Athens Christmas Parade Theme

The theme for the Athens Christmas Parade is “Run, Run Rudolph” this year.

The parade is put on annually by the Athens-Clarke County Unified Government and the Athens Downtown Development Authority. The Parade of Lights goes on “rain or shine”. If severe weather makes conditions unsafe for participants and spectators, the parade might be cancelled.

Parade Route

The parade assembly shuts down all of Hancock Street from the Classic Center all the way down to Creature Comforts. There are a lot of groups in the parade, so if you are in the parade that is where you’ll go to find your people and get ready to walk.

The parade starts at the corner of Pulaski and Hancock, going down Pulaski to Clayton and then up Clayton street all the way up to Thomas St. where it will walk past the Classic Center. Then the route turns left onto Washington Street and ends up at City Hall where the tree will shine, it’s beautiful as always.

Parades are FUN! This one is also COLD!

It will be a good time, and thankfully the weather is a bit warmer than it has been the past few days because brr. The weather when I walked in the parade one year was so cold. So, make sure to bundle up if you’re going to stand there for an hour and watch the parade.

So go out tonight to see the Athens Christmas Parade: the Downtown Parade of Lights! It’ll be a memorable event regardless of what happens. I wonder if the live camel will make another appearance? There is always a wild story told on social media about antics the parade marchers get up to, the camel was spitting on people and being generally nasty so that’s the story I remember most.

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What is the Wild Rumpus Athens?

The Wild Rumpus is many things. It’s a big celebration of all the uniqueness Athens, Georgia has to offer, a gathering of the creative and carefree people who make Athens the best place to live in Georgia, hands down. Each year these wonderful people come together to express themselves freely through costume, dance, camaraderie, and fun.

Rumpus Rally Official Pre-Parade Meetup

From 5-8pm at the Creature Comforts Brewery the Rumpus Rally is the gathering spot for the parade to come. Now, I’ve been sober for going on five years but people do drink here, as it is at the Brewery and it is an open-container wristband location. It’s something about Athens that some love and some (like myself) wish there’d be less emphasis on. But there’s no escaping that Athens is a college town and with that comes a fair amount of alcohol-centered events.

But regardless of your sobriety, it’s a good time to people-watch, find friends, and mingle with other celebrants. Everyone is ready to have a good time, and you’ll find that they are approachable and friendly. Admire costumes, get pictures with favorites, and chat as people continue to gather in larger and larger crowds.

Wild Rumpus Downtown Parade

The Wild Rumpus Parade starts right at 8pm so don’t be late! You want to be there earlier than that anyway! The parade route is the same as last year. From the Creature Comforts Brewery, the route turns left onto Pulaski Street and goes down past the terminus of the event at the intersection of Washington Street and Pulaski and onto Clayton Street.

Street Bands

As you walk the parade route, you’ll see several musical acts performing along the way. The first you’ll encounter are the Captains of Revelry at the very start of the parade route, hyping people up to march along the route.

Next up will be El ChupaSKAbra, a local Athens Ska band self-described as Mexican Gringo Ska-Core. They perform on the corner of Pulaski and Clayton.

Just up the road, you’ll catch Fishbug, another local Athens band with a nice following. Beast Mode will be next, an Athens thrash/metal band that I am looking forward to seeing. Woah Nelly is next. I love their song Evangeline, available on Spotify. Nadia Vaeh is up next as you continue to walk, branded as poptimistic rock on her Instagram. Karma Kat will round out the bands performing on Clayton just before you turn the corner up College Avenue to Washington.

