween — the Night You’ll Go South.” Some 10,000 people did go south, but either they didn’t stay the entire night, or official crowd estimates for Halloween were way off mark.

The Athens NEWS estimated the uptown crowd the night of “Halloween-South, Part II” to be somewhere between 10,000 and 12,000 partiers, though all evening steady streams of costumed revelers wandered between the legal South Green party and the illegal Court Street bash. This may have marked the first time that The Athens NEWS entered the now-annual Halloween crowd guessing game, with the city and university always coming up with substantially lower crowd estimates than those advanced by NEWS Publisher Bruce Mitchell. (In recent years, everybody has pretty much agreed that the crowds are gigantic.)

1983: SIMMERING DOWN

 “The celebration came off with no noteworthy calamities,” The Athens NEWS reported on Oct. 30, 1983, about that year’s Halloween party.

According to police estimates, 10,000 partiers roamed Court Street in every conceivable type of costume from Ronald Reagan, Playboy bunnies and nuns to renditions of Mr. T and swarms of Killer Bees, courtesy of the then-nascent “Saturday Night Live.” Long-time Athenians said it was one of the most peaceful Halloweens in recent years, and police officers on duty admitted the crowd seemed less rowdy than the previous year.

Police called the crowd “generally well-behaved,” but some vandalism and damage did occur.

1984: LIL’ BO PEEP

In an effort to fill the void left by the departure of both the university and the city from Halloween planning, a group of Athens business people banded together to form the Athens Clean and Safe Halloween Committee.

“The response from the business community has been overwhelming,” said Bruce Mitchell of The Athens NEWS, acting chairman of the committee. “We’re not trying to promote Halloween; we’re just trying to make it cleaner and safer.”

With the help of 20 uptown businesses, mostly bars and restaurants, the committee raised more than $1,000 to pay for the rental of portable toilets the night of the celebration. The 20 portable toilets were located in the Intramura parking lot (now Secure Parking).

Meanwhile, city and university officials hoped Halloween would attract fewer people to Court Street. But 9,000 partiers showed up anyway, taking over the street for almost seven hours beginning at 9:15 p.m.

One rumor that night maintained that an escaped lunatic dressed as Little Bo Peep would conduct a mass murder (some versions said at a sorority house).

“When you get this many people in here and 20 or 30 Bo Peeps (which became a popular costume), people get scared,” said Ptl. Jerry Elgin. However, none of the Bo Peeps was reported to have conducted any mass murders, and the rumor has resurfaced every year since.

Police did have to contend with a rash of bomb threats but no bombs exploded.

Dean of Students Rudy, who was just coming into his own as the university’s point man on Halloween, was critical of the party. “It has continued to be the kind of event that OU and Athens just can’t handle,” Rudy told the Post. “It attracts people from out of town who just don’t give a damn about this community. We find ourselves faced with hordes of people, many of whom are drunk and disorderly. Many students I talked with, especially freshmen, talked about how boring it was. After so many years, the fun may have gone out of it.”

Subsequent years proved Rudy wrong.

1985: MORE PLANS

For the second consecutive year, the Clean and Safe Halloween Committee took charge in hopes of guaranteeing a safe and clean celebration. Besides the printing and distribution of a flier informing visitors about the dos and don’ts, portable toilets, and clean-up after the party, the committee sponsored a children’s costume party and provided live entertainment.

Strategically placed in the Intramura parking lot, the committee erected a stage and sound system. The night of the Halloween street takeover, three bands and a disc jockey performed and entertained the crowd. Probably one of the committee’s best ideas was the addition of free parking at the Athens County Fairgrounds. Shuttle service was provided from the fairgrounds to uptown.

The committee’s co-chair, Athens businessman Walt Babics, said the event helped the local economy.

However, neither the city administration nor the university thought much of the committee’s attempt at making the event safer.

“It’s ironic students who only live here three-fourths of the year recognize the potential tragedy Halloween presents, and permanent residents continue to perpetuate it,” complained Police Chief Jones about the committee’s efforts. Mayor Ed Beckett, who took over from Barrett two years earlier, was even harsher in his statements about the Clean and Safe Halloween Committee. “In no way is a drunken brawl in the city’s interest,” Beckett said. “If the A-NEWS and these self-serving business people would stop promoting (Halloween), maybe it would slow down to the point where the city could contribute sponsorship.”

