Living in Dryden

Etna Chocolate Festival Saturday, Varna Pancakes Sunday

My favorite annual Dryden event is Saturday: the Etna Chocolate Festival, Saturday from 10:00am to noon at Houtz Hall (the Etna Post Office). Memories.

On Sunday, the Varna Community Association will have a Pancakes / waffles / french toast / bacon / sausage / biscuits / hashbrowns / eggs / fruit / more breakfast from 8:00am to noon.

Neither of these is free, but both are wonderful.

Father-Daughter Dance Saturday, Ice skating trip 18th

More happening in Dryden:

6th Annual Father-Daughter Dance

COME DRESSED UP AND READY FOR A FUN FILLED EVENING OF DANCING, REFRESHMENTS AND MEMORIES!

FEE INCLUDES MUSIC, REFRESHMENTS AND A DIGITAL PHOTO

When: Saturday, February 08, 2014
Where: Varna Community Center
Time: 6:30-8:00 pm
Cost: Advanced tickets are $10.00/couple or $12.00/couple at the door. $5 per additional child
Ages: 4-12 (daughters age) Fathers, Grandfathers, Step Fathers, Uncles, and Legal Guardians Welcome!
Attire: Fun and Formal

Please pre-register with The Town of Dryden Recreation Department by printing a program registration form from: www.dryden.ny.us/recreation or register online www.drydenrec.com

ICE SKATING AND A MOVIE FIELD TRIP

Keep the kids out and about over February Break!

Who: Boys and Girls Grades 4-5 Fee: $20.00 per child, includes transportation, admission to Cass Park Ice Rink and Skate rental, and admission to the movie
Date: Tuesday, February 18, 2014 Time: 11:00 AM-*5:15 PM
Registration minimum: 4
Registration Maximum: 10

Skating at Cass Park begins at 11:45 AM and ends at *1:45 PM. Regal Cinema for movie, rated G or PG

Fee DOES NOT include lunch or movie concessions. Please bring a bagged lunch or money for lunch at Cass Park. Concession stand offers pizza, fries, bagels and snacks.

The van will leave the Dryden Town Hall at 11:00 AM and returns at *5:15 (Times are approximate until movie listings become available)

*Register at the Town of Dryden Rec. Department, 93 East Main St. www.dryden.ny.us/recreation or online at www.drydenrec.com*

*Does this trip sound great but you have a 6th or 7th grader? No problem! We are doing it all again for 6th and 7th graders on February 20th! The only difference is we will view a PG or PG-13 movie.

14850, 13068, and 13053: Colors Don't Quite Tell the Story

I was surprised a couple of months ago by a story on "Super Zips" in the Washington Post. The story was mostly about the concentration of wealthy well-educated people in neighborhoods around Washington, DC, but the map showed some interesting data for around here.

As I expected, we have no "Super Zips", places in the top 5% of wealth and education (calculated in some strange way to produce a spread across a range). Tompkins County does stand out from its neighbors, as do many collegetowns:

Zip code data on wealth and education for the Tompkins County area.

The part that's most interesting to me, though, is that the Freeville and Dryden zip codes are in the same band as the Ithaca zip code. The local standouts are Lansing, which is just wealthier to reach the next color band, and Newfield, which isn't.

Looking at the data, though, it's pretty clear that the Dryden and Freeville zip codes are similar, but even though the Ithaca zip code is in the same color band, it's more about what the Post chose to value than deep similarity. Lansing changes color - but its rank of exactly 80 was the bottom score needed to do that.

Maps don't always tell stories as neatly as they promise.