Father Werewolf performs on the corner of College Ave. and Washington St. as you turn the corner on the parade route. LibbaLoops + Bryant Perez and Jiig + Molly2Hott, Squallé, Trepid (featuring Grandfath3er) finish out the lineup of street performances as you enter the final stretch past fire spinners, Canopy trapeze artists and end the parade at the dance party of the year featuring the BOOTY BOYZ and FAIRIEZ in the street! The party goes from 8:15pm til 11pm. (and then there’s an afterparty)

Cut-throughs

If you’re not up for walking the whole parade route, never fear. The last few years I had to find a cut-through because I suffered from plantar fasciitis in my feet and walking long distances just wasn’t happening. If you turn onto N. Hull St you can cut through right to the end of the parade route and watch everyone come over the finish line. It’s as much fun people-watching as people finish the parade as it was to start out the parade in front of Creature Comforts.

A photo dump of the sights from Rumpus will be posted after the big night! I hope you get the chance to experience the Wild Rumpus Athens at least once in your life!

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Porchfest has 200+ Concerts

With over 200 shows happening on one day, the streets of historic Athens turn into fun, music-filled corridors filled with people walking, biking, riding on their golf carts, and driving to their next location. The number of shows fills this spreadsheet! It’s pretty spectacular to me that something like this happens, totally for free, annually in Athens.

Historic Athens

The venues are peppered throughout historic neighborhoods in Athens: Normaltown, Reece Hancock, Cobbham, Buena Vista Heights, Boulevard, Newtown, and Pulaski Heights. While this might seem like a fairly large area, this walking in this part of Athens is extremely pleasant. There are a few hills, but if you choose wisely you can navigate the streets without having to trek up too many of Athens’ hills. For the trek downtown from Cobbham and Normaltown, I suggest a stroll through Buena Vista Heights on Boulevard instead of Prince Ave. Prince is such a busy vehicle corridor that it’s less pedestrian friendly.

Bikes are the Best

I strongly encourage a bicycle for Porchfest. It’s the best way to get from place to place, especially since some of the neighborhoods are fairly long walks apart. Driving is hit or miss, some places will have some parking available but this is predominantly a walking/biking event, so if you drive you might be looking for parking a lot.

Boulevard gets BUSY during Porchfest

Do not try to drive on Boulevard East of Chase Street. Boulevard hosts two events on Sunday, which happen concurrently. The whole of Boulevard between Chase St. and Barber St. gets shut down for the massive street party, concerts, and the Boo-le-Bark contest and parade.

Multiple concerts are going on as the famous Boo-le-Bark parade goes down the street. It’s a blast, if not a little chaotic with a bunch of people packed onto the streets. Author note: Make sure to come back to Boulevard on Halloween, as it’s such a cool street to go Trick-or-Treating on. Catch the Ghosties and sing Karaoke in the yard, and marvel at the throngs of people in their costumes! It’s my favorite.

Boo-le-Bark on Boulevard

The Boo-le-Bark on Boulevard happens at the same time as Porchfest, and it can get the most packed on Boulevard. Last year I made the mistake of getting stuck on a side street in my car and had to wait to even be able to turn around to get back on Nantahala. I was also looking for my son and walking the length of Boulevard in an absolute crush of people looking for him only to find out he was in Pulaski Heights for another show. Teens.

Click here to view the interactive map of the many locations for concerts this weekend. Come out and catch some live music!

Summary

Porchfest happens in 7 historic Athens neighborhoods and features 200+ musical shows all for free. Come out and experience the fun for yourself!

Athens is a great place to live. Support the arts, Athens, and me with this affiliate link:

The post Porchfest Athens 2024! appeared first on Fae’s Journal.

Update 9/30/24

Update: My post garnered some attention and someone from AccGov contacted me. They let me know that the septic tank issue has been forwarded to the GA Dept. of Public Health’s Environmental Health Division.

Not Stormwater’s Problem

So it turns out that it’s not even the Stormwater Management Program’s issue to begin with. The polluted water flowing into the creek behind our house is what I immediately focused on, which prompted my post in the first place. However once I spoke with some neighbors, I reported the issue to Code Enforcement at AccGov. They promptly emailed me to confirm that they would look into the issue. Someone came out the next day. A few weeks has passed since. Cue my surprise when I saw someone contacted me here, on my blog. My blog primarily focuses on other things. So this is a completely different post, one where I enthusiastically did some investigative reporting on a hyper-local issue.

