When your college years are far behind you, it may seem like there are essentially two types of places you can spend your time should you find yourself on campus again:
1) The semi-official school suggestions that everyone knows about, which, depending on when you visit, may be packed with other out-of-towners.
2) The spots beloved by students but mortifying to folks a few decades older.
If you know where to look, though, a college visit or parents’ weekend can present new opportunities – for shopping, dining, recreation, cultural enrichment, even slaking your thirst for the unusual.
Related: The Pittsburgh Experience
Here are some such opportunities in a few of Ohio’s college towns.
Antioch College
Yellow Springs
If you know anything about Yellow Springs, you know about its vast arts community.
It’s so vast, though, that you may not know where to begin.
One way to get a good idea of the artistic community is to check out the Yellow Springs Arts Council’s gallery. It updates its exhibitions at a robust clip of twice per month, so there’s always something new and interesting on display.
The council also has on its website, www.ysartscouncil.org, a comprehensive listing of all the artists in and around the village. It’s sorted by medium, and each artist’s listing includes, if applicable, studio location and availability information, as well as galleries where his or her work can be seen.
A wide assortment of fine arts and crafts can be bought at Village Artisans. And should you happen to be stopping by in the fall, it bears mentioning that the annual artist studio tour and sale takes place the third week of October.
DINING: Aleta’s Café, a new restaurant with such interesting offerings as naan pizzas, turkey confit and roasted spaghetti squash
SHOPPING: Yellow Springs Brewery, S and G Artisan Distillery or Brandeberry Winery (just northwest of town)
RECREATION: Glen Helen Nature Preserve, a 1,000-acre preserve featuring, among other things, the area’s titular yellow spring
OTHER: La Llama Place, a shop specializing in Peruvian imports
Kenyon College
Gambier
There’s a sizable assortment of ways to stay entertained outdoors should you be wise enough to visit Kenyon College during warm-weather months.
Gambier is right on the Kokosing Gap Trail, a former railroad line turned 14-mile path running through Knox County and featuring railroad bridges, wetlands and a historic locomotive and caboose.
Also along the trail is the Brown Family Environmental Center, a 480-acre preserve with seven miles of its own trails. The center’s wildlife garden is known for its 60 species of plants and a variety of wildlife, including birds and butterflies.
DINING: Wiggin Street Coffee, a classic-style coffee house in a historic 1840 building offering locally made coffees, teas and pastries, as well as sandwiches
SHOPPING: Kenyon College Bookstore, the oldest continuously operating college bookstore in the U.S.
CULTURE: Gund Gallery, an impressively large university gallery focused primarily on 20th and 21st century art
OTHER: Schnormeier Gardens, a massive complex of privately owned gardens; unfortunately, it’s only open one weekend a year, June 4-7 this year
Kent State University
Kent
College bars may hold limited appeal for the non-college-aged, but avoiding the ones at Kent altogether will deprive you of one of the most interesting dining experiences in town.
For the last year, the kitchen at Water Street Tavern has been operated by Mr. Zub’s Deli, a sandwich joint with Akron origins. The Akron location is connected to a movie
theater, and the theme carries over here.
The sandwich menu is positively colossal, and every single item on it is named for an iconic movie character: The BLT is named after Mr. Pink from Reservoir Dogs, the PB&J is named after Mrs. Robinson from The Graduate, the Philly cheesesteak is named after Rocky Balboa from the Rocky movies, and so on. There are original creations, too, such as a macaroni and cheese bacon stack named for Moses Hightower of Police Academy.
SHOPPING: Beckwith Orchards, a 125-year-old family farm offering produce, gifts and baked goods; best visited in the fall
CULTURE: A respectable set of art galleries, including Group Ten Gallery, Black Squirrel Gallery & Gifts and FJ Kluth Art Gallery
RECREATION: Fred Fuller Park, a 56-acre park that hosts events and connects via a trail to another city park, John Brown Tannery Park
OTHER: Off the Wagon, a shop specializing in toys, games and gag gifts, from zombie finger puppets to barbecue-flavored worms
Denison University
Granville
If you have a taste for history, the Avery-Downer House and Robbins Hunter Museum is sure to entertain during a trip to Licking County’s biggest school.
The historic house museum, built in 1842, is filled with decorative arts from the 18th and 19th centuries. Many have been collected over the years, but some were owned by the house’s original occupants.
A total of 16 rooms are open for exploration.
A visitor with good timing might do well to come by during the Granville Town and Country Garden Tour, this year slated for June 20, or the Granville Antiques Fair, set for Sept. 26.
DINING: Brews Café, a brewpub known for its off-the-wall burgers – including a mac and cheese burger and a green chili bacon burger – and hundreds of bottle and draft beers
SHOPPING: Granville Gourmet Whoopie Pies, in varieties ranging from buckeye to lemon-poppyseed, available at a handful of local stores
CULTURE: Weathervane Playhouse in nearby Newark, which serves up five long-running shows every summer
RECREATION: The Alligator Mound, a massive earthen sculpture built by Native Americans; for more Native American culture, there’s the internationally renowned Newark Earthworks a few miles away
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green
If you feel the urge to bring home something sweet from Bowling Green, you’ll have a tough time doing better than the incredible creations at the Cookie Jar and More.
The bakery, which schedules a new “cookie of the day” every day for a month, specializes in cookies you’d be hard-pressed to find elsewhere. One day it’s vanilla butter cookies with crushed hazelnuts and Nutella, the next it’s chocolate cookies pumped full of miniature marshmallows, and the next it’s maple-flavored cookies with bacon and a side of maple buttercream frosting.
Among the shop’s signature creations are its “Inceptions” – cookies within cookies, such as chocolate chip cookies with Oreos in the center.
A comparably interesting shopping experience can be had at Grounds for Thought, a coffee shop that doubles as an immense used book store with a good-sized collection of vinyl records.
DINING: Myles Pizza Pub, offering a line of “Lovers” pizzas – e.g., Chinese Chicken Lovers, Spice Lovers, Breakfast Lovers
CULTURE: BGSU Planetarium, featuring a variety of weekend shows as well as stargazing, should your visit be an overnight one
RECREATION: Simpson Garden Park, with attractions including a sensory garden, a daylily garden, a healing garden and a sculpture garden
OTHER: Snook’s Dream Cars, a collection of classic cars and memorabilia inside a recreated 1940s Texaco station
Garth Bishop is managing editor. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
