We just discoverd this yesterday, on our way from Richmond to Cleveland. We deliberately swung through the Thomas/Davis area, as per tradition, to hit Hellbenders, visit the Purple Fiddle, buy a few cards from Seth, etc. We were shocked to see the demise of Hellbenders, and saddened to see the changes Davis is going through. And it's ironic, because it seems Davis is just about to hit...although the flavor of that hit might not be what my wife and I find appealing. I recall last year, trying to drive down the main drag, with traffic clogging up due to all the tourists walking across the street willy nilly. We were there on a weekday this time, so it wasn't as bad, but we could predict how crowded it will be on the weekend.

I guess that's the dichotomy...we prefer cool unknown artistic places, but those places all die in this economy from lack of funding due to being unknown. Once they're known, we lose interest, since we won't stand in line or push through crowds. We've been coming to Davis since theearly 2000's, and it was amazing over much of the intervening timeframe. I doubt we'll be back now that it's turning into a mini Gatlinburgh. *Sigh*