As I was reading Flagpole I couldn’t help myself from thinking about the date on the cover, June 1. Time has a way of slipping by, and just like that, May is in our rear view mirror. The June 1 edition was not looking back, it was looking forward. After a couple years absence created by COVID, life is returning to Athens. AthFest, Hot Corner, live performances and hundreds of other events that have always been part of Athens are returning. How wonderful for Athens and for all of us.
Sadly, if you look closely into that rear view mirror, you might catch a glimpse of an event that is fading away just like the month of May: The Athens Human Rights Festival that for 41 or 42 years, depending on how you count them, provided an open and free forum for the exchange of information and views mixed with an amazing variety of Athens music. Some of Athens’ greatest bands played on the AHRF stage. For two days, College Avenue became a place of peace, love, friendship and goodwill. The stage—designed, built and maintained by festival volunteers—became the centerpiece for two days of fellowship. If you could capture the energy the stage generated, you could light up the world. To this day, no event in Athens comes close to the free spirit of the AHRF. Everyone who worked on the festival, every speaker, well known or not, every band or performer volunteered their time, talents and energy just to be part of the AHRF. A miracle if I ever saw one.
So as you plan once again to be part of everything Athens has to offer, take a moment to look in that rear view mirror and remember the Athens Human Rights Festival. Take out an old AHRF T-shirt and raise your glass high and give a well deserved “Kudos” to everyone who, for 41 or 42 years, depending on how you count them, made the festival happen.
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