While many students are packing up their rooms to head home for the next few months, some are just switching their clothes from winter jackets to shorts in preparation to stay in Binghamton for summer.
If you’re staying in the area for a few classes, a job or an internship, there is still fun to be had (well, as much fun as you can have in Binghamton) even after campus empties out.
Summer in the 607 is filled with concerts and free public events. The Rec Park Music Fest in Binghamton’s Recreation Park will feature local and regional bands on July 17.
On a more mainstream level, Maroon 5 will take its U.S. Summer Tour to Binghamton on June 24 and will play at the En-Joie Golf Course in Endicott for the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open. General admission tickets for the event are $30.
Later in the summer, in early August, the 27th Annual Spiedie Fest will feature food, live music and celebrity appearances in Otsiningo Park in Binghamton.
And, of course, the Binghamton Mets will be playing throughout the season.
The Binghamton area is full of parks, swimming pools and the occasional revolving horse.
“We’re the carousel capital of the world,” said Kara Brinthaupt, a sophomore majoring in mechanical engineering, who lives in the area year-round.
Fewer than 200 antique carousels remain in North America, and six are housed in the greater Binghamton area, a little-known fact among most students. The carousel in Recreation Park is closed for renovations this summer, but there are still five more throughout Downtown Binghamton, Endicott, Endwell and Johnson City.
If old-fashioned amusement park rides aren’t your thing, the city of Binghamton holds other hidden gems that cannot normally be taken advantage of — or seen — through five feet of snow. Trendy shops, restaurants and art galleries line the streets of Downtown and are more easily enjoyed in the warm weather.
Marisa Silvers, a sophomore in the Decker School of Nursing, wants to take advantage of the side of Binghamton that school normally keeps her from enjoying.
“I’m looking forward to having time to go to all the places around Binghamton I don’t have time to go to during school, like restaurants and the lake,” said Silvers, who will work as an orientation adviser this year and will not return home until late July. “Also, I can’t wait for the nicer weather.”
Apparently, it does not snow in Binghamton during the summer. In fact, it rarely even rains.
“The biggest difference between the school year and the summer in Binghamton was the nice weather,” said Tina Philip, a sophomore majoring in biology who lived in University Plaza last year when she took classes over the summer. “There were so many less people on campus and it was so much calmer.”
She says her favorite on-campus summer activity was swimming, something she rarely — if ever — gets to do during the fall and spring. The Rec Park pool charges only 50 cents for entry and the adult swim after 4 p.m. makes the water a lot more enjoyable.
And if none of this works for you, all of your favorite hangouts on State Street will still be open for business during the summer months. Well, except The Rat of course.