BY ANGELA K. ROBERTS

PHOTOS BY CHRISTINE PETKOV (PAGES 11-17)

A longing for connection in a historic downtown. A desire to share a passion for the arts. The lure of a 19th century family homestead. From urban to rural, and from long-established to brand new, every small business in Greater Lafayette has a uniquely personal reason for putting down roots here. Here are the origin stories for five of them. 

Mad Love Boutique

210 N. Sixth St., Lafayette

store.madlovebb.com

Stephanie and Chris Deckard, owners of Velvet Lotus Photography, lived on Perrin Avenue for nine years before moving to a westside subdivision. “We immediately felt so detached, even with our studio still in town,” Stephanie says. 

Relocating their business from Kossuth Street to the heart of the city, the couple settled into their new digs. Then Stephanie had a brainstorm. “Having clothing to style my clients in felt like a natural shift, without being so overwhelming that I couldn’t work my photography as well,” she says. 

Nearly two years ago, Mad Love Boutique opened next door to the photography studio. In a space that the couple renovated themselves, Stephanie sells women’s clothing, jewelry and accessories among antique furnishings. 

Her favorite offerings: jewelry by Autumn Rose Designs, a mother-daughter team based in Greater Lafayette, and Hiptipico luxury bags, handmade in Guatemala. “All of the textiles and bags are made by female artisans, and that makes my heart happy,” she says. “I’m a proud supporter of BLM, LGBTQ+ and women’s rights.”

When businesses shut down in March because of COVID-19, the couple quickly moved all their inventory online. Chris took photos of Stephanie modeling the clothes, which range in size from extra small to 3XL.

Now that the store has started to reopen, Stephanie says she looks forward to expanding her hours again and seeing some familiar faces. “I love to talk, so if you come in to shop, you can expect a conversation,” she says. 

Wea Creek Orchard

5618 S. 200 East, Lafayette

weacreekorchard.com

Perry Kirkham and his brother were both working in Washington, D.C., when, in 2007, they each relocated to Indiana around the same time. While they got settled, the brothers lived on the family homestead. 

The farmland surrounding the house had been in their family since 1855, and they wanted to continue its agricultural legacy. But, “the fences here had been taken down and we no longer had access to any conventional farming equipment,” Kirkham says. 

“We discussed various options and landed on fruit trees. We formed the orchard in January of 2008, planted 400 fruit trees in April of 2008 and here we are!”

Co-owned by Kirkham and his wife, Lisa, Wea Creek Orchard is located on Lafayette’s south side and sells 19 varieties of apples, four varieties of peaches, and pumpkins. “I like the Akane apples the best,” Kirkham says. “It is a wonderful combination of sweet and tart and is full of flavor.” 

Inside the store are also jellies, preserves, salsas, butters and honey, along with succulents, hanging baskets and sunflowers. The orchard also hosts weddings, on average 27 a year, in the 1869-era barn. School kids also come on field trips. 

“We decided long ago we would never charge to come on the farm, so theoretically anyone can visit and enjoy the property without spending a dime,” Kirkham says. 

“Of course, we hope they don’t.”

Inspired Fire Glass Studio and Gallery 

2124 SR 25, Lafayette

inspiredfire.com

Sharon Owens, a Lafayette native and Indiana University art graduate, fell in love with glassmaking while taking a flame-working class at Purdue University in 1979. After studying the art around the United States and in Europe, she opened Inspired Fire Glass Studio and Gallery in 2002 to share her passion with her hometown.

Her shop, two miles off US 231 on the edge of Shadeland, promotes more than 30 local artists and provides a place for them to work and teach flame-working, fusing and furnace glass blowing to the Greater Lafayette community. Beginner and advanced classes are available, as well as field trips and custom parties. Due to the pandemic, the shop is open for limited hours. A gallery dog, Zing Zang, greets shoppers at the door. 

Since opening in 2002, the Inspired Fire building has undergone several remodels and expansions, including a recent upgrade to the façade and the addition of viewing windows in the gallery so that shoppers can watch artists at work. 

Owens’ personal specialty is crafting vibrantly colored vessels with techniques such as hand-pulled murrini, the making of patterns using long rods of glass that are cut into cross sections. “I draw inspiration from nature, and the glass vessels and jewelry I create are colorful interpretations of transparency and opacity swimming within layers of joy,” she says. 

Blooms and Petals Fresh Flowers & Event Concepts

848 Main St., Lafayette

bloomsandpetals.net

East Chicago, Indiana, native Paula Eve Davis came to Tippecanoe County for college, eventually settling down here with her husband. “I really felt that it was a great area to raise a family, and there were plenty of opportunities. I still feel that way,” says Davis, a master designer, certified balloon artist and founder of Blooms and Petals Fresh Flowers & Event Concepts. 

The Purdue University graduate began her floral career more than 20 years ago, growing and selling flowers at the Lafayette Farmers Market and craft shows. Then she branched out to weddings and proms. “I had flowers all over my home, and eventually my husband decided I needed a retail flower shop,” Davis recalls. “He secretly found the space and leased it. For our wedding anniversary, he brought me the keys to my new shop.”

Davis’ store makes fresh arrangements using flowers from all over the world. “We like dealing directly with our growers to get the most variety and the freshest product,” says Davis, whose business is 70 percent retail and 30 percent event florals. Among her favorite events are celebrations of life and funeral floral tributes. 

This spring, during the height of the shutdown, Davis founded the Good Samaritan Project to repurpose flowers she had preordered for St. Patrick’s Day, Easter and prom. She donated bouquets and gift baskets to police departments, fire departments and nursing homes. 

Escape Velocity Brewing Company

405 Sagamore Parkway South, Lafayette

escapevelocitybrewing.com

Jason Behenna began homebrewing in 2007, and by 2015 he was winning awards. When his Irish Stout won Best in Show at the Indiana Brewers Cup in 2016, he and his wife, Heather Howard, began exploring the idea of their own brewery. 

More than two years after moving back to Lafayette, the Purdue grads found a suitable space. As they were readying to launch in March, COVID-19 grounded non-essential businesses. “We have impeccable timing,” Behenna says. 

After starting curbside pickup in April, the couple, along with managing partner Colin Jelliffe, finally opened their tap room doors in May.

Escape Velocity Brewing Company has a five-barrel Blichmann Engineering brewing system, which can produce around 200 gallons. Within the colorful, space-themed environment, patrons can choose from a variety of beers whose names are all space- or rocket-related. 

Their bestselling beer is the Drogue Chute IPA. Another favorite is Behenna’s award-winning Magnificent Desolation Dry Irish Stout. The all vegetarian/vegan menu includes curried chickpea salad on sourdough bread and grilled cheese with either Irish cheddar, pepper jack or Chao vegan cheese. 

It goes without saying that starting a new business during a pandemic is hard. But while Behenna continues to build a following, he hopes locals will support not only him but also his fellow restaurateurs and brewers.

“The pandemic is really hurting the industry, and local support is the only thing that will ensure there are restaurants and breweries to continue … for years to come,” he says.

BY CINDY GERLACH

PHOTOS PROVIDED BY VISIT LAFAYETTE – WEST LAFAYETTE

If someone had suggested 15 or 20 years ago that you take a drive down Wabash Avenue, that suggestion may have been met with hesitation — apprehension, even. 

And a suggestion to view the art? Laughable. 

Today, what was formerly a hidden neighborhood, a sort of secret enclave of life along the Wabash River, is now a bright spot. And much of the credit goes to Wabash Walls. 

This public art installation, a series of murals painted on the sides of buildings both residential and commercial, has breathed new life into this decades-old neighborhood, often considered on the fringe of Lafayette society. 

The project got started back in 2016 and 2017, says Tetia Lee, executive director of the Tippecanoe Arts Federation and one of the curators of Wabash Walls. 

“At the time, as an artist myself, I’m always looking around,” Lee says. “When I see a beautiful wall, I think a mural would look great there.”

Lee was struck by a retaining wall along Second Avenue; the wheels of inspiration started turning. She ran into Margy Deverall with the City of Lafayette at a Neighborhood Beautification Coalition meeting. She threw the idea at Deverall: Let’s do a mural festival.

“It was all very organic,” says Lee. “We were both ready to take a bigger next step.”

And, as they say, from small things, big things come. The conversation began to draw in others — Stephanie Bible with Habitat for Humanity, artist Cameron Moberg, and Dennis Carson with the City of Lafayette. A proposal was put together, and initial funding provided $50,000 for a project that would be transformative, uplifting and engaging.

The result is a project that has indeed reinvigorated and re-branded the neighborhood. Lee has seen buy-in from not just the artists, but from local businesses – Cargill Inc. came on early as a sponsor — and neighbors. Everyone has delighted in watching the neighborhood come alive with color. 

Wabash Avenue has long been considered a marginalized area. The working-class neighborhood, often referred to as the “lower part” of town, is a stronghold of a bygone era. And its reputation has suffered over the past several decades.

It’s a bad rap that seems undeserved, as a current drive through the area reveals tidy houses with well-kept lawns and a diverse population, with younger people gravitating there to live and work. Not to mention a neighborhood spirit that is evident.

“The most important part is that we established a trust with a neighborhood that is marginalized and over promised,” Lee says.

The Wabash Avenue residents were quick to get on board with the project. Early on, Lee says, they opened their doors, inviting her in as the early stages of the feasibility study kicked off. 

“They became the vital and most-important part of informing the neighborhood study,” Lee says. “That really demonstrates trust between the city and the neighborhood.”

People who live there can see the charm that others might not. And the murals helped highlight the beauty hovering at the surface.

“They got excited about having artwork in their neighborhood,” Lee says. And about the influx of visitors, as the artists and those who want to view the art descended on their once hidden part of town. 

“That’s the real reason it’s been so successful,” Lee says. 

Trent O’Brien and his wife, April, run Sacred Ground Coffee House. Like most of the neighborhood, they have seen nothing but positives come out of Wabash Walls. 

“It was definitely a really good thing,” O’Brien says. “The whole area has changed.”

O’Brien has seen people getting more involved in the neighborhood, becoming more welcoming. Last year, Sacred Grounds helped host a neighborhood Harvest Festival. Years ago, maybe a handful of people would have shown up, but this 2019 festival brought out hundreds of people.

“This never would have happened 15 years ago,” O’Brien says. “I do believe the art has helped.”

This opening up of the neighborhood, this newfound sense of community is a credit to the art and the artists, he says. 

“It brought people here who were out to see the art,” O’Brien says. “It has been very positive.”

In 2018, 10 murals were painted in the neighborhood; 2019 saw 11 more added. Artists featured were from all over — not just the United States, but from as far away as Australia. The onset of COVID-19 delayed the progress for 2020, but the project will expand to areas around the avenue, including crosswalk art to encourage more pedestrian-friendly zones. 

Funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and Indiana Department of Health have helped the project continue for a third year. 

The fun and funky murals are a boon for the neighborhood, providing beauty, conversation and a real sense of shared identity. Visitors have come from all over the city, the county, even the state, anxious to check out the project. 

But the real benefits are more far-reaching. Lee says they’ve seen property values increase as the art has helped improve the area, making it a better, healthier place for residents to live and interact with one another. Once-abandoned buildings have been reclaimed and now feature murals. The micro-economy in the neighborhood has improved as the area has rebranded. It’s a huge improvement in the quality of life. 

Working with the neighbors, watching the project come to life has been an amazing process, says Lee.

“Wabash Walls continues to be a highlight to my career,” she says. “I could not have asked for a better neighborhood to work in. They treat me like family. I’m an honorary resident — I love it.”

Because at the end of the day, it’s truly about people.

It’s about the artists who have spent time in the neighborhood, sharing their stories with folks who would stop to watch the work and visit for a bit. It’s about the residents who have opened their arms, welcoming and embracing both the artists and the patrons who come to see the art. It’s about businesses that have come alive and welcomed the partnership of the artists, encouraging the camaraderie among all involved.

It’s the story, Lee says, of the transformative power of art.

“More than ever, we are turning to the arts to remind us that we’re human.”

BY CINDY GERLACH

PHOTOS BY CHRISTINE PETKOV

Small Business Saturday is a national movement launched in 2011, designed to get shoppers into smaller locally owned businesses on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Locally, friendly neighborhood businesses partner with Greater Lafayette Commerce and offer specials and swag bags, resulting in a festive holiday shopping atmosphere. 

Small boutique shops offer products that are often local and more specialized, says Richelle Peterson, owner of Richelle in a Handbasket at Market Square. 

“We’re all about gifts,” she says. “We go back to the basics of giving with a purpose.”

At Richelle in a Handbasket, the shopping experience is very low-key and stress-free, very friendly. Customers are always greeted with a warm hello, Peterson says, and the shopping experience is very personal. There won’t be fighting in line or battles over items; instead, people will sit back, enjoy a cup of hot cocoa, and find exactly the gift they were looking for, as Peterson and her staff help customize gift baskets and selections.

“It’s like you’re coming into my house,” Peterson says. “It’s warm, it’s very laid back, very happy.”

Helping customers find exactly the gift they are looking for, and not just settling for what is easy, is part of the shop’s mission, says Peterson. They specialize in customized gift baskets, which can be tailored to meet a customer’s exact needs, thus creating the perfect gift.

“We help people put thought into their gifts,” she says. “We try to make it a little more personal. People can take their time. It’s about the thought — we help with that. We’re here to help, not to push.”

At Boutique LoriAnn, 101 N. Sixth St., the emphasis is on quality and catering to customers’ exact needs, says owner Lori Schlaifer. Holiday shopping in the boutique will be upscale and, again, more personal. 

The shop won’t be as crowded as a women’s clothing retailer at a mall, she says. And because she only orders a very limited number of each item, a customer can be sure that she won’t see everyone she knows wearing the exact same item she buys.

Because her boutique is small, Schlaifer gets to know — really know — her customers, their likes and preferences. When an item comes that she thinks might suit someone, she lets them know. 

“It’s more intimate,” she says. “It’s more personal.”

Down the road at Stall & Kessler’s, 333 Columbia St., the focus is also on personalization and customization, says co-owner Kris Kessler. The shop values all its customers, he says — “We’re excited to see anyone walk in the front door.”

As a specialty business, they do focus on high-end jewelry, and pieces are customized to each person’s needs — everything from earrings, bracelets and necklaces to cufflinks and specially designed rings. People tend to think that means a higher price tag, Kessler says. But that is not necessarily the case. 

Plus, he feels they are selling much more than a mere product.

“We’re selling on a deeper level than most retailers,” he says. “We are selling quality pieces of jewelry that celebrate these moments in people’s lives. I really find the joy and the connection when people come in and are celebrating that engagement or anniversary.

“Yes, what we’re selling is rock and metal. But it’s part of these moments in a lifetime. We really cherish that.”

There are people who might find shopping downtown intimidating, fearful of finding — or, more importantly, not finding — parking, or of stores not feeling welcoming. That could not be further from the truth, say both Schlaifer and Kessler. 

“One of the nice things we have downtown is parking that is 15 feet away from our front door,” Kessler says. “At the mall, it’s a lot longer walk.”

Schlaifer agrees — it’s one of the benefits of her location at the corner of Sixth and Columbia streets, which is surrounded by two-hour parking spots.

“It’s pretty easy to find parking,” she says.  

When people shop in locally owned businesses, much more of the profit stays in town. According to shopsmall.com, for every dollar spent at a small business, about 67 cents stays in the local community. Locally, businesses noted an 80 percent increase in sales on Shop Small Saturday over a regular Saturday, according to Greater Lafayette Commerce. 

Peterson says this is definitely part of the appeal of Richelle in a Handbasket, which proudly features locally made products.

“People shop here because we have Indiana products, a plethora of them,” she says. 

The effects of COVID-19 will certainly affect how people shop this holiday season. Kessler says their store has never been cleaner as they focus on keeping their environment as safe as possible for everyone. 

And Peterson says she has seen a huge shift in how people interact given the limits on how people can be together. She has shipped a lot of gifts so people can send a little love with a gift basket, because people can’t be near those they care about. 

“I think people have forgotten how to be human in their giving,” Peterson says. “A lot more matters. Families, people, neighbors matter. I think it’s brought some humanity back.”

But the biggest benefit of shopping small is the relationships among people. Kessler says he has seen many people turn to online shopping during these days of the pandemic. Stall & Kessler’s is not set up for online shopping. However, he says, their staff can make that work. They were recently able to help a customer purchase a piece of jewelry as an 80th birthday gift — over the phone. It was an accommodation they were happy to make.

“We really appreciate the people who choose to support us,” he says.

Christmas shopping should be fun. Gift-giving should be about the thought and about the experience. Local businesses, Peterson says, are better able to make those connections with customers and make it happen.

“We like talking to people,” she says. “We want people to enjoy shopping and enjoy giving, not break the bank. In today’s world, that matters.” 

Exciting changes for Shop Small 2020

Greater Lafayette Commerce and its Main Street committee are developing a series of scavenger hunts, using the GooseChase app, to promote local businesses this Shop Small season. The scavenger hunts will run through December 31. Participating small businesses will create missions for people playing the games. Players need only download the app on their phones and click the shop small missions.

The scavenger hunts will include missions where participants take photos of special items within stores, photos of the foods they eat, or videos of them making purchases. Players will compete for points; the more missions someone completes, the more points they earn. There will be prizes for top point earners (swag bags filled with gifts and gift certificates from participating businesses). 

To help maintain social distancing the missions will be randomly ordered to drive players to different stores every day. 

“We know our small businesses are gearing up this year to offer consumers unique products and gifts.  We hope the players find the scavenger hunts to be a fun way to get their competitive juices flowing while getting them out to the retailers’ shops,” says Mark Lowe, small business consultant for Greater Lafayette Commerce. 

You can learn more about Shop Small Greater Lafayette at greaterlafayettecommerce.com Or contact Mark Lowe at mlowe@greaterlafayettecommerce.com. To participate in the Shop Small Greater Lafayette scavenger hunts, players can download the GooseChase app at goosechase.com or from the google or apple app stores. 

