Avenue for All festival seeks to bridge gap between South Side neighborhoods

A festival championing Parsons Avenue and its changing character is scheduled for Saturday.

First held in 2019, Avenue for All was created by the nonprofit Community Development for All People to help bridge the divide between what had been the historic disparate sides of Parsons Avenue and celebrate what had become active revitalization and development along the street.

"Parsons Avenue had become this place where there were lots of places for people to come and spend time and all sorts of new businesses," said Mike Premo, the nonprofit's newly named executive director. "It just had a vibrancy that it hadn't had for a long time and we wanted to celebrate that fact."

The major South Side thoroughfare will be closed to traffic Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. between East Whittier and East Kossuth streets to make way for bounce houses, live music, ice cream and games for kids.

Representatives from groups such as Columbus Public Health, Celebrate One, the Central Ohio Transit Authority, the League of Women Voters and the Mid-Ohio Food Collective also will be present.

Redefining Parsons Avenue 

Parsons Avenue has historically been and is still sometimes viewed as a dividing line between the more affluent neighborhoods of German Village and Merion Village on one side and neighborhoods such as Southern Orchards and Vassor Village on the other side that have struggled with crime and poverty.

"On the east side of Parsons, you had some of the poorest neighborhoods in the city, which were more racially diverse than the west side of Parsons, which was wealthier and more white," Premo said.

Curtis Davis of the Columbus South Side Area Commission said the one-day festival, which skipped a year in 2020 during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, succeeds in shining a spotlight on the area.

He hopes those attending this weekend's Columbus Arts Festival will all stop over on Parsons Avenue, and that out-of-towners will come to see the South Side as a place for new housing and businesses.

"There are a lot of good things going on Parsons, a lot of new traffic since COVID," said Kathy Green, president of the Parsons Area Merchants Association. "People are getting out a little more. We encourage folks to come back, celebrate with their neighbors, celebrate Parsons Avenue."

Forthcoming development 

Notwithstanding the pandemic, the Parsons Avenue corridor north of Thurman Avenue has experienced a surge of investment and development, especially in the past five years.

Additions in recent years include restaurants like Comune, Parsons North Brewing Company, the indie bookstore and café Two Dollar Radio and Community Grounds Coffee & Meeting House.

And more are on the horizon.

Gluten-free bakery Bake Me Happy is planning to move into the old post office at Parsons and East Whittier.

Columbus Landmarks is buying the old Nagy Brothers Shoe Repair shop on Parsons with plans to preserve the 90-year-old building.

And the Parsons Avenue Redevelopment Corporation, in conjunction with Community Development for All People, plans to break ground next spring on a four-story apartment building to be called The Eleanor at 921-945 Parsons near Stanley Avenue, that will be ready by summer of 2024.

Half of The Eleanor's 43 units will be market rate, while the other half will be aimed at those making up to 70% of the area median income, which would be $45,900 for a one-person household and $59,080 for a three-person household.

“We’re seeing an influx of new residents, a new interest in urban living,” said Brian Higgins, executive director of the Parsons Avenue Redevelopment Corporation. “Neighborhoods like German Village are not affordable.”

“The neighborhood is best served by being economically diverse,” added Higgins, who also is principal with Arch City Development.

In the works

Jay Cheplowitz was ahead of the curve on the South Side when he opened a vegan restaurant and bar on Parsons Avenue in 2009. Hal & Al's lasted until 2014, when it was purchased by another restaurateur.

Cheplowitz is now in the midst of another project — and a much larger one at that.

In 2016 he bought an old Columbus fire station at 1716 Parsons Ave. in hopes of converting it into a brewpub and restaurant, as well as an event space. Cheplowitz is still looking to attract a tenant for the 7,000-square-foot, two-story former firehouse, but in the meantime he said he and his team have been preserving the more than century-old building and cleaning it.

“I always have people who want to use it as a garage or storage or rent as a residence. I’m really not interested in that," said Cheplowitz, who also owns Metro-Rentals.com, which leases houses, apartments and commercial properties.

“I’m looking for the right use. It’s a beautiful building that's hard not to fall in love with," he said.

'Big ol' party'

Mike Premo is looking forward to this weekend's festival — and all that is to come for Parsons Avenue. He describes Avenue for All as a "big ol' party."

"What we're hopeful for and what we're working toward is for an opportunity-rich, mixed-income community where all people can live and thrive," he said. "We feel like we're making good strides toward that, and we want to continue that."

This story is part of the Dispatch's Mobile Newsroom initiative. Visit our reporters at the Columbus Metropolitan Library's Parsons branch library and read their work at dispatch.com/mobilenewsroom, where you also can sign up for The Mobile Newsroom newsletter.

Monroe Trombly covers breaking and trending news. You can email him at mtrombly@dispatch.com or follow him on Twitter @MonroeTrombly.

Mark Ferenchik covers neighborhoods and their residents for The Dispatch. He can be reached at mferenchik@dispatch.com. His Twitter handle is @MarkFerenchik.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Avenue for All festival taking over Parsons this Saturday