Official crowd estimates were placed at 8,000, and the Messenger reported that more than four city blocks of Court and Union streets were taken over by the crowd. Police arrested 103 participants for misdemeanor violations, while another 72 were cited for various infractions but not jailed. Police reported also that vandalism was up from the previous year.

Shortly after 1:30 a.m., when the crowd was beginning to leave uptown for home, a spectacular fire broke out at OU’s Peden Stadium, which pulled police officers off the street and committed the city’s entire fire department to battle the blaze. The fire, which lasted more than six hours and caused more than $350,000 damage, was determined later to be the result of arson, but nobody ever figured out who did it and why.

1986: SURVEY SAYS…

At 7:30 p.m. on the night of Nov. 1, a warm Indian summer breeze blowing, the sidewalks along Court Street overflowed with vampires, flashers, human beer bottles and assorted other costumed characters. At approximately 8:45 p.m., the crowd surged into the street and Halloween 1986 had begun. The city estimated the crowd size at 7,000, though, true to form, Mitchell and others on the Clean and Safe Halloween Committee estimated the crowd at its peak at roughly 25,000.

A total of 88 people were arrested the night before, police reported. Once again the Halloween committee provided free parking at the fairgrounds and a shuttle service to uptown.

1987: record crowd

 “Halloween already is beginning to haunt city council,” the Post wrote on Sept. 29, 1987. The reason for the early interest in the event was that Bruce Mitchell and Pat Sauber, co-chairs of the Clean and Safe Halloween Committee, approached city council in September with the idea of actually closing the street and making the street party legal.

The purpose of a legal street closing and sanctioned party was to create a focal point for the event, Mitchell said. With the street closed, the committee offered to construct a bandstand across the north end of the street, with the idea that the crowd would be dispersed over a wider area.

Council ended up approving the measure to close the street by a vote of 6 to 1. However, Mayor Ed Beckett vetoed the ordinance less than one week before the event, preventing city council from overriding his decision.

Beckett’s veto didn’t stop the committee from continuing with its plans, however.

The Halloween committee scheduled plans for the Secure Parking lot, including an expanded children’s program, bands and portable toilets, along with free transportation to and from Athens County Fairgrounds.

Both city and committee officials agreed that the party was the celebration’s largest crowd in its controversial history, with more than 12,000-15,000 in attendance — according to official estimates. The Halloween committee leaders, of course, estimated that twice that number participated in the event over the course of the evening. “I’d say it was the biggest crowd to date, organized or not,” said police Lt. Rick Mayer, who estimated the crowd size as “too large.”

Although crowds began to gather on the uptown sidewalks as early as 6 p.m., the annual student-led coup of uptown’s main street did not begin until shortly before 8:30 p.m.

Mayer reported that Saturday’s arrest figures totaled 92, with an additional 70 citations being issued to people on the street.

While no serious accidents were reported in connection with the street party, one visitor to Athens died from injuries received when he fell from a third-story window in Brown Hall Saturday evening.

One of the more talked-about incidents occurred late in the evening and prolonged the event slightly.

Two young women bared their breasts to an encouraging crowd from an apartment window at 19-1/2 N. Court St. as the crowd was departing for home shortly before 2 a.m.

The crowd, which had been dwindling, reversed itself and swelled to a boisterous throng, hooting and hollering “beneath yon window ledge.” Police deflated the moment, however, when they raided the apartment from the rear and arrested the two women for disorderly conduct. This sort of thing would become common in future years.

1988: brrrrrr...

At a city council meeting late in September, members of the Clean and Safe Halloween Committee announced that after four years of thankless endeavor they were taking their porta-potties and going home.

Taking credit for a steady improvement in the safety and organization of Halloween, and blasting Mayor Sara Hendricker for what they called a lack of leadership, members informed the mayor that she wouldn’t have the committee to kick around anymore. Clean and Safe chairman Bruce Mitchell groused, “We have taken nothing but grief from the administration for our efforts.”

