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Feb 13 2019
Love0

Little BIG Idea Grant has helped 47 fun community projects get off the ground

By Countywide, Featured News, Little Big Idea Grant, Middlebury & Bristol, Nappanee & Wakarusa No Comments

February is the perfect time to celebrate the creativity, passion and neighborly spirit of Elkhart County residents. Why?

On Monday, Feb. 4, the Elkhart County Commissioners declared February 2019 to be Little BIG Idea Month, just as they did in February 2018.

The Little BIG Idea Grant is a micro-grant program launched with funding from the Elkhart County, IN Convention & Visitors Bureau and the Community Foundation of Elkhart County. Little BIG Idea Grants are intended to inspire fun, love, creativity and community through programs, events and projects that celebrate life in Elkhart County. Successful applicants receive up to $1,000 to pursue their ideas and help make their idea a reality.

The latest recipients of Little BIG Idea Grants are:

  • Night of Nostalgia, summer 2019. Darla Kauffman of Middlebury will receive $1,000 for an evening of outdoor games at a Middlebury park. The event would feature yard games, board games and snacks of yesteryear. The date has not been determined.
  • Lemonpalooza festival, May 18. Liz Brow of Elkhart will receive $250 to expand the community celebration of Lemonade Day to the city of Nappanee.

Since August 2017, the Little BIG Idea Grant has provided $42,900 to 47 projects from Goshen to Middlebury to Nappanee to Elkhart. The grant program has helped pumpkins race down a street in Middlebury, artists mount incredible displays in Elkhart, Goshen and Nappanee, and spread positive messages of encouragement at Concord High School.

Submit your ideas at www.littlebigideagrant.com. Each month, a volunteer committee reviews the applications and selects exciting projects for a grant.

Jan 22 2019
Love0

Elkhart envisions redesigned Civic Plaza, Central Park for more downtown fun, events

By Countywide, Elkhart, Featured News 4 Comments

We can imagine it already.

It’s a beautiful summer afternoon in downtown Elkhart. A band is playing on the gorgeous new stage at Central Park along Waterfall Drive. A crowd in lawn chairs and blankets fill the lush green expanse in front of the stage. Hungry concert-goers line up at the food trucks parked on Waterfall Drive.

Kids laugh, squeal and run in a play area off Franklin Street. Meanwhile, the concert audience grows as more people arrive at the park on the new bike path lining Franklin Street. With space running short on the lawn, the arriving crowd finds space on the terrace adjacent to the new apartments on Franklin or in the shaded sitting area along High Street.

This vision is potentially possible in the next few years as the Elkhart Redevelopment Commission considers a conceptual design developed for the revitalization of the Civic Plaza and Central Park.

The commission must approve the concept (possibly in March) and city officials would need to secure funding before any additional design or work can be done on the site.

The concept was created from in-person and survey responses from hundreds of Elkhart residents to city officials and design firm Rundell Ernstberger Associates.

Highlights of the proposal include:

  • An expanded Civic Plaza that includes a cafe area with restrooms.
  • A permanent stage along Waterfall Drive.
  • Shaded sitting area along High Street.
  • A playground and water feature at Franklin Street and Waterfall.
  • The possibility of two private development sites for commercial mixed use (retail and/or residential), with additional underground parking.
  • Improved pedestrian connections along Franklin and to the Marion Street parking garage.

To see the full PowerPoint presentation made at a Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2019, public meeting at the Lerner Theatre as well as further information about this project, go to www.elkhartcivicplaza.com.

Jan 04 2019
Love2

Katherine Corpe writes a love letter on Facebook to Elkhart

By Countywide, Elkhart, Featured News One Comment

Facebook groups such as I Grew Up in Elkhart, IN often indulge in nostalgia as members discuss restaurants, businesses and parks that are no longer in existence. Or members discuss milestones such as first jobs, high school graduation, and neighborhoods.

In late December, Katherine Corpe posted a more forward-looking vision. Laced with her own memories of growing up in Elkhart, Katherine pivoted to many reasons to be optimistic about the area’s future.

The post garnered 145 “likes” and “loves” and 28 comments, most praising Katherine’s view.