So thank you, AccGov employee for taking the time to contact me, someone who is only a low-stakes neighbor, regarding the septic tank issue. I hope that it gets handled soon. The neighbors can smell the sewage when they flush, and the soap when they do laundry or shower… basically, we can smell it all. And I just can’t help but worry about all the things seeping into the ground and the waterways from the open septic tank. It’s a gross, environmentally troubling, issue to have in the neighborhood.

What is the Stormwater Management Program?

Created in 2004 by the Athens-Clarke County Mayor and Commission, the Stormwater Management Program maintains county compliance with the Clean Water Act. The purpose of the program is to address the pollutants and toxins that flow directly into the water. Before its creation, stormwater management was funded by property taxes. However, over a third of Athens-Clarke County is owned by the University of Georgia, an organization that does not pay property tax. According to the ACCGov website

A utility fee is considered to be more equitable than property tax because owners of tax-exempt properties, such as churches, non-profit organizations, and the University of Georgia pay into the fund.

For the record, I’m strongly in agreement. I am 100% fine paying this fee and I’m 100% on board with the rate increase they announced earlier this year. I want the water in my area to be monitored and cleaned, and I think every citizen of the county should be aware of the pollutants that could be flowing into the water. And it does, indeed, flow.

ACC Stormwater Program Rate Increase

The Stormwater Management Program instituted a rate increase in July 2024, the first of its kind since the creation of the program in 2005. They promise that with the rate increase comes an increased level of service. So here is my personal request to see that increased service in my immediate locality.

Increased Services from The ACC Stormwater Management Program

I reported pollution and flooding concerns on August 4th, 2024, and haven’t seen any mitigation to the issues I reported. Those issues are relatively minor, less minor when it rains and we have standing water on our streets because the ditches that flow into the storm drains are blocked with leaves, trash, and debris.

Update: On Wednesday, September 5th there were crews on my road to address the debris in the ditches and to clear culverts. I appreciate that, Stormwater Management!

A Bigger Stormwater Runoff Problem

Yesterday I met a new neighbor and we had an interesting conversation about their rental property. Information revealed to me is far more problematic than some leaves in the ditches. Something that I think the Stormwater Management Program will want to do something about much faster than dealing with some leaves blocking a storm runoff ditch.

Rental Property with Septic Issues

My neighbor’s rental has an open hole to their septic tank in their front yard. Every time they shower, flush the toilet, or god forbid it rains, that septic tank overflows and seeps into their yard. Said sewage then flows down the neighboring driveway, across the street, into the stormwater drains and then straight into the watershed creek that runs behind the houses on my side of the street.

Driveways and roads are some of those impervious structures the Stormwater Management Program takes note of, and I’m sure they would want to know about an open septic tank seeping into the Middle Oconee. Code Enforcement would also be very interested in investigating this, I’m sure.

UPDATE: I hope that, at the same time as Stormwater crews were on site to mitigate the ditches and culverts, someone from Code Enforcement was there to investigate the septic tank issue in the yard across from my house!

At the Mercy of a Well-Known Landlord

My neighbors are renters. They are at the mercy of their landlord. Surprisingly, they told me the person who owns the house they are renting is a well-known former Athens mayor. As landlord, she told the renters that the inspector said it was totally okay to have an open hole to their septic tank fully chilling in their front yard. No one has come to fix it. And the landlord doesn’t plan to fix it, from what the neighbor said.

If I were paying close to $2000 a month in rent and I had an open hole to a septic tank seeping sewage into my yard I would be beyond pissed. I cannot fathom how a house inspector said it was okay for that to be going on. I can’t imagine that they didn’t tell the owner that this problem needed to be immediately and actively mitigated. It’s been like that for a while, so in my opinion, it should have been fixed months ago.

