Hotly Contested Election is Cause for a Political Party

For University of Cincinnati student Heather Sturgill, 33, the Fourth of July will be coming this Nov. 2 election day.  As a real political partier, she’ll be throwing a big-time voting bash for her entire Northside community from noon-10 p.m., transforming an empty parking lot at the corner of Hamilton Ave. and Lingo St. into a Votefest complete with a big-top tent, streamers, banners, balloons, live music, food, games and contests.

The idea for the “First Annual Political Party” in the Cincinnati community of Northside actually came to Sturgill before an April 15, 2000, auto accident left her in a wheelchair with minimal use of arms and shoulders and without the use of her fingers, hands, trunk or legs.  “A friend was musing on old movies and about throwing a party for our friends connected to voting as a celebration.  Then, when I saw the Fourth of July parade in Northside, I made the connection that the whole community could celebrate voting, not just our friends….What if election days were like what we see in the movies?  Let’s have hoopla and hurrahs,’” she recalls.

She and her friend actually began to plan to realize their vision, but a driver who ran a stop sign quickly ended those nascent dreams.  For Sturgill, who came very close to dying several times after the accident, a years-long battle began to regain some physical motion and some independence.  “I couldn’t even leave the house for two years.  My husband rigged up a ramp, but our house was an old shotgun house, three rooms deep and three stories high.  Only a few people could get me down the ramp, and several experiences left me so scared, I avoided getting out of the house,” says Sturgill.

For example, one of Sturgill’s best friends tried to negotiate the ramp one day.  “It had been raining, and the wood was wet,” Sturgill recalls.  “Her foot slipped.  She ended up on her knees, back pressed against the neighbor’s house and a rod that stuck out from my chair just a couple inches from going through her head.  She amazingly had managed to keep the chair from completely falling over and crushing me as we slid down the ‘ramp.’  It was just so scary, I avoided it [leaving the house].”

Such experiences led to the rehabbing of an 1862 Northside home – a “pile of rubble” according to Sturgill – to meet her new needs, and after the Bureau of Rehabilitation Services rehabbed an old Ford van for Sturgill’s use AND after she came back to school as an urban studies major in UC’s College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning…then and only then was she ready to take on the additional challenge of organizing a community-wide “political party.”

The fast approaching Nov. 2 celebration has required months to organize and has become a job that eats up close to 30 hours a week for Sturgill, but she thinks the first-annual party will serve as an ongoing means to counter apathy and a sense of disenfranchisement among some voters.  And, support has been provided to her throughout the planning process.  For instance, the ten local bands participating in the day represent almost every note on the musical scale: rock, pop, blues, hip-hop, folk, reggae and Celtic. 

Adds Sturgill, “Almost 50 businesses throughout Northside are decorating, opening early and staying open late.  They’re also going to be asking customers some very basic election-related trivia questions.  A correct answer will get you a discount or entry into a raffle.  We have support from business and foundations outside of Northside too.  And in addition to the celebratory atmosphere, we’re setting up barrels to collect canned good donations for the Free Store/Food Bank.”

For more information on Northside’s First Annual Political Party, visit http://www.northside.net/~ncv/

Bands playing at the political party

• Sonny Moorman, noon
• Moonlight Graham, 1 p.m.
• Tim Easton, 2 p.m.
• Fine Art, 3 p.m.
• Phantasee Entertainment, 4 p.m.
• Chicken Hawk Soundzz w/ Selectah Double H, 5 p.m.
• Foxy McCoy, 6 p.m.
• Bodhi Fannin & Anam Cara, 7 p.m.
• The Baghdaddios, 8 p.m.
• Crankbox, 9 p.m.

Sponsors

• Cinergy Foundation
• Health Alliance
• Northside Community Council
• Northside Business Association