BY KEN THOMPSON
PHOTOS PROVIDED BY PURDUE RESEARCH FOUNDATION

David Ross’ impact upon Purdue University goes far beyond the football stadium that has had his name for nearly a century.

Ross, a president of the Purdue University Board of Trustees and a prolific inventor, noticed that industry did not have access to Purdue’s knowledge and aid like farmers were provided through the Purdue University Extension Service.

So in the fall of 1930, Ross found a way to get around the limitations created by Purdue’s status as a public institution. With board member Josiah K. Lilly, of Eli Lilly and Co., matching Ross’ $25,000 in starter money (nearly $363,000 in today’s dollars), the nonprofit Purdue Research Foundation was created on Dec. 30, 1930.

“I think the bottom line is he wanted to make it easier for businesses to interact with the university,” says Greg Deason, Senior Vice President of Entrepreneurship and Place Making for the Purdue Research Foundation.

“I think the essence was that he thought this could be a vehicle that would allow the foundation to make and take actions that would benefit the university but could do it rapidly at the speed of business.”

Ross died in 1943 but Deason believes much of today’s PRF was part of his original vision. Deason notes that Purdue Research Park was the third great research park in the world in 1961, following the path of Stanford in 1952 and the Research Triangle Park (Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill, North Carolina) in 1959.

“It is most likely he was concerned about creating the framework for which great things could occur,” Deason says. “I think he could have easily, based on the efforts he was making, conceived of clusters of businesses that began to operate near the university so they could benefit from these relationships that he had conceived. In many, many ways I think he could have conceived of (research parks) and I think in addition because of his background as an inventor and an entrepreneur it’s quite likely he could have conceived of a key function that we do where we license our patents. I think he would have come up with many of the things we are doing.”

The Purdue Research Foundation may be celebrating its 90th birthday in 2020 but it has changed with the times. The impetus for change began when former Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels became university president in 2013.

“I believe because President Daniels brings the experience he’s had in both government and industry, he has been very helpful and supportive of making sure that the foundation did move into the direction of focusing in on the commercialization of Purdue’s technologies,” says Brian Edelman, who became president of the Purdue Research Foundation in 2017. 

“Before President Daniels’ administration, the foundation really was somewhat of a real estate trust. We still are but … what we do as far as real estate and making building places is no longer the focal mission. We do it to make sure we have what’s needed to commercialize Purdue’s technologies.”

Simply put, the PRF’s mission is focused on improving the world through its technologies and graduates.

“That is why the office of technology commercialization is so core to our mission,” Edelman says. “It’s why The Foundry that helps create the startups around Purdue technologies is so critical.”

The Purdue Foundry’s mission statement says its existence is to help Purdue students, faculty and local alumni move ideas to the marketplace more quickly.

One of those startups is Akonacure Pharmaceuticals, which developed a platform to produce natural cancer therapies. 

Sherine Abdelmawla, a Purdue pharmacy alumnus who earned her Ph.D. in medicinal chemistry and molecular pharmacology in 2007, founded that startup with her husband; both work with The Purdue Foundry.

“They helped us at the beginning to learn all aspects of the business,” Abdelmawla says. “They helped us transition from a technical team to a management team. Perfecting the investors’ pitch. Putting together a business plan. It’s a great resource.”

Abdelmawla says Akonacure’s original investors were all from The Purdue Foundry and it continues to help the startup. “The Foundry doesn’t just connect me with people within the boundary of PRF, they will connect us with all the Purdue alum network,” she explains. “PRF has a big network of investors they can connect you to. They will be helpful throughout the life of the company.

“The best thing about the PRF is you’re almost immediately treated like you’re a part of the family. It feels a lot more personal than a business relationship. We’ll always feel very grateful, very loyal to The Foundry and Purdue.”

Johnny Park calls himself “a major beneficiary” professionally and personally of the Purdue Research Foundation. Park earned bachelor’s, master’s and Ph.D. degrees from the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering at Purdue. He became a research assistant professor in the school as well.

With the PRF’s investment and a grant from the United States Dairy Association in 2008, Park started Spensa Technologies in 2009 with the vision of agricultural innovation that will reduce reliance on manual labor, foster eco-friendly farming and enhance crop production efficiency.

“As a young faculty member who had never started a company and really did not understand many aspects of the business, The Foundry and PRF was extremely helpful in not only mentoring me as an entrepreneur but also connecting the company to all the relevant customers, stakeholders, potential partners and investors,” Park says. “All those connections were very, very helpful.”

Spensa was acquired in 2018 by DTN, which continues to operate Spensa in Purdue Research Park. Meanwhile, Park remains in West Lafayette as CEO at the Wabash Heartland Innovation Network.

“I didn’t think I’d still be here but the opportunity Purdue provided us in this ecosystem was very wonderful,” Park says. “What Purdue has built in this town, the Purdue Research Park and all the office spaces that are available is incredible. At the cost, we’re getting quality. It’s not often talked about but it’s a tremendous value for a startup to have the infrastructure to take advantage of.”

Dr. Byron Pipes, the John L. Bray Distinguished Professor of Engineering at Purdue, had experience in the business world decades before coming to West Lafayette in 2004. As co-founder and director of the Center for Composite Materials at the University of Delaware, Pipes developed an industrial consortium of more than 40 corporate sponsors from nine different nations. Pipes also was president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York from 1993-95.

Pipes’ research, involving composite materials used in aviation and technology, is patented through the PRF’s Office of Technology Commercialization. He also took the lead in creating the Indiana Manufacturing Institute (based in Research Park), and is executive director of the Composites Manufacturing and Simulation Center.

“It was mutually beneficial for the relationship to happen,” Pipes says. “From my perspective from all the years I’ve spent in leadership and research is that having a place that is almost off campus gave the industry a view that maybe we weren’t so ‘ivory tower.’ Companies are attracted to us because we’re out in Research Park. We’re accessible.

“Whenever I get a company where the high-level people are coming to see me, I make a quick appointment with the president of the Purdue Research Foundation. He explains all about Research Park and what we’re doing to build relationships. It has an effect on them. ‘Wow, you guys are different.’” 

One of the PRF’s newest partnerships is with the city of West Lafayette. Mayor John Dennis uses one word to describe his relationship with PRF.

“OUT-STANDING, with capital letters all the way through,” Dennis says.

Dennis remembers in his first term getting a lesson in what he calls “PRF 101” from then-PRF executive director Joe Arnett.

“It wasn’t just enlightening to me as a newly elected guy, it was enlightening for me as a tool to better understand how to improve relationships with Purdue,” Dennis says. “That was sort of the precursor to some of the great things we’ve been able to do over the past five or six years, including annexation and the explosion of development in the Research Park.”

Dennis uses the recruitment of Saab as an example of how the collaboration between the Purdue Research Foundation and the city has benefited Greater Lafayette.

“We were looking at a way to have an incentive package that would make us stand out amongst all the communities that were competing for a high-end development,” he says. “Purdue was in a position to provide some incentivization, and the city of West Lafayette was in a position to provide incentivization. Also, which is completely unheard of, the city of Lafayette participated in the recruitment of Saab financially. If you look anywhere else in the country, you will never find two cities that are going to do the same thing to benefit one city.”

The State Street Project had modest beginnings before a conversation between Dennis and Mitch Daniels changed the scope of the project.

“We had an urban corridor that looked like it hadn’t been touched since the days of the horse and buggy,” Dennis says. “It basically excluded anything involving Purdue University. The storefronts were ignored, parking was ignored, traffic flow was ignored. It basically inhibited any type of business development.

“Our original plan was to take State Street from University down to the riverfront. Basically, we would spend a few million dollars on it, dress it up pretty and make it more accessible. Hopefully improve our business corridor so that people would be more inclined to utilize it.”

Dennis felt obligated to share that plan with Daniels and his staff. It must have been some presentation because Daniels wanted Purdue to be a part of the State Street Project.

“OK, sure, bring your checkbook,” was Dennis’ response. “By golly, he did.”

“That’s when the project changed from being a local project to being a project that incorporated the university all the way to the point of its furthest west barrier, out to connect what was eventually going to be (U.S) 231.”

Daniels’ enthusiasm for the State Street Project led to Purdue’s annexation by West Lafayette, which when the students are on campus swells the population to more than 80,000.

“Which makes us one of the most densely populated cities in the state of Indiana,” Dennis explains. “That allowed us to give a lot of assurances to developers at getting a quick return on their investment.”

Edelman says Purdue’s nearly $100 million obligation to the State Street Project prompted the PRF to make a $40 million land swap with the university to be able to develop the Discovery Park district and the aerospace district. 

“But we should have been doing that on our own,” he says. “The reason we should have been doing that is because having the land open has led to the expansion that is going on right now at the Rolls Royce building, the building of the Saab plant, the Schweitzer Engineering Labs. The real jobs that are coming to the Greater Lafayette area through that development is huge.”

Those jobs will bring in people looking for high-end housing, which PRF is providing with Provenance, a single-family home development planned for the former Black and Gold athletic fields. 

“When we look to get a development, if we have a developable parcel somewhere in the city or on the west end at Purdue Research Park, people line up because they know they are going to be in good company,” Dennis says. “It makes the recruiting really easy. When it comes to hiring, they will get really high-quality workers.

“We’ve got advanced manufacturing, we’ve got one of the best universities in the country. We’ve got great leadership, Tony Roswarski on the east side and Mitch Daniels as president. We all have a unified understanding of what’s best for this community, not on just the short term but long term. We share resources and work collaboratively together. The Purdue Research Foundation has been pivotal in that.”

Dennis’ vision fits hand in hand with Edelman’s outlook for the future.

“I hope that we can get more captains of industry and captains of capital to land their G-IV jets at the Purdue Airport and visit what we’re building,” Edelman says. “I believe that the very expensive costs of starting a business and having employees on the East and West coast, maybe the false views that the only good ideas come out of the Bay Area or Boston would be shattered if we could get these captains of capital and industry to see what is going on in our part of the prairie at Purdue. 

“What I want to do is get them to land their jets instead of flying over that so-called ‘flyover’ state of Indiana and see what we’re building in the Greater Lafayette area.”

BY CINDY GERLACH

PHOTOS PROVIDED BY PURDUE MEMORIAL UNION

From the outside, the Purdue Memorial Union stands unchanged, a testament to the past hundred years. The stately brick structure, a mainstay of the Purdue University campus for the better part of a century, welcomes students and visitors alike, as a place to gather and commune. 

Yet the once-familiar interior is undergoing a transformation. In some ways, it will look much as it always has, with its architectural themes remaining strong and constant. Yet in so many other ways — some obvious, some more subtle — the Union is recreating itself, thanks to a massive renovation project.

And all in the name of Purdue.

The Union, as so many students have experienced it over the past century, is much like its counterparts around the country. There was a wave of student union construction following World War I; these gothic-inspired buildings opened on campuses in the early 1920s as a monument to men and women from these universities who had fought and died in that war.

Pond and Pond, the architectural firm commissioned to build the Purdue Memorial Union, also built student unions in the 1920s at the University of Michigan, Michigan State University and the University of Kansas.

The Purdue Memorial Union opened its doors in 1924. Shops, restaurants and even a bowling alley, along with offices for student services, are all housed in the Union; the Union Club Hotel opened in 1929 when the building was completed.

The basic function of the Union has not, and will not change, says Zane Reif, senior director of the Purdue Memorial Union. But some intentional rebranding has been worked into the renovations.

“We didn’t have any kind of homage to Purdue,” Reif says. “You didn’t walk in and feel like you were at Purdue.”

The $47 million project was funded in part by a gift from Bruce White, an alumnus and founder of White Lodging, a hotel property management group. An additional gift comes from the Dean and Barbara White Foundation.

The first phase of the project, which includes a renovation of the Union Club Hotel, wrapped up in August. The hotel, whose rooms had felt a little tired and dated, has reopened and now sports an updated, more boutique feel. With 182 rooms, it’s still the largest hotel in Tippecanoe County, says Reif, despite losing about 10 rooms as the space was reconfigured.

The lobby, with its new skylight, has a more open and airy feel about it. With select Purdue-themed memorabilia on the walls, the connection to Purdue is much more evident. All guest rooms have been updated; the fitness center was enlarged and reconfigured. A new lobby bar and a hidden patio add to the amenities guests will enjoy.

And, of course, the hotel is a learning lab, as students in the Hospitality & Tourism Management Program take advantage of the real-life experience of seeing an actual hotel in operation.

Epicureans will delight in the new restaurant, 8Eleven Modern Bistro — the name is yet another Purdue reference, paying tribute to two of NASA’s programs, Gemini 8 and Apollo 11. The upscale menu features an eclectic mix of American dishes with French touches, along with farm-inspired cocktails and local craft beers. And the chef’s kitchen is on display, with large windows allowing visitors to watch food preparation in a space that doubles as a training ground for students.

Bundled with the Boiler Up Bar, which features a bourbon room and signature cocktails, guests will not have far to go to relax at the end of the day.

Inside the rest of the Union, changes are in store. Pappy’s Sweet Shop and the 1869 Tap Room are closed and will not return in those locations, though parts of Pappy’s will return in a different configuration in the Union. 

Some shops and restaurants are moving around. When the food court reopens, it will not feature your typical student union fast food, says Reif. Instead, 11 new concepts are coming, with Asian, Latin and European influences. Included is Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux, co-owned by Drew Brees, the first appearance of that eatery in a student union, as well as a dining option operated by Scott Trzaskus, Purdue graduate and owner of East End Grill in downtown Lafayette. 

The main floor of the Union will be updated and restored. But the building will retain its original character and remain true to the architecture, Reif says. 

“It will have a traditional feel, but a modern traditional feel,” he says. “We’re returning as much original stuff as we can.”

The Purdue branding will continue, he says, and the historic arch motif, visible in the windows and also incorporated into the design of much original furniture — some of it still in use — will also remain. 

Terraces are being built along State Street, on the south side of the Union; doors will open from inside, giving the area a trendy yet traditional feel. This will increase space for outdoor activities, making the Union much more of a destination for locals, Reif says. 

Inside, the space will be modernized. Technology will be updated; there will be better restroom placement, including family and gender inclusive restrooms. 

“We will maintain the best traditions of the building while including modern technology,” says Reif.

The project is slated to be complete by January of 2022, Reif says. When the building reopens, visitors will see the same Memorial Union they have come to know and love. But they will see it slightly updated and modernized. It will be more user-friendly to all visitors — more accessible, more welcoming. It will be the perfect space for students and the community alike. And above all, it will have its own identity, Reif says.

BY KEN THOMPSON

PHOTO BY CHRISTINE PETKOV

In a region that has more than its share of locally owned restaurants competing with national chains, it should be no surprise that Greater Lafayette has a mixture of long-time favorite donut shops, two others on the way to earning that status and a newcomer that is growing its clientele.

Mary Lou Donuts

Mary Lou Donuts opened for business in 1961, but the only thing about it that feels close to its age is its mid-century modern A-frame building on South Fourth Street.

That’s because owner Jeff Waldon is always thinking about the future while making the most of the present. What did Waldon see when he purchased Mary Lou’s in 2017?

“That it could be bigger than that little A-frame on Fourth Street,” says Waldon, a former teacher and Lafayette Jeff girls basketball coach. “The people who came before me – Mary Lou Graves, Keith Cochran and especially Brian Freed, who spent 37 years of his life there – 27 years as owner, 10 as a worker. They made that place. All we needed to do was not screw that up.”

Waldon and his son, Courtney, made sure of that by sticking to what makes Mary Lou’s so popular. They make their own glaze, whipped cream filling and icing. 

“It’s a fresher product,” Waldon says. “The more you can make it like home-made, the better it’s going to be.”

COVID-19 affected Mary Lou’s like it has virtually every business in the United States. Closing time is now at 1 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Mary Lou’s is closed Sundays, and that will remain in effect even when the pandemic guidelines are rolled back.

Mary Lou’s counter remains closed but the drive-thru is doing good business. Even the regulars have found a way to enjoy their coffee and donuts.

“I used to have a 9 o’clock group, a 10:30 group and I had my 1 o’clock guys, motorcycle riders who would come by and eat every day,” Waldon says. “My 4 o’clock group that was there until we closed, and we usually had to kick them out at 5, now some of those people are coming in the morning and sitting in their lawn chairs in the parking lot.”

One of Waldon’s innovations – the food truck – also has been mostly sidelined by COVID-19. The good news is he’s getting ready to roll it back out this fall in smaller communities.

When the food truck hits the road, demand will be high for Mary Lou’s apple fritter.

“It’s the best one ever, anywhere,” Waldon says. “No one makes one like it anywhere.”

Like elsewhere across the country, the glazed yeast donut is popular. So is Mary Lou’s blueberry cake donut. Waldon looks forward to when he can reopen the front doors so he can sell more iced sugar cookies and cut-out iced cookies. Waldon boasts of having sold 15,000 cut-out cookies at Christmas.

“We just started doing blueberry muffins, chocolate, chocolate chip and banana nut chocolate chip,” he says. “Not everybody loves donuts and when you get something for the family, we want to make sure everybody gets something.”

Mary Lou’s will get a boost when the Big Ten Network airs its third season of “Campus Eats.” The production team spent the weekend of Sept. 12 at Mary Lou’s.

If Waldon gets the chance, here’s the message he’d like to send to Big Ten country.

“Wherever you came from, you probably had a favorite donut. And if it’s unfortunate enough to have been one of the big chain donuts, you really missed out. If you have a favorite hometown donut, you are going to go to (Mary Lou’s) and you’re going to forget about all those other places. The thing about our product—and I hear it over and over and over again—is that people will say I’ve never had another donut like this anywhere. The taste, the texture, the size of donut I get, the quality and the price, it’s ridiculous.”

