2025 In Review | Village Life

• By YS News Staff
• Published: January 2, 2026

• No Comments

Celebrations

• In January, the Springfield-based Haitian Community Alliance sponsored a “Celebration of Unity” event, and extended an invitation for Yellow Springs residents to come and get to know the community. The celebration, which also observed Haiti’s Jan. 1 Independence Day, featured Haitian singers and speakers and the World House Choir.

• The annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration featured a keynote speech from Dr. Ron Wyatt and the awarding of the annual Peacemaker Award to longtime villager Joan Chappelle.

• In April, the Yellow Springs Earth Day and Community Habitat Celebration brought residents together on the Senior Center-owned lawn at Livermore and East North College streets for the annual Earth Day celebration.

Locals Eric Lawhorn and Anthony Howard were among the volunteers at the Who’s Hungry? soup kitchen on Monday, Nov. 3, and doled out free meals of fried chicken, corn bread and more to all who came in with empty bellies. Lining the counter are pre-preared meals that Who’s Hungry? passes out to the Village community outreach specialists, who bring the food to the Bryan Center for the benefit of children in the after-school youth program. The soup kitchen, which operates every Monday and Wednesday evening out of MAZU, is among several organizations in Yellow Springs that have stepped up in recent weeks as federal food assistance programs have stalled. (Photo by Reilly Dixon)

• The Coretta Scott King Center and the YS Juneteenth Committee hosted a “Celebration of Peace and Unity” on June 19 at Antioch College, honoring both Juneteenth and the 60th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s commencement speech.

• The annual PRIDE YS celebration returned to the village in June, featuring film screenings, performances, a parade and a plethora of community connection.

• In October, “Women’s Voices Out Loud” returned; the annual community event aims to uplift women’s stories through spoken word, visual art and musical performances.

• In November, community members gathered together once again for the annual Community Thanksgiving Meal.

Milestones and transitions

• After nearly eight years in office, Mayor Pam Conine announced early this year that she would not seek reelection in November 2025, bringing her tenure as mayor to a close with the year’s end.

• Marking the 100th anniversary of Helen Birch Bartlett’s death, Glen Helen Nature Preserve and Bonnet House Museum & Gardens in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, partnered this year to illuminate Bartlett’s overlooked legacy as a writer, composer and influential modern art patron.

A tableau vivant recreating Georges Seurat’s iconic painting, Un dimanche après-midi à l’Île de la Grande Jatte, featuring the Yellow Springs community in 2025. (Photo by Valerie Kosheleff)

• In April, Collin Goebel, a Yellow Springs High School sophomore, was recognized at a Cincinnati Reds game after placing third overall at the 2024 Reds Baseball Camps Skills Champions Day, earning the honor among more than 1,200 regional participants.

• In April, WYSO aired the final episode of “Poor Will’s Almanack,” ending a 19-year run of the weekly program hosted by local writer Bill Felker. Felker continues to publish “Poor Will’s Almanack” weekly in the News.

• In June, the WYSO news team earned national recognition from the Public Media Journalists Association, receiving one first-place and three second-place awards for reporting and documentary work. Neenah Ellis also received the Leo C. Lee Award, recognizing her five decades of contributions to radio.

Photo by Photo by Camille Gill, Ohio Access to Justice Foundation

• In late July, YS Home, Inc. held a community celebration and ribbon cutting for Phase 1 of The Cascades senior housing project, marking a milestone in the nonprofit’s decades-long push for affordable senior housing in Yellow Springs.

• In September, Mayor Pam Conine and the late Jane Lee Ball, Ph.D., were among the 2025 inductees to the Greene County Women’s Hall of Fame.

• After nearly six years leading First Presbyterian Church of Yellow Springs, the Rev. Daria Schaffnit announced she would step down at the end of October to become associate pastor at Southminster Presbyterian Church in Dayton.

• Friends Care Community expanded access to local rehabilitation services in September after joining UnitedHealthcare’s in-network roster for inpatient rehab and outpatient therapy.

• In December, drag performer Ms. Demure celebrated 25 years of presenting “Harper’s Bazzaroworld” on DATV, as well as her own 60th birthday, with a live holiday special featuring community guests, including Mayor Pam.

For a good cause

• The first month of the year marked nearly a decade of the nonprofit Beloved Community Project providing free, monthly meals to the community at large.

• In February, local affordable housing nonprofit YS Home, Inc. launched its second round of major home-repair grants, aiming to provide more than $500,000 locally, funded by a USDA Housing Preservation Grant and a matching grant from CenterPoint Energy Foundation, along with funding provided by the Carol M. Peterson Housing Fund.

Village resident and volunteer Steve McQueen is pictured with Kip, an inmate at Pickaway Correctional Institute, who was being recorded reading the 2018 children’s book, “The Word Collector” by Peter H. Reynolds. Kip and a number of other men incarcerated at Pickaway are participating in the Yellow Springs-based Story Chain program — an opportunity to connect the voices inside correctional institutions with their kin on the outside. (Photo by Reilly Dixon)

• In May, the News reported that the YS Community Foundation had granted funds for a new outing van to Roads to Recovery, a nonprofit autism resource center.

