Block Party's Mood is Festive and Good Natured

The festivities kicked off at 1 p.m. with family-oriented activities on Court Street between Union and Washington Streets that were organized by the Arts, Parks & Recreation Department.

Face-painting, a scavenger hunt and music courtesy of DJ Rockin' Reggie were also a part of the lineup.

From 1:30 p.m.-2 p.m., a kids costume catwalk was presented on the stage located at the intersection of Court Street and Union Street.

Then, from 2 p.m.-3p.m., Hocus Pocus Drag Shows took place while the Athens Uptown Business Association held trick or treat from 2:30 p.m. until 4:30 p.m.

Meanwhile, Guest Drag Queen Face Painting was going on at the face painting table.

After participants gathered at Central Venue on Carpenter Street, the Honey for the Heart Halloween Parade started at 5 p.m. and continued till 6 p.m. Chiki noted, "The Honey for the Heart parade added to the festive-like atmosphere with some of the largest concentration of crowds occurring during the parade."

Finally, from 6 p.m. until 10 p.m. the Adult Block Party took place. Musical acts that performed on the stage included, DJ B-Funk, DysFunktional Family Band, ATLNTS + Cloudboi, and Brick City Label Artist Showcase.

Chiki shared, "As the north blocks of Court Street were reopening, and with the crowd having a good time on stage, the city asked the music organizer to continue to play for an hour longer than the original stop time."

Mickey is a Junior at Ohio University. This year, she came dressed as a character from Dr. Seuss's "The Lorax." She commented, "This is the first real block party I've attended since the pandemic. So far, it's very exciting and fun."

She was accompanied by OU Sophomore Maria Sequi, who came dressed as Little Red Riding Hood. She stated, "This is my first time ever at the block party. It's really great seeing people out having fun and so many of the costumes are so creative."

A New Hampshire native who only wanted to identified as "Naomi," was in town to visit her boyfriend who is a student at Ohio University. She expressed, "I've never been to anything like this before in my life."

Chief Rick Callebs, BPA, is a paramedic with Athens County Emergency Medical Services. He recalled how, "Our medic teams reported the overwhelming majority of partygoers to be nice and respectful." 

Callebs also reported that, "there were no EMS calls to the daytime Halloween events taking place throughout Athens." However, Athens County EMS responded to 17 emergency calls related to Halloween activities on Saturday that were exclusively for intoxication-related issued.

Nine of the 17 calls resulted in patient transport to OhioHealth O'Blenness Hospital, four patients were gone on EMS arrival, and four EMS responses were cancelled en route by law enforcement.

He added, "We had a number of students stop by our ambulance staging area on Court Street. They thanked us for being there and wished us a safe quiet night."

Saturday’s “adult” party downtown after dark was relatively incident free. Though crowd sizes varied throughout the evening, it is safe to say that several hundreds of costume wearing partiers embraced the music and vibe of the holiday.

“There was a sizeable crowd later in the evening in front of the stage during the musical acts,” Chiki said. “As the north blocks of Court Street were reopening and with the crowd having a good time at the stage, the City asked the music organizer to continue to play for an hour longer than the original stop time of 10 p.m.”

Late night partiers left in orderly fashion as mounted horseman and other law enforcement started clearing North Court Street as soon as the music stopped playing at the downtown stage.

Chiki said there were a total of 180 calls for service over the weekend. He said 16 arrests were made by the Athens Police Department with one resulting in a transport to the Southeast Ohio Regional Jail. All others arrests were cited and released.

Police are investigating two separate reports of shots being fired early Saturday and Sunday mornings in the 100 block of West State Street.

A large crowd gathered at the top of West State Street around 1:30 a.m. Saturday quickly dispersed when three and four shots were fired in succession. Police found shell casings at the scene.

Less than 24 hours later, someone fired several shots around 12:30 a.m. Sunday in the same area near the cemetery.

Callebs said the county’s EMS responded to seven calls related to the Halloween weekend on Friday night.

• 4 calls were for intoxication

• 1 for anxiety issues

• 1 assault

• 1 fall with an injury on Friday night.

• 5 patients were transported to OhioHealth O’Bleness Hospital.

• 1 call was cancelled at site and the other was gone on EMS arrival.

Callebs said the time frame on all incidents both nights was 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. There were no EMS calls to the daytime Halloween events taking place throughout Athens. He said these numbers do not reflect other requests for EMS response throughout Athens County.

“Our department always upstaffs for the Halloween weekend and our Athens crews handled all of the EMS calls in a timely manner without compromising response in other areas of the county,” he said. “Our medic teams reported the overwhelming majority of partygoers to be nice and respectful. We had a number of students stop by our ambulance staging area on Court Street. They thanked us for being there and wished us a safe and quiet night.”

Chiki said this arrest list does not include any pending investigations that may result in charges being filed later.

Breakdown of arrests as reported by the City of Athens below:

Friday

• 1 — Obstructing Official Business (M2)

• 1 — Offenses Involving Underage Persons (M1)

• 1 — Physical Control of vehicle while intoxicated (M1)

Saturday

• 1 — Aggravated Burglary (F1) — Transported to SEORJ

• 1 — Domestic Violence (M1)

• 2 — Offenses Involving Underage Persons (M1)

• 2 — Underage Consumption/Possession (M1)

• 1 — Obstructing Official Business (M2)

• 1 — Harassing Police Dog or Horse (M2)

• 1 — Disorderly Conduct by Intoxication (M4)

Sunday (early morning hours)

• 2 — Carrying Concealed Weapons (M1), Using Weapons While Intoxicated (M1)

• 2 — Disorderly Conduct by Intoxication (M4)

Arrest numbers from the Ohio Investigative Unit were not available in time for this report.

Miles Layton, the Ohio Region Editor for APG and the editor of The Circleville Herald, contributed to this story.