O’Rear’s

This mainstay of downtown Lafayette has been around since the 1920s when William O’Rear opened the bakery. O’Rear’s moved to its current location, 312 N. Ninth St., in 1957.

Greg and Judy Lintner have owned O’Rear’s since 2005, coming from a family that owned a bakery in Rensselaer for 47 years.

“When we came from Rensselaer … we were more of a breakfast roll and cake bakery but we did everything: cookies, brownies, pies,” Greg Lintner says. “You name it, we did it, just like here. The only difference is we do a few rolls compared to a ton of rolls we did in Rensselaer. We are more of a pastry shop with all our cookies, cupcakes and brownies. I like it a lot better.”

Lintner admits that competing with the likes of Mary Lou and Corlew Donuts is difficult since donuts are “90-some percent of their business.”

“Whereas when you come in here you see just a few pans of donuts we make,” he says. “Sometimes what’s so frustrating is you make six or seven pans and sell three. The next day you sell them out and customers ask where are your donuts.

“My mother and father told me from the get-go when I first got into the business, if you can figure out the American public, you have done something that we have not done yet. You don’t know from one day to the next who is coming through that door.”

When customers do come in to O’Rear’s, they ask for pastries, cupcakes, cut-out cookies and regular cookies. Two big sellers are the butter stars and tea cookies.

“Judy makes those two or three times a week,” Lintner says. “She’ll always tell me, ‘You’re not going to believe this but we have to make tea cookies again.’ Just to show you the difference between Rensselaer and here: the red star cookies that we do are a staple here. In Rensselaer, it was strictly a holiday cookie. 

In addition to closing six days a week at 1 p.m. (O’Rear’s is closed on Mondays), COVID-19 has affected business. With the churches being closed in the early days of the pandemic due to Indiana’s stay-at-home mandate, Sundays were no longer one of O’Rear’s most profitable days. 

But a couple of positives did come out of the COVID-19 regulations. 

“Since coming back now, our cakes are even fresher than they used to be,” Lintner says. “Now we make smaller batches, so they are even fresher and more moist.”

O’Rear’s also changed the way it displays its baked goods. 

“One good thing that’s immensely helped is everything is now packaged,” Lintner explains. “Whereas before people almost frowned on the fact that it was packaged. They wanted it from the pan, open aired. Now our shelf life has doubled or tripled because it stays fresher longer.”

Hammer Donuts

The West Lafayette bakery gets the word out to Purdue University students and the public about its product mostly through social media platforms Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Owner Michael Cho, who started working at Hammer Donuts as a manager, says marketing was a lot easier before COVID-19 sent most of his clientele packing from Purdue housing.

“We lost a few orders due to the impact of this pandemic. We used to have weekly standing orders from a few churches and wedding orders from time to time. However, we are fortunate that we still have the order from Circle K convenience stores, which can keep our business running,” he says. 

The seven Circle K Stores in West Lafayette are now the only places to buy Hammer donuts. The pandemic forced Hammer to alter its sales from retail to a store-to-store business.

Cho believes in the potential for Hammer Donuts’ growth, so much so that he says he decided to take a risk and take over when the previous owner, a partner of Discount Den, was selling it.

Popular items include filled donuts, glazed yeast donuts and cereal topping donuts.

“We are a local business and we try our best to keep everything local,” Cho says. “Our employees are mostly Purdue students. Almost all of them are inexperienced and for many of them, this was their first job. We taught and trained them how to make donuts from scratch.

“We often support student events by donating free donuts. We are a new and growing company, but we are always trying our best to give back to our community.”

Mama Ines Mexican Bakery

Rosa Cornejo is one of 10 children raised by Maria Ines Cornejo in the small village of Salazares Tlatenango in Zacatecas, Mexico.

There, Rosa Cornejo developed her personal philosophy of “everyone else’s ‘can’t’ is my “I can.’”

After moving to Lafayette and establishing herself in the community, Cornejo likely heard people saying “she can’t” when opening the bakery named after her mother. 

What those doubters didn’t realize was that the decision to open a bakery was not made lightly. Rosa and her sister, Livier Alvarez, saw many Mexican restaurants in Greater Lafayette but not many bakers that were serving Mexican bread. That’s as much a staple in the Latino diet as donuts are to Americans.

From a modest beginning, a 1,000-square-foot location on Greenbush Street and Sagamore Parkway, Mama Ines made the big leap into an 11,000-square-foot building in 2014, once occupied by Ryan’s Grill, Buffet and Bakery.

Mama Ines’ authentic holiday Mexican fare of Day of the Dead bread and Sugar Skulls drew attention from the PBS show “A Few Great Bakeries” in 2015. In 2016, Cornejo was cited by the state of Indiana as the Latino Business Owner of the Year.

In addition to Mexican Sweet Bread, the bakery’s most popular items are tamales and burritos, cakes, flan and specialty desserts, cookies, fresh fruit and vegetable juices. Mama Ines also is proud of its wedding cakes, made with only fresh, all-natural ingredients.

Corlew Donut Co.

The apple fritter is also a popular item on the menu at Corlew Donut Co., which has been in business since 1999.

Debbie and Tom Corlew were among the first to see the potential for business along what is now Veterans Memorial Parkway. They’ve been rewarded with a loyal following that indulges in cinnamon rolls, tiger tails, cream-filled bismarcks and blueberry cake donuts.

Corlew Donut Co. is open Tuesday through Sunday from 5 to 11 a.m.

BY JANE MCLAUGHLIN ANDERSON

PHOTOS BY CHRISTINE PETKOV

The U.S. Census predicts that the world population will grow to more than nine million people by 2050. To keep up with the growing demand for food with fewer farmers and shrinking farmland acreage, it is estimated that agricultural production will need to double in the ensuing years. Smart farming is not only a good idea; it is imperative. Precision agriculture is the answer to become more efficient, productive, sustainable and affordable to both producers and consumers. Technological advances continue to evolve in agriculture, from fertilizer and irrigation systems, soil mapping and more efficient farm machinery, GPS systems and programmable tractors, to drones and genetic seed engineering. Necessity is the mother of innovation. 

Inari is a privately held company founded in 2016 by Flagship Pioneering, a life sciences innovation firm. Headquartered outside of Boston in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Inari’s goal is to use genetic technology and computational tools to generate step-change products for independent seed companies and, ultimately, farmers. Its business is to provide the best parent seed through gene editing to independent seed companies who, in turn, can create hybrids or varieties for farmers. Inari’s product development center of excellence at the Purdue Research Park was established in November of 2018 and is the world’s first Seed Foundry.

Gene editing is different from genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in that it does not necessarily introduce foreign genes into the seed. Targeted gene editing using the diversity of a plant species’ genome can enable farmers to select specific crop varieties that have features to enhance production. 

Since agriculture is a critical industry, Inari continued working during COVID-19. It made recommended social distancing accommodations in labs and the office, but research and development continued. “If anything, COVID-19 reinforced the need for more products to feed the world; products which are better for the environment in terms of being more efficient in their water or fertilizer intake,” says CEO Ponsi Trivisvavet. “We are fortunate to serve during this period of time.” 

“Our seed foundry approach is unique to Inari,” Trivisvavet says. “We start with a computational algorithm to gain genetic knowledge. The second step is gene-editing, and the third step is creating the parent seed that we will provide to independent seed companies. The deep knowledge from the very start gives us a continuous feedback loop from the lab and greenhouse to the field. Together with advanced genomic tools, this allows us to cut down the development time by 70 percent, and the economic costs down 90 percent.” 

This process shortens the time for product development by about two-thirds as compared to traditional breeding products that can take about 10 years to commercialize, saving both time and money. The goal is to give independent seed companies, and ultimately farmers, a way to maximize yield and profit with products that are friendlier to the environment by designing them to be less dependent on fertilizer and water. 

Inari’s expansion to the Midwest was intentional to be closer to the corn and soybean belt. It did a broad search and ultimately chose West Lafayette because of its proximity to Purdue University regarding collaborations with other scientists, technology groups and talent pools. Inari started with 26,000 square feet of space and in one year increased its footprint to about 80,000 square feet, with a greenhouse at Purdue Research Park, plus 80 acres of prime farmland in West Lafayette with two additional greenhouses. Corn, soybeans and wheat are the focus now, with other crops within its sights in the future. 

Hoosiers may not realize that these staple crops provide products that are essential for everyday life, way beyond corn syrup, tofu and bread. Components within the corn plant are found in baby food, beer, bricks, cleansers, coated aspirin, cosmetics, diapers, gas and oil, glues, hand soap, jelly beans, matches, paint and varnish, pharmaceuticals, toothpaste, tires, Windex and whiskey. 

Soybean components are found in AstroTurf, paintballs, candles, chewing gum, crayons (1 acre of soybeans can produce 82,368 crayons!), fire logs, ink and wood stain. Wheat components are found in adhesives, beer, cosmetics, hair conditioners, liquid laundry detergents, moisturizers, paper and particle board. Life in America depends on these versatile plants.

The whole process begins in Cambridge with computerized models of the plant’s genetic code. Through computational design, it can go through generations of breeding in minutes. Through technology, it can make changes in the genome. What started on the computer is then created in the lab, then taken to the field for more testing and research. The West Lafayette facility specializes in making precise changes in the plant genome in the lab and regenerating those plants to test in the field. Information is continuously fed back into the process to inform the best changes to make the plant exhibit the desired characteristics that are valuable to farmers. This method significantly speeds up the traditional plant breeding process because farmers don’t have to wait a season to gain knowledge. 

Inari has a third facility in Ghent, Belgium, that specializes in plant research. It is closely affiliated with Ghent University and the VIB life sciences research institute. Altogether, the company employs 160 people. The West Lafayette location has 70 employees and anticipates hiring more in the next three to five years. Inari is a female-friendly company with a female CEO, Trivisvavet, and a balanced leadership team. 

“We are grateful to Purdue President Mitch Daniels and Dean of Agriculture Karen Plaut for their support,” Trivisvavet says. “They have been very helpful, as has the entire community.” Inari hosts Purdue graduate courses for tours and career discussions and science-focused open houses at one of its Purdue Research Park facilities. On their own time, several Inari employees go to local schools to share science and technology with kindergarteners through high schoolers. Inari’s goal is not just to occupy space in the region but also to be an integrated, contributing part of the community. 

“I am very excited about the Inari employees in West Lafayette, their experience, commitment and desire to make an impact in agriculture,” says Trivisvavet.  “I’m extremely encouraged by the positive people committed to the company, the industry, and the community.”

BY ANGELA K. ROBERTS

PHOTOS PROVIDED BY VISIT LAFAYETTE – WEST LAFAYETTE AND NICHES LAND TRUST

“Indiana … is a garden

Where the seeds of peace have grown,

Where each tree, and vine, and flower

Has a beauty … all its own.

Lovely are the fields and meadows,

That reach out to hills that rise

Where the dreamy Wabash River

Wanders on … through paradise.”

In his ode to Indiana, “Indiana,” that was adopted as the official state poem in 1963, Arthur Franklin Mapes (1913-1986) did not specify during which season he most enjoyed the fields, hills and the wandering Wabash River. Most of us today would agree, however, that when the greens of an Indiana summer transition to the golds, auburns and russets of fall, it’s a great time to get out into nature. 

In anticipation of this most colorful season, we laced up our athletic shoes and road-tested several trails in Greater Lafayette, including some far off the beaten path. Here are our recommendations.

Clegg Memorial Garden

Ninety years ago, Harold and Ruth Clegg purchased a plot of land overlooking Wildcat Creek as a country home. After the death of their only son, they turned their private garden into a public memorial and added trails for visitors to enjoy. Today, the botanical garden is owned by Niches Land Trust, a west central Indiana conservation group whose offices are located in the former Clegg cottage. Sloping 100 feet down into the valley, the well-maintained paths meander through a variety of ecosystems, including woodland, prairie and savanna. During fall’s peak, the canopied forest displays an array of vibrant colors. Bridges connect some parts of the trails, but be careful of some narrow slopes on the way downhill. 

• 1782 N. 400 East, Lafayette

• Parking: Gravel lot across the road from the property entrance

• 16.5 acres with 1.1 miles of trails

• nicheslandtrust.org

Granville Sand Barrens

Ten miles southwest of West Lafayette lies a rare Indiana example of a sand barren, a sandy-soiled area that appeared in the wake of glacial melts. The Granville Sand Barrens, adjacent to the Roy Whistler Wildlife Area, includes a restored prairie and savanna. Niches Land Trust has mowed a half-mile trail along which you can enjoy a dense group of golden aster — also a rarity in the state — and other wildflowers. The sandy soil is most visible just before the trail connects with a forested section that is part of the Roy 

Whistler Wildlife Area. 

• Southwest of Granville Bridge in western Tippecanoe County

Closed in November for deer-control hunting

• Parking: Gravel and grass lot at the trailhead

• Size: 80 acres with a .5 mile-trail connecting to the Roy Whistler Wildlife Area

• nicheslandtrust.org

Mulvey Pond

Considered one of the better places in the West Lafayette area to see waterfowl and shorebirds, Mulvey Pond is nestled among farmland, wetland and marshland just off US 231 near Montmorenci, an unincorporated town north of West Lafayette. Niches Land Trust operators have mowed a labyrinth of sorts into the tall prairie grasses around the pond, where birds and insects drown out the hum of nearby roads.

• Near Montmorenci off US 231 

Seasonal Features: Waterfowl migration

• Parking: Gravel lot at the trailhead

• Size: 52 acres with mowed trails through the prairie

• nicheslandtrust.org

Celery Bog Nature Area

Once a large vegetable farm operated by immigrants from Holland, the Celery Bog Nature Area now provides a suburban respite near several neighborhoods and apartment complexes. Operated by the West Lafayette Parks and Recreation Department, it contains both paved and unpaved trails rambling through prairie, savanna, woodlands and marshland. Cattail Trail, which runs through the Celery Bog and passes by Lilly Nature Center, is part of the city’s 27-mile paved trail system and is designated as a National Recreation Trail. Bicycling is allowed in paved areas.

• 1620 Lindberg Rd., West Lafayette

• Parking: Paved and gravel lots near trailheads and the Lilly Nature Center

• Restrooms: Lilly Nature Center 

• Size: 195 acres, with 4.3 miles of paved trails and several footpaths with interpretive signs and viewing decks

• westlafayette.in.gov

Trailhead Park

North of the Celery Bog, tucked away near Purdue Research Park, is the tiny Trailhead Park. The park links to a fairly wide, straight section of the National Recreational Trail-designated Northwest Greenway Trail. Walkers, runners, bicyclists and rollerbladers share this section of the paved path, which starts at the roadside park and connects to the Soleado Vista neighborhood up north. South of Kalberer Road, the trail continues, eventually joining up with Cattail Trail. If you travel east along Kalberer, the trail connects to Cumberland Park.

• Intersection of Kalberer Road and Kent Avenue, West Lafayette

• Parking: Just east of the trail, next to a shelter and picnic tables

• Size: 4 acres

• westlafayette.in.gov

Armstrong Park 

A beautifully landscaped greenspace with tennis courts, softball fields and the Castaway Bay swimming pool, Armstrong Park anchors the corner of South Ninth Street 

and Beck Lane on the south side of Lafayette. Named after Purdue alumnus and astronaut Neil Armstrong, the park features Armstrong Trail, a paved asphalt loop encircling the pond. Lafayette Parks & Recreation maintains the trail, part of 6 miles of paved trails in the city, along with many more unpaved. All Lafayette trails are available for walking, running, bicycling, rollerblading and cross-country skiing. Pets must be leashed. Because of its popularity as a dog-walking destination, Armstrong Trail may not be suitable for dogs that aren’t well-socialized. 

• 821 Beck Lane, Lafayette

• Parking: Several lots, including one near the tennis courts and north end 

• Size: 30 acres with a two-thirds mile trail

• lafayette.in.gov

Prophetstown State Park 

For thousands of years, Native Americans hunted and lived in the area near current-day Battle Ground where the Tippecanoe and Wabash rivers meet. Today, Prophetstown State Park, named for an indigenous village established in 1808 by Tecumseh, who was Shawnee, and his brother Tenskwatawa, who was called the Prophet, features 2,000 acres where park officials are restoring native landscapes. Nine miles of trails ranging from easy to moderate snake their way through the park, which also includes picnic areas, a campground and seasonal aquatic center. Trail No. 1 takes you through a former Christmas tree plantation of Douglas fir before winding its way through tallgrass prairie, a marsh and a field of wild cherry and Osage orange (hedge apple) trees. 

• Mapping address is 5545 Swisher Road, West Lafayette

• Gate fee: Noncommercial vehicles with Indiana license plates are $8, and with out-of-state plates, $10. Fee includes admission to the Farm at Prophetstown next door. 

• Restrooms: Comfort stations and vault toilets in several locations

• Parking: Several parking lots are available, including some near trailheads

• Size: 30 acres with 9 miles of trails

• lafayette.in.gov

BY ANGELA K. ROBERTS

PHOTOS BY CHRISTINE PETKOV

Crown Point, Indiana, native Elizabeth Dimos was pursuing a career in front-of-the-house hospitality management. Andrew Whittaker, who hailed from a small town outside Canterbury, England, was passionate about the culinary arts.

When they met in 1999 during a graduate accounting class at Purdue University, the two discovered that while their career aspirations varied, they shared a common interest in serving others. Twenty years later, they opened the Whittaker Inn in West Lafayette. 

Tucked away on a wooded drive near State Road 43, the 25-acre property is equal parts boutique hotel and bed and breakfast, a suburban retreat just slightly down a road less traveled. As Andrew noted during the inn’s groundbreaking ceremony in 2019, “What’s not to love about this site? The Whittaker is just so secluded from everything, yet so close to Purdue University and downtown Lafayette.”

Seven years in the planning, the Whittaker Inn is now thriving as what the couple calls a “Midwestern oasis” and what reviewers have described on Facebook as “spacious, romantic and comfortable;” “top-notch” and “outstanding.” 

