Did you know that the city of Athens had a Memorial Day parade and service on Monday?
Yeah, neither did I.
There wasn’t a single word about the event on the city’s website, its current Facebook page, or its Instagram or Twitter feeds. Nothing on the Athens County Yodel calendar, which also includes community calendars from WOUB and the visitors’ bureau. Not one damned word.
The only place I saw anything about the parade was on the WSEO Facebook page. (Note to all you folks who send stuff to WSEO: Please add info@athensindependent.com to your notification lists!)
The city’s silence on the parade is especially egregious because Service-Safety Director Andy Stone — a brigadier general in the National Guard — was the speaker at the West Union Street cemetery service.
“The city always has a parade!” you might say. Well, that’s great. When does it start? What’s the route? How can your Scout troop or dance team participate?
“The parade is organized by veterans’ groups, not the city!” you might note. OK, but the parade uses city streets, which have to be closed for the event. West Union Street Cemetery belongs to the city of Athens. Even if it’s not the official organizer, the city is sufficiently involved to warrant an announcement or calendar post.
According to the Athens Messenger, “a crowd of about 100 people” were at the cemetery service on Monday, and the photo accompanying their story shows people lining Court Street for the parade. Either the city notified the Messenger and not us, or editor Nicole Bowman-Layton called the city to see if anything was happening.
I’m not mad because the Messenger got a story and we didn’t. I’m mad because no one should have to call the city to find out what’s happening for Memorial Day — or any other holiday or observation. We host the county’s Yodel calendar so people don’t have to hunt through a ton of Facebook posts and websites to find out what’s happening in Athens County.
Among the more than 100 organizations on the Yodel calendar is … the city of Athens.
P.S. If your organization isn’t on Yodel yet, you should set up an account today! It’s 100% free for both organizations and users. And if you already post events on a Google-type calendar or use Facebook Events, Yodel will scrape those entries automatically for you. Here’s how to get started.
