Entertainment & Nightlife - What We Heard
February 25th, 2009 | Published in On The Wall, Perspectives & Pints | 2 Comments
On February 10th young creatives gathered at Blind Bob’s in the Oregon District to share their thoughts about Dayton’s entertainment & nightlife. Here’s what we heard:
Key Points Summary
Our Favorite Quotes
If you missed the forum, or if you attended & just have more to say, continue the discussion by adding a comment below. If this discussion spurs an idea for what you think we can do to improve our entertainment & nightlife, submit it here and we will upload it to our ideas forum. All ideas submitted will be discussed at the Young Creatives Summit on April 18th.
Don’t keep your opinions to yourself - you’ll feel better, we promise.
February 26th, 2009at 11:35 am(#)
Wants - It would be nice to have more entertainment options and locations of a wider variety. I live downtown and the bars are all very similar in terms of the vibe. Even the bars that have live music all play the same type of live music. In short, more diversity of options. It would also be nice if there were nicer bars/clubs for young people to hang out at. The wine bar is very 30+, as is Therapy most nights. I think part of what draws people to The Greene is the fact that if you feel like going to a non hole in the wall bar, there are few if any options to mingle with young people downtown. Personally, I enjoy hole in the wall bars sometimes, just not ALL the time.
Frustrates - Not to paint with such a broad brush, but the Dayton social scene is very clique-ish. People stick to their own area of town, their own group of friends, their own socioeconomic groups. Some cities have social scenes that are more based on going out and mingling, and others are more based on sticking with your own. This may just be a cultural component of Dayton that is hard to overcome. People get offended when this is brought up, like its an implication of Dayton not being friendly. Dayton is largely a friendly place, it’s just not outgoing, welcoming, extroverted, etc. I am a very social and outgoing person and having lived here for about 3 years. i have a large group of friends. 90% of us are from outside the area and became friends over the years because friends were hard to come by when dealing with the locals. This comes back to the quality of night life in that what makes a good scene is the opportunity to do new things, go new places, meet new people etc…which is fundementally not what Dayton is about.
Thanks for listening!
April 16th, 2009at 2:46 pm(#)
I am an entertainer here in Dayton and yes your right there is a lack of variety when it comes to those of us who do not play the mainstream game. When i was in Columbus id play at bars and concerts all the time but because of my unusual show and music its hard finding a place. Not that theres no fans of this stuff there are tons but people are still very mainstream when it comes to opening bars and making money…