The root of their careers and relationship

After Elizabeth completed her bachelor’s degree and Andrew completed his master’s, both from Purdue’s School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, they each found jobs on the East Coast. Andrew worked in food and beverage finance in New York city properties, beginning with The Waldorf Astoria. Elizabeth started in front office management, then transitioned into revenue management for several different hotels and chains, including five years in Times Square properties.

While they both enjoyed successful careers, by 2012, they were ready for a change. The couple had a long talk about their future while staying at a B&B in Connecticut and decided they had strayed too far from the service side of the hospitality industry. 

When they dreamed up the idea of an inn, it was only natural that they return to the root of both their careers and their relationship: Greater Lafayette. 

After nearly a year of searching, the Whittakers discovered the wooded site where deer grazed and blue herons bred. Located near both I-65 and Purdue, it was an ideal location for football weekends, corporate retreats and romantic getaways. In 2018, they broke ground, and in May 2019, the red-roofed, yellow farmhouse-style inn opened for business. 

A family affair

Just as a travel-loving family furnishes its home with objects from around the world, the Whittakers have outfitted their establishment with 15 themed rooms and suites, each representing a city, region or country. Every continent except Antarctica is represented.

“Andrew and I have always had a great passion for travel and learning about different cultures and the perspective you gain while traveling,” Elizabeth says. “We chose the destinations for each of the rooms based on places we have been to, places we have family ties to, and places we would like to go to someday.” 

Instead of room numbers outside each door, small placards depict the flag of the room’s representative country. Inside, the theme carries through in furnishings and decor. In the Tuscany Room, named after the region of Italy known for its terra cotta villas and sunflower fields, the contemporary bed is adorned with a quilted sunflower-themed scarf made by Elizabeth’s mother. The flowers also sprout from wall art and from the crocheted blanket draped over a chair in the sitting room. The coffee table holds books about Vatican City and Tuscany, and a guest book invites visitors who have been to Italy to leave recommendations for future travelers. Above each nightstand is a pendant light made from Murano glass – the famed glassware that has been manufactured on a Venetian island for 1,500 years.

Similarly, the England Room features Andrew’s homeland, with a framed photo of Canterbury Cathedral and a red phone booth-styled floor statue, given to the couple by Andrew’s mom. Down the hall, looming over the Indiana-themed board room is a 500-plus pound table carved from Douglas fir into the state’s characteristic shape. Shadow boxes on the wall contain memorabilia from Elizabeth’s grandfather, P.L. Owens, the room’s namesake, who was a civil engineer, a Sagamore of the Wabash recipient and the first family member to graduate from Purdue University. 

The entire creation of the inn was a family affair. Along with many quilted pieces, Elizabeth’s mom crafted handmade soaps and crocheted washcloths for the bathrooms. She also bakes the cookies that overnight guests receive upon arrival. Elizabeth’s dad donated his pool table. Many of the Whittakers’ friends supplied original artwork. 

Despite these B&B touches, the inn looks like an upscale hotel, with a two-story gathering room and spa-like amenities such as plush bathrobes and rainfall showerheads. Elizabeth says that she and Andrew planned this juxtaposition of the comfortable and the chic from the beginning, borrowing the best elements from the various places they’ve stayed. Even the check-in is designed to evoke a feeling of comfort; instead of standing behind a desk, Elizabeth registers her guests with an electronic tablet. 

Globally inspired cuisine

Elizabeth’s dad came from Greece, and his ancestry is reflected not only in the Greece Room with its characteristic blue-and-white decor, but also in many of the recipes that chef Andrew cooks up in their kitchen. Among them: a mouth-watering white rice cooked in butter and chicken broth; a roasted fingerling potato salad lightly tossed with olive oil; and the rustic Greek Village Salad, a lettuce-free concoction of tomatoes, peppers, olives and feta. 

Other globally inspired dishes include beer-battered fish and chips, served with both tartar sauce and malt vinegar; and Mojito chicken, marinated in mint, rum, lime and sugar. Andrew incorporates locally sourced ingredients into dishes whenever possible. 

The house specialty is Andrew’s crab cakes. “He has spent several years perfecting the recipe, and it has become a fan favorite,” Elizabeth says. 

The Whittaker Kitchen is open for breakfast only to overnight guests, but to everyone for dinner on select evenings. The 690-square-foot dining room seats up to 50, with additional seating on the patio.

Adapting to changing market factors

Equipped with flat screen TVs and conference call capabilities, the inn can be rented out for corporate retreats, business gatherings and family reunions. The dining room itself can also be used for everything from 50th anniversary celebrations to a private English afternoon tea for 7-24 of your closest friends. Event space has been more limited, of course, during the pandemic. 

Despite the challenges of COVID-19, Elizabeth says she and Andrew were fortunate that their inn opened nine months before the pandemic hit. In recent months, they have adapted their approach in response to changing market factors. 

When restaurants were closed by Indiana executive order, the couple put together a to-go menu. Pickups were still available in early September, even though the patio and dining room had both reopened. 

“Carryout literally and figuratively carried us through the pandemic shutdown. It has been very well received by the community, as they wanted a way to continue to support us and the Whittaker while travel was all but shut down except for essential travel,” Elizabeth says. “Andrew’s culinary offerings have always been a big draw to the inn.” 

BY CINDY GERLACH

Everyone loves eating out. Perhaps your ideal evening is sitting down to fine dining, with candles and linen napkins, a fine bottle of wine; maybe you like to be perched on a stool across from your favorite bartender, chatting with other regulars. Or maybe your idea of a fun night out is grabbing hamburgers or pizza with the kids. However you do it, it’s a treat to have someone else mix your drink or prepare your dinner and have it brought to your table, served with a friendly smile. 

And suddenly, in March, it all stopped. Under orders designed to help contain the spread of COVID-19, restaurants around the state were forced to close to dine-in customers, relegated only to carry-out. Restaurants quickly had to adapt and change. Now, as they slowly reopen their dining rooms to customers, what does that mean? What changes have they had to make? And what does the future look like? 

Bistro 501 

The popular restaurant on the corner of Main and Fifth streets in downtown Lafayette is not necessarily known for its carry-out menu, though it’s always been an option, says Theresa Buckley who, with sister, Cheyenne, and mother, Mary, owns and operates the restaurant. 

Most people, says Buckley, choose the Bistro for its atmosphere and service. But when forced to shut its doors, having done carry-out, they were quickly able to adapt.

“We had to adjust what we were offering so it would travel well,” she says. They focused on a menu with entrées that would look appetizing when people opened the box. 

Menu changes were made; staff members who had been servers were suddenly delivering meals — anything people could do to get hours. 

Flexibility has been important. In general, Buckley says, they try to be as green as possible and not order a lot of disposable products. But with the carry-out model, they had to change. And change again and again, as food shortages might mean ingredients were not available, or a particular carry-out box or bag was suddenly not available through their suppliers. 

They used the opportunity to unveil the Bistro Market, allowing customers to purchase specialty food items through the store, including dairy and eggs, bakery and breads, produce, butcher and fresh seafood, meal kits, pantry items (dried beans and pasta, deli items) and even household items such as hand sanitizer and paper products. It was an idea they’d been mulling, Buckley says, but with the shutdown, it seemed like an opportune time to try it. Yet it brought up its own issues, as many of the items purchased arrive in bulk, so plans had to be made for repackaging. 

Following a deep cleaning, when the restaurant reopened in June, Buckley had to oversee a number of changes in protocol. The restaurant created a safety promise to its customers and implemented some changes, including one door for entry and a separate door for exits; all restroom doors have foot openers. Customers must have reservations. Employees are screened for their health every day and will be wearing masks, even in the kitchen. Tables are six feet apart, and parties must be six or fewer. Water service will be different, and salt and pepper will not be on the table. 

Buckley is doing everything she can to keep the restaurant safe for both customers and her staff. She knows how much regulars miss sitting at the bar, but that reopening will have to wait until it’s approved. 

It’s an unpredictable time, says Buckley, as she juggles the already challenging job of day-to-day restaurant business with the extra hurdles of life during a pandemic. Like many people, she has had difficulty getting the proper personal protective equipment needed for her employees. And she is sensitive to the needs of people struggling with anxiety and depression during these difficult days. 

The restaurant’s bottom line has suffered, she says; with no Purdue graduation weekend or Mother’s Day brunch, Bistro lost business. With no downtown events, they know their revenues will be down. Ordinarily Bistro would have had its annual Lobster Bake and jazz Thursdays — sadly, not this year. 

“We have a high ratio of high-risk guests,” she says. “It’s a lot to manage, and we’re trying to do so super-respectfully of our staff. We’re not comfortable taking risks with others’ health.”

Folie

Across the street at Folie, Hallie Gorup and her husband, John, were monitoring the situation long before many locals, as John is a local physician and their daughter was studying in Italy last spring. They were tuned in to what was happening with the novel coronavirus; thus, even before the state mandated closures, the Gorups had decided to shut Folie’s doors for a time.

“We were paying more attention than the average person,” Hallie Gorup says. “We decided the respectful thing to do would be to shut down temporarily.”

Many of their staff members are Purdue students, so when the university closed, they left, meaning Folie did not have to deal with layoffs. 

As they pivoted to a take-out model, they dealt with many of the same issues Bistro did, as they tried to adapt a menu that is based on presentation, on a plate, to a box. The menu was scaled way back, and they used the opportunity to experiment with the menu; knowing that volume was down, if food items weren’t a big hit, they had not made quite the investment.

“It’s been a nice challenge for the chef,” Gorup says, as he would try out his creativity with different entrées. “Sometimes it was robust, sometimes it was nothing.” 

When restrictions were lifted to offer wine as a carryout option, that helped boost the bottom line as well, Gorup says. 

As the restaurant reopened, Gorup says the transition back was not too difficult.

“We were never a crowded restaurant,” she says. “And we have a small kitchen staff, which allows for better distancing.” 

Folie has made accommodations to meet the guidelines, which means no bar seating and not filling the restaurant. And while there is a lot more cleaning, Gorup points out that they were already meeting those sanitation standards anyway. Staff members were already washing their hands frequently, and the sanitizing was already happening. Now they’re just more cognizant. 

“Our biggest challenge is not being able to seat parties of six or larger,” she says. “But we’re more than happy to comply. You have to be a part of the solution.”

While the restaurant is not yet overflowing with business, they do have groups come in, pleased that there is someplace to go for a special celebration or an evening out. And they are weathering the storm. Summer has always been a slower time, and there is uncertainty about when large-scale entertaining will be back in full force.

“‘Recovery’ is a generous word right now,” Gorup says. “But I’m not complaining.”

Christos, The Bryant, Red Seven and Café Literato

For the Christos hospitality group, adding extra hygiene standards is just par for the course, says owner Manny Papadogiannis. 

“For us, all the pieces were there — washing hands for 20 seconds, sanitizing surfaces,” he says. “Those are all in the health department guidelines.”

The restaurants have merely upped the work they were already doing. They’ve added hooks to bathroom doors, enabling customers to open them using their wrists; employees are wearing facial coverings. 

Papadogiannis says they’re adhering to the county health department guidelines. But they are also tapping into other resources.  

Customers are encouraged to use apps for reservations or to get their names on a wait list — available through the restaurant websites. 

“Everybody has to step up their game,” he says. “You want to be safe wherever you go.”

Papadogiannis points out that, for all the worries about restaurants, they are much cleaner than other places. In a big box store, hundreds, maybe even thousands, of people go through each day. Restaurants have much lighter traffic and they are cleaning so much more often. 

“If you compare the number of staff and customers we have coming in, we can do that with that ratio,” he says. 

“It’s a little bit of an adjustment. But you do what you need to do to get through this. It’s going to take a while. It’s going to be a very long road for the restaurant industry.”

La Scala

La Scala used to be known for its farm-fresh food and Italian fare in its historic downtown Lafayette locale.

But that was before. It closed the doors on its dining room right before the shutdown. 

Owner Kirsten Serrano found herself reeling, trying to figure out what to do as the business she and her husband, Paco, opened 21 years ago was shuttered.

The couple’s first response was to found Community Comfort, a plan to feed the community — because, Serrano says, that’s what she does. With donations, they fed between 1,200 and 1,300 people in one week.

“It was a lot,” she says. They were working around the clock.

But what was next?

“I literally just sat with a pencil and paper one day, and thought, what can we do?” she says. “We have all these assets — a community kitchen, a farm, experience.”

And the answer came to her — not out of pessimism, but out of realism. Because she does not see herself reopening La Scala before the time feels rights. 

Hence, she developed Good to Go, a meal subscription service. It is modeled after many other meal-kit services, except with this one, it’s not just ingredients, but food that is chef-prepared, ready to serve. 

“Our stuff is cooked, it’s ready to go,” she says. “It’s farm-fresh food; we prepare it and deliver it to your door.”

Good to Go is delivered on Thursdays. Depending on your plan, you’ll get entrees, sides, dessert, and an extra surprise — local products, extra produce from the farm or promotions.

As the service grows, they’ll be able to bring back more of their employees. It’s satisfying, Serrano says. Because, after all, feeding people is what she does best. And this venture? It’s helping La Scala stay afloat.

“We’re building a model that can survive a pandemic.” 

Revolution Barbeque

Opening a new restaurant is challenging enough. If your grand opening was scheduled for March 2020? Well, it’s tough to open a new business when the entire country is shutting down. 

But Revolution Barbeque has simply rolled with the punches, says Debbie McGregor. They just turned the opening into more of a soft opening. 

“It didn’t stop us!” she says. 

McGregor runs the new restaurant — an off-shoot, if you will, of Revolution Bakery on Fifth Street — with her daughter, Sarah McGregor Ray (the creative force, her mother says) and her son, Jonathan. Her husband, Geoff, a contractor, has helped with the remodeling of the restaurant on Main Street. It’s a true family endeavor. 

The restaurant was already set up for fast-casual dining, says McGregor. So take-out food was easy enough to accommodate. 

Because they ended up rolling out their business a little slower than they had planned, it allowed them to defer some remodeling in the dining room. And when they did open, they had rearranged the space, removing some tables to factor in distancing requirements.

“Not many people are able to reconstruct their whole dining room,” McGregor says. 

Like all restaurants, they’ve paid attention to hygiene and sanitation standards. But of course, she says, they would have anyway.

“You are cleaning all the time; you’re always washing your hands,” she says. “We always wore gloves.” They just added a few extra steps, such as how they take items to and from the table. 

And, sadly, they had to put away the cute napkin holders they had purchased for the tables — they’ll have to make their debut at a later date. 

McGregor knows that for some people, dining out is still filled with some unease. But she is anxious to make everyone’s experience as painless as possible. For people worried about the exchange of cash or touching a screen to sign for a credit card transaction, she will meet people where they are, at their level of comfort. 

Customers who were already regulars at the bakery had been eagerly anticipating the opening of the new barbeque place, McGregor says. And they’ve all been very supportive. From a promotion through Greater Lafayette Commerce promoting purchasing of restaurant gift cards to generous tips from customers, McGregor has felt embraced by the city.

“It has been working,” she says. “We’ve had good support from the community.”

As restaurants work to keep their doors open, anxious to serve their customers, Gorup says she hopes people will stop and realize how vital these businesses are to the lifeblood of Lafayette.

“They live in the community and they’ve always been very giving. When people need donations, restaurants are on the front lines, the first asked,” Gorup says. “I do hope there is better recognition and support for the restaurant community.”

BY ANGELA K. ROBERTS

Sporting stained concrete floors, exposed brick, glass-walled conference rooms, and a mixture of bar stools and table seating, MatchBOX Coworking Studio is, as its website says, a “coffee shop mashed up with an office park in an old garage.” It’s also a cross between an open office rental space, a maker studio and a business incubator, all designed to grow Greater Lafayette’s entrepreneurial economy.

Launched in 2014 in an old car repair shop west of downtown Lafayette’s Tippecanoe County Public Library, MBX boasts 11,000 square feet with reserved and open office spaces, conference rooms and a lot of support for its members, including training and networking opportunities. 

“MBX offers a pretty unique vibe and environment for our members,” says Amanda Findlay, MatchBOX managing director. “We also offer members access to the MBX Maker LAB, with laser cutters, 3D printers, and tools and kits for making, prototyping and small-scale manufacturing.”

MatchBOX has evolved over the last six years, says Jason Tennenhouse, executive director. “When we opened the doors, we didn’t know if anyone would come, so at the beginning we were just trying to cast a wide net and educate and survive — classic startup style,” Tennenhouse says. “We have been increasing our acceleration work and productivity steadily since then, and doing some pretty amazing things I think a lot of people don’t realize are happening in Lafayette.”

Making key connections

MBX may still be a best-kept secret among some locals, but not Kirsten Serrano, who co-owns La Scala Italian Restaurant in downtown Lafayette and joined the studio three years ago. “I needed to have a place where I could concentrate on finishing school – nutrition – and do some political advocacy work,” says Serrano, who was pursuing a degree from Bauman College at the time. 

As part of her internship, Serrano conducted a series of nutrition workshops in MatchBOX conference rooms. After graduation, she began seeing clients in the facility. Since then, her nutrition business, Small Wonder Food, has expanded beyond consultations. In 2018, she launched the Food Smarts podcast with local marketing strategist Amie Mullikin. In mid-2020, she published the book “Eat to Your Advantage.” 

MBX has been instrumental in that growth, Serrano says. 

“I have made many key connections at MatchBOX, from my podcast partner to my book publisher and even the person who built my new membership site. I have also attended many great workshops and learning events,” she says. “The staff is just incredible. Every one of them has inspired me or connected me in some way or another.”

A place for quirky misfits

Seasoned entrepreneur Mikel Berger says that MatchBOX is the kind of place that he wished had existed when he started his first company, DelMar Software Development. “I worked from home at first, and it felt like a big leap to sign a one-year or multi-year lease, especially when I occasionally needed another office,” says Berger, a co-founder of MBX. 