Published below, with Katherine’s permission and without any edits, is the post as it appeared in Facebook:

I am wanting to post for all of the Millienials that may feel they are too young join this group! Elkhart’s history is still blossoming and our community is in locomotion! As a young person I still have fantastic childhood memories of growing up in Elkhart County. 
I grew up in the 90’s spending summers in the back seat of my Mom’s Ford Explorer drinking root beer and eating burgers at the Simonton Lake Drive In. I watched fireworks on Independence Day with my family at Rice Field. I went sledding with my dad and brother at McNaughton Park. I have spent countless hours over a lifetime walking the trails and enjoying nature at Oxbow Park and Bonniville Mill. My first job ever was bagging groceries at Martin’s Grocery Store. My long-standing high school job was topping pizzas at Volcanos at Concord Commons. Both are institutions in our community. These are memories and traditions that have been passed down through generations. Many of these are the same past times my grandparents enjoyed with my parents when they were little.You know what? Someday if I have children, I’m going to do the same things with them. 
Moving forward through time however, I have been able to say I have experienced things my folks never did. I remember the excitement and energy of president Obama visiting my very own, Concord High School my senior year. This was mere months after the 2008 recession hit. A pivotal and difficult time for the Elkhart community as we had the highest rate of unemployment in the country at that time. I was able to see blues legend himself, Buddy Guy at the Learner Theater downtown. I have exhibited my artwork at the Midwest Museum of American Art and have even shown in Elkhart Art Walk. All of these events have happened within the last decade. Fairly new history on a timeline. Heck, I got to be apart of the history! I’m sure many years from now I will be able to share those memories with a younger generation and with others in my community just as those who have come before me have.
While I am apart of a younger generation in Elkhart, I feel strongly we young people are carrying the torch and hold a fresh new face for the Elkhart Community. Here we can revel and indulge in Elkhart’s fantastic past times while creating and celebrating new ones! The sky is truly the limit for ALL of Elkhart’s beautiful faces. Young, old, established , up and coming, etc. May we all celebrate and honor Elkhart with its rich history together as a community filled with diversity. our experiences, memories, and community are what sustain our bright future for the next generation.

Xo to all my fellow Elkhart People!

Katherine

Dec 22 2018
Love0

Love Where You Live: There’s a lot of love for Elkhart County

By Countywide, Elkhart, Featured News, Goshen, Middlebury & Bristol, Nappanee & Wakarusa No Comments

By Marshall V. King

The assignment was to go hang out with cool people and ask them why they love this part of the world.

So a guy with a camera and a guy with questions went to see folks in their workplaces, their favorite part or even their grandfather’s woodshop. And we had a blast.

Along the way, not only did we learn about the people, but we learned more about this place where we also live. We had conversations about creativity, about Elkhart County, and about what makes this a great place.

Grant observed that most of us don’t realize what’s in our community, until you dig a little or ask a few questions. I’d add that it starts with looking up and around as we have a cup of coffee, as we walk through our neighborhood, as we explore that part of the county where we haven’t spent much time.

I tried to capture in words why someone choose to live here. In the case of the Roeum family, they ended up here as strangers and became beloved. Ashley Bowen grew up here and moved away, but as she told her friends in Barcelona, Spain about this wonderland, she realized it was time to come home. Toby Crowley came for a job with only a duffel bag in an old Chrysler Sebring and has both worked hard and given back in a place he calls home.

In conversation after conversation, people told us about how they invest time and energy. They told of how this community welcomed and encouraged participation and involvement. In Bristol, Jill Swartz has plowed snow and planned town festivals. Rodney Dale was mentoring nine young people in Elkhart. Kim Clarke kept remembering all the things she’s done or starting in Middlebury and the two flowed together in a lively stream.

At a mountain bike trail at Bonneyville Mill County Park, at Wellfield Botanic Gardens, in Dorothy Jean Carter’s studio, we heard and saw the results of love and work, of life and community, coming together in beautiful ways. We saw what happens when people care, when people profess their love rather than just show classic Midwestern humility. Whether they were born and bred here or came here from someone else, the people we interviewed and photographed for Love Where You Live inspired us and made us even more proud to live and work here ourselves.

In these amazing individuals, we encountered the resources, the skills that are being invested in Elkhart County, a community of people making amazing things and making lives together.

Marshall V. King is a Goshen-based free-lance writer. He wrote this for Vibrant Communities.

Editor’s Note: At the beginning of 2018, Vibrant Communities organizers asked writer Marshall V. King and photographer Grant Beachy to tell the stories of Elkhart County residents who love this area that we call home. This series was the result of that collaboration.

More Love Where You Live:

Dec 13 2018
Love1

We’re celebrating the Vibrant People of Elkhart County throughout 2019

By Countywide, Elkhart, Featured News, Goshen, Middlebury & Bristol, Nappanee & Wakarusa 2 Comments

The Vibrant Communities movement will be recognizing the most energetic, cheerful and generous residents of Elkhart County throughout 2019 and it is inviting everyone who loves and cares about their hometown to take part.