• The News reported in May that nonprofit Story Chain had expanded its program to Pickaway Correctional Institution, allowing incarcerated fathers there to record children’s books for their families.

• In late May, proposed cuts in Ohio’s biennial budget briefly threatened a key funding source for YS Home, Inc. when the preliminary state budget bill moved to eliminate the Ohio Housing Trust Fund. After sustained advocacy, in July, lawmakers preserved the trust fund in the final budget.

• Comedian and local resident Donnell Rawlings brought Donnell Land back over Memorial Day weekend with four days of events, with proceeds benefiting Comedy Gives Back to support comedians facing hardship.

• Local residents Jim Zehner and Carl Moore marked one year of free meals from “Who’s Hungry?” on May 14, serving cake alongside the program’s regular hot meals, and gained independent nonprofit status in the fall.

“Clayworks” represents 64 years of the work of potter Bruce Grimes. Above, he demonstrates how he created textures by hand on a post featured in the show. Visible just below the lip of the pot is an indentation left by Grimes’ thumb — one of four that encircles the piece. (Photo by Lauren “Chuck” Shows)

• Agraria received a $10,000 donation from local resident Celia Diamond this spring, boosting the nonprofit’s ongoing recovery and growth.

• In June, First Presbyterian Church held its 72nd annual Strawberry Fest, a beloved summer community gathering and fundraiser.

• Friends Care Community revived its longtime fundraiser Feast for Friends in August, five years after the progressive dinner was canceled due to the pandemic.

• NAMIWalks made its Yellow Springs debut Sept. 6, launching from the John Bryan Community Center as a fundraiser for NAMI Clark, Greene and Madison Counties, which provides mental health resources.

• The YS Senior Center and Glen Helen partnered in October for a square dance fundraiser at Camp Greene, featuring live music by The Corndrinkers.

Eyes on land, environment

• This summer, the News reported that the Ohio Department of Agriculture had expanded its spotted lanternfly quarantine to six more counties, bringing the total to 18 statewide.

• A sudden storm June 7 dumped about three inches of rain in an hour, causing severe flooding at Glen Helen Nature Preserve, damaging boardwalks along the Inman Trail and destroying a prominent beaver dam, displacing the resident beaver family. Both the boardwalk and dam were restored later in the year.

• A juvenile black bear was spotted in Yellow Springs on June 28, briefly roaming near a Fairfield Pike home, with footage shared on social media after the annual Pride events concluded. Experts noted that the bear spotted in town was likely just passing through.

• Yellow Springs experienced a lighter emergence of 17-year periodical cicadas this summer, primarily from Brood XIV, following the much louder Brood X appearance in 2021.

• The fifth annual Black Indigenous People of Color Food and Farming Conference — sponsored and organized by the locally based BIPOC Food and Farming Network — was held in mid-September at Central State University’s Dayton campus, celebrating farmers and food producers of color across Ohio.

According to the Ohio Department of Public Safety, which keeps crash data on file for five years, data for the intersection revealed that 30 collisions, involving either one vehicle or multiple vehicles, took place there from Oct. 1, 2019–Oct. 31, 2024. (Photo: Google Maps)

Public safety

• Concerns over safety at the intersection of U.S. 68 and East Hyde Road prompted the News early in the year to review state traffic collision reports from the intersection; the data showed a rise in crashes over the last five years, with most caused by drivers failing to yield from Hyde Road. In response to the data, the Ohio Department of Transportation approved a conversion of the intersection to a four-way stop, which was implemented in October.

• State plans advanced in August for a new pedestrian and cyclist bridge over U.S. 68, linking the Little Miami Scenic Trail to Great Council State Park south of Yellow Springs. The ODOT project is expected to be completed in spring 2027.

• The Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission began gathering public input this summer for a federally funded Safe Streets for All Comprehensive Safety Action Plan in an effort to reduce roadway fatalities and serious injuries.

Chamber of Commerce Director Phillip O’Rourke and Greene County Public Health staffers Kaci Warren and Kelley Day stand proudly next to the new kiosk in the Yellow Springs Train Station, at 101 Dayton St. along the bike path. The kiosk provides any and all with free Narcan — no questions asked. (Photo by Reilly Dixon)

Health and wellness

• In mid-July, Greene County Public Health, or GCPH, installed a free naloxone kiosk at the YS Train Station, expanding public access to the overdose-reversal medication. The kiosk joined two existing village sites: YS Pharmacy and the Bryan Center.

Building community

• In late March, the News spoke with attendees of the monthly “Discussing Our Own Death” group, led by Jill Becker at the Senior Center, that  aims to bring residents together to openly talk about mortality.

• In May, the News checked in with “Shut Up & Write!” a free, inclusive weekly writing hour held at the Emporium and founded by local poet Artie Isaac and former News Editor Diane Chiddister in 2019.

