The Best of Athens 2011 – Miscellaneous

Best of Athens Readers' Choice Awards for the MISCELLANEOUS category.

Best Local Event or Festival
Ohio Brew Week

Snatching first place by only two points is Ohio Brew Week, the weeklong summer celebration of all things beer. No explanation is really needed for why this fest is so appealing. Mark your calendars – it’s slated for July 10-16 this year.

Second place for best fest (or event) goes to the PawPaw Festival (mid-September) out at Lake Snowden in Albany. Claiming third place is Boogie on the Bricks, the July Saturday when Court Street gets riled up with music and booze.

Other events racking up some points were, in order of success, the Halloween Block Party, Nelsonville Music Fest, International Street Fair, Athens Farmers Market, Parade of the Hills, Athens County Fair, # Fest (annual music fest – Six-Fest, Seven-Fest, etc.), Homecoming, Dave Rave, Palmer Fest, OU Moms Weekend, Chili Bowl, Appalachian Spring Festival, Athens Film Festival, Final Fridays in Nelsonville, Lennon Fest and Mill Fest.

Most Annoying Local Controversy
University Estates debacle

The hugely complicated legal mess surrounding the University Estates development wins this annoying category this year. It’s annoying because nobody can figure out whom to root for, the old developer, the new developer, the future developer, the bank or the city of Athens.

And we remember a time when a former developer was so confident of the development that he paid contractors to clear-cut fairways through the hills for an eventual 18-hole golf course. While money and other issues killed that deal, we suspect that the developer at the time just had second thoughts that anyone would want to golf on 90-degree slopes.

Second place for annoying controversy goes to former local politico Susan Gwinn, who actually has receded from the news over the past year. While she’s still appealing a misdemeanor conviction for an election-related offense, most of us have moved along with our lives. Now, readers, when can we say that about you?

Third place goes to “noise ordinances.” While our readers may think this is annoying, we like it here at the newspaper, since debate over strict noise enforcement in Athens encapsulates everything we love about the eternal town vs. gown conflict in Athens.

Other controversies that get mentioned in this category include the Richland Avenue roundabout (controversy, what controversy?), OU Athletics spending, “anything involving OU President McDavis,” OU budget mess, Hocking College, chicken coops, athletics, Christian homophobes, Halloween, Palmer Fest, and a bunch more.

Best Evidence that Athens (County) Is Moving Forward
Roundabout

No, we’re not talking about the classic song by the ’70s band Yes. That would win the category, Best Kick-Ass Bass Line to Open a Classic Rock Song.

Our readers mean our new traffic roundabout. Not only is the roundabout at Richland Avenue and Ohio Rt. 682 a good way to drive around and around, it’s also the Best Evidence That Athens Is Moving Forward, in a straight line as it were. It’s heartening to see the roundabout getting good props from folks, since when it first opened, many local Grandpa Simpsons were whining and moaning about how “this will never work” and “this is really stupid.” Guess who looks stupid now!?

Coming in second is the Athens Farmers Market, which is one of the assets of our community that give it such a topnotch reputation for progressiveness in Ohio.

Third place this year is the Nelsonville bypass, which technically speaking isn’t ready for traffic just yet. But we, too, are anxiously looking forward to making the drive to Columbus without the 65 stoplights that you hit in Nelsonville. Ha, just kidding, there’s only 60 or 61.

Others that did well in this category include the bike path extension, solar panels at the Athens Community Center, more stores on State Street, the GoBus to Columbus and Cincinnati, Dave Rave, and a bunch more.

Best example of local media snoozing
Heroin issue

This area has a heroin issue? Really? Since when? Just kidding. But apparently our readers seem to think that we’re not aware of this troubling problem in our area. We suppose that’s why the heroin issue was voted as best example of local media snoozing. We really have written articles about this, we swear. Perhaps this vote constitutes a clamoring for more? Ask and ye shall receive.

In second place as best example of local media snoozing is the Athens Messenger. So, is that supposed to mean that their whole publication is an example of them snoozing? Yeesh. We’re pretty sure that while the Messenger reporters might indeed be catching some Zs between midnight and 8 a.m., they are no doubt awake during all the government meetings we see them at. We have no reason to suspect they are getting inordinate amounts of sleep, although we aren’t privy to what they might be doing in front of their keyboards.

The same goes for The Post, which came in at number three in this category. Perhaps young people need more rest than the rest of the population, but the Posties are definitely awake during the events that we see them at.

And to be fair, it’s our readers doing the voting, so there might be just an itsy-bitsy amount of bias involved when choosing among the local papers.

Best Local Controversy or Scandal
Susan Gwinn

It’s official. Our readers – quite a few of them, anyhow – don’t much care for Susan Gwinn. Any backhanded category we include in this contest, they vote for Susan. “Best person to pelt with rotten fruit.” “Least popular tool-using biped.” “Person most responsible for local crop failures.” She has even, survey says, now transcended the merely human and become a walking, talking “controversy or scandal.” She must be so proud. (For those of you who have been floating in a sensory-deprivation tank for the last two years and want details of her controversial/scandalous behavior, type “Susan Gwinn” into the search box of our website. We can’t bear to repeat the story one more time.)

Second place goes to “academics vs. athletics debate at Ohio University.” This was a well-attended public event in which the OU football team took on the classics-and-world-religions faculty, arguing the proposition: “That Augustine’s essentially neo-Platonic ontology is ultimately incompatible with his linear eschatology, suggesting that the triple option, properly employed, could once again become a viable offensive strategy in Mid-America Conference play.”

Third place goes to University Estates, a big, litigation-soaked development that is providing houses for many Athens County residents, as well as yachts and BMWs for many lawyers.