Things to do in Dayton | Restaurants, Theatre, Music and More
Join us for an evening of music!
The first half will be an open mic, and all musical styles are welcome. Come bring a song or two to share! For the second half, we’ll have a special performance by local artist Ellyn Winski, sharing some originals.
Whether you plan to perform, listen, or just come out to support local musicians, we look forward to seeing you there!
*FREE ENTRY
In the space once occupied by Ghostlight Coffee Midtown, miDDay will open on Thursday, Oct. 3 . Co-Owner Greg Innocent describes their new business as “a carefully crafted coffee house with really good food- a gastro cafe experience. Elevating the coffee house experience with some cool things – we want it to be an approachable experience.”
Co-owner Taylor Moberly will be in charge of the coffee program. She says you’ll find the typical coffee house drinks, many seasonal beverages and a specialty menu of drinks from TikTok.
There are also plans to open Good Impressions, a speakeasy space, in the back of the building in early 2025.
Sun & Mon 7am – 5pm
Tues- Sat 7am – 9pm
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This Kettering cafe has opened their doors this week in a limited-capacity launch before their official grand opening on Friday, Aug 30th. Owners Scott and Rebekah Allendevaux, with the help of their five children, Chris, Tim, Chara, Adin and Elora. They describe their business as a a European-style cafe, serving up coffee, tea and a small menu featuring salads and sandwiches as well as some gluten freesweet treats from Beavercreek’s Purely Sweet Bakery. Ordinarie Fare will provide plant-forward foods for the cafe.
Decorated with leather couches and chairs, and a section of tables, it’s warmth just invites you lean back and read a book in a lounge chair, grab a bite at a table, sit with your laptop at the bar, or laugh with friends at the couches. There are even a few patio tables outside.
Here’s a peak at the menu when I visited yesterday, though they did mention that they are subject to change during their trial period.
The breakfast menu includes oatmeal, breakfast sandwiches, bagels and pastries.
Almost eight years after opening the doors of its infamously blue building on Wayne Avenue, Ghostlight Coffee is growing into a second location. Owner and founder of Ghostlight Coffee, Shane Anderson, has signed a lease at 800 South Patterson Blvd, adjacent to Dayton attractions Old Scratch Pizza and RINSE Cycle, and plans to begin work on a second coffee, breakfast & lunch spot set to open in fall of 2019.
The new location will feature an expansive food menu ranging from breakfast sandwiches and “from-scratch” bakery goods to toasts, tartines & salads inspired by international cafes. The shop will have an open, modern feel, with banquettes and cafe tables, sprawling communal tables, and a casual conversation area overlooking the downtown Dayton skyline. Anderson is working with architect Matt Sauer and interior design consultant Ray Zupp to create an inviting space that fits the surrounding neighborhood.
“I want the shop to feel natural to the building and the community,” said Anderson. “The new spot will be a bit more industrial and modern than our current shop because it was built in the 1960’s vs. the 1880’s. This aesthetic felt like the intuitive choice.”
Ghostlight will continue to brew high-quality, ethically sourced coffee from Cincinnati-based roastery Deeper Roots Coffee, as well as a monthly rotation of featured roasters. The new shop will boast a full espresso bar menu, extensive range of loose-leaf Rishi teas, and a non-alcoholic tap selection of iced beverages, including the shop’s signature 24hr. Cold Brew Coffee.
Ghostlight’s existing coffeehouse in the Historic South Park neighborhood at 1201 Wayne Avenue will remain open for business featuring the same coffees, teas, fresh baked goods and grab-and-go sandwiches. The Woodard Development team is set to begin construction on the second location at 800 South Patterson as soon as permits allow.
Wholly Grounds bills itself as a coffee house and a tea room, so I asked co-founder Amy about her tea. “I like a cup of tea instead of coffee sometimes myself,” she told me. “We try to have a broad selection of different teas, and if we don’t have something our customers are asking for, we get it.”
I also met Amy’s partner Tony, and told him how much I liked the atmosphere of the new coffee shop. “You should have seen it before,” he said. “The walls were painted bright orange. But painting the walls was easy. The hard part was the floor. I had to remove three levels of flooring before I got to the original wood floor. Repairing that and then refinishing was a chore.”
Tony also told me that he was planning to get a liquor license so he could offer Irish coffee to his patrons.
Wholly Grounds
825 Wayne Avenue
Dayton, OH 45410
(937) 349-5807
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Mon – Fri 6am – 6pm
Sat & Sun 7:30am – 5pm
It is our mission to contribute to a more healthy, balanced, and sustainable life through good food and drink, and the arts. We will strive to use organic, ethically produced and socially just ingredients, as price and availability allow.
Black as the Devil, Hot as Hell,
Pure as an Angel, Sweet as Love.
~Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord
There are things that are serendipitous. There are things that smack of predestination. Then there are things that are just pretty damn creepy. I’m not sure which category this story falls under.
