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Oct 01 2019
Love0
Excellence shines through in each of Elkhart County’s schools

Excellence shines through in each of Elkhart County’s schools

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

Next-level learning. Skills training. Planning for the future. Community involvement. Innovation.

All are hallmarks of the school districts in Elkhart County. Community leaders have made education a top priority here – and it shows.

Goshen Community Schools is home to an International Baccalaureate program of advanced study. The program was implemented in 2008. In addition to educational benefits, there’s also a potential dollars-and-cents incentive – many colleges offer credit for IB courses taken in high school.

Fairfield Community Schools offers a host of vocational programs, including cosmetology, building trades, health services, agricultural sciences, tool and die, auto mechanics, welding, and others. At Fairfield, graduating seniors have the opportunity to walk out of school and into a rewarding job right away.

Elkhart Community Schools offers the Elkhart Culture Series, a program designed to engage students and community members in cultural experiences and opportunities. Special guests have included an original Freedom Rider, a Holocaust survivor, and a survivor of the Rwandan Genocide.

Wa-Nee Community Schools is part of a local campaign called WaNee Vision 2020. The project is a joint collaboration between the city of Nappanee, The Boys & Girls Clubs of Elkhart County, Wa-Nee Community Schools, Family Christian Development Center, and Elder Haus Senior Center of Nappanee, with support from the Town of Wakarusa. The goal is to create a better community for people of all ages.

At Middlebury Community Schools, officials recently broke ground on a $15 million athletics complex on the Northridge High School campus. The facility will have baseball, softball, and football fields. Also at MCS: Northridge Middle School is a School to Watch, a designation earned from the National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades.

At Concord Community Schools, work is underway on the College and Career Readiness addition at Concord High School. According to the Concord Connection, the wing will include five new classrooms, including an updated functional skills space, a “dirty lab” where students can learn mechanical skills, and a “clean lab” complete with 3D printers and tabletop CNC equipment. Other projects underway at Concord Community Schools include the 10,000-square-foot Concord Fitness and Performance Center, as well as the MOVE UP Academy, a virtual learning program.

Last fall at Baugo Community Schools, all kindergartners and first- and second-graders at Jimtown Elementary School visited Bethel College. According to WNDU, it was part of an awareness push to prepare students to open a 529 account to save for college.

Thank you, Elkhart County schools, for all you do to educate the leaders of tomorrow!

Excellence shines through in each of Elkhart County’s schools
Excellence shines through in each of Elkhart County’s schools

Thank you, Elkhart County schools, for all you do to educate the leaders of tomorrow!

Sep 19 2019
Love0
Goshen Theater, Goshen, Indiana

Goshen Theater getting ready to raise the curtain on its comeback

By Featured News, Goshen No Comments

In the heart of Goshen, a downtown treasure is getting ready for its next act.

Thanks to a mix of public and private funding, a major renovation is happening at the historic Goshen Theater, 216 S. Main St. In a nod to the theater’s longevity – and with an eye toward the future – the marquee reads, “When you’re 112 you’ll need a facelift, too.”

The work continues. This summer, crews started clearing the theater lobby and two other storefronts to make way for a larger lobby. Demolition began in the basement for the addition of modern restrooms, and excavating for an elevator shaft got underway. Digging the pit for a new elevator involved moving 25,000 pounds of dirt. Fun fact: Demolition work in the basement uncovered a storefront for a shoe repair shop!

Thanks to a committed group of people with both a love of history and a plan for the future, The Goshen Theater will soon begin its next stage of life. The Maple City landmark will be a community gathering space, an entertainment venue, and a cultural, educational, and commercial hub – all in one!

Goshen Theater is tentatively scheduled to reopen in March 2020

Goshen Theater is tentatively scheduled to reopen in March 2020. For more information or to donate to the ongoing theater project, visit goshentheater.com

The venue’s origins date back to 1905; the official dedication of the Jefferson Theater took place Nov. 5 that year.

“Indiana has many splendid cities, many splendid communities and many splendid buildings, but no city the size of Goshen has so splendid a playhouse,” Indiana’s governor said during the grand debut.

Fire destroyed the theater a little more than a year later. However, the rebuilt Jefferson re-opened with another packed house on Oct. 10, 1907. As part of an extensive remodeling, the theater was renamed The Goshen Theater in 1948.

After a successful multi-decade run, the theater hit a rough financial patch and closed in the mid-’80s. Heavy metal aficionados of a certain age will recall the theater’s short life as a concert venue around that time (We’re looking at you, Quiet Riot with special guest Poison). From 1987 to 2013, the theater was used as a church meeting space.

Sad to say, but the theater had become a shadow of its former self. That was about to change.

Goshen Theater Inc. (GTI), a non-profit with the goal of a revitalized theater, was formed in 2012. GTI later purchased the building and conducted a feasibility study. Significant upgrades – including a new screen, upgraded rigging, HVAC repairs, and interior sewer replacement – were made.

The current renovation work is expected to take the theater to the next level as a community space.

