Fayetteville is awesome. That is hard to argue. It’s a great college town with plenty to do, right? Unfortunately, most of us would hesitate to agree.
Have you ever found yourself sulking on your couch or lying on your floor out of boredom saying, “There’s nothing to do in Fayetteville”? I have lived in Fayetteville my whole life, and this phrase seems to be everyone’s conclusion on the weekends, and especially during the summer.
Let me paint the scene: You’ve corralled all of your friends at your apartment and everyone is just chilling out. Then comes the question. What do you guys want to do? This is usually followed by groans and minimally enthusiastic retorts like, “I dunno, get snow cones or something. For the fourth time this week.” The suggestions are usually either unappealing or expensive, and get rejected quickly. If this sounds familiar to you, I’ve come up with five ways to beat the Fayetteville funk, all under $20.
1. Learn how to dance
If you’re up for trying something new, there are plenty of opportunities in Fayetteville to pick up a new hobby that is super fun and a way to exercise! The best part is, you don’t have to have any previous experience, so you can go to these events and not feel silly if you have two left feet. Plus, If you go with a group of girls, you have the chance of being paired up with a cute boy! Sounds like a win-win to me. So You Think You Can Dance better watch out.
If you want to learn how to ” dive for the oyster and dig for the clam”, check out Backspace on Meadow Street on the third Friday of every month, where the Fayetteville Square Dance is held. There are energetic callers and live musicians that teach you the dance moves and help you keep the beat. Admission is totally FREE, but of course donations are encouraged. NWA Contra Dance holds similar events on the third Saturday of every month for only $5! If you love it, they also offer super affordable classes, so that you can go back and show off your skills!
If you’re feeling spicy, check out Salsa Night at Teatro Scarpino off of Dickson Street. Teatro Scarpino hosts this event most Fridays throughout the year. This could be a great date! There is a free lesson at 9, and after that there is a $10 fee for the actual dance where the party starts. At the dance, you can enjoy live music and dance the salsa and bachata until two in the morning!
http://www.scarpino.com/salsa-night/
Time travel to the 20’s with the NWA Lindy Hop and Swing Society. They hold super cool events at different venues around Fayetteville year round. Admission is ususally around $10. Embrace your inner flapper as you learn the iconic Charleston, Lindy Hop, and many other great dances!
http://www.meetup.com/NWA-Lindy-Hop-Blues-and-Swing-Society
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2. Terra Studios
Terra Studios is the perfect day trip. It’s an adorable park and a Fayetteville must-see. You’ll get to exloplore labyrinths, stumble across quirky creatures, and marvel at the blown glass. The art park includes sculpture gardens, fountins, murals, woodland trails, giant interactive games, and a seven channel stone labyrinth. It is definitely insta-worthy. Terra also offers art classes and workshops if you want to get a little artistic!
3.Geocache
Remeber looking forward to the geocacheing trip in middle school? It’s still a thing, and it’s still awesome. If you like exploring this is a perfect way to spend an afternoon. Download the Geocaching app from the App Store (it’s $9.99) and you’re set for an adventure. (For the unaware, geocaching is hunting for and finding a hidden object by means of GPS coordinates so basically, it is treasure hunting. Real life treasure hunting.) Geocaching is also awesome because you can do it anywhere you go, because there are geocaches scattered around over 185 countries.
4. Watch a play
TheatreSquared puts on serveral productions throughout the year. Going to a play is a perfect alternative to going to see a movie. It doesn’t take that much time and you become completely immersed in the production, more so than in a movie. Their theatre is an intimate black box, which makes the performances seem even more personal becaase you are so close to the actors. Often there are very attractive actors in the production, so going with friends is fun becasue you can ogle with reason. A bonus challenge you can take on with your friends is the eye contact game. Be careful to not distract the actors, but compete with your friends by actively seeking out the actor’s eye contact. Again, this is super rewarding when the actor happens to be a very attractive individual. Tickets are also only $10 for people under 30, which is amazingly cheap for a play at a professional theatre.
5. There’s an app for that
If you wish plans would just make themselves, the Hangtime app is for you. Hangtime is a free app that syncs with your Facebook and gathers all the events your friends are attending and others in the area. It shows you popular events of the week, so you can easily find out cool things that are going on in Fayetteville that you wouldn’t have known about before. Another feature Hangtime offers is its search bar, which is helpful if you are looking for certain types of events. If you type in karaoke, for example, Hangtime will see if there are any karaoke events in the area.
Hopefully these ideas will prevent you from having to say “there’s nothing to do in Fayetteville” anymore!