• The YS Community Library moved in September to expand teen engagement under new youth services librarian Alyssa Troquille, who launched initiatives aimed at positioning the library as a community space for teens. Efforts included new programming and the creation of TAG-MAG, a teen advisory group and literary magazine.

Short Street was jam packed on Friday night, Aug. 15, for the unveiling of Little Art Theatre’s new marquee — an LED homage to the theater’s aesthetics of yesteryear and a downtown beacon for the days ahead. Staffers and board members of the 96-year-old theater told the News that the lighting of the new marquee is the first of many upcoming improvements ahead of Little Art’s centennial in 2029. (Photo by Reilly Dixon)

Connecting with history

• In April, during Greene County History Month, the Yellow Springs branch of the Greene County Public Library hosted a youth program highlighting the life of Hallie Quinn Brown, presented through the National Afro American Museum and Cultural Center’s new “Museum in a Box” initiative.

• A new self-guided Black history tour launched in November, expanding the work of The 365 Project’s summertime guided walks. The tour pairs permanent plaques and QR codes with an online map outlining 10 sites tied to Black-owned businesses, churches, schools and civic life, with the aim of making local history accessible year-round.

From left: Tanner Bussey, Kevin McGruder, Len Kramer, Antonia Dosik and Preston Harris were all smiles after unveiling a plaque that marks the end of a new self-guided Black history walking tour around the village. The tour is the product of collaborative work between The 365 Project, Livable/Equitable/Age-Friendly Yellow Springs, the YS Community Foundation and the Village of Yellow Springs. (Photo by Lauren “Chuck” Shows)

Civic action, community dialogue

• At the beginning of the year, in response to new Ohio laws restricting transgender students’ rights and limiting DEI efforts in education, local residents formed a Yellow Springs satellite of PFLAG to support LGBTQ+ youth and families. Later in the year, the group changed its name to Rainbow Alliance of Yellow Springs, or RAYS.

• In January, President Donald Trump’s second-term immigration actions, which included executive orders that expanded expedited deportations, coincided with reported nationwide U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests. In response, local residents formed the Yellow Springs Community Coalition for Immigrant Support, bringing together residents concerned about the safety of immigrants, including those with protected status.

• The Yellow Springs Senior Center continued its public lecture series in 2025, rebranding the former “Community Colloquy” as “Village Voices” to better reflect its goal of welcoming residents of all ages.

• In April, Yellow Springs precinct captains for the Greene County Democratic Party organized a community town hall focused on healthcare access amid rising costs and concerns over Medicare and Medicaid.

• Local organizers launched a Civil Discourse Pilot Program this summer to improve how Yellow Springs residents discuss divisive issues. The first event, held July 8, focused on running for local office and featured elected officials discussing governance, communication and civic responsibility. The pilot continued with an Aug. 22 Friday Forum at Antioch College focusing on censorship and silencing, reviving the tradition launched in the 1980s by Antioch Professor Al Denman.

• In the fall, a prolonged federal government shutdown threatened SNAP benefits for thousands of Greene County residents, prompting Yellow Springs to mobilize its food security network. Local food pantries, community meal programs and police outreach expanded services, and the YS Community Foundation increased funding for food vouchers redeemable at Tom’s Market.

• Aid efforts intensified in late 2025 for Springfield’s Haitian community as the impending end of Temporary Protected Status Feb. 3, 2026, threatened jobs, housing and family stability. The Haitian Support Center expanded emergency fundraising for legal aid and housing support.

The Clifton Opera House — shown above — and nearby Clifton Union Schoolhouse are set to receive major refurbishments via state infrastructure funding. Renovations are slated to conclude by December 2026. (Photo by Reilly Dixon)

Clifton Notes

• In late April, the 132-year-old Clifton Opera House and 153-year-old Clifton Union Schoolhouse closed for renovations, with both projects funded by the state’s One Time Strategic Community Investment Fund, or OTSCIF.

• The Clifton Gorge Music and Arts Festival returned in August, continuing a decades-long tradition sustained by a small group of committed local volunteers. The event emphasizes regional music, handmade art and longtime traditions — including soup beans — while raising funds to support the festival itself and preserve Clifton’s historic buildings.

Elder stories

• In July, the News revived its “Elder Stories” series with a profile of Sue Parker, 84, tracing her five decades in Yellow Springs and a lifetime of quiet, persistent neighborliness. The story chronicled Parker’s civil rights activism, single motherhood, move to the village in 1970, deep involvement in affordable housing advocacy and steady championing of social justice and care for those on the margins.

• The “Elder Stories” series continued with a profile of local potter Bruce Grimes, whose retrospective exhibition “Clayworks,” spanning 64 years of ceramic work, was displayed at Cedarville University. The exhibition traced Grimes’ evolution from student to prolific artist and educator, highlighting his technical experimentation and raku firing. At 85, Grimes remains actively producing new work.

• Comments
• |
• Login
• |
• Community Standards
• |
• Help

No comments yet for this article.