We can’t wait to see what happens next.

Goshen Theater is tentatively scheduled to reopen in March 2020. For more information or to donate to the ongoing theater project, visit goshentheater.com.

Aug 14 2019
Love0

Pumpkinvine Nature Trail keeps getting bigger

By Countywide, Featured News, Goshen, Middlebury & Bristol No Comments

The following is reprinted with permission from the August 2019 issue of the Pumpkinvine Trail Talk newsletter.

After significant delays in construction due to an unusually rainy spring, the new section of the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail between County Road 33 and County Road 20 finally opened for riding on June 15, the day of the Pumpkinvine Bike Ride.

“Pulver Construction worked till 8 p.m. on June 14 to finish putting a coat of asphalt on top of the base coat of asphalt to meet the promised deadline of being done in time for the bike ride,” said Bernie Cunningham of Elkhart County Parks.

Riders round a corner of a new section of the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail. (Photo Courtesy of Friends of the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail)

Riders who used the new section were pleased with the results, which goes east on the old Pumpkinvine railroad corridor for a third of a mile before turning north through open pasture along the south fork of Pine Creek, then turns east to parallel County Road 20 for a half mile.

One benefit of the new route is that it eliminates major hills on County Road 33 and County Road 20.

 

Jul 31 2019
Love1

Just how vibrant are we? Research setting baseline for Elkhart County

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

Building vibrant communities in Elkhart County has always been the ongoing goal, but it’s challenging to know how you’re doing when you’re not sure where you started.

With that question as a backdrop, more than 50 community leaders from Elkhart County’s business, non-profit, municipal and community development realms met on Thursday, July 25, to hear more about how to, well, measure vibrancy.

The setting for the discussion was a community room in the sprawling 171,000-square-foot Elkhart Health & Aquatics Center, one of the largest projects listed in Vibrant Communities’ Action Agenda assembled in 2016.

And with more projects being completed and momentum building in Elkhart, Goshen, Nappanee, Middlebury, Bristol and Wakarusa, it was time for the Vibrant Communities movement to define how it would keep track of vibrancy.

How to measure vibrancy was the topic of the day at a Community Champions Roundtable on Thursday, July 25, 2019, at the Elkhart Health & Aquatics Center.

Working with Indiana University South Bend’s Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Vibrant Communities organizers developed a survey of Elkhart County residents as well as the gathering of demographic data about the community.

The data includes everything from economic performance measures to educational attainment, health factors, crime and safety, and housing. That will be matched with the results of a survey in which Elkhart County residents are asked to rank the area on topics such as community pride, social offerings such as arts and culture and parks, and openness of residents to others.

  • Marshall V. King, a free-lance journalist who wrote the Love Where You Live series for Vibrant Communities in 2018, attended the gathering and wrote a column for the South Bend Tribune. Read Marshall’s thoughts on the metrics.

The survey so far has 371 results from 4,000 sent to randomly selected addresses in Elkhart County. While that number of survey results gives a good baseline, IUSB researchers intend to review the demographics of the respondents and fill in gaps that may exist to assure that the survey sample is representative of Elkhart County’s population.

By sometime this fall, it’s expected for the data and survey results to be available on the Vibrant Communities website.

Jul 09 2019
Love3

Tell us what you think of downtown: Answer our survey on your downtown’s vibrancy

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

No matter which downtown you go to in Elkhart County — Elkhart, Goshen, Nappanee, Middlebury, Wakarusa or Bristol — there are parts to like and other parts that could be improved.

A team at enFocus has been working hard on research, interviewing downtown business owners and people who work in a downtown, and also conducting focus groups.

The final stage of the research project is a survey open to all Elkhart County residents. Click here to take the survey.

The research is a project commissioned by the Elkhart County Convention & Visitors Bureau to assess conditions in each of the downtown areas in Elkhart County. The project is specifically seeking feedback on retail and commerce, housing, events, partnerships, diversity, and design and aesthetics in the downtown areas.

Jun 23 2019
Love0

Social media’s right: The rivers and streams of Elkhart County are quite lovely

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

Live in Elkhart County for more than a few days and you see that our waterways are drop-dead gorgeous.

Chuck Drake knows this, even though he moved away from Elkhart County years ago. He’s a member of the I Grew Up in Elkhart, IN group on Facebook and shared this memory recently:

Since we have the St. Joe cutting through town offering a sort of majestic beauty and leisure time, I generally took the Elkhart River for granted as I was growing up. Truth is, it’s a pretty cool river in its own right. The river starts from Port Mitchell Lake and Waldron Lake and merges to form the Elkhart River west of Wawaka, Indiana. It flows generally Northwestward through Benton and then turns northward. It then flows through Bainter Town and Waterford Mills into the Goshen Dam Pond. From there it flows northwest through Goshen, Dunlap and Elkhart and, after it’s 50 mile journey, into the St. Joe River at Island Park. The river lends itself perfectly to the kayaking craze and, with plans to remove the dam near downtown, fishing and kayaking can only get even better.

