Neutral's Guide to Winter - Top 5 Places to Go
Winter doesn't have to be synonymous with staying inside. Make the best of this much-maligned season by stopping by these great C-U places!So it's finally winter. And in just a few days it'll start feeling like it. For lots of people I know, winter means months of freezing misery spent nestled under layers of blankets. There's nothing wrong with spending some time relaxing, but winter has its own charm and there's no reason not to take advantage of winter's unique offerings. As lovers of C-U and self-described Chambana aficionados, we figured we'd help by offering up some humble suggestions culled from our time in the area.Following our Guides to Fall, Summer, and Spring, we will use our typical methodology. Place selection is based on the following three criteria:
The place is in reasonable biking distance of C-U residents.
The place is either a good place to bike to or a good place to bike at.
The place is particularly suited to helping you to experience winter, based around our cultural understanding of what marks this season.
We know that many of you have no interest in biking to these places, but we want biking to be an option.
Remember, if you've got the right gear, it won't even be uncomfortable.
That said, if you're not going to bike during the winter, make sure you keep your bike in a place that will keep it safe from thieves and the elements (
i.e.
not outside). If you've got nowhere to keep it indoors,
we'll be happy to store it for you
.
Enough with the introductions and on with the list!
1. Christmas Lights
Christmas lights are under-appreciated. Their ubiquity leads us to take them for granted when they should be considered a form of American folk art. This under-appreciation is bolstered by the fact that they're ephemeral, existing for perhaps one –max two– months out of the year.
But why are they so great? Christmas lights allow for residents to be creative with their living spaces. People get to play with colors and textures that houses normally lack. A humdrum house by day becomes something extraordinary by night. With lights reflecting and refracting off of snow or ice, decorated dwellings can take on otherworldly dimension. The magic is in the transformation. Everyday objects by day are recontextualized and reconceptualized by night. Lights are about community, so spend some time wandering around to see how your neighbors have taken part in this ritual, but be sure not to miss these two places:
Candlestick Lane, Urbana
Candlestick Lane is the Yuletide alter-ego of
Grant Place, a small street near Philo between Fairlawn Dr. and Eastern Dr.
Nowhere else in C-U will you see Christmas-light density like this. It even spills over into some of the streets immediately surrounding it.
The traditional dates back to either 1962 or 1963
, making 2015 either the 52nd or 53rd year for the tradition. Candlestick Lane is the sole C-U remnant of a time when coordinated neighborhood displays were a more common practice. Houses are lit from mid-December (
) 'til New Year's.
Photos compliments of the University of Illinois Ice Arena.