When you think of Athens, Ohio one of the first things that probably comes to mind is HallOUween. HallOUween is a block party that seems to totally consume the entirety of Ohio University. What started in 1974 is now the event that most Ohio University students start planning for as soon as the previous year’s HallOUween is completed.
Gloria Van Reeth was a freshman at OU during what is considered the first HallOUween block party. Unlike the planned event that happens every year, in 1974 it was spontaneous.
“I remember it was a really nice night and people just spilled out into the streets,” Van Reeth recalled. “It was just a big, festive atmosphere.”
Unlike recent years where the city of Athens is filled with thousands of visitors, that first year was all OU students. And she remarked that the costumes that year were more elaborate and so much better than the costumes now. She recalled that in 1974 she saw a group of people who dressed up as Jesus and the 12 disciples so when they came together they resembled the Last Supper painting. She said that she had decided to dress up as a flying nun that year, inspired by the Sally Field show The Flying Nun.
The next year in 1975 she said that there was much less going on because Halloween weekend coincided with homecoming. Comedian Bob Hope was a guest speaker that weekend and while working as a waitress at a local country club, Gloria Van Reeth waited on him. Afterwards, she headed uptown in her waitress outfit.
“The crowd was so small, but at one point everyone shifted around so it looked like I was leading the crowd,” she said.
She said that HallOUween became an Ohio University event until the 1990s when the university pulled out. She mentioned that OU used to bring a wagon uptown that contained a cake big enough to feed 2,000 people.
One of the things she said that was completely different between the first years and recent years was that the quality of costumes started to lack originality. In the 1970s, Athens didn’t have Halloween stores so most of the costumes were homemade. She remarked that a few years ago when she ventured uptown, she did not see many good costumes.
“There was one guy though, who was wearing a paper mache giraffe costume,” she laughed.
Also unlike today, the block party was mostly concentrated to Court Street. There were not many parties happening on streets such as Mill Street or Palmer Street.
So there you go collegiettes. This year as you venture out for one of the most anticipated weekends of the year, know that HallOUween has changed a lot over the years. Also, please step up your costume game!
Photo courtesy of athensohio.com