We couldn’t agree more, Chuck. The summer is a great time to go tubing in the creek or for some fishing.

Whatever you do, we encourage you to get out and enjoy the beauty of Elkhart County’s waterways, parks and trails.

Jun 10 2019
Love1

Little BIG Idea Grant keeps on boosting Elkhart County kids’ creative ideas

By Countywide, Featured News, Goshen One Comment

On Friday, June 7, 2019, Little BIG Idea Grant committee members awarded its seventh micro-grant to an Elkhart County resident who is younger than 18. 

Ten-year-old Oluwatobi Busari’s project to create a regular ongoing music and information radio program aimed at Elkhart County kids will soon be a reality, thanks to the $1,093 grant. Committee members decided to cover the $93 difference between Oluwatobi’s expected cost for sound, recording and mixing equipment. 

While it’s the seventh time that someone younger than 18 received a Little BIG Idea Grant since the program’s inception in 2017, there have been far more grant winners that have helped with creative, fun and engaging projects involving kids. 

Among the seven grants than have gone to 18-and-younger applicants have been projects such as Jaylyn Stofleth’s Shine with Slime event in Goshen and Branston Finefrock’s Friendly Friday project in Nappanee. On top of that, 12 other projects went for projects either for students and carried about by students, including Goshen Youth Art’s Faces project, Concord High School’s Heroes of Hope and a sculpture project involving Elkhart Central High School art students. 

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. 

Since August 2017, the Little BIG Idea Grant has provided $55,000 to 59 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. 

May 28 2019
Love0

Study of Elkhart, Goshen downtowns seeks feedback from residents

By Elkhart, Featured News, Goshen 2 Comments

What are the best parts about downtown Elkhart and downtown Goshen? What could use some improvement? What would you change?

Those questions and more will be the subject of focus group meetings scheduled for both cities. Anyone in the public is invited to attend, even if you don’t live or work downtown.

The downtown Elkhart meeting will be from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Monday, June 3, 2019, at the Elkhart Public Library, 300 S. Second St., Elkhart.

The downtown Goshen meeting will be from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 4, 2019, at The Electric Brew, 118 E. Washington St., Goshen, in the conference room.

Participants are asked to RSVP by completing this form.

The meetings are part of a larger project commissioned by the Elkhart County Convention & Visitors Bureau to assess conditions of each of the downtown areas in Elkhart County. The project is specifically seeking feedback on retail and commerce, housing, events, partnerships, diversity, and design and aesthetics in the downtown areas. Similar assessments of the downtowns of Nappanee, Wakarusa, Middlebury and Bristol will be completed later this year.

The meetings will be facilitated by business consulting organization enFocus. The data and feedback will be compiled into a downtown vibrancy report.

May 24 2019
Love0

No matter your interest, the fun never stops in parks all around Elkhart County

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

We are more than ready for summer. How about you?

Elkhart County’s parks — including in the cities and towns — have an almost incredible diversity of recreation opportunities, everything from swimming and canoeing/kayaking, to tennis, volleyball or Ultimate Frisbee, to hiking, bicycling and bird watching.

Gerrod Hampel (left) helps a participant try archery at Ox Bow County Park on May 15, 2019.

On Wednesday, May 15, the Vibrant Communities Community Champions Roundtable gathered in Ox Bow County Park to learn more about recreation opportunities in the parks, trails and waterways.

There were exhibits by Elkhart County Parks, Pumpkinvine Nature Trail, Quaker Trace Trail, Fluid Fun Canoe and Kayak and Orienteering USA.

In addition, participants enjoyed demonstrations and got to try their hand at archery with some instruction from Gerrod Hampel and canoeing with some equipment contributed by the Goshen Parks & Recreation Department.

May 03 2019
Love0

Great outdoors the setting for next Community Champions Roundtable

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

It’s time to take things outside!

The next Community Champions Roundtable will be from 3 to 5 p.m. Wednesday, May 15, in one of the jewels of Elkhart County’s park system, Ox Bow County Park.

This gathering of Elkhart County leaders and influencers will be like no other.

For one thing, you can’t have a theme of “Parks, Trails and Waterways” without being outside, right?

Come to Ox Bow Park’s Cottonwood Shelter (take a left on the main drive just after the main entrance gate) and get a taste of all the outdoor recreation goodness that Elkhart County has to offer. There will be a brief presentation, but then it will time to go have some fun.

NOTE: In case of rain, everything will be at Ox Bow Haus Shelter (not too far from Cottonwood Shelter and accessible from the same parking lot).

There will be groups representing the major bicycling groups and shops in Elkhart County as well as demonstrations of the types of water sports equipment available to enjoy our beautiful waterways. On dry ground, you’ll also be able to try archery, disc golf, orienteering (or geo-caching) and other outdoors leisure activities.

RSVP to Cindy Ostrom at [email protected] to be a part of this afternoon of outdoor fun.

Educate. Advocate. Celebrate.

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