Vibrant People of Elkhart County will be a year-long daily celebration of the doers — school secretaries, volunteers, your neighbors, the people behind the counter at your favorite store — and how they #LoveElkhartCountyIN and make our hometown a vibrant community. These are 365 Vibrant People who go the extra mile, have a smile for everyone they greet and help with just about anything.

Residents, non-profit agencies, schools, groups, businesses and anyone with a connection to Elkhart County can nominate someone special to get the recognition and notice that they deserve.

NOMINATE YOUR VIBRANT PEOPLE TODAY

Vibrant People will be recognized daily on Vibrant Communities social media channels on Facebook and Instagram.

“Every day, Elkhart County residents make a huge difference in their friends’ and neighbors’ lives with their positive attitude and giving generously,” said Arvis Dawson, co-chair of the Vibrant Communities movement. “They don’t do it for recognition, but that’s why it’s even more important for us to celebrate what they do to make Elkhart County a great place to live, work and play.”

Vibrant People of Elkhart County follows in the footsteps of 2018’s Love Where You Live series, which featured Elkhart County leaders who demonstrate affection for this area by their words and actions. Read the Love Where You Live stories at www.vibrantelkhartcounty.org/news.

Vibrant Communities is a grassroots movement of Elkhart County leaders focused on quality of place to strengthen our communities. Vibrant Communities champions placemaking activities to encourage economic growth, communicate positively and effectively about Elkhart County, and support collaboration and creativity in all our communities.

Nov 30 2018
Love3

Love Where You Live: Ashley Bowen couldn’t resist coming back to Hoosier roots

By Countywide, Elkhart, Featured News No Comments

By Marshall V. King

Ashley Bowen was living in Barcelona and told her friends there of this wonderland where people leave their doors unlocked, everyone is nice, and helping others is the norm.

“I found out how much I missed my Hoosiers, my people here,” she said. “You know when you live in Barcelona and miss Indiana, it’s time for the Hoosier to go home.”

She’d grown up in Elkhart County and graduated from Concord High School in 2003 and then Indiana University South Bend. At age 25, she moved to Los Angeles to work for a famous jeweler as a gemologist.

That city didn’t sparkle for her. “I got so fed up with the L.A. lifestyle. Everything was so plastic,” she said.

“Hoosiers are some of the nicest, most gracious people in all the world,” says Ashley Bowen of her home state. (Photos by Grant Beachy)

She gave away her possessions and went to a small town in Peru with the Peace Corps for two years. After getting a master’s in business administration in Barcelona, she responded to the siren song from Indiana and came home. “It was the people. I remembered the people here,” she said. “Hoosiers are some of the nicest, most gracious people in all the world.”

She wanted to be part of how people help each other and got a job at United Way of Elkhart County as campaign relationship manager. In that role, she’s helping align resources to meet community needs. As she took the job, she watched the community come together to help those whose homes and businesses had been damaged by flooding in Goshen and Elkhart. “Everybody is rushing to help each other and we’re all putting together the resources to do that. It is just so cool.”

It reinforced how glad she is to be back and how much she loves this place. It’s the place where she’s purchased a house and is part of a neighborhood. She enjoys the easy access to golfing and kayaking. She is back among her people, but also in the land of all-beef hot dogs and whoopie pies. Those are among the many things she loves here. “I love whoopie pies,” she said.

Marshall V. King is a Goshen-based free-lance writer. He wrote this piece on behalf of Vibrant Communities.

More Love Where You Live:

Nov 09 2018
Love8

Love Where You Live: Toby Crowley gives back far more than he received

By Countywide, Featured News, Goshen No Comments

By Marshall V. King

When Toby Crowley showed up in Elkhart County for a $11 an hour job, he was an unemployed veteran without a place to live. He had a duffel bag and an old Chrysler Sebring. And he was willing to work.

Crowley rose from that job his brother offered him on a chassis line at Lippert Components Inc. in 2005 to become general manager of the window division. He’s a leader not only in the company, but in the community.

A lot of nights, he’s behind the bar at the Goshen Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 985. He’s glad to get you a beer or ice water, but he’s also helping in other ways. He’s the quartermaster handling the finances for the post. He volunteers in the kitchen and helps plan events such as golf outings and trips to Wrigley Field.

