You can be in a place and understand it, but once you move
on and see it from a distance through time, you begin to see it through the filter of all the
memories between now and then, and it becomes something else.
On April 20th, 1991, the very first Palmerfest occurred*. Palmerfest is a yearly event at Ohio
University where residents of Palmer Street in Athens, Ohio hold house parties
and the yards and porches up and down the street are flooded with people
drinking and celebrating. While the event was initially held in April, it was
moved back to May because we were all sick of possible cold weather. I have a feeling that Ohio University
switched from quarters to semesters so that Palmerfest would have to be pushed
back into April and cold weather might dampen the insanity.
(*Actually, it was the 2nd Palmerfest. The first one happened six months earlier in
October. But we learned our lesson and
moved the party to what we thought would be a warmer part of the calendar.)
I lived in the Lakeview Apartments in the spring of 1991,
but Joe, Paul, Amy, Betce and Squirrel lived at 19 Palmer. Most of us had lived together the year before
in Martzolff House and so I was very good friends with them. Due to the party we had the previous October,
there was a desire to have another street party when it was warmer. The day before, Chris and I searched the
surrounding area for the shared “stage” that the bands would play on. It consisted to two sections, both made from
4’x8’ sheets of plywood and 4”x4” legs. I don’t think the stage belonged to
anyone, but it floated from party to party as needed.
On the day of Palmerfest, the drinking started at around 1pm
when the beer trailer was opened with an astounding 17 kegs of beer. People that lived on Palmer had each thrown
in $10 or so towards the beer, though some threw in more and several did not
throw in any at all, which led to future Palmerfests where houses bought their
own kegs. Though it was cold, the turnout was sizable and the beer truck ran
out sooner than expected. Partiers walked down to the corner stores and emptied
the coolers of beer cans and bottles.
Four bands played throughout the day and there were very few issues
outside of a bottle thrown at a house, an impromptu bonfire, thousands of cans
and bottles strewn through the yards and a huge freaking water bill from people
using the 19 Palmer bathroom. The police
shut the party down at 10pm due to noise and people dispersed to pass out or to
head uptown.
In the 1991-92 school
year, I moved into 19 Palmer. This year
the party was moved to May and houses held their own parties. We made t-shirts this year. It was warm enough that we were able to play
wiffle ball and volleyball before things go too busy. We set the stage up again and bands played
throughout the day. I thought it would
be a great idea to turn off the water to the bathroom so people wouldn’t use
the toilet. People still used the
toilet. I was shooting bottle rockets
out of my large beer cup and didn’t seemed concerned that I was drinking sulfur
and ash. I wish I could remember the
girl who offhandedly named the drink, “firecracker juice.” This year seemed busier than the year
before. More people were coming in from
out of town to attend. I was unavailable for consciousness when the police shut
down Palmerfest in ’92. The next
morning, I woke up and picked up the cans out of the back yard for about an
hour and wondered why my mouth tasted like brimstone.
 |
| A still surviving 1992 Palmerfest t-shirt |
I went to the 1993 Palmerfest as a guest, though I was
involved with the minority faction of people that tried to get the date
moved. I forget why changing the date
was important at the time. This was the
year I took the following horrible panoramic photo. Still fun. Still didn’t get closed down until
late.
I then took the next
15 years off.
In 2009, I got a call from The Post looking for an interview
about the original Palmerfest. I spoke
to them about what I remembered and I thought about attending, but did
not. 2009 was the first year of the “near
riots” on Palmer. The 2009 – 2011 Palmerfests were some of the most chaotic, as
people escaped the confines of the yards and flooded the streets with thrown
bottles, fires and massive arrests. Police patrols had been increasing over the
years as well as the arrests. The Athens
Police department purchased what they called a “communications vehicle” that
they specially modified so officers could stand on the top and monitor the street.
To me it looked like some kind of armored military vehicle. Parties were beginning to get shut down
earlier and earlier. After the incidents in 2009, the City of Athens created
the “
Nuisance Party” law.