Artwork by Josh Florhe
To introduce this story, I have to backtrack to October of last year when I received a call from my friend, Emanuel, telling me that I had to get down to the old home décor place at the corner of Wayne Ave. and E. Third St. and check out this gallery showing. I made it down there as soon as I could and…no Emanuel…but his phone call had led me to some of the most original artwork I had seen in quite some time. It was a mélange of media ranging from the contrasting screen print designs by Jannell Barker to the found art of Josh Florhe which held the moment of another age within its imagery.
I toured the gallery showing, tellingly titled Shut Up Art, and was amazed at the innate talent that the artists imbued. I began speaking with Janell about various topics, such as , how the exhibition came to be, bartending and even meandering over some of the technical aspects of silk-screening. Before leaving, I promised Janell that I would contact her (as well as some of the other featured artists) soon and we would get something down in print for the group. It was a promise that I fully intended to keep…right up until the moment that life got in my way.
It’s one of those things where unforeseen circumstances throw walls up in front of you and then, the momentum of the moment is lost until, one day, you are paging through one of your notebooks and you see a phone number and a pang of guilt forces you to close the book quickly.
Photo by Brooke Medlin
Fast forward to last week…Wednesday December 29th to be precise. I was to meet DMM’s Brooke Medlin at a new coffee house called Press Coffee Bar to cover an art exhibition that they were planning. As I ducked inside the building, escaping from the gloomy day above, I was taken in by the warmth of the newly laid wooden floor and the expansive invitation of the room itself. I saw Brooke and another woman crouched in the loft at the rear of the building, which looked out over the whole storefront. I said hello to the bearded gentleman behind the counter and waited for Brooke to come downstairs and fill me in on the details. As I waited, I took in the freshness of the interior. New floors. A newly constructed and conformingly curved coffee bar whose coiled shape and muted tone was a wild variation from the gleaming utilitarian sharpness of the state of the art cappuccino machine. A bearded man behind the counter (who has a name which happens to be Brett Barker) informed me that the machine was made in Florence, Italy and was temperature controlled by a PID computer module that collected data from various sensors and made self correcting adjustments and that it had been used as a demo model at a Seattle coffee festival before arriving in Dayton.
Hearing Brooke and the other woman descending the stairs, I turned around to see…Janell Barker. Dammit, dammit, dammit! I could just hear the snarky remarks that may have been running through her head, remarks that she never said (but justifiably could have!) such as, ‘Do you think you could get this article done in time?’ or saying something to Brooke like, ‘This is the best you could do?’ or even, ‘You’re never going to amount to anything, so you might as well get used to digging ditches!’…sorry, that last one was me channeling my sophomore guidance counselor.
Photo by Brooke Medlin
Apparently harboring no ill will, Janell began preparing a freshly ground cup of coffee for me, which made me groan inwardly, knowing that in moments, I would have to admit that I couldn’t stand the taste of coffee. Telling someone something that will disappoint them after you have already disappointed them is hard. Telling someone something that will disappoint them after you have already disappointed them as they approach you with a scalding hot cup of coffee is just plain scary. I began to quickly understand Al Green’s aversion to grits.
After I made my embarrassing admission, Brett began talking about the types of coffee they would be using, the type of rotating and artisan roasters they would be utilizing and then onto one of Press’ previous events, which was a coffee tasting experience that they call ‘Coffee Cupping.’ These things I will save for a future article, such as the circular pouring of water through a Hario V60 single cup coffee filter to make a perfect cup of java or how one should, “slurp” vigorously when tasting a new coffee to completely saturate the tongue all at once. These things will come later. The thing to concentrate on now is their Premier Opening Art Show.
As Brett and Janell detailed the type of art and the artists that would be showcased, I looked around the vaulted room, taking in the rough edges of the remodeling that had yet to be polished, looking upwards at the newly painted, bare walls, knowing that soon, a clamorous collection of artwork would peer down at the patrons of this little coffee shop, inspiring them with a thirst larger than the one to be quenched by any fancy French pressed brew. The artwork is what motivates us, that brings us together, that allows us to appreciate and accept without the burden of being deigned acceptable by others. The artwork is there as a vehicle for our muse to move us forward. The coffee is there to make us savor the moment.
This is a coffee shop that aspires to be more than just a retail establishment. They want to be part of the community and this art show is the first step in that direction. The Premier Opening Art Show will be held on Friday, January 7th from 4pm until 12pm at Press, located at 257 Wayne Ave. The show will feature artwork by Rueben Briggs, Eric Patton, Josh Florhe, Kasey Henneman, Jason Watkins, Jeff Richards, Mike Guidone, Jason Goad and Zach Armstrong. Regular store hours will be Monday through Friday from 7am until 8pm and Saturday and Sunday from 9am until 8pm.
