Palmer Place Fest out, Athens Fest in

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated for AP Style.

Palmer Place Fest for years has been among the most popular spring semester fests among Ohio University students. This year the owners of Palmer Place apartments, Cornwell Properties, have placed new rules and regulations on the fest to decrease the fest’s attendance.

Cornwell Properties sent an email to all Palmer Place tenants explaining their reasoning for the changes to this year’s fest. They also provided nine rules for tenants to follow on the day of the fest, April 19. 

“Our priority is your safety and the care of our property,” Cornwell Properties wrote in an email. “In the past, uninvited visitors have come onto the property and have created a liability for you and for us. Our insurance will no longer allow the Palmer Place event to happen as it has happened in the past.”

The rules and regulations for the revised Palmer Place Fest are as follows:

1. Each tenant can invite three guests.

2. Each tenant will be given a wristband designating they are a tenant.

3. Each guest will be given a wristband designating they are a guest.

4. There will be designated entry-only points. 

5. Entrances and exits will be monitored by security personnel. 

6. There are to be no glass bottles/containers of any kind on balconies or in the courtyard. 

7. Courtyard clean-up will begin at 5 p.m.

8. The courtyard will be cleaned up sooner if any issues occur prior to 5 p.m.

9. No more than ten people will be allowed on each balcony.

In the past, companies like BrickLife Entertainment, 68 Entertainment and Darney Promotions have come together to provide either live music or DJs, speakers and stages for the Palmer Place Fest. This year they will be doing none of that at Palmer Place. 

BrickLife Entertainment DJ and Director Vince Debeljack, also known as DJ Doublejack, expressed his disappointment with the sudden change in rules surrounding Palmer Place.  

“I believe that they [Cornwell Properties] want to advertise and make Palmer Place available strictly for Palmer Place residents as an enticement to get people to live in Palmer Place,” Debeljak said. “It’s never been an issue before and their insurance has been totally fine with everything for as long as I can remember. We’ve tried everything to reason with them and to try and get Palmer Place to happen this year from paying off the Cornwells, we have a multimillion-dollar insurance policy on our hands that we did offer them to put liability on us as opposed to them. We offered security and the option for residents to get wristbands so that the security can patrol the balconies.”

In response to the new status of Palmer Place, BrickLife Entertainment, 68 Entertainment and Darney Productions have decided to throw a new event in place of Palmer Place Fest. 

The new event is called Athens Fest and will be on Friday, April 19 at 12 p.m. with a location to be announced on the BrickLife Instagram Thursday, April 18 at midnight. A flyer has been released on the BrickLife Instagram, with Athens Fest boasting a total of 12 performers headlined by rapper YBN Nahmir. 

For more information about Athens Fest check the BrickLife Instagram.