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GUIDE TO YELLOW SPR INGS  |  2020 – 2021 5 Downtown Yellow Springs, then and now By MEGAN BACHMAN In Italy, it’s the piazza, in Spain, the plaza, and in old New England villages, the town square. Yellow Springs, too, has a central gathering space, a public place that meets the social, cultural and commer- cial needs of its citizens. It’s downtown. Officially known as the “central business district,” downtown clusters around two main drags: U.S. 68 — locally called Xenia Avenue — and Dayton Street. Bridging them is Corry Street, while a few connecting side streets and alleys channel foot and vehicle traffic. Downtown borders the verdant Glen Helen Nature Preserve to the east, the rec- reational Little Miami Scenic Trail to the north and historic neighborhoods along Walnut Street to the west and Lime- stone Street to the south. Concentrated in these few blocks are more than 60 shops, restaurants and businesses; dozens of apart- ments; a church, post office, theater and hotel; murals and public art; and benches on which to sit, listen to a busking musician and watch the world go by. And many do. On sunny weekends, downtown Yellow Springs draws visitors by the thousands. Meanwhile, villagers find essentials close at hand throughout the week. That dual role is special, according to the Yellow Springs Chamber of Commerce’s former longtime director, Karen Wintrow. “It’s a unique mix,” she said. “It really does have all of the places that someone needs — the hardware store, grocery store, pharmacy, bank and credit union — but also has the gift shops that visitors are attracted to.” Other downtowns are unique, but downtown Yellow Springs may be unri- valed for its size, authenticity and vibrancy. “Downtown is small scale and human scale, so it’s a very attractive place to be,” said Evelyn LaMers, who has worked downtown since 1973 as a founding member of the Yellow Springs Pottery co-op. In comparison to a suburban shopping center, downtown is not “fake-o or contrived,” LaMers added, while its colorful facades are particularly appealing. “Rarely do you see a pret- tier downtown,” she said. “The color and the variety of buildings, new and old, fixed up or not, it’s like a collage or quilt. The sum of the parts are greater than each individual piece.” How did downtown Yellow Springs come to be? In some ways, it’s a relic; it’s the rest of the world that has changed. Many other towns had their own mom-and-pop shops, but lost them in the era of automobile-centric suburban sprawl and strip mall development of the 1960s and 1970s. Small businesses have declined, while corporate chains have grown. But Yellow Springs stood firm in its values — that the small, independent and locally owned was preferable to the big, bland and homog- enized, and that greenspace should be preserved in order to protect both the rural landscape and the core downtown. In the 1960s, the vision for a green belt was enacted, which has had a lasting impact. “It’s clear to me that the biggest thing that probably saved downtown Yellow Springs is not allowing development at the fringes,” Wintrow said. And so downtown evolved as a part of the larger Yellow Springs ecosystem, adapted to its local culture. Down- town today is a distillation of the town’s character. It’s laid-back and casual, with a relaxed pace even for a bustling town center. It’s creative; local artists express themselves through public art on trash cans, benches, murals, street music and arts and crafts stores. It’s idealistic, as generations of proprietors follow their dreams of opening their own store. And it’s cooperative in spirit, evinced by co-ops and other shared ventures. Perhaps more than anything else, downtown showcases the town’s com- mitment to community — to buying local and supporting one’s neighbors — as well as to staying connected to one another, whether with a quick chat in the Tom’s Market produce section or a lingering conversation over a cup of coffee. To Rebecca Eschliman, who has lived in the vil- lage for more than seven decades, downtown has a “personal touch” because of its size and how many of its businesses are locally owned. It also plays an essential role in the community as “the center of communication.” Just hanging out downtown, she says, is one of its most important features. “The Yellow Springs News is great for in-depth, but it PHOTO: MEGAN BACHMAN Local street musicians Perin Ellsworth-Heller, left, and Ben Hemmendinger performed along Xenia Avenue in the summer of 2014. Downtown’s busking culture and public art showcase the village’s artistic nature.