Crowley, a retired Marine who served tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, started volunteering at the VFW through Acts of Service, the program Lippert started to get its employees into the community to give back. Other volunteers have also gotten involved to help the veterans.

“… I really get to see how generous the community is and how good-hearted people are,” says Toby Crowley. (Photos by Grant Beachy)

Growing up in central Michigan, Crowley learned how to work hard and when he moved to Elkhart County, he started adding to his skill set. He became a welder and then a manager. Now there are 715 people working on his team and Crowley enjoys serving them as a leader. He also gives back by serving on the board of 5 Star Life, a program aimed at helping students develop character, leadership and academic skills, and he helps raise money for the Elkhart County 4-H Fair.

“Being so involved with so many non-profits I really get to see how generous the community is and how good-hearted people are. They really want to help,” he said.

He tells stories about his time in Michigan, but he no longer refers to it as “back home.”

Elkhart County is where he lives and works, where he sees people coming together. “I definitely consider this home now,” he said.

Marshall V. King is a Goshen-based free-lance writer. He wrote this on behalf of Vibrant Communities.

More Love Where You Live:

Oct 24 2018
Love0

Goshen parks seeking comments as it builds 5-year master plan

By Featured News, Goshen No Comments

The Goshen Parks Department needs our help.

No matter what aspect of the parks you enjoy — walking/biking trails, playgrounds, natural beauty, or ball fields — you certainly have an opinion on what you want more of and what can be improved.

Goshen Parks would like all parks users to fill out a survey which is part of its planning process for building a five-year master plan.

The survey is available in English and Spanish.

Oct 18 2018
Love0

Love Where You Live: Jill Swartz finds home for her heart and passions in Bristol

By Featured News, Middlebury & Bristol No Comments

By Marshall V. King

When Jill Swartz talks about Bristol, her hometown, she says “we” and “us” a lot.

“It takes a village to do this,” she said as she sat in Cummins Park on a sunny, summer day.

The park itself, behind the Elkhart County Historical Museum, is a good example. Five years ago, the park didn’t have much going for it. The parks board put in a splash pad. That led to a fitness park and the donation of a wooden train.

“Our hidden park is a park for all to visit. A park that had nothing going for it is now the park everyone comes to. The moms with toddlers love it the most,” she said.

Swartz is the deputy town clerk who also happens to be a mother of two, a Girl Scout leader, and a planner of events for the community.

The town of Bristol’s parks are a particular point of pride for Jill Swartz. (Photos by Grant Beachy)

She’s working on the Halloween festival for the town. “We all come together to do this kind of stuff. I love things that bring people together,” she said.

She does whatever it takes to help Bristol. When she started in her job at the town hall 11 years ago, she mowed public spaces and drove snow plow trucks. That willingness to do anything got her involved in the Friends of the Park and Elkhart County Waterways Alliance, as well as planning the town Christmas tree lighting.

The little town of 1,602 (as of the last census) grows to as many as 10,000 during the workday. “Our industry has grown tremendously,” she said.

Those businesses support the parks and efforts such as Bristol on the River, a Main Street development group that got started three years with Swartz’s help.

“I love Bristol,” said Swartz, who moved a lot when she was a girl and found a true home when her family moved to the town. “I couldn’t imagine going somewhere else and being as passionate as I can be here.”

More Love Where You Live:

Oct 09 2018
Love1

Elkhart River offers wealth of natural, urban delights

By Countywide, Elkhart, Featured News, Goshen No Comments

You tend to see the world in a different way from the water.

That was certainly the experience of Joel Pontius and his students in Goshen College’s Sustainability Leadership Semester. Every September, Pontius takes his students on an eight-day journey on the Elkhart River from where it originates near Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center to Lake Michigan. Along the way, the students meet local residents and leaders, learning among other things about and enjoying wild local food.

Here’s a bit of what Pontius wrote of his most recent trip: “Our paddles churn the surface of the Elkhart River as our canoes glide around a sweeping bend. The world is glowing green beneath the shade of the broad-leafed sycamore canopy on this crisp afternoon. Cardinal flowers bow to the river, red from the dark, exposed soil. A great blue heron spooks downstream as a train rumbles by on the riverside rail. Soon we see fluorescent orange and yellow in the crook of a two-trunked wild cherry tree. As we float closer, we confirm that what we’re seeing is an edible mushroom called chicken of the woods …”

Want to know more about “chicken of the woods” and the rest of this expedition? Read the full account of the students’ journey in Joel’s words on Edible Michiana’s website.

 

Educate. Advocate. Celebrate.

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