Downtown Binghamton is about to be a big deal, and you should be a part of it. If you aren’t already in love with Downtown Binghamton because of its gorgeous architecture, incredible restaurants, fascinating galleries and beautiful waterfront, then you should be, because the city of Binghamton is on its way to becoming a cultural hot spot in New York state.
We’ve had some truly amazing events take place in our city since the semester began. Binghamton Porchfest brought more than 1,000 people onto the streets of the West Side to enjoy live music on dozens of porches in the neighborhood. Projection festival LUMA, a visual arts exhibition that took place last weekend, broke records in terms of its engagement with the Downtown community. LUMA crowded the streets of Downtown Binghamton with thousands of people who came to enjoy projections which literally and figuratively lit up Downtown with colossal and breathtaking animations using Binghamton’s historic buildings as its primary canvas. As a staffer for the festival, I see LUMA as a way of reigniting the spirit of Downtown Binghamton and drawing many to rediscover our city.
Despite the wonderful things happening in our city, I still hear so many misconceptions about Binghamton from fellow students. It’s the same old, tired clichés every time: there’s nothing to do in Binghamton, Binghamton is ugly, Binghamton is scary. The sad thing is that this negativity originates from on-campus students whose idea of Binghamton is mainly fueled by hearsay or their impressions of our city on State Street late at night.
If you are one of the people that view Binghamton in a negative light, give yourself an afternoon next week to prove yourself wrong. Take a walk through Downtown. Stroll down the Riverwalk from the Martin Luther King Jr. Promenade to Confluence Park. Explore the art galleries and warm shops of Washington and State Streets. Catch a game of the Binghamton Mets or the Binghamton Senators, our premier baseball and hockey teams.
After you’re tired of walking, head to one of Binghamton’s tasty restaurants. Binghamton Restaurant Week begins on September 15 and lasts until September 24, so you will have the opportunity to get some incredible dishes for very affordable prices at dozens of Binghamton restaurants. An incredible three-course lunch for $12 or less? Yes please.
With all of this being said, there is definitely still much work to be done until Binghamton is the glorious city it deserves to be. We need to capitalize on the momentum for development currently brewing in Binghamton. Downtown will be a catalyst for economic development in our city, but first we need to band together as a community. We need to stop being negative about our city and take pride in what it has to offer. We have the fifth oldest zoo in the country, six of the 150 remaining antique carousels in the world, an up-and-coming Downtown area — all surrounded by some of the most beautiful landscapes that New York state has to offer. If we are proud of Binghamton, and replace the negativity of the past with optimism for the future, there is no limit to where Binghamton can go.
– Conrad Taylor is a sophomore majoring in political science