How to throw a fest
By Josh Work, Copy Editor
May 14, 2008 | 6 p.m.
As Ohio University students work their way through another spring quarter, the time comes for those of age to get drunk and make memories they probably will not remember.
To facilitate this behavior, upperclassmen from many Athens streets throw a series of “fests” that have become a trademark of student culture at OU. As students play cornhole and rock out to live music, however, they may take for granted the work that goes into orchestrating these massive street parties.
The following is a rough summary of the party-hosting process. It could serve as an outline for those who hope to throw their own fest in the future. Or it might simply let students know what effort has gone into planning and perfecting that one lost weekend.
Step one: Go with what (or whom) you know
A party does not simply start from scratch and become a hit in a year or two. Most of the major fests of Athens have long histories, the origins of which nobody quite knows. Younger fests have come along to fill a niche or take the place of an older tradition.
Before Five Fest students had a Greek event called Derby Days to look forward to each spring. When Dominic Petrozzi and his friends were found wanting, Petrozzi said, they searched around for what to do instead. They decided to throw their own music festival, and the event has continued on with the same people in charge since One Fest.
Other hosts have found themselves in charge of established festivals through inheritance.
Seniors Ryan Whitmore and Ben Cohn, planners of this year’s Milliron Fest, took charge of the fest last year from the girls who lived in their apartment before them.
“When we became juniors the girls all graduated, and we moved into the apartment,” Whitmore said. “[We] sort of assumed the role and have been involved in the planning process for the last two years.”
Patrick Murphy, planner of this year’s Arkfest, took on his role after helping out with Arktoberfest the year before. After that experience, he said, he felt that he knew what had to be done.
Step two: Get the word out
A great party will quickly become a great failure if nobody shows up for it. A crucial part of throwing a street fest that students will talk about years later is getting publicity for the event.
Thanks to the social networking behemoth that is Facebook, students can easily let everyone know when and where the party will take place. At the same time, the site allows the planners to know how many people are projected to show up.
When an event has become an established tradition, such as Five Fest, simple word of mouth can also help to inflate guest lists.
“The students all know about [Five Fest],” Petrozzi said. “There’s no need to advertise it.”
Step three: Check your finances
Throwing a party can be an expensive endeavor. If the food, alcohol and entertainment are all provided by the event planners, a source of income must be made.
For Arkfest, Murphy said, the biggest amount of funds comes from designing and selling T-shirts for the fest. Each year, Arkfest follows a particular theme, such as last year’s “Jurassic Ark” and this year’s “Saving Private Ark,” and this theme is reflected in the T-shirt design.
Murphy commented that it also helps to convince the live bands to play for free.
In the case of apartment-based fests such as Milliron Fest, the responsibility of supplying the food and fun can fall upon the individual residents.
For a large-scale event such as Five Fest, Petrozzi set up deals with sponsors to fund the fest. The main sponsor, Industry Standard, is actually a recording studio and store in Columbus owned by Petrozzi, Tim Kehoe and Ryan James.
Step four: Remember safety first– or fourth
As much fun as it may be to throw out all inhibitions and let loose at a fest, hindsight is less of a pain when nobody gets hurt.
To guarantee that everything goes well, the OU Department of Off-Campus Living offers advice to residents on how to keep safe and get along well with other locals. Community assistants, such as Emily Yeatts, work to answer any questions students might have regarding noise, police and fire regulations, as well as waste disposal and general safety tips.
Off-Campus Living has also held a number of meetings open to residents to discuss any concerns they might have about safety, Yeatts said. At these meetings, representatives of the Athens police department, the fire department, waste management and other organizations were on hand to help answer questions.
Legal Services also gave out kits containing useful material such as “no trespassing” signs that residents could use during festivals.
“Since [the department has] been a part of the community,” Yeatts said, “I know the number of arrests at [street parties] has gone down.”
Step five: Put it all together
When all is said and done, the main purpose of throwing a big party is to have fun. Taking into account planning, finances and safety, the day of the event is a time to relax and reap the rewards of a job well done.
Not to say that the work is finished once the party starts. As Murphy observed at Arkfest, the planner must make sure that everything goes well.
“I had free time [during the fest],” Murphy said, “but I had to make sure people didn’t steal kegs or keg taps.”
He also worked to keep the party under control and made sure the bands were properly set up with electricity and a stage.
“A lot more work goes into it than you might think,” Whitmore said of planning Milliron Fest. “But in the end, it is also very rewarding to see that all the time and effort put into it pays off.”
For those looking to host a fest in the future, opportunities may become available soon. Whitmore and Cohn of Milliron Street are graduating this year, and they must find someone new to pass on the torch of responsibility. Is anyone up for the task?
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