Quickly moving into the void left by Clean and Safe was the Student Responsible Halloween Committee, a group put together by OU sophomore Mike Mastrino.

Mastrino announced that his group would attempt to pick up the ball where the Clean and Safe Committee left it, and began negotiations to line up parking, toilets, clean-up and entertainment for the big night. Mitchell donated $800 of the Clean and Safe Committee’s money to get the ball rolling.  

After some political squabbling, however, City Council declined to support the group.

Despite the big build-up, the celebration itself was, according to The NEWS, a “relatively tranquil, harmless” affair, thanks no doubt to redoubled security efforts by Athens and OU police, and a cold snap that took temperatures down to freezing Saturday night.

Police Chief Rick Mayer estimated crowd size at between 8,000 and 10,000, down from previous years — an assertion that Hendricker and Dean of Students Rudy cited as proof that Halloween was fading away like a bad dream. Councilmember Guy Philips disputed this estimate, guessing that the crowd was around the same size as that of 1987.

1989: politicking

Athens Mayor Sara Hendricker didn’t have to veto the closing of Court Street for Halloween ‘89; City Council did it for her.

In an Oct. 2 meeting that Her Honor chose not to attend, council split 3-3 over whether the south end of Court Street should be closed and a bandstand erected. Because Council President Steve Kropf was acting for Hendricker in her absence, he couldn’t cast the tie-breaking vote, and the motion limped off to the Halloween ordinance graveyard with its forebears. (Hendricker had promised to veto if it passed anyway.)

Then, in an effort to head the unofficial Halloween party off at the pass, Hendricker shelled out $200 of city money to place ads in several college newspapers around the state, hinting that Athens might not be the most hospitable place to party away the Halloween weekend.

Though the ads didn’t specifically say, “Don’t come,” they pointed out how very dutiful Athens Police officers can be when enforcing, say, parking regulations. Dailies such as the Akron Beacon Journal also picked up on the story. The usual exchange of pleasantries among interested local parties followed:

Bruce Mitchell: “(The ads) may bring more people — the wrong type of people.”

Hendricker: “He can mouth off all he wants.”

The more things change …

When the party finally came off, it was … fair to middling, as these things go. The street fell minutes after 9 p.m. on Saturday, a few more people were arrested than in 1988, and crowd estimates ranged from a conservative 8,000 (Athens Police Department) to an optimistic 25,000 (Bruce Mitchell).

1990: it’s official!

Finally, an official Halloween bash!

With a snip of the scissors and a snipe at the mayor, the Athens Clean and Safe Halloween Committee closed down Court Street and opened up the city to a sanctioned Halloween in 1990.

The Athens city police department placed the crowd size on Court street at an estimated 12,000 during the peak hour of 11 p.m. to midnight. However, in a press release, the police stated that a crowd “that may have been equal to the crowd uptown” wandered in the three-block area adjacent to Court Street — adding up to a total Halloween attendance of some 24,000.

“That’s probably without a doubt the worst crowd estimate since Custer,” said committee co-chair Bill Bias who placed the crowds to a number around 30,000 to 35,000 at its peak. Total Halloween attendance probably came close to 50,000, he argued.

Arrests were down from last year’s 154 arrests to 113 Saturday night. Friday’s figures were also down. Forty-one arrests were made as opposed to 70 in 1989. About one-third of the arrests were OU students.

1991: routine

In its second straight year as a city-sanctioned event, the uptown party took a long stride toward the respectability its backers have long claimed it can achieve. Uptown partiers said the event was a mellow, enjoyable affair, and praised police for their non-confrontational attitude.

1992: big crowds

Good weather, good music and good food combined to make Halloween 1992 in Athens the biggest in the event’s 18-year history.

The Clean and Safe Halloween Committee placed the record-breaking crowd at 20,000 to 30,000. With police estimating the crowd at around 25,000, 1992 marked a significant change in the traditional gap between committee estimates (high) and police estimates (low). From this point until the most recent Halloween, the police estimates — at least in the estimation of Halloween supporters — would be more realistic.

For the third year running, Halloween was sanctioned by Athens City Council.

