Yellow Springs News

12/19/2025

Need a date? Don't fret — the Yellow Springs News still has plenty of 2026 calendars for sale, just in time for the holidays.

The calendar features archival photos of "Twilight Zone" creator Rod Serling's time in Yellow Springs, as well as an original painting by village artist Travis Hotaling.

Calendars are for sale at Dark Star Books and Comics, Tom's Market, the YS News office and online at www.ysnews.com.

12/18/2025

The YSHS Athletic Department, in partnership with the YS Athletic Boosters, has opened the nomination window for the 2026 Athletic Hall of Fame class.

Nominations will be accepted through Dec. 29.

The YSHS Athletic Department, in partnership with the YS Athletic Boosters, has opened the nomination window for the 2026 Athletic Hall of Fame class. Nominations will be accepted through Dec. 29.

12/18/2025

The Yellow Springs Kwanzaa Planning Committee has announced plans for the 2025 celebration, which will take place Saturday, Dec. 27, at the Foundry Theater.

The evening will begin at 6 p.m. with a Kwanzaa Vendors Mart, followed at 7 p.m. by the annual Kwanzaa program.

Hosted by Basim Blunt, the program will include readings by young people of the seven Kwanzaa principles, the presentation of the Nguzo Saba award to a Yellow Springs resident and performances by local artists, followed by a potluck meal.

The Yellow Springs Kwanzaa Planning Committee has announced plans for the 2025 celebration, which will take place Saturday, Dec. 27, at the Foundry Theater.

12/17/2025

With the incoming warm front, snowy views like this will likely disappear in the coming days.

Earlier this month, villager and photographer Kathleen Galarza sent the YS News this lovely shot of the iconic covered bridge over the Little Miami Scenic Bike Trail.

Galarza wrote that she and a fellow early-rising runner made the first impressions on the white blanket one morning — “a special gift,” she called it.

Thanks for sharing, Kathleen!

12/16/2025

When federal SNAP benefits stalled this fall, Yellow Springs’ safety nets snapped taut in an effort to catch as many affected folks as possible.

Among those nets, and often helping bind them together, are the YS Police Department’s Community Outreach Specialists Florence Randolph and Danny Steck.

Responding locally to a nationwide crisis is part of the work for Randolph and Steck — but as they said in a recent interview, most days, their job involves responding to individual needs and the kinds of emergencies that don’t necessarily make the news.

Read more:

When federal SNAP benefits stalled this fall, Yellow Springs’ safety nets snapped taut in an effort to catch as many affected folks as possible. Among those nets, and often helping bind them together, are the YS Police Department’s Community Outreach Specialists Florence Randolph and Danny Steck...

12/15/2025

Right around the turn of the new year, the Yellow Springs Development Corporation is expected to close on the purchase of two downtown buildings: 252 and 254 Xenia Ave.

Once a purchase agreement is finalized in the coming weeks, YSDC will buy the two adjoining properties for $630,000 — money loaned to the quasi-governmental nonprofit and certified community improvement corporation from the Yellow Springs Community Foundation.

The three-story building at 252 Xenia Ave. previously housed Yellow Springs Hardware on its ground floor until the business closed earlier this year; on the second floor are four apartment units; and the third story is uninhabited storage space.

Next door, in the building at 254 Xenia Ave., is the Yellow Springs Toy Company, and above, two more apartments.

These properties went up for sale earlier this year following the 2024 death of previous owner and local property magnate Bob Baldwin.

As previously reported, YSDC members say they want to acquire the mixed-use buildings ahead of any out-of-town developer, whose intentions for the properties may have been incongruent with local values and development goals for Yellow Springs’ downtown business corridor.

Read more:

Right around the turn of the new year, the Yellow Springs Development Corporation is expected to close on the purchase of two downtown buildings: 252 and 254 Xenia Ave.

12/12/2025

It's that time of year!

12/11/2025

String super-group Mr Sun will bring their reimagined version of the “Nutcracker Suite,” to the Foundry Theater today — Thursday, Dec. 11.

It's a string-band take on the suite based, in part, on Tchaikovsky’s original, but mostly on the 1960 big-band-inflected reworking by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn — a reinterpretation of a reinterpretation.

String super-group Mr Sun will bring their reimagined version of the suite to the Foundry Theater on Thursday, Dec. 11: A string-band take on the suite based, in part, on Tchaikovsky’s original, but mostly on the 1960 big-band-inflected reworking by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn — a reinter...

12/09/2025

Yellow Springers may know drag queen Ms. Demure (sometimes known as Darryl Bohannon) from her appearances at the annual YS Pride events:

In 2024, she debuted “The Purple March” to highlight ongoing struggles for reproductive rights and diversity and inclusion. She’s also been a judge for YS Pride’s annual YS Pride Spirit Award.

But in the wider Miami Valley, Ms. Demure has been a name for a quarter of a century as the host of “Harper’s Bazzaroworld,” a program on Dayton’s public access station, DATV, since 2000, and purportedly the oldest LGBTQ+ public access variety talk show in the U.S.

This month, Ms. Demure will host a live holiday program on DATV featuring a number of guests — including Yellow Springs’ own Mayor Pam Conine — in celebration of the season, Ms. Demure’s 60th birthday, and 25 years on DATV’s airwaves.

This month, Ms. Demure will host a live holiday program on DATV featuring a number of guests — including Yellow Springs’ own Mayor Pam Conine — in celebration of the season, Ms. Demure’s 60th birthday, and 25 years on DATV’s airwaves.

12/08/2025

At the group’s most recent regular meeting, Monday, Dec. 1, Village Council approved the 2026 municipal budget — one with a projected deficit of $558,100, with municipal expenses expected to outpace revenues.

In a memo to Council ahead of their meeting, the Village’s finance director, Michelle Robinson, noted that while the Village’s general fund and several enterprise funds are anticipated to go into deficit spending over the coming year, the Village continues to maintain “strong” cash reserves.

By Robinson’s projections, the Village may end the coming year with more than $4 million in the general fund.

“That said,” Robinson wrote, “the Village manager and the finance committee are firmly committed to narrowing the deficit through ongoing fiscal discipline and strategic planning. Together, we remain focused on achieving a balanced and sustainable budget by 2028.”

As Council member Brian Housh put it, this budget reflects a conservative financial strategy oft employed by the Village — to underestimate forthcoming revenues, and overestimate expenditures.

At the group’s most recent regular meeting, Monday, Dec. 1, Village Council approved the 2026 municipal budget — one with a projected deficit of $558,100, with municipal expenses expected to outpace revenues.

12/07/2025

Happy 2005!

Through the end of December 2025, all Yellow Springs News subscription rates are discounted by $15, back to 2005 rates.

Subscribe for yourself, subscribe for a friend, subscribe for two or more years and save!

Happy 2005! Through the end of December, 2025, all subscription rates are discounted by $15, back to 2005 rates! Subscribe for yourself, subscribe for a friend, subscribe for two or more years and save!

12/07/2025

“If you see me wandering around Yellow Springs with a beatific expression on my face, I may simply have epiphanied — give me some space.”

Read more from Chris Wyatt’s most recent installment of his “Patterdale Hall Diaries” column:

"If you see me wandering around Yellow Springs with a beatific expression on my face, I may simply have epiphanied — give me some space."