Berger’s latest project is Little Engine Ventures, a private investment partnership he started in 2016 with fellow MBX member Daryl Starr. 

Starr, the founder and former CEO of an agricultural company, joined the coworking studio before it officially opened. While Little Engine Ventures has a private office a few blocks away, both men retain memberships at MBX. 

“My membership at MatchBOX has secured several partnerships during the founding phase of Little Engine Ventures. As many members can attest, an invite to meet a prospective person at MatchBOX has a cool factor that makes working with a scrappy startup somewhat less crazy, and more fun,” he says. 

Starr describes MBX members as “quirky and great.” Berger echoes those thoughts, adding, “We at MatchBOX like to think of ourselves as the right kind of misfits. We’re like the junk drawer of economic development projects. Isn’t all the cool stuff that you don’t exactly know where to put in your junk drawer?”

Integrating into Greater Lafayette

Indianapolis transplant Polly Barks says that MatchBOX helped her integrate into Greater Lafayette when she moved here in 2017. Barks, who had launched the website PollyBarks.com while living in Indy, was in the early stages of developing a zero-waste education and consulting business. After taking a five-week course for new and pivoting entrepreneurs, she joined the studio. She now supplements her freelance income as part-time marketing manager for MBX. 

“Doing 100 percent freelance work meant I was constantly at home — too often that meant I was unfocused, and to be honest, probably watching YouTube videos. It was really nice to have a space so I could separate my work life from my home life,” Barks says. “I also really enjoyed the workshops since I could learn — for free — from other members or outside speakers.”

Two other newcomers to Lafayette, Tyler Knochel and Steven Sauder, participated in the first iteration of MBX’s Acceleration Program. Now, they use their MatchBOX membership for meeting with clients of their web development and digital strategy business, HustleFish. 

“The ability to meet with clients in a professional space instead of at a coffee shop or our living room — we wouldn’t do that — is invaluable to us. Beyond that, the community has been huge,” Knochel says. “We’ve been able to do better work thanks to MatchBOX, we’ve gotten new clients thanks to MatchBOX, we’ve clarified our business model thanks to MatchBOX, we’ve been more creative and had better ideas thanks to MatchBOX, we’ve drunk gallons and gallons of coffee thanks to MatchBOX. We have benefited from MatchBOX in so many ways, but ultimately the most important thing MatchBOX provides is community.” 

Supporting businesses in what’s next

Much like the Great Recession of 2008, which sparked the coworking movement in the United States, the first half of 2020 has already been a time of economic upheaval. Findlay notes that some MBX members have been deeply impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, including restaurateurs and professionals who rely on in-person instruction. To respond, MatchBOX staff have added educational programs on concepts such as pivoting and product expansion.

They’ve also shifted to online instructional models. In early March, when cities and states began issuing stay-at-home orders, MBX staff decided to take their Entrepreneur Development Acceleration program online and open applications to participants across the state. The program yielded a record number of applicants, which Findlay attributes to layoffs, furloughs and uncertainty in the job market. The 12-week Venture Development summer acceleration program also was offered online this year.

“Times of crisis and uncertainty are ripe for innovation. When 9 to 5 jobs are threatened by furloughs, or the future of certain industries are unknown, or consumer behaviors shift significantly, people tend to embrace their entrepreneurial ideas or freelancing talents a bit more,” Findlay says. 

“Greater Lafayette will need coworking communities, workshops and acceleration programming now more than ever. Small businesses will need community support, new founders will need guidance. I think MatchBOX is positioned to be a valuable resource for our members and our community businesses as we move forward. We’re really focused on being there for them, for supporting them in what’s next.”

BY KEN THOMPSON

Decades after his parents lived in Married Student Housing while attending Purdue University, Rich Michal is playing a role in a “once in a century” project that will turn the complex into a memory.

Michal, vice president of the Purdue Research Foundation, is excited to talk about Provenance, part of the $1.2 billion, long-term Discovery Park District project that will transform the west side of campus with the creation of a walkable urban neighborhood. 

Provenance is the latest offshoot of the State Street Project, a combined effort of Purdue and the city of West Lafayette. The $120 million project has, during the past four years, changed traffic patterns from the Wabash River, through downtown West Lafayette and Purdue University out to U.S. 231. Purdue President Mitch Daniels saw an opportunity for the Discovery Park District to take advantage of the State Street work to find industry that would be a good fit with the university’s strengths and then 

build housing and amenities for those workers.

“The original genesis was to help finance and help pay for that State Street investment but the bigger picture is this is an opportunity to attract the best student minds and faculty and to retain some of those,” Michal says. ”We’ve got 40,000 students a year, and the majority of those are gradually moving elsewhere. We want to give them a reason to stay in West Lafayette. It’s about providing that live, work, learn, play opportunity.

“Saab and Schweitzer (Engineering Laboratory) love the fact we’re going to have those homes right there where folks can ride their bikes to work in addition to all the educational, cultural and athletic opportunities the university provides.”

Old Town Design Group of Carmel has come up with a plan that will feature a combination of 500 single-family detached homes, townhomes and apartments. Justin Moffett, a partner of Old Town, says the design will hearken back to early 1900s homes with the majority of home lots having garage access through alleys. That eliminates front driveways and enhances the walkability of the neighborhood.

“They’ve done similar projects in midtown Carmel and we loved their product,” Michal says. “They are more of a traditional looking craftsman-style home. They do the front porches and the alley-loaded garages. We felt like their semi-custom product was more appealing and more original.”

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Old Town’s construction plans remain on schedule to begin this summer according to Erin Easter, director of development for the city of West Lafayette. Old Town hopes to have a model home ready by February and begin selling lots this fall.

“This is the first new neighborhood in the city limits in quite some time,” Easter says. “PRF, the city and the university worked closely on the design aesthetic for the neighborhood.”

Provenance is targeting an upscale clientele with single-family homes starting in the low $400,000 range, and townhomes starting at $350,000. By spring 2021, the first families will be able to move into two- and three-story townhomes that will have a private outdoor living area and a two-car garage.

Single family detached homes will be available this spring as well, ranging in size from 1,600 to 3,536 square feet. These semi-custom homes will have the option of master bedrooms upstairs and downstairs, as well as ranch design.

By summer 2021, Old Town anticipates the completion of 142 apartments spread out over four buildings. The following year, 108 more units will be available over five buildings. Studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom units will be available.

That won’t be all of the change coming to the west side of campus.

“Between the Aerospace District and Discovery Park District, we anticipate a lot of growth in the southwest side of the city,” Easter says. “Businesses typically follow residents, so once we have a residential base, you will start to see other amenities popping up in the area,” Easter says. 

Michal hopes those amenities include health care and a large grocery store, which could lead to the end of another long-standing complex.

“What I’m hoping is two things: one, work with the university to put in a micro-hospital or health care facility,” he says. “The other thing … we’d love to get a 20-30,000-square-foot grocery right there off the corner of State and McCormick. With Purdue and access to students, plus 500 rooftops, we think our chances of landing a grocery will increase substantially.

“Purdue West has been a great facility. It was a great complex and it’s helped us generate a lot of revenue over its lifetime. But it’s old, tired and there may be a better use of the land there. We’d love to have a health care facility there and right across the street, just south of Hort Park, have a grocery and some retail. And all of that will help us attract more students, staff, faculty and corporations.”

Saab, which will be manufacturing military training aircraft, is the latest corporation to buy into the long-term vision. It won’t be the last in Purdue’s effort to retain its best and brightest.

“There are folks working right now with the PRF and the university to try to attract similar businesses to Saab, aerospace and aviation companies,” Michal says. “We’ve got a great partnership with Rolls Royce. We’re also trying to re-establish a commercial service with the airport. We’re hopeful on that.

“We’re trying to help promote and support the university as it changes the world through its faculty, students and technology. We’re attracting corporations here to help them in recruiting our students and tapping into our research institutions. We want them to come here, establish roots and plant a flag on campus.”

Years from now, Michal envisions Provenance being a desirable place to live like another West Lafayette neighborhood.

“Look at Hills and Dales and how beautiful a neighborhood that is,” Michal says. “Something like that.” 

BY KEN THOMPSON

In any other year, one of the joys of summertime is an ice cream cone after a ballgame or a day at the park.

But 2020 hasn’t been any other year. Fortunately for Greater Lafayette, two ice cream institutions and a relative newcomer are open for business. The COVID-19 pandemic impacted Silver Dipper more than the Original Frozen Custard and Budge’s, which unlike Silver Dipper, are seasonal businesses.

David Carlson, whose family opened the first of two Silver Dipper stores in 2001, lost about a month of business.

“In mid-March we decided to close out of an abundance of caution,” Carlson says.  “We sold our existing inventory to other small independent ice cream shops in Indiana.  By mid-April our supplier was ramping up production again and we decided to reopen.”

Silver Dipper, which has locations at 201 E. State St. and 307 Sagamore Parkway West, has strictly followed guidelines from the Tippecanoe County Health Department regarding cleaning, masks and social distancing.   

“The reopening has gone well,” Carlson says. “Since we began accepting credit cards in 2016, we were already set up to provide contactless payment options.  We also created an online store thru silverdipper.com, where customers can order and pay online, then pick up their order through carryout or curbside.”

The Carlson family spent years working in Chicago and commuting from northwest Indiana, all with a goal of buying a business in central Indiana. The Carlsons purchased the Baskin Robbins store at Purdue West in 2000, believing the presence of Purdue University and Tippecanoe County’s diversified economy was a good business risk.

A year later, the Carlsons broke away from Baskin Robbins and opened the Silver Dipper location on Sagamore Parkway. Two years later, the Levee store followed.

“We decided to go independent in order to have more control over product quality, pricing and equipment,” Carlson says. 

“We consider the Sagamore Parkway store to be our ‘family store’ and the Levee to be the ‘campus store.’ But we see a lot of families and Lafayette customers at our Levee location too.  Plus being the largest city in the county we see customers from all over the area.”

One of Silver Dipper’s trademarks is a variety of flavors, approximately 40 year-round flavors which are available on the website.

“We try to keep a variety to appeal to everyone, but it is customer demand that determines which flavors we carry,” Carlson says. “We also carry ‘no sugar added’ options as well as Italian ices, which are non-dairy and non-fat.”

When asked to list Silver Dipper’s best-selling flavors, Carlson names Zanzibar, Oreo, Cookie Dough, Zoreo (Zanzibar and Oreo mixed together) and Peanut Butter Cookie Dough.

Only Zanzibar made the lengthy list of Carlson family favorites, which include Toffee Chocolate Chip, This S&@! Just Got Serious, Chocolate Cherry Bomb, Coconut Almond Bliss and Pistachio.

Carlson and his family are grateful that not only have customers returned to buy ice cream but also merchandise such as Silver Dipper themed T-shirts, sweatshirts, hats, cups and stickers.

“Lately, we have seen customers purchase them as a way to support their favorite local businesses during this difficult time,” he says.

“We have been touched by the amount of support and concern for our business.  We have loved being a part of the community the past 20 years and look forward to many more years serving our customers.”

When it comes to years of serving Greater Lafayette customers, few local businesses can approach the many decades that the Original Frozen Custard and Budge’s have been open.

The Original Frozen Custard had a humble beginning in 1932, when Florence and Charles Kirkhoff began selling vanilla frozen custard from a stand next to Columbian Park. A year later, the Kirkhoffs’ secret recipe was expanded to include chocolate and strawberry frozen custard.

The Kirkhoffs had to use salt to freeze their frozen custard because modern refrigeration and freezers were not yet available. While the recipe remains a secret to this day, we do know that frozen custard contains 4 percent egg yolk and a fraction of the whipped air contained in regular ice cream.

Another Frozen Custard tradition, the fruit drink, was created because Florence Kirkhoff didn’t care for soda pop. Charles Kirkhoff’s business sense, though, led to a deal with Coca-Cola in 1934. The Original Frozen Custard remains one of Coca-Cola’s oldest accounts.

The iconic art deco building was constructed in 1949 across from what is now Loeb Stadium. Twenty years later, the Kirkhoffs passed the business to their daughter, Charlene, and her husband, Dick Lodde. They expanded the menu to offer more products, flavors and food. 

The Kirkhoffs originally called their business “The Igloo,” a name that was revived in 1998 by Bill and Kathy Lodde. The two Igloo locations on Veterans Memorial Parkway have expanded the line of Frozen Custard flavors, added more sundaes and sandwiches, including an old favorite: the Original Double Decker.

Budge’s (pronounced bud-gees) bills itself as “Lafayette’s best kept secret since 1942.” 

Like the Original Frozen Custard, Budge’s had a simple beginning when Wallace Budge converted a gas station on the corner of 14th and Hartford streets into a root beer stand.

The original stand was razed in the 1950s and the current structure was built facing 14th Street. It was then that Budge’s added ice cream, burgers and other treats to the menu.

That helped Budge’s draw lunchtime business from nearby St. Elizabeth Hospital and after- school lines from Linnwood Elementary students. Budge ran the business until he sold out in 1968.

The years have passed, and St. Elizabeth is no longer in the neighborhood. Neither is Linnwood Elementary School. But Budge’s is still around and approaching its 80th birthday.

Its menu probably wouldn’t be recognized by Charles Budge today, with flavored drinks, a wide variety of ice cream, shakes, parfaits, sodas and sundaes. Food options range from the traditional cheeseburger to chicken tenders and coney dogs.

BY CINDY GERLACH

If you think downtown Lafayette is looking picturesque these days, then you’ve been watching its evolution. Over the past decades, while the downtown had its share of charm, sidewalks were looking as if they needed an update, a little tweaking to enhance the ambience. 

Rejuvenating Main Street, a streetscaping program that has been underway for more than 15 years, continues this summer, improving sidewalks, adding gathering places downtown and planting trees.

It’s a beautification project that not only makes the downtown scene more attractive, but it is a boon to business as well. 

Plans for this project date back as far as the late 1970s, says Dennis Carson, economic development director for the City of Lafayette. Funding was made available in the mid-2000s; the first phase of the plan was rolled out in 2005.

So why the need to change the look of downtown? For decades, when people lived and worked near the downtown, it was the major shopping and business center, with retail shops lining the streets, anchored by the Courthouse, with restaurants and movie theaters. It was the shopping and business district. 

The feel of downtown Lafayette began to shift and change in the 1960s and ’70s, as it did in downtowns throughout the United States. With widespread use of the automobile and people moving farther away from the city center into more suburban neighborhoods, a shift occurred. By the 1980s, many businesses had fled to Market Square or the Tippecanoe Mall; single-screen movie theaters — places like the Long Center and the old Mars Theatre — had been abandoned in favor of larger multiplexes. 

Downtowns were in danger. 

But, Carson says, Lafayette’s downtown fared much better than those of other, similar-sized cities.

“Fortunately, even in that time, there was a lot of interest in downtown,” he says. Along with the Courthouse, many law firms and banks remained, as well as the newspaper and other government offices.

So the city took the lead, focusing on historic preservation. Much of the downtown consisted of buildings dating back to the first half of the 20th century, and the city wanted to preserve that architecture, knowing its value. 

“One of the early efforts was historic preservation, to establish the historic district,” says Carson. “They really tried to preserve the architecture we have. We lost some, too, but we’ve been able to preserve a lot.”

But the need went beyond historic preservation and into safety. The sidewalks were so old that many had the WPA stamps, dating them back to the 1930s.

“It got to a point where not only did we need to do it for aesthetics, but there were several safety and ADA issues,” Carson says. 

Thus the streetscape plan for downtown was meant to enhance the district on several fronts.  Clearly, part of the goal was simply to beautify downtown. Sidewalks have been widened, and the corners are larger, with benches added, making it easier for people to gather. 

And with wider sidewalks, downtown restaurants were able to take advantage and add more outdoor dining space. 

Bike racks encourage people to use other methods of transportation. And public art installations add visual interest.

If you’ve walked through downtown, you’ve seen the improvements. These all make downtown more accessible to people with a specific destination or those who just want to walk and browse, soaking up the small-town yet big-city aesthetic. 

“One thing we really want to improve on is the pedestrian experience,” Carson says. “So they don’t park, go into the shop, then get in their car and leave. We want to encourage people to walk the downtown as much as possible.” 

For summer 2020, the project expands to upper Main Street, between 10th and 11th streets. Both sides of 10th Street, from Main north to Ferry, will see the widened sidewalks, striping and tree installation. The next phase will see the same improvements on the south side of Main Street between 10th and 11th, as well as 11th Street between Main and Ferry. The final phase, wrapping up at the end of September, will take the project south on both sides of 10th Street to Columbia. 

The project is paid for through Tax Increment Financing, or TIF districts. Business owners have been asked to contribute to a portion of the project in front of their buildings. 

“There was a little apprehension at first,” Carson says. “But once it was done, everyone was really pleased.”

The energy and enthusiasm associated with downtown has increased over the past few years, with urban living opportunities and more retail and restaurants than ever, says Carson. 

Over time, that value will continue to increase. With the variety of arts and culture opportunities, the festivals, and more shopping and dining 

options, people will continue to see and enjoy the revitalization of the streetscape project. 

“It’s really transformed Main Street,” Carson says. “We’ve gotten a lot of comments; it’s been pretty well received. Over time we’ll see increased property values. It helps, helps maintain these historic structures. It’s been a fun thing and it’s been well received.”

For details on the project, visit lafayettedowntownisopen.com.

While there are about 20 dog grooming businesses in the area, some newer ones focus on strengthening the human/animal bond or providing services such as doggy day care and spa experiences. 

Paul Whitehurst, owner of Pooch Palace Resort, had an epiphany in 2016 when his beloved German shepherd Zoey passed away.

“She was my kid. She was everything to me,” says Whitehurst. “When she passed away … I was at a crossroads. For a long time I’d had this idea in my head to provide an upscale pet resort. I wanted to target other owners who are true pet parents.”