The huge crowd was sprinkled with many non-student faces — partly a reflection of the number of parents in town for OU’s Parents Weekend. Most huddled on the sidewalks, their expressions a mixture of disbelief and humor.

Arrests on Saturday were slightly up from last year, but lower than 1990’s figures. On Halloween night, 101 people were arrested, most for disorderly conduct.

As in other years, Police Chief Rick Mayer said that arrests for disorderly conduct increased as the night wore on.

Still in opposition of the annual street party, Mayor Sarah Hendricker came out strong against Halloween again in an interview with the Messenger.

1993: alaska

Halloween?

Though the ’93 street party wasn’t plagued by excessive rowdiness, it did get hit with probably the worst Halloween weather in 20 years — a steady, freezing rain that turned to snow. The untoward weather may have helped contribute to the relative calmness of the event, though in the last few years Halloween had been getting less frenzied anyway.

Arrests were up slightly from 1992, though not by much, and there weren’t any major offenses. The Clean and Safe Committee gauged the peak ’93 crowd as a bit smaller (20,000 to 25,000 people) than the record-breaking 30,000 from the year before.

Athens Police Chief Rick Mayer figured the crowd was “about the same” as in ’92; seeing as how he’d estimated the ’92 crowd at 24,000 to 26,000, that put the police and the Halloween committee’s numbers right in the same ballpark.

1994: a bit warmer

The warmest Halloween weather in years brought out almost 30,000 partiers to the Court Street bash and racked up a record number of arrests.

Eighty-seven people were arrested Friday night and 210 Saturday night. The 297 arrests greatly outweighed 1993’s 182 arrests and 1992’s 141 arrests.

Athens Police Chief Rick Mayer blamed the number of arrests on the 30,000-plus crowd that he said was “more antagonistic” than previous years and spread out along side streets.

Paul Jacobson, co-chair of the Clean and Safe Halloween Committee, said that the arrest numbers have grown over the years because of underage drinking. According to a police press release, 89 out of the 210 arrests Saturday night did stem from underage consumption/possession violations. Jacobson said, however, that although the crowd was bigger than (in 1993) — when an estimated 25,000 people packed Athens — people didn’t appear to be much rowdier. “I saw more people having fun than getting into trouble,” he said.

Mayer, as in previous years, was still annoyed by the annual uptown bash, and in a press release asked, “Why should we, the residents of Athens, be locked into playing host to a wave of out-of-town late night partiers that increase city expenses, vandalism and disorderliness?”

1995: Boo! not so scary

Neither rain, nor cold, nor dark of night kept Ohio University partiers and their many out-of-town friends from their self-appointed rounds on Court Street as Athens once again celebrated Halloween.

As usual, a huge number of people thronged the streets, many of them intoxicated, resulting in a large number of arrests and plenty of work for local police. A total of 279 people were arrested on Friday and Saturday by police, 184 of them on Saturday (down from 1994’s 210 arrests).

 “I thought it was one of the largest crowds that I’ve ever seen,” Athens Police officer Tom Pyle said.

Some of the costumes that stuck out during the evening:  a Bill Clinton jogger (there were a few Clintons), accompanied by Secret Service officers; Judge Lance Ito, though since there were more than one, it might have been the Judge Ito dancers from the Tonight Show; and cavemen, who did a good job acting like cavemen, but could have used a little more clothes, preferably underwear.

1996: horsing around

Perhaps the largest Halloween crowd ever in Athens paraded through the uptown streets during Halloween 1996, resulting in a slight increase in arrests over 1995, but no major new problems.

Athens Police Chief Rick Mayer, in a prepared release, said the crowd was “probably the largest I have seen.” The peak crowd, Mayer said, was larger than that in 1995, though the area around the bandstand was “not as jammed as last year.”

 The police department had about 30 horseback patrol units on hand for the street party, mainly with the intent of watching over the side streets.

Jonathan Holmberg, chair of the Clean and Safe Halloween Committee, said he was among those impressed by the equestrian units.

Arrests were up slightly over 1995 year, according to the police, as 211 people were arrested on Saturday night. This is up from the 184 arrests in 1995, but up only by one arrest from the 210 in 1994.

