April 24, 2008

Editorial

Here’s to flings in the Springs

Downtown Yellow Springs sparkled Friday evening, even before the sky darkened and the lights came on. The whole place felt electric, as folks spilled out of stores and restaurants, hung out on benches and talked and laughed with each other. Drummers drummed, singers sang, dancers danced and children played. It was an enchanted evening in the village.

The occasion was the Third Friday Fling in the Springs, a new monthly effort to keep stores open late and bring shoppers downtown. The event is good for our downtown businesses, of course, and in that respect alone it’s good for the rest of us, too. But it’s also one more opportunity for villagers to come together in pleasure and play, and we can’t have too many of those. As well as strengthening our economy, it strengthens our sense of -community.

Many things contributed to the evening’s success. The extraordinarily beautiful spring weather helped, as did the white blossoms on pear trees, the charm of the horse-drawn carriage, the drama of fire dancers, and the energy of all those villagers. Most of the credit, of course, goes to the downtown merchants and the folks at the Chamber of Commerce for putting in the hours of hardcore organizational work that made the evening feel like a spontaneous party.

So thanks to those who put together this lovely event, and who have stuck with it the past four months through small crowds and cold weather. (And thanks to Lloyd Kennedy and the tree committee for planting those ethereal pear trees years ago.) The Third Friday Fling in the Springs looks like a winner. See you next month, on third Friday.

—Diane Chiddister