Yellow Springs News

09/10/2026

Another great issue of the Yellow Springs News is hot off the presses!

Inserted in this week’s issue is the official YS Porchfest map — to be used next Saturday, when 79 acts will perform at 50 locations throughout town — as well as the Foundry Theater’s 2026-2027 season schedule.

Papers are en route to the downtown stands now, and should arrive in subscriber mailboxes beginning tomorrow.

As ever, thanks for reading and supporting independent, local journalism.

09/10/2026

Every weekend for more than 20 years, you’ve seen them there, on the corner of Limestone Street and Xenia Avenue — the Peace Corner. A small band of local residents, many of them Quakers, holding signs with messages peaceful and political, bearing public witness to injustice.

What does bearing that witness mean, in a time when the injustices seem to keep on coming? It’s a question that animates “Peace Corner,” a novel by former Yellow Springs News editor and villager-at-large Diane Chiddister. The author is headed back to the village — the same one brought to life in the novel — in September following the book’s release this month for a book launch and reading.

“Peace Corner” — which follows Chiddister’s debut novel, “One More Day,” published in 2021 — explores the lives of four central characters who move through Yellow Springs carrying different ideas about what it means to be useful, be active and belong.

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“Peace Corner” — which follows Chiddister’s debut novel, “One More Day,” published in 2021 — explores the lives of four central characters who move through Yellow Springs carrying different ideas about what it means to be useful, be active and belong.

09/08/2026

There are few stones in Yellow Springs the Bard hasn’t turned over.

To much local ado, Shakespeare’s been under the stars, on the lawn, in classrooms and on runways around the village. He had a good run at Antioch and, from time to time, still pops up via the YS Theater Company and YS Schools. But it seems ol’ Bill still has some uncharted territory in town.

Next weekend, Springfield-based Star Crossed Productions will stage “The Tempest” in the old abandoned amphitheater tucked behind John Bryan Community Center — a dramatic, albeit fleeting renaissance for one of Yellow Springs’ forgotten spaces.

“The Tempest,” a classic tale of love, loss and revenge, will be situated among the mud and mire of the amphitheater’s concrete ruins, making for an immersive and analog performance that switches curtains for tree branches, Chardonnay concessions for bug spray and velveteen seats for stone steps.

What better stage could there be for a play that takes place on an enchanted deserted island?

The production is set for three performances between Friday and Saturday, Sept. 11 and 12, with tickets starting at $10 and available for purchase at starcrossedproductions.com or at the “door.”

Read more: https://ysnews.com/news/2026/09/area-thespians-stage-tempest-in-bryan-center-amphitheater

09/07/2026

Geese, ducks, herons, egrets, beavers, muskrats, foxes, coyotes, minks, weasels, woodthrushes, king fishers, water snakes, snapping turtles, sharpshinned hawks, marsh wrens, northern bob whites, red-headed woodpeckers, American woodcocks — “and on and on.”

These were just a few of the resident species that longtime villager and nature educator Bettina Stolsenberg named at the Aug. 17 Village Council meeting — animals and birds she and several other local villagers beseeched Council to consider as they pursue their stated intentions to build affordable housing on Glass Farm.

“As a nature educator, I’m deeply concerned about the preservation of habitat for the wildlife on Glass Farm,” Stolsenberg said, echoing the message of seven others who spoke at the Council meeting.

Owned by the Village since 1974 and located in the northwest reaches of Yellow Springs, the 42-acre property has been the locus of conservation and housing debates and discussions for several decades. Eleven acres of the land are under a conservation easement; six are the site of a 2.5-megawatt solar field; the center swath of acres is where Council aims to build affordable homes.

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Owned by the Village since 1974 and located in the northwest reaches of Yellow Springs, the 42-acre property has been the locus of conservation and housing debates and discussions for several decades.

09/07/2026

The Foundry Theater at Antioch College is preparing to kick off its fourth season of programming next month, with a lineup that — as has been the theater’s bread and butter the last three years — spans a range of cultural traditions and artistic forms.

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The Foundry Theater at Antioch College is preparing to kick off its fourth season of programming next month, with a lineup that — as has been the theater’s bread and butter the last three years — spans a range of cultural traditions and artistic forms.

09/05/2026

By a vote of 5–0, the commission gave the greenlight to MadCab Events to continue bringing a rotating fleet of food trucks to the college’s grassy “horseshoe” space under the shadow of Main Building every Monday evening, May through August, 5–9 p.m.

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By a vote of 5–0, the commission gave the greenlight to MadCab Events to continue bringing a rotating fleet of food trucks to the college’s grassy “horseshoe” space under the shadow of Main Building every Monday evening, May through August, 5–9 p.m.

09/04/2026

Yellow Springs Schools expects to lose about $2.4 million in local revenue over the next five years due to several recently enacted property tax laws, according to an updated five-year financial forecast presented to the school board Wednesday, Aug. 12.

Treasurer Jacob McGrath told board members the district’s reserve cash balance is projected to remain positive through fiscal year 2031; as the News reported earlier this year, operating expenditures began outpacing revenues in fiscal year 2025, with the district drawing from its reserve cash balance for operations.

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Yellow Springs Schools expects to lose about $2.4 million in local revenue over the next five years due to several recently enacted property tax laws, according to an updated five-year financial forecast presented to the school board Wednesday, Aug. 12.

09/03/2026

On Saturday, Sept. 5, you won’t see cars driving on one block of East South College Street. But you will see chairs and tables lined with food and, local organizers hope, about 300 Yellow Springers.

The village’s first The Longest Table event will be held noon–2 p.m. on East South College Street between Xenia Avenue and Livermore Street.

The free gathering asks participants to bring food — “something for themselves and something to share,” organizers told the News last week — along with their own plates and utensils, and sit down to eat with neighbors.

If all goes well, those who come out for the communal meal will get to meet and chat with some folks they’ve never met, or get to know folks they’ve met even better.

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The free gathering asks participants to bring food — “something for themselves and something to share,” organizers told the News last week — along with their own plates and utensils, and sit down to eat with neighbors.

09/02/2026

Amy Wamsley will hit the open water again this month for a two-mile swim in the Chicago River to benefit A Long Swim, a nonprofit that raises funds for ALS research; read more about the nonprofit, and how to contribute to Wamsley's fundraising swim, at runsignup.com/Aswimventure.

In sharing the news of her upcoming swim with the News, Wamsley also reflected on the year since her monumental swim across the English Channel, and the unexpected challenges that came after.

Amy Wamsley will hit the open water again this month for a two-mile swim in the Chicago River to benefit A Long Swim, a nonprofit that raises funds for ALS research. In sharing the news of her upcoming swim with the News, Wamsley also reflected on the year since her monumental swim across the Englis

09/01/2026

For more than a year, the promise of Thai food has hung over 134 Dayton St.

Yellow Springers knew Tik’s Thai was coming; they knew Siriya “Tik” Sripol, longtime owner of Tik’s Thai Express in Fairborn, had taken over the former Jessica’s Poke Island space. They waited as the restaurant underwent a lengthy overhaul. And then they waited some more.

Last month, the wait finally ended.

Tik’s Thai Yellow Springs held a soft opening Thursday, Aug. 6, when hungry customers lined the block for samples of Thai tea and fried rice. After closing for several days of “system updates and kitchen reorganization,” the restaurant opened in earnest Thursday, Aug. 13, when the Yellow Springs Chamber of Commerce marked the occasion with a ribbon-cutting.

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Tik's Thai, Yellow Springs' newest downtown restaurant, opened in earnest Thursday, Aug. 13, when the Yellow Springs Chamber of Commerce marked the occasion with a ribbon-cutting.