The majority of the arrests were for underage consumption/possession and disorderly conduct.

Once again, the bulk of the arrests involved people who came in from out of town for the bash, according to the prepared release.

1997: indecent exposure

The size of the 1997 Halloween block party crowd — estimated at more than 30,000 — and the number of arrests — 318 for Friday and Saturday night — didn’t change much from the previous year’s party, police officials reported. But a notorious new trend popped up. Seemingly in the spirit of Mardi Gras, many revelers clamored for young women on second-story Court Street balconies to bare their bosoms, and a few of them happily obliged. A few males also reportedly got into the act, with their … um, well, you know.

In one particular incident, when a reveler exposed herself after 20 minutes of crowd coaxing, a mob on North Court Street around Zachary’s Delicatessen went into a frenzy, reportedly coming close to pressing into, and breaking, a storefront window. The police responded by wading into the crowd on foot and horseback to break up the crowd. Businesses in the area also reportedly had to usher people out their back doors to relieve the pressure of the mob.

The next day, Athens Police Chief Rick Mayer acknowledged that people in second-story windows exhibiting “nude behavior” and dropping things repeatedly incited the Halloween crowd.

The police chief, a persistent critic of the street party over the years, also expressed concerns about the lack of organization surrounding the party. In January, Athens Mayor Ric Abel tried to address those party planning concerns by creating the Halloween Task Force, a group of city officials, merchants, local residents, Ohio University administrators and students, to develop ways to make the annual street bash safer and more organized. The task force presented Athens City Council with dozens of proposals in July, and later expressed some criticism when council didn’t follow some of the suggestions, such as placing the bandstand at Court and President streets, after months of task force planning.  

1998: pleasant surprise

Despite loud objections from some OU students before the fact, it appeared that the university’s efforts to help keep the 1998 uptown Halloween celebration under control might have had a positive impact on the street party

“We did the only two things that we knew as options to do,” OU President Glidden said the morning after the party.

And according to local police, those two things — limiting the number of guests OU dorm residents could have in their rooms and prohibiting parking in university lots — seemed to have made the cops’ job of controlling the uptown bash a whole lot easier.

Arrests on Friday and Saturday nights were about average or a little lower than usual for an Athens Halloween, and the partiers were generally mellow. Eighty-two people were arrested Friday night/Saturday morning (not counting Highway Patrol arrests) and 201 people Saturday night/Sunday morning.

Chief Mayer did cite one problem area  — the increasing number of partiers exposing themselves to others, mainly from upper-floor windows along Court Street.

This was also a year in which city council OK'd moving the bandstand to the south end of Court Street, a move that the university opposed because of the proximity to the College Green and campus buildings. Predictions that the crowd would trash the green, however, never became reality. No significant damage occurred to the green or nearby OU buildings.

1999: giant pumpkin

The uptown crowd for Halloween ‘99 was reportedly one of the bigger ones in history, as befitted the Last Halloween of the Millennium. Only 68 people were arrested in connection with the Halloween festivities on Saturday and Sunday — the second-lowest number on record. Total arrests were also lower than usual, with 284 Friday and Saturday.

One new and useful wrinkle in the Halloween ‘99 celebration was the involvement of city safety teams, which provided directions to partiers, gave information on what behaviors are and are not legal, and alerted police officers to fights and other problems.

Another new Halloween tradition that debuted last year was the giant pumpkin, a large facsimile gourd that descended slowly at midnight down the front of The Athens NEWS building, similar to Times Square in New York on New Year’s Eve.

2000: 20 Year Mellow

In what those who can count recognized as the true last Athens Halloween of the 20th century, the uptown horde was once again sweet as a litter of kitties. Event organizer Jonathan Holmberg called the crowd gathered around the bandstand one of the mellowest he’d seen in 20 years.

Arrests by city police were down from 1999, with a mere 42 people arrested on Friday and 86 on Saturday. One possible explanation, according to Police Chief Rick Mayer, was that for some occult reason known only to state officials, the town wasn’t nearly as lousy with Ohio liquor control agents as is usually the case on Halloween weekend.