Soon To-Be Listed Property

The house next to them, the one that has the sewage leaking onto their driveway and down into the street that drains into the Middle Oconee River tributary? It’s been renovated and is nearly finished, by the looks of it. So the owner of that house will be trying to rent or sell that one soon, too. I don’t believe that raw sewage seeping down the driveway is going to be a real selling point to potential renters or buyers.

Rent in Athens, Georgia is very, very expensive. And I would never agree to the rent required if I knew there was septic tank sludge running down my driveway from the neighbor’s open septic tank hole that was totally okay according to the landlord.

Stormwater on My Street

Water runoff on my street is a big deal. Let me tell you why. A creek runs behind my house, and it flows directly into the Middle Oconee River. I think the open septic tank in my neighbor’s yard is exactly the sort of problem the Stormwater Management Program was created for. If not them, then the water department, my district commissioner, someone needs to know that this is happening and that the sewage is running directly into the Middle Oconee River.

The Upper Oconee Watershed

The Oconee River is a major river system in Georgia. The Upper Oconee Watershed Network, a 501(c)3 organization that advocates and monitors the watershed offers this information about the river:

The Oconee River system is one of Georgia’s 14 Major River Basins. The Upper Oconee River Watershed begins near Gainesville, Georgia and ends at Lake Sinclair near Milledgeville. The headwaters of the North Oconee are located just south of Lula, GA. The Middle Oconee begins Northeast of Braselton. The Upper Oconee Watershed drains all or part of the following counties: Baldwin, Banks, Barrow, Clarke, Greene, Gwinnett, Hall, Hancock, Jackson, Jasper, Jones, Madison, Morgan, Newton, Oconee, Oglethorpe, Putnam, and Winston. The Middle and North Oconee Rivers converge just South of Athens to form the Oconee River which meets the Ocmulgee River to form the Altamaha River and eventually flows into the Atlantic Ocean.

Conners et al

Conners et al. (2001) conducted a survey that measured, among other things, the levels of Fecal Coliform present in the Oconee at several locations along the river in 2001, including Ben Burton Park, where the stream from my house converges into the Middle Oconee River.

Spring Fecal Coliform levels at Ben Burton Park were 300 CFU/100mL, nearing the 400 CFU/100mL water quality standard.

Summer Fecal Coliform levels at Ben Burton Park were 740 CFU/100mL, exceeding the 400 CFU/100mL water quality standard.

Fall Fecal Coliform levels at Ben Burton Park were the best result, at <20 CFU/100mL

Winter Fecal Coliform levels at Ben Burton Park were the worst: >2000 CFU/100mL, far exceeding 400 CFU/100mL.

Old Data

These data were collected in 2001. According to the 2000 census 166,079 people lived in Athens-Clarke County at that time. The 2020 census reported a population of 215,479 in Athens-Clarke County. That means in the 20 year period from 2000 census to the 2020 census the population increased 49,400 people. If a similar study were conducted today, what fecal loads would they report?

Stormwater Management Program, Ball is In Your Court

I sure hope someone at the ACCGov Stormwater Management Program sees this post. What’s more, I’m definitely posting it to social media too. Indeed, this is your purpose, your raison d’être. Because of this, I implore you to figure out who is in charge of mitigating this toxic septic issue on my street. Please contact me to learn the addresses involved, or better yet check your email because I already emailed you.

I mostly blog about other things like gaming, post book reviews, etc. Since I don’t often post about local issues I hope my readers will understand that this is important.

The post Stormwater Management Program appeared first on Fae’s Journal.

While out and about, I had the pleasure of meeting and talking with the artist behind some amazing glass jewelry. When I searched up her jewelry business I was blown away! Get that pun? Hah, I know it’s horrible but come on, I had to.

Glass Jewelry is HOT

I love glass jewelry, because it’s catches the light and plays with it, and the jewelry transforms when you look at it from a different angle. If I had one of the glass rings that is on the site I would just be staring at it all day, I know that for a fact.

