What are some of the half baked or non-existant amenities you are talking about out of curiosity?
K-State Podcaster Says Ames is Worst Road trip in Big 12!
- Thread starter GraniteStateClone
- Start date
Ames like any college town has to decide are you serving the students first and foremost or the population of the town that are not students here? While it would be great to have a Ped Mall right off the university like they have over east, it's not happening in Ames. With the university being outside the city of Ames when it was started, changed everything compared too the two.
Main Street is very nice, plenty of bars, shops, places to eat, it's just not by the university. Some people need to get over that fact, and learn to live with it.
Way to many of the people that dislike Ames, are people that drive up from Des Moines, take highway 30 to the stadium, and eat out at some place on Duff, and just think that is the entire town, because that is all they see. Living here a couple of years we both really like Ames, we like the growth that is occurring in the Northern part of town, how its relatively easy to get around most days, plenty of golf courses and walking trails, in the community, opening up a new indoor swim area, plenty of things to do. Now I could see if you are young and love to go out bar hopping on a Saturday night, that Ames may not be for you, that is fine, because its a great place to raise a family or in our case retire. If I wanted plenty of places to go out and drink I would move to IC.
Main Street is very nice, plenty of bars, shops, places to eat, it's just not by the university. Some people need to get over that fact, and learn to live with it.
Way to many of the people that dislike Ames, are people that drive up from Des Moines, take highway 30 to the stadium, and eat out at some place on Duff, and just think that is the entire town, because that is all they see. Living here a couple of years we both really like Ames, we like the growth that is occurring in the Northern part of town, how its relatively easy to get around most days, plenty of golf courses and walking trails, in the community, opening up a new indoor swim area, plenty of things to do. Now I could see if you are young and love to go out bar hopping on a Saturday night, that Ames may not be for you, that is fine, because its a great place to raise a family or in our case retire. If I wanted plenty of places to go out and drink I would move to IC.
- The entirety of the Lincoln Way land use redevelopment plan from Grand to Duff. (graphics below)
- Downtown housing options
- The residential development (now vacant lot) between Welch and Hayward on Lincoln Way
- The proposed mall extension of North Grand (that became a Kohls and a Shoe Carnival)
- The expansion of convention space at Scheman (voted down by general public)
- Hilton Coliseum renovations
- Stevens Auditorium renovations (also not supported by general public in Ames)
- Not including a fitness center at the new indoor aquatic center
- The plaza across from City Hall
- Not having an indoor music venue
- Multiple failed development proposals at the old Campustown Post Office site
- Softball and track complex without lights (because of neighborhood complaints)
Campustown, CyTown and Downtown would all exist successfully if there was more dense housing options near them (and not just luxury condos for donors who attend games). Look at the downtowns of many other college towns (including Lawrence, Lincoln, Iowa City) where there are condos built near Downtown for alumni who want to move back home, especially in retirement.
Lol! Ok, I get there are a lot of things development wise people would like to have for residents and students. I don't think your typical person coming in from out of town for a night or two to go to the game is going to care about this stuff. I suppose you could say some of this would add to the overall aesthetic of the city but Ames is far from a dump and is fairly safe and easy to get around in. It's a small town with a University which is a big part of it's charm. I would never recommend it as a vacation spot. However, if you're telling me you can't find any establishment worth eating or drinking at while attending a game for the weekend you're not trying very hard, and the game day experience from the tailgating to the stadium is great... as long as it's not cold as Fitz points out.
I had family who stayed in Ames when they came home to visit over Christmas. They are from Chicago and their daughter was interested in going to ISU. Me and a friend gave them a tour of campus, took them to lunch at Cafe Beaudelaire, and gave them some advice on other things to see and do while they were in town. They thought the town was great and had lots of great entertainment options for a small community. Their daughter is going to ISU in the fall.
I'm sure all those transplants who don't care about sports are attending football games. FFS
I mean... college football fans seem to enjoy it. Maybe not all, but a fair bit don't seem to mind it at all. The folks I've brought back to see either our team, or theirs take on ISU, have all very much enjoyed visiting.
As someone who lives in CO, both of these statements aren't exactly true. There are a fair number of CU "fans" who magically showed to the sports bars the SECOND Coach Prime showed up. All of them bandwagon fans and some of whom were transplants who stayed in CO after graduating.
As for CA... in comparison to the population I would agree. But there are still plenty of fans of the local teams out west. I've been to games at UCLA, USC, SDSU, and Fresno St. While I would agree attendance has dropped off due to how CA "fans" love losing teams, there are still plenty out there. And Fresno St is pretty solid as far as a small MW school goes. They also get bonus points due to one specific tailgate flying an ISU flag and immediately welcoming the wife and I when they saw my hat.
Last edited:
There's probably close to a dozen local restaurants in the main street area. Great plains, cornbred, maudes, sweet carolines, the spice, stam, potter's, great harvest, grove cafe, downtown deli
I had to chuckle when someone in this thread said Ames is full of chain restaurants. If you never get past Red Lobster and Texas Roadhouse on Duff that's a you problem, of course to do that you have to drive by a couple of local places as well.
People get so obsessed with Duff and chain restaurants when downtown, Somerset, and Campustown exist
That is what I stated earlier, people roll into Ames, up from DM, done highway 30 to the stadium and sometime stop along Duff to get something to eat. There are plenty of places to eat in Ames, but people do not look, because it's easier to hit a chain restaurant and head back to Des Moines.
Even right off the 30 exit on Duff you've got Mucky Duck, Dublin Bay, Hickory Park, and Jethro's (chain but local) all right there.
And outside of Hickory Park, they are not going to try any of those, to eat at the Mucky Duck they would have to go further to the South on Duff.
One of the best places to go to in the state is just off Duff, and it hasn't even been brought up yet -- Provisions Lot F.
Classy without being expensive. Great food. Great bar. Great atmosphere.
Please bear in mind that this podcaster many years ago announced Gary Patterson was the new K-State football coach.
This is hilarious because the last time ISU had to play in a fricken honest to god snowstorm it was in Manhattan.
