Just about everybody we know or casually meet outside of Yellow Springs eventually gets around to asking “Is there anything to do there?” I tell them about THE Blog and Destination Yellow Springs but when that’s not enough I like telling them to check the Sunday NYT archives and look through the “36 Hours ….” articles in the travel section. After all, the NYT did 36 hours in Paris, Singapore, Boston and so on – surely they must have covered Yellow Springs at some point.
Well it turns out that my ruse has been uncovered, surprisingly, the NYT travel editors have not written about Yellow Springs. I was thinking about asking them to come see us but perhaps a better option is to just write my own “36 hours….” story and have it handy when the next out of town relative asks, “Is there anything to do there?”
I started outlining the highlights of a 36 hour visit to YS and quickly realized, you just can’t do it in 36 hours. How the NYT folks manage to do cities like Berlin, London and Chicago in such a limited time is beyond me. They must not be willing to explore new things.
I’m going to try “43 Hours in Yellow Springs” and cut a few corners to make it work for a summer weekend. Here’s where I am so far; “Arrive YS Friday at 5PM and depart Sunday at Noon.” That’s a two night stay which means roughly 14 hours for sleeping which leaves 29 hours to take in the basics.
Any suggestions? More to follow……
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4 comments:
Is there anything to do there? My kids always used to ask that when I proposed to take them on a trip.
As for the NY Times, I heard they did a wonderful article about YS quite awhile go. There was a famous quote about the number of people involved in chamber music that I won't even try to recreate.
Nancy Mellon would be a great person to contribute since she customizes weekend getaways for visitors.
Didn't National Georgraphic Travel do a story on YS last year?
Who reads the New York Times anyway? Suggesting looking there probably sounded snobbish to most people. I'm glad you're "busted".
If I was advising people on how to get the most out of their 29 hours in YS, I would definitely direct them to the 3 places you suggested: The Blog, the YS News, and the Chamber of Commerce website. I think of those 3 places as the media "foundation" in terms of finding out what's happening here any particular weekend. That would be the first tier. The second tier would be checking out the bulletin boards scattered around town for events that are perhaps under-the-radar or didn't quite make it to those 3 standard venues. Then there would be the tier that doesn't really need or get a "flyer" or announcement in a media venue but is here, every day, and makes this village so special: the Glen, the bike path, the Women's Park, the stores and coffeehouses, the Library (great bulletin board), and the Little Art Theatre. This third tier would also include simply strolling around the area to see all the many ways that this town is an art gallery itself: the beautiful tiled benches (Corry/Dayton; library; bike path), and the yarn-bombed benches, the knit-graffiti, the Flower Power poles, etc., the sidewalk art, the Telephone Booth, the murals on Kieth's Alley and the YSI building, the beautiful brickwork (and mural!) on Alan Macbeth's building at 309 Xenia Ave. (new home for the YS Arts Council), the public art sculptures at the train station; the corner of Dayton Street and Limestone; and 100 block of West Davis. Then there's a body care tier which includes yoga classes at Yoga Springs and massages and other health care needs through a variety of businesses and individuals too numerous to list here. Then there's the eating tier, which is plentiful and just got a new addition with CJ's Southern Cookin'. I'm sure there's more I just can't think of at this moment. But that's the kind of thing I'd tell people to do when they were here.
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