2017 rolled around; it would be the 27th Annual
Palmerfest. In some text exchanges with my niece, I discovered she would be
attending Palmerfest and my brother would be coming down as well. I decided
to make this an educational /historical trip and I sent a letter to the residents
of 19 Palmer. Actually to the residents of 19 Palmer A and 19 Palmer B because
the house had been turned into a duplex. Here’s the letter.
Both sides of 19 Palmer actually responded and invited me to
attend. When I asked about what time I should come down and suggested 11am,
they both replied that might be a bit late, things would be kicking off around
7am and that I shouldn’t delay. What
happened to sleeping in until noon?
So at 7:30 am on Saturday, April 8th, 2017, I
jumped in the family van with an Ohio University shirt, a note pad, and a sleeping bag in case things got
too crazy, and drove to Athens, Ohio.
I parked on Hocking Street, which is one parallel street
over from Palmer. At 8:30 am, things were already started, even on the
ancillary streets. I wandered through
the back yards to the front of 19 Palmer Street.
 |
| 19 Palmer Street 2017 |
This is where I stop and correct myself when I said, “back
yards.” When I was at Ohio University, the
back yards of 19, 21, 23, 25 and 27 Palmer Street were grassy expanses. We played volleyball, wiffle ball, laid out
blankets, kept ducks and passed out in the soft embrace of the grass. Around 2004, the owners of those properties
added a second house to the back of the original houses and paved the rest of
the area to make parking spaces. It’s a cold,
concrete expanse where volleyball would be painful and passing out leads to
concussions. I’ll be bringing up this
point later and it will be on the quiz.
 |
| 21 Palmer Street on the left going down to 27 on the right |
When I came around to the front of 19 Palmer, a girl (Ellen)
took one look at me and said, “Are you Doug?” I was. She said they were expecting me. She got the other Ellen, who I had been in
communication with, and they gave me a beer and a tour of the house. Outside of there being another house strapped
to the back of it, 19 Palmer has not changed much in 27 years. They turned most of the back porch into a 2nd
bathroom and used the leftover bits to widen the kitchen. There were some new windows and all the
windows that used to face the backyard were now half windows that faced the
addition in back. Ellen, Ellen, Katie,
Kristie and Allie were all super nice and allowed me in their bedrooms which
was different from 1991 when I couldn’t get in any girl’s bedroom. The bedrooms were almost exactly the same
with the additions of a few coats of paint.
Same wood floor and trim and plaster walls with old light fixtures. The kitchen was wider than ours with counters
on either side. They had my letter up on
the refrigerator, which made be a little bit proud.
After sharing some stories about the original Palmerfest, I
headed to 19 Palmer B. Kristen welcomed
me and introduced me to (sorry if I get a name wrong) Alexis, Emma, Monica,
Emily and Toni. Their place looked
completely updated, even if it was built in 2004. My letter was on their refrigerator, too.
They had a DJ on their porch and a large amount of vodka.
As I waited for my brother and niece to arrive, I bounced
between the front and back of 19 Palmer, observing, taking notes and photos. I
think people thought I was a cop. As it got closer to 10:00 am, things were
really picking up. The front yards were
filling up and even the concrete desolation in the back started to fill with
people drinking, throwing Frisbees and a football. I guess some things don’t change.
Steve and Sydney showed up around 11:00 am. Sydney is the
same age I was when the first Palmerfest happened. We drank from the three
cases of Miller Lite that Steve brought. We hung out at 19 Palmer for a bit,
wandered down to 23 Palmer before heading over to Palmer Place.
 |
| Steve, Sydney and HolyJuan |
A number of curious people were brave enough to walk up to
me and ask me what the hell I was doing there. I got to tell them that I was one
of the original people that started Palmerfest. They were interested in
listening to grandpa tell his stories.
