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New church to double as music/community center; Venue to kick off its opening with concert
This Friday, a new performing arts and community events venue will open in the uptown area, though this one will have a bit of a twist. In addition to providing seating for 300 audience members for concerts and other community events, Central Venue will serve as a church.
The grand opening event will feature vendors and a concert bill topped by national indie-rock darlings Southeast Engine of Athens.
The outreach of Central Avenue Church on Athens’ west side aims to connect the church and the local community at this new venue. Central Venue is located at 29 E. Carpenter St., in a building that for many years housed Auto Parts Warehouse.
Read more from The Athens NEWS. | Photo credit: Dustin Franz, The Athens NEWS.
For other posts about uptown Athens, click here.
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 Viva la local indie record store!
“Thank you for being here” a bearded older man told Haffa’s Records co-owner Andrew Lampela earlier this week as he bought a Black Keys album for his son and in so doing helped keep alive the dream of one of the last independent record stores in Ohio.
Haffa’s, located at 15 W. Union St., is co-owned by Lampela and Eric Gunn, the fourth owners since its original opening in 1975. The business continues with its indelible impression on the Athens community this Saturday for Record Store Day, the nationwide celebration when “all of the independently owned record stores come together with artists to celebrate the art of music.”
Haffa’s will open Saturday at 11 a.m with special discounted items as well as a 3 p.m performance by the Athens band, The Ridges. Music-lovers and community members are invited to peruse the store, enjoy local tunes, and invest in the tangible world of music.
Read more from The Athens NEWS. | Photo credit: Joel Prince, The Athens NEWS.
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Dozens of bands to play Blackoutfest
Prepare for a blackout this weekend Athens. And no, this isn’t the kind that comes from a power outage or too much fun at the bars. Tonight (Thursday) kicks off the 17th annual Blackoutfest at the Union Bar & Grill.
This three-day event is presented by Athens’ own Blackout Booking.
The fest had humble beginnings, starting as a birthday celebration in honor of Blackout Booking founder Scott Winland. Having a meager three bands at its birth, Blackout Fest has now grown to feature almost 30 bands this weekend, with local, national and international acts, mainly in the indie-rock genre.
Read more from The Athens NEWS or from The Post or ACRN. | Photo via The Athens NEWS.
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 Former Blue Gator building one step closer to development
The former Blue Gator building on Court Street was granted parking and setback variances by the Athens Board of Zoning Appeals In a split vote on Tuesday, allowing owners of the former uptown hot spot to move one step closer to renovating the 1920s-era building.
On Tuesday, Chris Gerig, representing applicant Kasler Construction, approached the zoning board about parking and setback variances in order to develop five student apartments on the upper levels of the structure with an unspecified business on the ground floor.
The former Blue Gator restaurant and bar at 63 N. Court St. has been vacant since 2008. The building was constructed in the 1920s and had served as a bar, lounge and entertainment center for decades.
Read more from The Athens Messenger (subscription required but worth one of your 8 free reads this month). | Image via The Athens Messenger.
Pretty bummed that they’re going to turn the second floor into apartments instead of creating another two-story bar/venue, but hopefully they’ll make it look nice and bring something in that’ll stay awhile.
Related topics: Blue Gator | Uptown Athens
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Get dressed for the fests
Beer and red solo cups are staple goods of students during the Athens Fest Season, but they aren’t the only items in high demand.
In the weeks before a fest, Athens apparel shops start piling their shelves with fest themed t-shirts.
“If you’re having a good time where you’re partying at, you usually want to have something to remember it by,” said Jerry Ski.
Read more from 33 Corridor News. | Photo via 33 Corridor News.
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 Bar owners say it’s not fair to blame them for rowdy crowd behavior during OU Homecoming
When Ohio University’s president met with members of Athens City Council recently, they decided to form a committee to study alternative Homecoming parade routes due to concerns about some rowdy members of the crowd creating an unsafe environment this past fall.
But now, some bar owners, who were not included in the committee process, have some suggestions of their own about how to make the event safer for the crowds and participants.
OU President Roderick McDavis’ advisory committee includes representatives from both the university and city police departments, the city administration, the homecoming steering committee, the university’s Parking Services, the OU office of Facilities Management, a past parade coordinator, a student senator and a student at large, a safety officer and McDavis’ Chief of Staff Becky Watts.
Read more from The Athens NEWS. | Photo via The Athens NEWS.
Will a new parade route fix the problem? Will the parade crowd exist at all if it doesn’t go through Court Street? There usually aren’t many people on the Morris/E. State/Carpenter portions of the current parade route. It seems that after trying so hard to make the homecoming parade a big deal, OU is now wishing it were LESS popular.
Related topics: Ohio University | Homecoming | Uptown Athens
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Athens Police are still investigating an early-morning armed robbery of an uptown sandwich shop that took place Thursday.
In the alleged robbery, two white men wearing all-black clothing and black ski masks entered the Jimmy John’s sub shop at 16 S. Court St. with handguns sometime around 5:30 a.m.
The store was closed at the time, but there was a single employee working. The two intruders robbed the business of an undetermined amount of cash.
Read more from The Athens NEWS.
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 Local coffeehouse celebrates decade of java and talk
What started as a fleeting college fantasy that turned into reality has produced 10 years of business and growth for Chris Pyle, owner of Donkey Coffee and Espresso in Athens.
“We wanted to provide a space for the community where they could talk about life, politics and anything else,” Pyle said earlier this week. “I didn’t even drink coffee when I got the idea, but I loved the thought of a communal space where art, music and social justice could be evident and available.”
Donkey Coffee and Espresso (not “The Donkey Coffee” as some folks still insist on calling it) will be celebrating its 10-year anniversary next week and is rewarding the West Washington Street coffeehouse’s loyal patrons with a week of treats and deals running Monday, April 9, through Friday, April 13. The business is also using the anniversary as an opportunity to talk up some recent changes, including the opening of an open-air second-floor patio.
Read more from The Athens NEWS. | Photo credit: Dustin Franz, The Athens NEWS.
Related topics: Donkey Coffee | Uptown Athens
Starting next week, this blog will drop most of the “Roundup” posts. Instead, we’ll post stories that we think are of the most interest to our Tumblr followers. This will result in fewer posts per day, but we hope the average post will be more valuable. As always, you’re welcome to submit content yourself any time!
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