Oxford celebrates students’ return with final Red Brick event of the summer
The final Red Brick Friday event of the summer has become an annual celebration, bringing Miami students and Oxford residents together with food and live music.
On Friday, Aug. 30, the brick streets of Uptown Oxford were flooded with community members and Miami University students alike for the Red Brick Friday Streets & Eats celebration. Vendors and food trucks lined High and Main St. from 6-10 p.m.
In addition to the food and vendors, Cincinnati band The Wonderlands performed live music and debuted a new song during the celebration. Other activities included ziplining, yard games and bounce houses, and vendors including Peace Pizza, Loaded Goat Cafe, 513 Bubble Tea, Snow Dogs Fun and Deez Tacos provided food.
Dillon Wiseman was at the event, running a booth to represent Anytime Fitness. By setting up at Streets & Eats, Wiseman said that the goal was to get people to come in and help them to better their lives.
Wiseman said that the event started out a little slow, but it started to pick up after the first hour, despite the consistent hot weather. Within an hour, Wiseman said that his booth had given out around 20 flyers.
“It’s been very hot, but we’re getting a good amount of people like college students and the older crowd as well,” Wiseman said. “We’re just giving out some passes for people to come to the gym and try it.”
Brooke Taylor, owner of Taylor Family Farm, was also present at the event, selling goat’s milk soap from her farm. She decided to be a part of Streets & Eats because she lives in Oxford and wanted to show people that the town has more than just the university.
Taylor said the turnout had been great even before the live music started. She was hoping that once it cooled down a bit, it would pick up some more. For Taylor, the students being back made the event even more exciting.
“I’m most excited that the kids are back and everyone’s coming up and enjoying and seeing the small town that we are,” Taylor said. “I’m excited that they get to experience it.”
Megan Lohrey was filling in at the Oxford Community Yoga booth while her aunt, Jessica Lohrey, who owns the business, had to step away. By participating in the event, Megan Lohrey said she hoped to meet new people and put the studio out there for people to learn more about.
The booth was giving out free passes, as well as offering an auction for a free month of yoga. In addition to this, they were also giving out free stickers to people who stopped by.
“[We chose to set up here today to] spread some awareness about the studio so that people know it's here, and what we offer,” Lohrey said.
This event marks the third time The Chunky Chickadee, a crochet company started by Oxford stay-at-home mom Jackie Dawn Magallon, set up at Red Brick Friday. Magallon said she was most looking forward to making contacts and getting orders for people at the event.
“It’s a great way to see the community of Oxford. It’s definitely a different feel having all the students back tonight which is really fun,” Magallon said.
The business was initially created to be something she could make for her children, but it eventually expanded to selling to others, as well. The name was inspired by Magallon’s children, with Chunky and Chickadee both coming from her children’s nicknames. Magallon said she enjoys being a part of Streets & Eats celebration.
Andrew Vermeer, a sophomore music performance major at Miami, started his evening off with a burger from Loaded Goat Cafe. He said he enjoyed seeing all of the unique assortments of things available at the booths.
“I’d recommend going around and looking at pretty much everything, at least give it a passing glance, and if it looks interesting, stop in and see what it’s about,” Vermeer said.
Abby McCannon, a sophomore mechanical engineering major at Miami, attended Streets & Eats last year. McCannon enjoyed learning about what Oxford had to offer, so she decided to return and check out the event this year, too.
Because of her experience at this event last year, she found new places in Oxford that she has spent a lot of time at since. One of these businesses is Uptown Threads.
“I go to Uptown Threads every weekend because I saw it here … It had some really cool, cute shirts,” McCannon said. “I’m gonna place an order there.”