At one point as I was walking from 19 Palmer to 23 Palmer, a guy
standing in a circle of dudes yelled out, “Hey, Dad! What are you doing here?”
I do not think he expected me to turn around and confront him and his group
with, “Listen here, you mother fucking punk kids. I started this fucking mess
and you need to show me some respect.”
With that, we all laughed and I told them about what it was like before
electricity.
In the end, we finished drinking around 2:00 pm and I walked
past 19 Palmer to see them being cleared out.
We went to my brother’s illegally parked RV and rested for a few hours
before heading Uptown to eat dinner. By
8:00 pm, I was done. I walked back to Hocking Street, got into the
van and drove down the mostly empty Palmer Street and headed back to Columbus.
THE COMPARISON
The difference between the 1991 Palmerfest and 2017 Palmer
Fest are many, but luckily there are some things that don’t change. I
interviewed both 19A and 19B Palmer and this is what I discovered about
Palmerfest now.
DATE:
Back in the 90s, we chose (and sometimes fought about) what
date Palmerfest would occur on. At some point, once semesters were instituted,
Palmerfest became locked in to the school calendar. There is a drumbeat of
weekends that happen after Spring Break: Mill Fest/Congo Fest, High Fest, Mom’s
Weekend (MILF Fest – ha!) and Palmerfest (with Palmer Place Fest happening the
day before.) In speaking with people, they didn’t even think that you could
have ever even created a date for Palmerfest… it just happens.
CASES OF NATURAL (NATTY) LIGHT
Tons of cases of Natty Light, just like the original
Palmerfest. Some things never change. Also saw a few brown bags with 40ozers which
brought back memories.
FASHION:
People are still wearing dumb shit. I did notice there were
less bras.
BANDS:
There are a lot less bands and more DJs. I saw four DJs as I
roamed about. Some of the DJs are sponsored. I didn’t there there was going to
be any bands, but one pulled up around 11:00am, played and then got out of
there by 2pm. My understanding is that
in the mid-90s, the bands got bigger with larger stages, lighting and sound
boards. That all stopped when the back yards went away.
BACK YARDS:
This is a biggie. As
I mentioned before, back in 1991, the houses had back yards and the party was
contained to the individual houses and the large back yard area. The only
reason to be in a front yard was to cross the street. When the duplexes were built to the backs of
the houses, this pushed people from one big open space to the front yards. This created more opportunities for drunk
people to interact with the sidewalks and street where cops are allowed to
patrol. While the number of people I saw at this year’s Palmerfest would have
overflowed the backyards, containing the party to that area might have kept the
pressure off people creeping on to the sidewalks. FUN OBSERVATION: almost everyone I saw
crossing the street with a cup held it upside down to show it was empty.
 |
| 1994 Satellite photo of Palmer Street. You can see the space behind the five houses in a row. |
 |
| The five houses with duplexes and parking lots. |
POLICE BEFORE THE EVENT :
Full credit goes to the Athens City Police on containing
this madness in a calm and orderly chaos.
Here’s their system:
A few weeks before “Fest Season” starts, the City of Athens
sends out a mailer with the rules and regulations about parking, open
containers, fires, temporary fences, stages, Port-a-Potties, etc. A few days
before the specific party weekend, police will go door to door to talk with the
people that live at the house and make sure they are aware of the Nuisance
Parties City Code and that they will be held responsible for any person on the
property who is breaking the ordnance. They also remind houses that any they
will be fined for any trash in their yard that is still there at 9:00 am the
following day.
 |
| This was from the Mill Street Fest, but you get the idea. |
POLICE DURING THE EVENT:
At the original Palmerfest, the Athens City Police showed
up. I assume that in the following years
that the Sheriff’s Department might have joined the fun. In 2017, I saw the following:
·
Athens City
·
Athens County Sheriffs
·
Glouster Police
·
Logan City Police
·
Lancaster City Police
·
Dublin City Police
·
Ohio State Highway Patrol
The most obvious police were the ones on horseback. There were at least eight of them that I saw throughout the day.
 |
| This horse has a PBR horseshoe. |
The police moved up and down the street, keeping a watch on
things. I saw them stop one girl who had
an open container that she thought was closed because the wine bottle had a
cork in it. They checked her ID, made her dump it out and dispose of the glass
bottle, as glass containers are forbidden. The next guy the stopped was on the
sidewalk with a can of beer. He “didn’t have” his ID on him, admitted he was
underage and got a citation or summons.
