West Chester’s Gravitational Pull
“It’s a small, but thriving metropolis.”
Whether West Chester is your hometown, you’ve lived here for years, or you’re just visiting for a couple of days, something about the borough gravitates you towards it. Is it the energy of the borough? The eateries? The people? Maybe it’s all three of these things. At least that’s what West Chester resident, Anastasia Fink, believes. In two weeks, she will be boarding a plane to Orlando, Florida, where she will be spending the next five months in the Disney College Program.
Disney has its perks for sure, but there’s nothing quite like the big-city-in-a-small-town experience you get in West Chester. Here are three reasons she’ll be happy to return home.
Number 3: The Sense of Community
When you spend a lot of time downtown or throughout the borough, you start to recognize once-strange faces and old acquaintances and friends. And that’s exactly what happened to her.
“All the time, I see people I know!” she said. “People from my old high school, my old friends — even the employees and waiters at restaurants like Iron Hill are familiar when you go often enough.”
But, she enjoys that familiarity. In a big city, it would be difficult to forge community connections when you don’t recognize anyone. In West Chester, however, it’s easy to see why the sense of community here is so strong. When you recognize over half of the people who work and live here, you begin to realize the amount of loyalty that its people have towards the borough. And just taking a look at the massive amounts of people that attend the many festivals every year, it’s obvious that West Chester is small, but thriving metropolis.
Number 2: Food and Drinks
If you can’t find a place you like in West Chester to eat, drink, or stop in for coffee or tea, take a look around. It’s hard to choose just one favorite place to stop and enjoy a nice breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
“Carlino’s and Kildares are amazing,” Anastasia said. “But Jaco Taco offers a delicious lunch and I can’t get enough of Baked! Why eat anywhere else when you have so many options nearby?”
Recently, Anastasia stopped by Fenn’s Coffee for the first time on North Church Street, and now wonders why she hadn’t before.
“It’s easy to be a creature of habit,” she said. “But the cappuccino I had at Fenn’s was so good, I loved it!”
Number 1: Frugal Activities
Before you hastily drive away to a corporate chain, consider stopping to shop in West Chester. Anastasia loves that there are many small, designer shops where you can find one-of-a-kind items. You can even spend a day just walking around town and visiting the different parks, Second Reading, the local library, or the Historical Society — for free or a very cheap price.
Whatever you fancy, there are plenty of reasons you return to West Chester. Take a few days and explore all our borough has to offer.