Yellow Springs date ideas for Cedarville students

Yellow Springs is the closest town that feels like a real outing. The university's student life blog puts it 10 to 15 minutes from campus, which makes it an easy drive for a weekend. This Yellow Springs date plan fits a student schedule and is built around walking, eating and a little time to talk.

Most of what follows comes from the village's own businesses and local guides. Hours change, so check them before you go.

Why Yellow Springs works for a first date

Plenty of date spots ask you to sit across a table for an hour. Yellow Springs lets you move. The village is small enough to walk, there are several places to eat, and a nature preserve is close by. That gives you somewhere to go if the conversation is slow and somewhere to stay if it is not.

It also takes you off campus. After a week of seeing the same faces in class and the dining hall, a different setting can make a first date feel less watched. Plenty of people are happy on Main Street in Cedarville, too.

Start with a walk at Glen Helen

Glen Helen Nature Preserve has more than 20 miles of trails, so you can pick something short. A walk is a good opening: you are side by side instead of face to face, and there is always something to point at. The preserve also has a raptor center with native owls, hawks and eagles. Check the preserve's own site for trail conditions.

If it is raining, skip ahead to the next option.

Pick a place to eat

Two cafes come up again and again in local guides:

• Winds Cafe. It began in 1977 and serves a seasonal menu. Guides suggest it can fill up on weekends, so look into reservations ahead of time.
• Sunrise Cafe. Much of the food is made from scratch, and it suits a relaxed date.

Both are sit-down places, which suits a second or third date better than a first. For a first one, a shorter plan is usually kinder to everyone.

A movie at the Little Art Theatre

The Little Art Theatre has been showing films since 1929. It is a small independent cinema, and local guides say the lineup leans toward independent and foreign films. That makes it a good choice if you both like to talk about what you just watched. It is less good if you are hoping for the latest blockbuster, so look at the schedule first.

Ice cream at Young's Jersey Dairy

Young's Jersey Dairy is the spot Cedarville students bring up most. It is on Springfield Xenia Road, and it has ice cream, doughnuts, a restaurant, mini golf, batting cages and animals. In the fall there are pumpkin fields. We cover it in more detail in our list of date ideas near Cedarville, but it earns a mention here because it pairs easily with a Yellow Springs outing.

A simple plan

If you want a template, try this:

1. Meet and walk part of Glen Helen.
2. Get something to eat or drink in the village.
3. Finish with ice cream or a movie, depending on the weather and how things are going.

You can drop any step. A two-hour date that ends well beats a five-hour one that drags.

Making the invitation easy

Name the place and the day. "Want to walk Glen Helen on Saturday and get food after?" is easier to answer than "we should go somewhere sometime." Offering a ride or splitting a carpool with friends also works if you are not ready for a one-on-one drive yet.

Cedar Mingle is an independent app for Cedarville students, not affiliated with the university, and a walk at Glen Helen makes an easy first invitation.