One disturbing trend cited by Mayer was the continuing tendency of some partiers to air out portions of their bodies that are best kept under wraps in a drunken mob. Female breasts, mainly. And as noted by the chief, the very sight of those is likely to “incite” many male crowd members; probably based on the fact that Mommy weaned them too early.

2001: nicer all the time

In 2001 the uptown Halloween party continued to grow ever kinder, ever gentler. Going into the first Athens Halloween following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, local officials were a bit nervous, but luckily nothing terrible happened.

Just in case, a big warning siren was mounted atop the armory building at the north end of Court Street, which could have been used to warn partiers off the street in the event of a disaster.

Based partly on their fears that such a huge crowd could potentially be a target for terrorism, local police deliberately aimed to keep the party mellow and the arrests low. They succeeded admirably, hauling only 47 revelers to the slammer on Saturday. County Sheriff Vern Castle called the Halloween crowd possibly the best behaved he’d ever seen. Group hug, you big galoots.

2002: Bigger, badder, better?

Halloween 2002 sported larger crowds, more costumes, more arrests and a few more reports of violence — including one rape — than the previous several years.

However, it was uncertain whether the increased arrests resulted from more misbehavior by partiers or more energetic enforcement by police.

Police booked 70 people on various charges Saturday night and early Sunday morning, 23 more than in 2001, according to Athens Police Chief Rick Mayer. Most of the arrests were for disorderly conduct by intoxication.

Mayer declined to give crowd estimates, though in recent years, various observers have estimated the crowds as high as 30,000. This year’s crowd size was larger than in recent years, according to some Halloween veterans, including police officers on the scene.

In the weeks after the party, Chief Mayer claimed that the crowds are getting less manageable and more violent.

2003: TROUBLE, LOTS OF TROUBLE

Halloween in 2003 sported a big black eye, and it wasn’t the kind you put on with makeup.

The uptown party itself, ironically enough, was mostly a happy, mellow event.  It was after the streets were cleared that things got hairy. Athens Mayor Ric Abel called it his worst Halloween in eight years on the job.

Reported problems that took place after midnight Saturday included a multiple stabbing on Columbus Road, the attempted theft of a car from some Kent State visitors, two young women being dragged behind an SUV on Court Street, and what police described as a “riot” in the Mill-Stewart-Palmer streets neighborhood shortly after 5 a.m., which was broken up by officers in riot gear.

According to police accounts, a series of five fires were set, using couches and other materials, and bottles and other items were thrown at officers and firefighters. Extra officers were called in to control the situation while the last fire was put out, the report said, though the crowd kept heaving projectiles at officers from rooftops and darkened yards.

Finally, city officers with backup from OU Police and other agencies donned riot gear and drove the crowd back into houses. Rioters rolled one car and tried to roll another, police said.

Ohio University and city officials have been working together closely to try to make sure such things don’t happen at future Halloweens, and new OU President Roderick McDavis and his wife have said they want to “defuse” the celebration.

2004: BACK TO THE ROUTINE

City and Ohio University officials called the 2004 Halloween celebration a distinct improvement over 2003’s, though it was still not without its problems.

Athens Police Chief Rick Mayer described the crowd as "slightly smaller than last year's, but mellower." Arrests, however, were up from 2003, with 98 people booked compared to 66 on Saturday in 2003. Most were for disorderly conduct and underage drinking, with a few more serious and violent offenses mixed in.

On Friday night/Saturday morning, officers arrested 22 people and cited another 40. These numbers include a few arrests by state liquor agents, who made 55 of their own, mostly for underage drinking.

Athens Police Lt. Tony Fish said he couldn’t well gauge how the ’04 Halloween compared to previous ones, because he had missed some recently due to military service, and was in a cruiser for the first time instead of on foot. However, he said, from what he saw the crowd was "pretty rowdy -- not necessarily troublemakers, but rowdy."

2005: TO FENCE OR NOT TO FENCE

As Halloween 2005 approached, Athens City Council members toyed with the idea of throwing up a fence around the whole shootin’ match and charging admission. After toying, however, they dropped the idea, which generated little enthusiasm from the public, and which they estimated would have cost some $20,000 to implement.