As things got crazier, the girls at 19A Palmer maintained
order in the front yard. Anyone too close to the sidewalk was told to scoot
back. Too much wild behavior would capture the attention of the cops. Early in
the day, the cops would warn homeowners if their “guests” were getting out of
control. You wanted to party, but not attract too much attention.
At some point around 1pm, the police made their move. They
selected a house that was beginning to get out of control. The eight horsemen of the partypocalypse brought
their horses and lined up in front of the selected house. The police on foot
would then find the hosts and tell them that they were in violation of the Nuisance
Parties code and that they needed to make everyone leave. At that point, the residents turned off the
music and kicked everyone out of the house and yard, front and back. It is a crazy sight to see three houses in a
row, with the yards filled with people on either side of an empty yard. Two police are left in the front yard to hold
the line and ensure a party doesn’t spontaneously combust. Then the police continue to roam up and down
the street, waiting for the next party
to get too crazy. You can probably see what happens here: when the guests of
one house party get shut down, they go to another house and that party begins
to overflow, thus attracting the attention of the cops. The police did something
counter-intuitive which seemed to work: they didn’t start at one end of the
street and work their way down, forcing people into a cluster and creating a
wall of drunk people. They picked apart the mass, house by house, dividing and
conquering the crowd without creating a mass of people in one area. As a
student, I would have been pissed about this, but as an adult, I thought it was
genius.
19 Palmer made it until about 2:40 pm and by 4:00 pm,
Palmerfest was shut down. Parties that were shut down too early secreted their
kegs to other streets to continue the party.
Our group went to Palmer Place, an apartment complex across the street
from 19 Palmer, and continued there.
DIFFERENCES:
Obviously the size difference is massive. We didn't have social media or anyone sponsoring parties or DJs. The police presence was big and residents were never expected to take responsibility for their guests. The party getting shut down by 4:00pm was a disappointment because we all know that guys like me have a much better chance of hooking up under the cover of darkness.
STILL THE SAME:
Drinking games, though we had beer bongs, they have flip cup
and beer pong; there was still beer shot gunning. People still have dogs. Doors to houses were open and no one was dumb enough
to shut the water off to their bathroom. People were nice. People were fun.
People were drunk. People let me tell my stories.
CHART OF COMPARISONS:
SUMMARY:
Palmerfest has grown to be an event that seems to have perpetual motion. While there have been riot like bumps in the road, the street party continues to lumber forward. For it's own good, local authorities seem to have contained the insanity without sanctioning the event and turning it into a street carnival and sucking the life out of it. The Palmerfest originators could never predicted where the party is today and many of the people today were unaware of its meager beginnings. Overall, the original reason for Palmerfest was to throw a large, kickass party.
OTHER PHOTOS
 |
| From top left clockwise: wiffle ball, the old garage from 19 Palmer, Steve on the back roof of 19 Palmer, the old narrow kitchen of 19 Palmer |
 |
| I stowed my cup in the bushes, a 1991 party tactic |
 |
| These sisters saw me taking photos and just asked if I would take their photo too. |
 |
| Palmer Street 2017 around 11:30am |
 |
| The back of 19 Palmer around noon |
 |
| Steve and Sydney |
 |
| This seems to be a permanent sign on Palmer Street |
 |
| Not the topless partygoer I wanted to see |
 |
| Palmer Place around 2:00pm as people were being kicked out of Palmer Street |