I enjoyed talking with the creator when I met her at the dog park. She’s an incredibly witty person to talk to and loves dogs, so once I spent a few minutes talking to her I had to see what sort of glass jewelry she had for sale. And I was not disappointed.

Studio Mod Glass

Her Studio is Studio Mod Glass or Studio MG based in Athens, Georgia. Supporting local Athens artists is something I am passionate about, because it helps to maintain the artistic vibe and grassroots community that Athens has spent decades fostering and developing. So hey, locals: I know some of you will look through the shop and find something they just have to have.

Personal Favorites

My favorites on the site? I have several and I’m happy to share. I absolutely adore this Three Square Element necklace. The lines are so clean and the colors of this particular necklace are bright, cheerful and elegant. I love the whole Space Balls collection, those little guys are so colorful and eye catching! And also.. the metal jewelry. I really love that. The next section has more about this selection!

Metal Jewelry

There is also a section on the website for some incredible metal jewelry that is honestly more my style. The spiral necklaces and earrings are on my wish list!

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Things around the house

1. Put together second shelf for the basement. (It’s been sitting in a box for 6 months waiting)
2. Get the bird’s nest out of the laundry room after I’ve made sure the clutch has flown.
3. Pressure wash the area rugs
4. Pressure wash eaves, driveway, path
5. Finish staining the deck
6. Make a stepping stone path for the backyard, making the stones recessed a bit so I can mow right over them
7. Organize the basement storage (a huge problem right now because of all the new stuff down there from my parent’s office)
8. Get the pegboard organization set up in my craft room
9. Fix the tile in the basement

This seems like a lot and I am pretty sure not all of it will get done. But I will try.

The post Summer To Do List appeared first on Fae’s Journal.

Readers who’ve been around a while know that I am a teacher. The school where I work was built in the 90s and it’s getting dated and old. So thanks to SPLOST money, construction at my workplace is under way and the resulting chaos it’s a bit stressful. It’s stressful for both the teachers and the students.

A Bit?

That is an understatement. The construction project started in January when we returned from winter holidays. Working out the details is ongoing. How to successfully move 250 students from learning cottages (aka trailers) to the bus loading area without it taking more than 15 minutes has proven a challenge. We often run late and leave after the normal dismissal time.

Construction Takes Time

This construction project will take a long time. Two more years of this. At the middle school level, students freak out at small changes. Expecting them to go with the flow of MAJOR construction going on during school hours is a LOT.

My Room

My room is scheduled to be renovated during the summer so at least I don’t have to move to a trailer for a semester but I am still tense because everything is different. Humans are creatures of habit, after all. I look forward to being free from the construction zone as soon as possible.

What are they doing?

For the most part, the renovations at my school are cosmetic. In my classroom, they will remove the counter that’s along one wall, and add built-in cabinets in two places. New carpet will replace nasty old carpet. Teachers get new desks and file cabinets and an adjustable lectern on wheels. Walls will be painted, and new whiteboards put in with a corkboard on one side for a bulletin board. Most rooms will also get a whiteboard in the back of the classroom. We also get completely new desks and chairs. It’s exciting to get an overhaul like this.

Beyond the Classroom

The construction zone extends beyond each classroom. On the Connections hall, new teacher bathrooms will be added and there will be a new Agriculture corner, where the agriculture room will have much more specialized facilities in place, and will egress out onto a patio with access to the greenhouse and chicken coop.

The 6th-grade wing is moving to the center hallway and will get a completely new section, with like six new classrooms and a new egress to the bus loop. The 7th-grade and 8th-grade wings get new science labs and classrooms added onto the end of their respective wings.

The whole construction project adds a substantial amount of capacity for students, as enrollment continues to increase.

Overall

Construction zones might be stressful but the end result will be worth it. (Update: It was worth it!)

Education

I write about education and provide educational downloads too. Check out more of Fae’s Journal to read more.

Voice Volume Chart

Voice Volume Chart

December 15, 2024 / faebell

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