After 18 years in the corporate world, Whitehurst decided to pursue his dream,  and in 2017 on the first anniversary of Zoey’s passing, he opened the first Pooch Palace Resort on Beck Lane in Lafayette. The business was so successful that in February he opened a second location on Sagamore Parkway in West Lafayette. While ruefully acknowledging that opening a new business during a pandemic is not the best idea, Whitehurst says many customers are grateful that the waiting lists for grooming and boarding are shorter. 

Pooch Palace offers grooming, boarding, daycare and training. Dogs boarded there stay in private “hotel” rooms equipped with toddler beds and a television tuned to DogTV. The dogs get five potty breaks each day and absent owners can check in on, and even talk to, their pets through a private Webcam accessed through their phones. 

The business also offers grooming and full or half-day care where dogs play in groups either indoors or out. The outdoor play park features a synthetic turf called Pup-Grass specifically designed for dogs. That means your pet will never come home muddy, Whitehurst says.

The business closed for a while as the COVID-19 pandemic ramped up, but it reopened with limited hours and services in April, and then more fully in May. Whitehurst hopes to be back to full capacity by August.

He affirms that one of the reasons his business has been so successful is pet owners are more invested in their furry friends than ever before. But a disruptive family member can bring chaos and tension into a home, so training and understanding is key to living harmoniously with a pet.

That’s where Julie Shaw and her business, Stepping Stone Animal Training, comes in. Shaw has spent her professional career focusing on animal behavior and is one of only 16 board-certified veterinary behavior technicians in the country. After spending many years in private practice and teaching Purdue vet students, Shaw became convinced that dog owners needed help understanding their pet’s behavior and learning how to work with the animal.

“Animal behavior is very complex,” Shaw says. “If owners get the information (they need) early on, it makes a big difference. We are not just treating the dog, but helping the owner understand the world through the dog’s eyes.”

Stepping Stone, located on Teal Road in Lafayette, is dedicated to strengthening and protecting the human-animal bond. To that end, the business offers programs lasting between four and  eight weeks for puppies and older dogs. Puppy classes focus on training the littlest fur balls to be calm, happy and emotionally healthy pets. Small class sizes and academy-educated trainers also help older dogs that need to learn socialization skills and manners.

“All dogs have their own quirkiness and individual challenges,” says Shaw. “We encourage what is positive in them and help identify what behaviors they need to work on.”

Shaw emphasizes that the programs are not daycare, but provide a very structured environment in which the dogs are always learning, while still being allowed to be dogs. 

Lafayette resident Diana Cavanaugh took her Bernese mountain dog, Jojo, to Stepping Stone in 2017, when the puppy was about three months old. The experience was a good one for the entire family and helped them work together and be consistent with Jojo’s training.

“It was great because we were able to get the entire family involved and everyone was on the same page when it came to training,” Cavanaugh says. “The team that worked with us was very knowledgeable and patient.”

While some of Stepping Stone’s services have been curtailed because of the pandemic, the company’s virtual services have taken off, Shaw says. She offers group, puppy and adult classes online that include videos, reading assignments and virtual check-ins each week. 

Shaw is concerned about the many families that have adopted dogs during the pandemic and been home with little structure or opportunity for the pet to be in different situations.  When school and regular work schedules resume and the house is empty, those dogs will likely have problems, she says, adding that puppies need to be socialized in their first eight to 14 weeks. In the spring, Stepping Stone began hosting pandemic puppy parties for dogs 16-weeks and younger. Once a week, the pups come to Stepping Stone for supervised play and interaction with new people and other puppies. Owners can watch the fun on their phones.

Shaw takes an holistic approach to each dog’s welfare, assessing both the animal’s physical and mental health. Some dogs have chemical imbalances in their brains and need medication, so understanding each dog’s behavior is critical, she says.

That holistic approach also informs grooming at Stepping Stone. Shaw calls the service fear-free grooming, and dogs are trained to cooperate with the groomer so that the experience is less stressful. For example, dogs are allowed to jump off the grooming table and come back when they’re ready. Each one receives a report card with suggestions for the owner of behaviors to work on.

“We are the first in the country to offer this,” she says. “You pay more because we are using behavior modification. Pain can be a factor in grooming so we are constantly grading them on their emotional and physical health.”

And another local business is training groomers in Shaw’s methods. Kerri Wagner, owner of Bark Avenue Day Spa on Britt Farm Road in Lafayette, and her staff of five worked with Stepping Stone to better understand animal behavior.

“(All dogs) teach us something,” Wagner says. “I believe all of the dogs that are scared and unable to be groomed … have taught us that dogs really do learn and react to everything so differently than us. Stepping Stone Animal Training has really helped us learn this and is teaching us how to help all the animals with their behavior.”

Bark Avenue groomers don’t usually cage dogs coming in for a bath and a haircut. Open-top kennels are used if necessary; otherwise dogs are together in the grooming room. And if Bark Avenue can’t effectively help a dog that comes in, Wagner sends that dog to a Stepping Stone groomer who helps with behavior modification.

And the word “spa” in the company name is not hyperbole. Pet parents can choose for their furry family member a variety of luxury experiences, including mud baths, blueberry facials with a mini face massage and hot oil treatments. If you live in Lafayette or West Lafayette, a groomer also will pick up your pooch from home and bring the freshly coiffed critter back at the end of the work day.

Good training and behavior bring many positives to dogs and owners alike, but some dog owners face the additional challenge of not having a fenced yard or much time for long walks. For those with high-energy animals, a trip to a dog park may be a real treat.

Dog parks give owners the chance to exercise their dogs and provide socialization with other pets and their humans, says Tracy Walder, director of operations for the Dog Park Association of Greater Lafayette. The non-profit oversees Shamrock Dog Park on Sanford Street near Lafayette’s Wabash River. The facility is supported by the Lafayette Parks Department.

“Shamrock Dog Park provides a secure off-leash area for dogs to interact and release energy,” says Walder.  “Poor dog behavior is often a result of poor socialization and pent-up energy. The dog park helps owners satisfy the needs of their dogs. A tired dog is a well-behaved dog.”

The facility requires a paid membership and has an extensive list of regulations designed to keep dogs and their owners safe and happy. Dogs must be healthy and up-to-date with vaccinations. Members receive a key fob that allows them into the park.

Shamrock Dog Park enjoys good support from some local veterinarians, who help with fund-raising events and provide information about vaccinations and health issues. Two vets write monthly articles for the member Facebook page and volunteer during special events, Walder says. The volunteer board also appreciates the working relationship they have with Buckles Feed Depot and Pet Supplies Plus, Lafayette companies that support the park’s work.

Walder, who owns CritterSitters (an in-home pet care service) and is a founding member of the park, says overall the members are a close-knit community, working to make their relationships with their dogs a healthy part of their lives. 

“Most people are a little apprehensive about the first time letting their dog off leash in the park, and it is rewarding to see other members assure them that it will be just fine,” she says. “Our members find that their dogs are aware when they are headed to the park and are happy to interact with other dogs. People can socialize over a shared interest and also have a sounding board when there are questions about behavior, health, veterinarian or daycare choices.”

Sarah Huber has been going to the park since she moved to Lafayette in 2016 with her dog Hazel. Hazel has since passed away, but now Sarah goes almost every day with her goldendoodles, Juniper and Ike. 

“I look forward to going to the dog park as much as my dogs!” Huber says. “Walking them on leashes, even long walks, doesn’t tire them out. They are running and playing the entire time (at the park) and it brings me such joy to see them both run in big circles across the field and play with other dogs. They just seem the happiest and their best selves at the park. Both can barely contain themselves as we pull up to the park each day.”

And there are other perks. Huber wanted her pets to be comfortable around other dogs and people, so the park gives opportunities for Ike and Juniper to have new experiences. She’s made friends there and says going is a great way to either start the day or decompress after work. 

“I am as happy as the dogs,” she says. “The members are great. When you go, there’s no pressure to talk to people. You can do your own thing, but if you want to chat, it’s a great group of people.”

Huber’s advice to a pet parent who has never used a dog park is to evaluate your own pet’s behavior and take it slow. If you don’t know how your dog might react to other dogs off leash, first try one of the fields that don’t have many dogs. There are fenced areas for big and small dogs, and the park offers a day pass and occasional free play days. Those dates and other information about rules and requirements can be found on the park’s website.

The park closed for more than eight weeks when the pandemic hit, but it opened again toward the end of May. To help ensure safety, communal toys and water containers have been removed and soap has been added at the water stations. Members are asked to abide by social distancing rules, wear masks and bring their own hand sanitizer.

BY ANGELA K. ROBERTS

Street food in the United States dates back to the late 17th century, when vendors in East Coast cities began selling meals from carts and street kitchens. In the ensuing 300-plus years, food-truck offerings have grown from 19th century chuckwagons to 20th century ice cream trucks and hot dog carts and now to 21st century gourmet restaurants on wheels. 

Today, in towns like Greater Lafayette, a growing number of food trucks can satisfy all but the pickiest of eaters. Here, we feature six vendors along with a more comprehensive list for your culinary journey. Check each website for details.

EMT Food Truck

emtfoodtruck.com

Amber Davis grew up during what she calls the “quick food era, where most of what we consumed involved cans of cream of … boxes or jars of … frozen microwaveable things … powdery mixes of who knows what.” Thankfully, she learned where food really came from by picking vegetables and collecting eggs at her grandmother’s rural home. Now, since 2012, Davis’ EMT (Emergency Munchie Technicians) Food Truck has tended to locals’ homegrown food needs with gourmet vegetarian and vegan menu items, including salads, waffle sandwiches and lemonades crafted from homemade simple syrup and fresh pureed fruit. If you want to kick it up a notch, try the Mac Nugget Poppers, dusted in panko crumbs and fried. “I think mac and cheese is something everyone can get down with,” Davis says. Some menu items are gluten-free. Visit the truck at the West Lafayette Farmers Market, Brokerage Brewing Company and various Greater Lafayette neighborhoods.

Famous Frank’s

facebook.com/famousfranksPU

On most Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights during Purdue University’s academic year, around the corner from the line at Harry’s Chocolate Shop, you’ll find hungry college students waiting to feast on triple-layered grilled cheese, wonton wraps and other fried goodies that pair well with beer. Begun in 1995 as a push-cart business, Famous Frank’s first sold hot dogs, Polish sausages and Bratwurst outside the original Von’s Comic Book Shop. By 2005, owner Frank Farmer had acquired his first food truck, equipped with a fryer for expanding his offerings. Later, while cooking for hungry college men at a local fraternity, Farmer created his own version of Fat Sandwiches, which he describes as “some sort of concoction of mozzarella sticks, fries, steak and sauces all on a hoagie.” For people wanting a gluten-free and vegan option, Frank’s sells falafel wraps from a local restaurant.

The Guac Box

facebook.com/guacbox765  |  wherestheguac.com

Avocadoes seem to be one of those foods that you either love or hate. But even if you’re firmly entrenched in the latter group, you should find plenty to savor at the Guac Box. It’s owned by chef Matt Bestich, who tested his recipes at a Purdue fraternity before purchasing a truck “fully loaded and ready to go” in 2018. Bestich’s truck specializes in modern Tex-Mex tacos named after friends and family, including the Kelly, a taco with creamy queso and crispy shoestring potatoes, and the Nick, with street corn, cotija cheese and guac. All tacos can be made gluten-free, vegetarian or vegan; the chips – which you can get with hand-smashed guacamole – are made from gluten-free corn tortillas. Currently, the truck parks regularly at Brokerage Brewing Company and has been visiting local neighborhoods during the pandemic. “Food trucks are the original curbside service,” Bestich says. 

Gypsy Joe Coffee Shop

facebook.com/gypsyjoecoffeeshop  |  instagram.com/gypsyjoecoffeeshop

Working in a coffee shop years ago, Ashley Huff dreamed of opening up her own place where she could serve brewed drinks with a side of positivity. In 2019, when a deal fell through on a building she had her eye on, Huff decided to take her idea mobile. The aptly named Gypsy Joe Coffee Shop sells brewed coffee, lattes, chai tea, lemonade and freshly brewed iced tea. Sugar-free syrups and non-dairy milks such as soy and almond also are available. Unlike most coffeehouse social media accounts, Huff doesn’t post much about coffee at all, preferring instead to infuse her followers’ feeds with words and photos of affirmation. “You will find daily posts from my heart, so if I can’t reach you with coffee, I hope at least that starts your day off right,” she says. For some joe to go, visit her regularly on State Road 43 just outside Battle Ground.

Puritan Coney Island Express 

facebook.com/puritanconeyislandexpress

Gary Dowell has loved coney dogs since he was a child. Back then, while riding shotgun in his dad’s fuel truck, Dowell would disembark downtown at Lou’s Puritan Coney Island to pick up lunch while his father drove around the block. Later, when he was working at a local gravel pit, Dowell spent his winter months helping out at Main Street Coney, which had acquired the Puritan recipe. When that establishment closed, the owner gave Dowell the recipe for the savory sauce made of hamburger and several spices, which he used to open a food truck business in 2019. A café at Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana followed in 2020. While coney dogs made with the 75-year-old recipe are still a specialty, nacho supremes are the number one seller. Customers needing a gluten-friendly option can ask for a hot dog without the bun. 

RTB Chefs

facebook.com/rtbfoodtruck  |  rtbchefs.com

Mac and cheese with pulled pork or brisket? Why not. For smoked-meat foodies – especially those who like to wash down their meals with a pint of local beer – RTB Chefs routinely parks next to Brokerage Brewing Company, selling sandwiches, wraps and salads, most with smoked meat. Owned and operated by Jordan and Krissy Mirick, the business, which launched three years ago, grew out of a catering company in Illinois. “Chef Jordan has worked in a variety of restaurants from high-end fine dining to a local bar and grill,” the couple says. “We always enjoyed creating food to bring people together.” The truck, which also can be found at Murphy’s USA gas station on Veterans Memorial Parkway, has some vegan and vegetarian options. The meats are gluten-free without barbeque sauce. 

Looking for more variety?

Here are some other food trucks in the area:

• Fat Bottom Donuts: facebook.com/fatbottomdonuts
• Frosty Freeze Food Truck: facebook.com/frostyfreezenovelties
• Grilled Chicken and Rice: ordergcr.com
• Igloo On The Go: igloofrozencustard.com
• Kona Ice of Tippecanoe County: facebook.com/konaiceofmidwestindiana 
• L Kora Fastfood: facebook.com/lkora.fastfood 
• Mitchell’s Mexican Food Truck: facebook.com/MitchellsMex
• Porky’s BBQ – Food Trailer: facebook.com/porkysbbqtrailer
• Smolder BBQ: smolderbbq.com 
• Tick Tock Tavern Food Truck: facebook.com/TickTockFoodTruck 

WoJo’s & MoJo’s Grilled Cheese & More, LLC: facebook.com/WoJo-MoJos-Grilled-Cheese-More

By ANGELA K. ROBERTS 

STADIUM PHOTO PROVIDED BY PURDUE MARKETING & MEDIA

OTHER PHOTOS PROVIDED BY PURDUE ARCHIVES

In 1922, David Edward Ross, engineer, businessman and noted Purdue University alumnus, asked Tippecanoe County Judge Henry Vinton to introduce him to another Purdue graduate of note —playwright and syndicated newspaper columnist George Ade, five years his senior. 

After meeting in the judge’s chambers, Ross asked Ade to take a short drive with him. Parking at an old dairy farm northwest of Purdue’s tiny campus, they climbed uphill, then peered down into a vast natural bowl carved into the landscape. 

Then, as Robert Kriebel writes in “Ross-Ade: Their Purdue Stories, Stadium and Legacies,” the engineer gave a pitch something like this:

“’Here is where we [Trustees] will put our recreational field and stadium. You’ll notice that much of the work of grading and providing a hillside of just the right slope for a stadium grandstand has already been done [by Nature]. It’s about the same size as the ancient stadium of Athens. I had a man look up the dimensions. There isn’t much difference.’”

Ade nodded in agreement, Kriebel notes, saying it did indeed seem to be about the same size as the Panathenaic Stadium, which Ade had visited in 1898. But, he wondered, what did this have to do with him? 

Ross said that he hoped Ade would help him finance a stadium for the university, to which Ade responded that he’d tried to promote several projects at Purdue, but had never had much luck. He concluded, “‘To help someone else would be a great relief. So my answer is yes.’”

Ade’s words were his stock in trade, and yet it was the soft-spoken engineer who persuaded him that day. And it was Ross who convinced alumni to give half a million dollars to build the Purdue Memorial Union, who purchased land for an airport and an engineering survey camp, and who pushed for the creation of the Purdue Research Foundation to spur innovation and discovery at the university. 

Of course, money talks, too, and the contributions that Ross made to the university and the community before and after his death, along with the businesses that he created, have left a lasting legacy at Purdue and Greater Lafayette. 

“David Ross helped lay the groundwork that made Purdue a modern university. Almost everything about Purdue in the first 40 years of the 20th century directly involved Ross,” says Adriana Harmeyer, archivist for university history with Purdue University Archives and Special Collections. “We remember him for Ross-Ade Stadium, which itself is a wonderful legacy, but his actions as a trustee and advocate for the university created some of our most important resources, especially the Purdue Research Foundation that continues to enable groundbreaking research that changes the world.”

A visionary with mechanical aptitude

Born in 1871, Ross had been a tinkerer throughout childhood and wanted to study engineering at Purdue. But he almost didn’t make it to college. His father, a farmer who expected Ross to pursue an agrarian career, thought that college would be a waste of time. Thankfully, the young man’s Uncle Will intervened, offering to house Ross in his Lafayette home and pay for his tuition and books.

Ross led a quiet college life, biographers note, and he reportedly received so-so grades for most of his coursework. His graduation, however, coincided with the birth of the automobile, presenting a golden opportunity for the visionary with mechanical aptitude. Returning to his family homestead, he began creating devices in the farm shop based on ideas from technical journals.