Sans enclosure or tickets, the event drew a crowd that police described as “smaller but more belligerent” than that of 2004. A total of 128 people got arrested – 33 Friday, 95 Saturday – and police responded to 14 fights and three assaults on the second night of the weekend.

Other black marks on the festivities included a report of an attempted rape, an incident in which a man fell off a retaining wall into the path of a car, and the vandalizing of about 20 vehicles on Mound Street. One woman called police Friday to report an unidentified man baptizing her bedroom with his precious bodily fluids (i.e. urine).

Temperatures in the low 30s had a chilling effect on the party, but didn’t deter some people from flashing a fair amount of skin on Court Street. While some observers voiced the perennial complaint that “nobody dresses up anymore,” cute costumes sighted by The Athens NEWS included an egg-and-bacon couple; a lusty pirate and his trio of wenches; a pair of fighting cocks (the poultry kind); Pee Wee Herman and Milli Vanilli.

2006: CROWDS DOWN, BUT COSTUMES CREATIVE

The 2006 Halloween bash was “the smallest in years,” according to Police Chief Mayer, who added that the event “went fairly smooth despite the occasional glitch.”

Of course, amid the overall revelry and raucous good time, the usual spate of injuries and arrests occurred, in addition to an armed robbery. A week after the block party, Mayor Abel put the city’s cost at $74,000. He said while revenue was down because of fewer people renting parking spaces, the city had more officers on hand, expecting a larger crowd.

On Saturday night, the city processed 79 people for various offenses, fewer than the previous two years. These numbers don’t include arrests and citations made by the state Department of Public Safety’s liquor agents.

Costumes this year seemed more creative than usual, though the trend of recent years — many young women dressing like floozies and tramps – continued unabated.

This year people dressed up in 1) Couple costumes: Mario and Luigi, Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head, Thing 1 and Thing 2, Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinski (with an incriminating stain on her dress) and a hot air balloon; 2) Group costumes: A Night at the Roxbury, skiers, contestants on the game show GUTS, and Mario Kart racers; 3) Individual costumes: the board game Operation, a Rubik's Cube, Chewbacca, a Lego, and a witch from Gryffindor; and 4) the usual lame-brains who get drunk and then stumble uptown in their underwear.

2007: MELLOW AND MELLOWER

The long-term trend of Halloween gradually morphing into a warm and snuggly PJ party continued in 2007, with even Athens Police Chief Rick Mayer acknowledging that the event was “much mellower” than usual, and that celebrators “didn’t seem as aggressive.”

Given that Mayer had already admitted the party went “fairly smooth” in 2006, it should be no time at all before he pops on a California Raisin costume and joins in the fun.

Arrest numbers continued to move in the right direction, dropping to 34 for Saturday night (not counting those made by state liquor agents).

Mayer also pointed out, however, that with no holding facility available in town, and the only option for holding arrestees the regional jail up in Nelsonville, he had instructed his officers to arrest only those people who really needed arresting.

Costumes? Sure there were costumes. Three young ladies dressed up as Athens’ own Burrito Buggy. A guy who looked remarkably like Tiger Woods dressed up as a golfer, which isn’t really dressing up that much, if you think about it. A couple of girls dressed as cigarette-sucking, hair-curler-wearing, black-eye-sporting, bathrobe-hanging-open American housewives.

The usual number of people dressed up as annoying evangelical Christians, though they may not have been play-acting.

2008: FINALLY, A BEER GARDEN!!

Halloween 2008 enjoyed some of the biggest crowds in several years, no doubt helped along by near perfect weather — balmy but dry.

As in 2007, though, Athens Police reported a relatively mellow Saturday night, with 53 arrests (as usual not counting the liquor agents’ haul).

Police, however, did note concerns about the growing number of people congregating in Mill/Palmer Street student neighborhoods.

This was the first year where a beer garden was operating, on East Union Street between the food buggies and old Baker Center. Organizers reported few problems resulting from the beer sales, though the monetary haul didn’t do as much to defray Halloween expenses as officials had hoped. They predicted, however, that the beer garden will perform better in future years now that they’ve had a trial run.