Why Baldwinsville, NY is home for me

I was raised in Baldwinsville, New York, a village of around 7,400 residents located twenty minutes northwest of the city of Syracuse — halfway to our inland ocean, Lake Ontario. It’s a fairly quiet town, and many of my peers might complain there’s “nothing to do” in good old B’ville, but that has never been how I see it.

To me, Baldwinsville is the oddly comforting smell of hops wafting through the air from the gigantic Budweiser plant on the outskirts of town. It’s late night conversations and early morning pancake runs at the garishly yellow B’ville Diner. It’s biking along the waters of Lock 24 in the muggy heat of June.

It’s going to Papermill Island, a concert venue located on the lock, and listening to bands that haven’t quite hit it big yet. It’s laying out a blanket on the grass at Mercer Park and watching fireworks light up the night sky on the Fourth of July, small kids gasping and squealing in their parents’ arms all around you.

It’s going out into the country late at night and driving slowly down Whiskey Hollow Road, windows rolled down and radio turned off, heart racing and ears straining to hear proof of the ghosts and ghouls that allegedly haunt the wooded trail. It’s driving down Route 31 into the village during the peak foliage week of autumn and your breath catching in your throat as you think to yourself, “Holy shit, I never realized how beautiful this place is.”

It’s cramming six people into a car and heading for the hills just outside of town to go sledding in the winter or stargazing in the summer. It’s bonfires in backyards after football games. It’s walking from house to house in the days before Christmas, giving cookie trays to neighbors or singing carols for families. It’s the feeling of walking into your warm house on a cold December night and being greeted by the smell of Downy dryer sheets and something baking in the oven, your mother’s voice calling from the kitchen.

Bloomington has become a second home for me. It’s beautiful and vibrant and bursting with culture. I’ve made wonderful friendships and memories here. It’s challenged me in ways I’ve never been challenged before. It has had a heavy influence upon shaping me into the person I am today. I feel incredibly lucky to have found such a place to call home during my undergrad years.

But when I think of my true home, I still think of Baldwinsville.