“He applied for patents on three working parts — a differential gear mechanism, a gear-shifting device and a rear-axle differential — and got them,” writes Jay Cooperider in a biographical document published by Tippecanoe County. “About the same time, he came up with the first of a number of patentable steering gears.”

In 1906, Ross founded the Ross Gear and Tool Company with his uncles Will and Linn, both seasoned salesmen. In 1914, Ross joined the City Council, a seat he held for four years. While World War I raged overseas, Ross’ plant contributed to the effort by manufacturing steering gears for military trucks. 

The year after the war ended, in 1918, the Ross family spun out a new company, Fairfield Manufacturing. In 1927, they founded yet another business, Rostone Corporation, to manufacture artificial stone from waste products such as fly ash, limestone and shale. While the company’s original product never took off, Rostone eventually reinvented itself into a manufacturer of electrical insulators.

Ross, in fact, seemed to have much more success than failure over his lifetime. All told, he patented 88 devices and made millions through his business ventures, much of that money going back to Purdue University. 

A passion for university-based research

“Ross’ reappearance at Purdue can be traced to 1920, when he was asked to serve on an alumni committee that since 1911 had been trying to raise money for a student union,” writes Cooperider. “When Ross joined the committee, $50,000 had been collected. Largely through his efforts, more than $500,000 was raised by the time the first part of the Memorial Union was completed in 1922.”

While soliciting alumni donations, Ross had heard grumbles that they wanted their alma mater to have a grand stadium like other universities. The newly minted board trustee got to work, and in 1924, two years after that hilltop negotiation with Ade, the Boilermakers played their first game in the new 13,000-person stadium.

Then Ross turned his attention to his true passion: university-based research and development. In 1930, several years after he began lobbying for the university to forge closer bonds with industry, the Purdue Research Foundation was incorporated. Ross seeded the venture with $25,000 in Ross Gear stock. 

Later, he purchased land west of campus for an airport and another tract overlooking the Wabash River for a surveying camp and football practice field (now the home of the county-owned Ross Camp). He also spearheaded development of the university’s first long-range master plan, a process that continues today. 

“His contributions touched every aspect of the university: athletics through Ross-Ade Stadium, student life through the Purdue Memorial Union, and education and research through the Purdue Research Foundation and Purdue Airport,” Harmeyer says. “This was the lasting mark he was able to leave on the world.”

When Ross arrived at Purdue as a freshman in 1889, she notes, the university had fewer than 500 students. By the time of his death, more than 8,000 students were enrolled, and the footprint of the university had more than quadrupled. “In addition to his own substantial contributions, he got to watch Purdue grow from a small, newly established university to a world-class research institution,” she says. 

Forever tied to the university

Ross died in 1943 after suffering a debilitating stroke the year before that left him unable to speak. His closest surviving family member was a sister. 

While Ross remained a bachelor until his death, local author Angie Klink has uncovered evidence of a long-term relationship between Ross and a Purdue staffer. Klink has written several Purdue-related books, including “Divided Paths, Common Ground: The Story of Mary Matthews and Lella Gaddis, Pioneering Purdue Women Who Introduced Science into the Home.”

Klink says that Gaddis, Indiana’s first state leader of home demonstration agents in Purdue’s Department of Agricultural Extension, lived her entire life with her sister, Kate, who kept line-a-day diaries from 1906 until 1946. Diary notations throughout the years mention Lella Gaddis having dinner with Ross, going on rides with him and visiting his country home, in what is now Ross Hills Park. 

“From evidence in Kate’s diaries of the amount of time Ross and Gaddis spent together, I say yes, it was serious,” she says. That evidence was backed up by information gleaned from a family member still living when Klink wrote her book. 

Unfortunately, the diaries from 1938 to 1944 are missing, so it’s unclear what transpired between the two in the last few years of Ross’ life. And there’s no evidence of why they never married, if they were indeed in love. Klink wonders if it was simply because they both led high-profile lives at Purdue. “Maybe they liked their independence and wanted to keep it that way,” she says. 

Ross was not a churchgoer, but the Gaddis sisters and many other Purdue folks belonged to Central Presbyterian Church, and that’s where his funeral was held. Afterwards, the university closed campus for two hours so that faculty, staff and students could attend a memorial service by Purdue Research Foundation. 

Ross, who at his request was buried on a knoll where Slayter Hill is now located, left most of his estate to Purdue, Home Hospital and several relatives. 

“In many ways, Purdue was his family and his home,” Harmeyer says. “I don’t think he would have chosen to be buried on Purdue’s campus if he hadn’t felt that his legacy was forever tied to the university and its success.”

BY HANNAH HARPER

PHOTOS BY CHRISTINE PETKOV

When Lafayette native Brittany Whitenack started making candles in her spare time, she had no idea that in five years, she would be the founder and CEO of a thriving company on the verge of expansion. In fact, she didn’t even anticipate having more than five employees. But with support from the community (in person and online) and a lot of hard work, Antique Candle Co. has grown to 34 employees who develop, market, make and ship candles all over the United States and Canada.

A graduate of McCutcheon High School and the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University, Whitenack has always loved candles. 

“I would always buy a candle when I went to the grocery store,” she says. 

As a young professional, she bought a $100 candle-making kit as a creative outlet and admits that her first few batches of candles weren’t quite the high-quality products she sells today. “It’s as much a science as an art,” she explains. “I just kept making them and getting better and better.” 

Once she had honed her candle-making skills, she used the business skills she’d learned at Purdue to create a five-year plan for a company; she reached her five-year goal in just over two years. 

“I didn’t plan on all the growth,” Whitenack says. “It just happened. We kept hiring the right people.” 

Due to exponential growth, Antique Candle Co. will be moving to a new facility, hopefully by the beginning of 2021. The company’s new home will be located at 1611 Schuyler Avenue in Lafayette in an old dairy factory built in 1950. At 10,000 square feet, the building is ideal for manufacturing and will provide Antique Candle Co. with a proper loading dock, air conditioning in the warehouse and office space. The $1 million renovations are scheduled to begin as soon as all permits are approved. 

“This new home for the business — right here in Lafayette — will be the very first space that’s all ours, built just for us with everything we need so we can continue to grow in the town we love,” says Jaycie Tierney, brand manager for Antique Candle Co. 

Tierney began as a part-time candle maker while still a student at Purdue. Her part-time job became a full-time job after graduation, and she now has the opportunity to use her degree working for a company she loves. 

“It has been a blessing to grow with this company and work with some of the most kind-hearted people I’ve ever had the pleasure to be friends with,” she says. 

“This journey has made me fully understand the importance of supporting small businesses and the hardworking individuals behind the scenes.”

According to Whitenack, the employees at Antique Candle Co. are a constant source of the company’s success. 

“Every single employee here, maybe their job isn’t to make candles, but they know how to make a candle,” she says.  “They know the process. They know the product in and out. This helps with customer experience, social media, all marketing.”

One of Whitenack’s long-time employees is customer service specialist Ed McQuinn. 

“I was Brittany’s first employee, so I have seen us manually stamping a few labels, and making candles on a stove, all the way to where we are now making thousands of candles every day,” he says. 

The thousands of soy candles are each imprinted with a label that says “Made in Lafayette, IN” and include scents such as clean cotton, lavender vanilla, momma’s kitchen and many seasonal scents, including tree farm and pineapple coconut. Antique Candle Co. candles are sold in 400 retail locations in the United States and Canada, including The Homestead in West Lafayette. 

Now entering its sixth year, Antique Candle Co. has seen much success through wholesale and retail business.   

When looking toward the future, McQuinn says he “can’t wait to see what we will do in regards to wholesale, and branching into other markets.” 

Whitenack also attributes a large part of the company’s growth to e-commerce and direct marketing through social media platforms. Antique Candle Co. has a robust Instagram presence where employees post to stories at least 10 times a day to help build relationships with customers. 

“As an e-commerce business and a small business, creating those relationships is so important when we can’t always see everyone face-to-face,” Tierney says. “Despite not meeting most of them in person, many friends get to know our team as individuals through Instagram and other social media.”

And the company treats the relationships they build with candle friends, their customers and social media followers, like those they have with friends they know in their personal lives. 

“At Antique Candle Co., we cherish our community so much and always have their interests in our hearts,” explains Tierney. “Without them, we wouldn’t be where we are today.”

The relational approach to business seems to correlate with Antique Candle Co.’s growth. According to Whitenack, the company has seen the most e-commerce growth in the years where their followers have grown on social media. 

“Our social media is engaging and genuine,” she says. 

Even as many retailers have been greatly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, Antique Candle Co. has remained true to the value it places on taking care of employees by paying employees throughout the pandemic. The company makes sure that paying employees well is factored into its business plan. 

“I always knew I wanted to pay our employees well,” says Whitenack. “Paying good employees well creates a higher quality product and better work environment.” 

That work environment is something Whitenack and Antique Candle Co. employees hold in high regard.  

“The best part of owning a business is cultivating a work culture that I would want to work in,” she says. 

As Antique Candle Co. prepares to renovate and eventually move into its new space, it will continue to value its employees, customers and quality in its products as the business grows and shines light on the members of the Lafayette community who work hard and find joy in sharing their candle-making talents.

BY CINDY GERLACH

PHOTO BY CHRISTINE PETKOV

Sure, Isaac Childres played some board games as a kid — who didn’t? He may have played games like Sorry or Clue. He even has memories of playing some of these games by himself.

“I have vivid memories of playing Monopoly by myself, moving all the different characters,” he recalls. 

“I was very bored as a child.”

But neither those simple activities, nor his foray into high school board games, could have foretold his future in games. 

Childres is the mastermind behind the popular board game Gloomhaven, described on the game’s official website as “Euro-inspired tactical combat in an evolving campaign.” The game involves collaboration in order to clear out dungeons and ruins in this corner of the world; the game evolves based on players’ decisions and their skills, which change as the game progresses. It has swept the market by storm, with rave reviews from users on sites such as boardgamegeek.com

It might be worth mentioning, too, that prior to designing and developing this game, Childres had another sideline as a career option; he had a few opportunities afforded him when he finished up his doctorate in physics at Purdue University. 

So where did this passion come from? Because it was not instilled in him by weekends playing Dungeons and Dragons when he was in high school, as so many teenagers do. Some kids are self-proclaimed board game nerds; Childres was not really one of those kids.

Growing up in California, Childres did play — some — but it wasn’t his primary hobby. His friends were the ones with the characters and the dice, though Childres may have managed a dungeon or two. 

“My parents were pretty conservative,” he says. “It took some convincing.”

It was during his time at Purdue that Childres became interested in role-playing games. He joined a group that met at the Purdue Memorial Union on Thursday nights, opening his eyes to this world of games.

After spending time with friends playing these sorts of games, he began to think about what it might be like to create his own game. 

“I started thinking about my ideal board game,” he says. “It started as a challenge — can I develop a board game?”

As it turns out, the short answer was yes. The product of his first attempt was a game called Forge War, which its website describes as a game where players are blacksmiths in a kingdom “rife with marauding harpies, cursed dungeons and fire-breathing dragons.” Players must gather ore from mines and create weapons, which they will use on quests. 

Childres launched a Kickstarter campaign, a crowd-funding platform that helps fund creative projects. The game took a fair amount of work — perhaps more work than he had first imagined, as it went through several iterations. It took lots of preparation, and he realized at one point that he would need to hire out the art and design work.  

“How hard can cards be?” he laughs now, recalling his mindset when he started — before he brought in the pros.  

And yet, in the meantime, he still finished his doctorate, knowing that he might not end up using that degree. But he also knew it was something to fall back on. 

“My philosophy was this is going to be a degree that says that I’m smart,” he says; he knew he could always find a job if he needed to. 

When he ventured out with that first attempt into game design, he knew it was a risk. But he wanted to give it a try. He and his wife had that difficult conversation. His first game netted a profit, but not enough to live on.

“Let’s do this for a year, see if I can be successful at it,” he told her. “Then I kind of hit the lottery and came out with the perfect game at the perfect time.”

Board games are nothing new; evidence of prehistoric board games predate the written word. Some games come and go; others — games like Clue, Yahtzee, Monopoly and Risk — have been around for the better part of the last century. These mass-market games are widely popular and commercially successful, available in every big box store. 

But thousands of board games are released each year to more niche markets. These games often require hours to play and have elaborate, complex rules and procedures. Dungeons and Dragons was one of the early examples of these role-playing games, popular among teenagers ever since. 

More complex games, adventures that take five to six hours to play, have become more commercially successful over the past several years; the popularity of mass-market games like Catan and its offshoots show that the market is not yet saturated.

Yet dig deeper, and there are dozens of possibilities, games with elaborate set-ups and back stories. 

“Sometimes you feel like you are in your own secret society,” Childres says. 

After his first attempt, he decided to try again. The result was Gloomhaven, a board game that has been met with glowing reviews. The goal, Childres says, was to create a game that was self-contained, one where users would not have to continually purchase expansion packs in order to continue playing. 

“I don’t like that business model, kind of nickel and diming your customers,” he says. 

The first Kickstarter raised $400,000; his second Kickstarter, three years ago, raised $4 million in just 30 minutes. Clearly, Childres was onto something.

“It’s been a lot more successful than I ever anticipated.”

In the meantime, he lives a quiet life in his Lafayette home with his wife, who is finishing up her degree in creative writing at Purdue. He is working on several other ideas for board games, playing with ideas, seeing what comes of them. 

Childres has been known to pop into Merlin’s Beard, a local shop for board game aficionados, and he still visits the Thursday night group at the Union. These days, the group is made up of mostly Purdue students, with few of his friends still in town. But that’s OK, he says; the group will change, with new people coming and going. 

As will he. When his wife finishes her degree, Childres suspects they, too, will move on from Lafayette. They’ll find a new place to call home, and he’ll find another board gaming group. 

For now, he is pleased with the success of Gloomhaven, happy that he can take his hobby, his passion, and share them with others. 

“It’s been the best job I could imagine,” he says. “I can’t imagine a better fit for me, doing something I love.”

BY KEN THOMPSON

PHOTOS PROVIDED

Growing up in Lafayette during the 1960s and 1970s, I probably took for granted that my family lived between Murdock Park and Columbian Park. 

Surely everybody had a basketball court/baseball field almost within eyesight of their house. Or a swimming pool, zoo and kids’ rides just a few blocks away.

Time has taught me that Greater Lafayette is more fortunate than most in having so many parks to enjoy. A few, notably McCaw Park and Prophetstown State Park, have come along since my teenage years.

Here’s a look at the parks you’ll find scattered all over Greater Lafayette.

Prophetstown State Park

History lessons abound at Indiana’s newest state park, located just outside of Battle Ground.

The park’s name is derived from the Native American village located between the Wabash and Tippecanoe rivers, established in 1808 by Tecumseh and his brother, who was called The Prophet. 

Native Americans hunted and lived along the Wabash and Tippecanoe rivers, which serve as boundaries for Prophetstown. Through a partnership with The Farm at Prophetstown, visitors can observe 1920s farm lifestyles and Native American culture. For those who like to walk among nature, there are 900 acres of restored prairie.

There’s also an aquatic center, open Memorial Day through Labor Day from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Cost is $5 per person but ages 3 and younger are free.

Gate fees are $8 for cars with Indiana license plates, $10 for out of state plates.

Columbian Park

Spread over 40 acres in the heart of Lafayette, Columbian Park has seen many changes over the decades, but the biggest is yet to come.

Loeb Stadium, the home of the Lafayette Jeff High School baseball team and events such as the Colt World Series and professional/semi-pro baseball since it opened in 1940, was recently demolished to make room for a modern baseball stadium that will seat 2,600. The new Loeb Stadium is scheduled to be ready by winter 2021.

Next door to Loeb Stadium is another big draw to Columbian Park. The zoo is home to wildlife such as a bald eagle, a laughing kookaburra and an emu. A new penguin exhibit also is under construction.

Loeb Stadium also is bounded by Tropicanoe Cove water park, which traditionally opens Memorial Day weekend.

Like Prophetstown, there’s also history to be found on the appropriately named Memorial Island. Dedicated in 1949 through the efforts of local patriotic and military organizations, Memorial Island is a permanent reminder of the price paid for our freedom. The tribute honors the men and women from Tippecanoe County who gave their lives defending our nation.

OTHER LAFAYETTE PARKS

Arlington Park, 1635 Arlington Road, is home to a playground, basketball and tennis courts, plus a picnic shelter.

Armstrong Park, 821 Beck Lane, is named in honor of Purdue graduate and first man on the moon Neil Armstrong. The large (30 acres) park has three youth baseball fields, five lighted tennis courts, lighted basketball courts, a playground and for fitness buffs, a 2/3 mile paved trail. Armstrong Park also is home to Castaway Bay aquatic center.

Centennial Park, Sixth and Brown streets, features a playground, basketball court and picnic shelter.

Hanna Park, 1201 N. 18th St., is located adjacent to the Hanna Community Center. It boasts unique playground equipment targeted for children ages 2-5 and 5-12. Hanna Park also is home to a basketball court and picnic shelter.

Tucked inside a north side neighborhood, Hedgewood Park, 2902 Beverly Lane, features plenty of green space and a playground.

Also on the north side, Linnwood Park, 1501 Greenbush St., is home to a basketball court, playground and picnic shelter.

Once home to the world horseshoe championships, Lyboult Sports Park, 1300 Canal Road, still has the horseshoe facility along with three lighted softball fields, a sand volleyball court and basketball courts.

McAllister Park on North Ninth Street is home for model plane enthusiasts and is part of the Wabash Heritage Trail.

As Lafayette’s east side began to grow in the latter part of the 20th century, McCaw Park, 3745 Union St., came into existence thanks to a $70,000 donation from William and Michele McCaw. At first, McCaw Park had three lighted youth baseball fields and a couple of picnic shelters. But in the past few years, a state-of-the-art playground and 12 pickleball courts have been added. 

Munger Park, 3505 Greenbush St., also exists today thanks to the generosity of Cinergy-PSI donating the 32 acres and a $100,000 contribution from Thomas and Alice Munger. A one-mile paved trail is surrounded by open space and curves around a pond. Fishing is permitted. There’s also a playground and a 100-seat picnic shelter available for rent.

Back in the heyday of Marion Crawley and Bill Berberian, high school basketball players would spend hours playing at Murdock Park, 2100 Cason St. Thanks to former Purdue standout Brian Cardinal, the remodeled Cardinal Court is still home to future stars. An overlooked feature of Murdock Park is the 39 acres of urban forest located just off 18th Street, one of Lafayette’s busiest streets. What little area isn’t occupied by nearly 40 variety of trees is home to a sled run that operates even when Mother Nature hasn’t provided enough of the white stuff. A challenging disc golf course is located near the Ferry Street border of Murdock Park. 

North Darby Park, 14 Darby Lane, features a basketball court and playground.

Tucked away alongside the Wabash River, Shamrock Park, 115 Samford St., is home to Lafayette’s first dog park. As you might expect of a riverfront park, there’s a small boat ramp. The 11-acre park also is home to a basketball court, horseshoes, an outdoor roller hockey rink, picnic areas, a playground and a volleyball court.

Recently renovated, SIA South Tipp Park, located at Third and Fountain streets, features two unique multi-age playgrounds, a half basketball court, a picnic shelter and a misting station.

Sterling Heights Park, 610 Harrington Drive, is Lafayette’s newest park and it has a neighborhood playground feel. There’s plenty of open green space, flower beds and shade trees surrounding the playground and picnic shelter.

Wedged into a corner along Ferry Street in between Erie and Sheridan streets, Stockton Park, 307 Erie St., has a spring-rider for small children, a swing and a picnic shelter.

WEST LAFAYETTE PARKS

Of the properties under the auspices of the West Lafayette Parks and Recreation Dept., the Celery Bog Nature Area is by far the largest. Including the Lilly Nature Center, it occupies 195 of the city’s 464 acres of recreational areas, picnic grounds, nature trails and playgrounds. 

Once upon a time, the Celery Bog, 1620 Lindberg Road, was a large vegetable farm. Now it is a sanctuary for rabbits, coyotes, opossums, nearly 120 different species of birds and other small mammals. Much of the acreage is contained by five wetland basins. The Lilly Nature Center features exhibits and educational programs available throughout the year.

Happy Hollow Park, 1301 Happy Hollow Road, is a great location for hiking or walking. There’s the 1-mile paved Trolley Line Trail that will appeal to hikers. Three different footpaths are available as well.

For the younger residents, there are two playgrounds. Older, active residents might enjoy the small softball field. Four picnic shelters have always been popular and available for reservations.

Cumberland Park is far more than the Arni Cohen Memorial softball fields drivers see while traveling on North Salisbury Street. Nearly half of the 62-acre complex is taken up by the Michaud-Sinninger Woods Nature Preserve and the large turf/soccer area.

There are also the community vegetable gardens, two lighted basketball courts, the Pony League baseball field and a volleyball court. 

Tapawingo Park, 100 Tapawingo Drive, contains the one-and-a-quarter mile paved Wabash Heritage Trail and a playground. When cold weather arrives, the Riverside Skating Center is a popular hangout.

Mascouten Park, 900 N. River Road, has easy access to the Wabash River with a boat ramp. Picnic tables also adorn the 15-acre park.

University Farm Park, 500 Lagrange St., contains playgrounds and a picnic shelter inside one of the city’s newer neighborhoods.

There’s something to do for all ages at George E. Lommel Park, 300 Wilshire Ave. A small softball field and soccer area provide plenty of space for older children. Two playgrounds and picnic tables make the park a nice place to spend an afternoon.

How many of you would have enjoyed a climbing boulder growing up? Peck-Trachtman Park, 3300 Dubois St., has one to go with a playground and picnic shelter.

Lincoln Park packs a lot into a half-acre lot at 255 Lincoln St.: A playground, picnic tables inside a 12-by-20-foot shelter and a swing set.

Formerly known as Centennial Neighborhood Park, Paula R. Woods Park was renamed in 2011 in honor of the former West Lafayette Board of Parks and Recreation member. This small park on the corner of Lawn Avenue and Vine Street is a fitting tribute to the lifetime resident of the New Chauncey Neighborhood. A small picnic shelter and a playground for pre-school children is appropriate for the neighborhood.

The Northwest Greenway Trail inside Trailhead Park, 1450 Kalberer Road, provides an experience with nature over its four acres. A picnic shelter and tables are also available.

A basketball court and exercise area are part of Tommy Johnston Park on 200 S. Chauncey St. Johnston was a long-time Purdue employee and president of the West Lafayette Board of Parks and Recreation for 14 of his 20 years on the board. A picnic shelter and swing set also occupy the half-acre park.

TIPPECANOE COUNTY PARKS

One relic of Indiana’s French heritage is Fort Ouiatenon (wee-ah-the-non), established along the Wabash River in 1717 as a fur trading post. Named for the Wea tribes in the area, Ouiatenon was one of Indiana’s earliest settlements. That heritage is recognized each fall with the Feast of the Hunters’ Moon. The replica blockhouse, built in 1930, is open weekends from mid-May to August. Programs and tours may be arranged through the Tippecanoe County Historical Association.

Nearly 100 years after Fort Ouiatenon was established, another milestone moment in Indiana history took place in Battle Ground. On Nov. 11, 1811, General William Henry Harrison led his troops into battle against Tecumseh and his Native American confederation. The site of that battle, which led to Harrison becoming the ninth President of the United States, is the home of  Tippecanoe Battlefield Park, a National Historic Landmark.

Visitors can’t miss the 85-foot tall marble obelisk monument to the Battle of Tippecanoe. There’s also the Wah-ba-shik-a Nature Center, open daily from mid-April through early November. The Tippecanoe County Historical Association operates the museum inside the park that tells the story of Harrison’s victory. 

Nearby, the Tippecanoe County Amphitheater began as the home for an outdoor historical drama but in recent years has been home to summer concerts, festivals, weddings, picnics and high school cross country events. Soccer fields and hiking/biking trails also occupy the 166-acre campus.

Ross Hills Park and the adjoining Ross Camp is spread out over 380 acres off South River Road in West Lafayette. In addition to the restored David Ross House, visitors will enjoy the Sullivan and Hentschel picnic shelters, adjoining volleyball courts, hiking trails, wooded picnic sites and a softball backstop.

The scenic Ross Camp has nearly 200 wooded acres and is home to a chapel and dining hall ideal for weddings, receptions and banquets. A frame lodge is available for meetings and overnight retreats. If camping is more your style, a campground with modern and primitive sites is available. Other amenities include a catch-and-release fishing pond and hiking trails.

Speaking of hiking, the 13-mile Wabash Heritage Trail begins at Tippecanoe Battlefield Park and follows the Wabash River to Riehle Plaza in downtown Lafayette, back across the Wabash southward toward Fort Ouiatenon. Picnic tables and benches are available along the trail.

Part of the Wabash Heritage Trail, Davis Ferry Park – located on Ninth Street Road along the Wabash – also has a boat launch and picnic area.

Granville Park also offers boat access to the Wabash River, located just off South River Road.

Wildcat Park provides not only canoe access to Wildcat Creek, but is available for fishing and picnicking.

Mar Len Park has been home to outstanding softball for decades, most recently the Indiana Magic girls team. A picnic shelter is also located on the site just south of Wea Ridge Elementary School on County Road 150 E.

BY KEN THOMPSON
STOCK PHOTOGRAPHY

With the calendar pointing to spring, there are plenty of opportunities in Greater Lafayette for people who’ve had enough of being cooped up indoors and are ready to get out and exercise.

Whether it’s running, cycling or playing a newer sport – pickleball anyone? – there’s no excuse to not get into shape. Three local groups welcome beginners as well as long-time participants and those with experience somewhere in between.

Wabash River Cycle Club

The Wabash River Cycle Club was founded in 1978, and it continues to prosper more than 40 years later because there are rides available for just about every level of cyclist. For the advanced rider, there are mountain bike trails and gravel roads. For the beginner and intermediate cyclists, there are rides featuring bike paths and roads.

Long-time club member Gary Brouillard, a member of the group’s executive board, offers these reasons for joining the Wabash River Cycle Club:

• Having a group to ride with for safety, companionship, encouragement and improving your biking skills;

• Access to the list serve for changes to calendar rides and for rides not listed on the calendar;

• Learning various safe bicycle routes; and

• The knowledge available within the membership.

As of January, there were 217 club members, a number that does not break down family memberships. To Brouillard’s knowledge, 90-year-old Gilbert Satterly is the only founding member who still belongs to the club.

Board member Molly Cripe Birt says in the past year, 280 riders logged more than 161,522 miles. 

The club boasts that it provides a great social scene not just for the cyclists but for their families and friends as well. The 501c non-profit group offers annual memberships for families ($40), individuals ($30) and students ($15). To join, go to wrcc-in.org/page/join#join. 

The club’s big annual event is the Wabash River Ride, set this year for Aug. 29 starting at Fort Ouiatenon, on South River Road in West Lafayette. Cyclists have a variety of routes to choose from, covering Tippecanoe, Fountain and Warren counties. Routes cover distances of 33, 47, 66 or 100 miles. In addition to scenic views of the Wabash River, riders could see area landmarks such as the Rob Roy Covered Bridge, historic Williamsport Bridge and the Fountain County Church.

Cumberland Park will host the club’s New Rider Callout in May. Cripe says the callout will include a 1- to 2-hour ride as well as a donut social and a fun lunch. Information will be available about other club activities and membership signup.

May is a busy month for the club. A weekly Wabash River Cycling Club Women’s Ride will offer rides based upon skill and speed. Within the weekly rides will be an educational feature called Stand Nights. Here, women can learn bike skills, maintenance and female-related cycling issues. 

The Wabash River Cycling Club also will support Bike to Work Week activities in Greater Lafayette.

Wabash River Runners Club

If you prefer two feet to two-wheeled transportation, the Wabash River Runners Club welcomes runners of all levels, from recreational jogger to the competitive road racer. The group was formed in the mid-1980s and in four decades membership has reached nearly 250.

Weekly group runs take place on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays. Tapawingo Park is the starting point for Wednesday’s group runs, beginning at 6 p.m. Saturday’s run begins at 8 a.m. from the West Lafayette Panera Bread location in Wabash Landing. An early start from Café Literato on Sunday, 7 a.m., caps the week. 

When warmer weather arrives in Greater Lafayette, the Wabash River Runners Club holds two race series: a Farmers Market 5K out of the Cumberland Park farmers market and a trail race series of varying distances out of Battle Ground Memorial Park, according to club president Natalia Sanchez.

Annual membership fees are $15 for individuals, $25 for couples and $35 for families. Those who register online at runlafin.org will incur an additional $1 processing fee. Membership is not necessary to participate in a run, but club members do gather for additional workouts to improve speed, weight training and hill climbing.

The club’s website offers valuable tips for training for a 5K race, half or full marathons and trail runs.

Sponsored races include The Purdue Challenge 5K Run/Walk. The race begins and ends at Ross-Ade Stadium and all the money raised goes to support cancer research at the Purdue Center for Cancer Research. The event’s website, raceroster.com, boasts that in the previous 12 years, the Purdue Challenge has raised more than $1 million for cancer research.

Another event is the ninth annual Purdue Boilermaker Half Marathon/5K, set for Oct. 17, with the start/finish at Ross-Ade Stadium. Register at purduehalf.com.

Lafayette Pickleball Association

Despite the name, pickleball has nothing to do with the condiment you might find on your hamburger. Instead it’s a game that’s been around since the 1960s when it began as a children’s backyard activity.

It’s a paddleball sport that combines elements of tennis, badminton and table tennis. Like those sports, two or four players can participate in a match. Holding solid paddles, the players attempt to hit a perforated ball that might remind some of a Wiffle Ball, over a net.

The wife of one of the game’s founders, Joel Pritchard, called it pickleball because “the combination of different sports reminded me of the pickle boat in crew where oarsmen were chosen from leftovers of the other boats.”

Another of the founders, Barney McCallum, claims the game was named after the Pritchard’s dog, Pickles. The dog would chase the ball and run off with it, McCallum said.

The Lafayette Indiana Pickleball Association’s roots trace back to May 2011, according to membership official Cheryl Parker. Tom Plummer and friends Joe Yuill, Dick Wiegand, Max Fitzgerald, Vern Mayrose and Jim Ciccarelli met at Armstrong Park. They played pickleball with homemade paddles composed of cutoff old tennis racket handles and pieces of plywood.

Others saw the group playing and by winter, the roster of players reached 18. That winter, the group petitioned the Lafayette Parks and Recreation Department to paint permanent pickleball lines on the tennis courts at McCaw Park.

Today, the Lafayette Pickleball Association boasts more than 250 members and says that the sport is the nation’s fastest growing. Some proof of that can be seen at McCaw Park, which hosts a 12-court complex for pickleball that was dedicated in the summer of 2018 in partnership with the Lafayette Parks and Recreation Department. 

Five sites are available for indoor play. The Lyn Treece Boys and Girls Club, 1529 N. 10th St., Lafayette, has three tiled courts available during the public school year. Cost is $2 per session or $20 a month. Portable nets and balls are provided to association members.

The YWCA, 605 N. Sixth St., Lafayette, is open to association members. Cost is $3 per session. Portable nets and balls are provided to association members. Three courts on a wood gym floor are available.

Five striped pickleball courts on a wood gym floor are available at the Lafayette YMCA, 3001 Creasy Lane. A single court can be reserved for one hour but YMCA membership is required. Guest passes are available. Also, players must provide their own pickleballs. 

Faith East Community Center has two tiled courts available for play. Cost is $2. Nets and balls will be provided for association members.

Also, Purdue’s Cordova Recreational Sports Center offers multiple wood courts and nets are available, but players are asked to bring their own pickleballs. The facility is open to members but non-members are welcome to purchase a one-day pass for $7.

Annual membership fees are $30 for individuals and $50 for families. The Lafayette Pickleball Association offers lessons for beginners and supports all levels of play from recreational to highly competitive.

Lafayette Boxing Club

For decades now, local youths and young adults have learned the skill of boxing and developing into Golden Gloves participants.

Club president Terry Christian, a former Golden Gloves state champion under the guidance of club founder Sherman Depew, takes pride in the club’s history, which began as the Twin Cities Boxing Club. In addition to 1993 National Golden Gloves light middleweight champion Darnell Wilson, the Lafayette Boxing Club has produced multiple state individual and team champions while providing facilities and training at no charge to its members. 

Its current home is 2423 Poland Hill Road in Lafayette.

Lafayette Bike Polo

A game that has been a part of the Olympics (a demonstration sport in 1908), the Lafayette Bike Polo club is based at Shamrock Park.

The game is just like it sounds, polo on bicycles instead of horses, with teams of three or five. The only other equipment needed is a mallet and a polo ball. 

For more information, including how to participate, email lafayettehardcourt@gmail.com.

BY RADONNA FIORINI

PHOTOS PROVIDED

They build the roads. They construct the houses. They care for the elderly. They put out fires. They keep your car running. They are the thousands of Tippecanoe County residents who make a living in industry and trade professions, and there is a growing need for more of them.

Current economic drivers make it critical for the community to attract and keep carpenters, bricklayers, electricians, plumbers and others in the construction and building trades, says Stephen Snyder, president of the Tippecanoe Building Trades Council, which represents 17 trade associations and unions in nine central Indiana counties.

And many students are suited for careers in such fields as culinary arts, information technology or nursing that require technical training or certification, but they may not be aware of the available options, says Miranda Hutcheson, director of Career and Technical Education at the new Greater Lafayette Career Academy. 

Trades and technical jobs are plentiful and critical to any community’s economic health and Snyder and Hutcheson’s organizations, in cooperation with others, are creating opportunities for students to explore different career paths and have hands-on experience by the time they graduate from high school. 

Some students want to get first-hand experience before committing to a university program, and others want to get into the work force as soon as possible, says Hutcheson. Apprenticeships through the trades council and classes and training through the career academy provide those opportunities, and come at a critical time.

A “perfect storm” of circumstances has led to the current need and cooperative push to interest students in such careers, Snyder says: 

• The population is aging, and many skilled professionals such as plumbers, roofers and sheet metal workers are retiring.

• The construction market is hot and in need of skilled workers.

• Families and students are increasingly concerned about the cost of a college education and paying back student loans. 

“A lot of parents, students and high school counselors are excited about our apprenticeship programs that will lead to a good job without a mountain of debt,” says Snyder. Students willing to work hard can complete a three- or four-year apprenticeship and get a job that pays a living wage, allowing them to buy a home and raise a family.

And students can get a leg up on an undergraduate degree by taking college-level courses for free through the career academy while still in high school, says Hutcheson. She estimates that college-bound students in some fields can save from a few hundred dollars to $10,000 in university tuition costs, and the academy allows students to explore different careers before committing to a course of study after high school.

The first phase of the academy opened last August in the former Lafayette Life Insurance building on South 18th Street in Lafayette. Indiana has long been home to such career centers, and local educators and industry representatives talked about opening one for several years. The pieces fell into place when the building became available and all three county school districts decided to work together to get it up and running, Hutcheson says. Snyder sits on the advisory board of the career academy, as do a number of other local industry partners who help review community needs and determine what programs are offered.

There are 187 students from four local public high schools currently enrolled in half-day academy programs. These juniors and seniors attend regular classes at their schools in the morning and are bused to the academy each afternoon for specialized training. Training in health science, auto service technology, cosmetology, engineering/manufacturing, communications and TV/radio, construction/architecture, culinary arts, information technology, education and public safety currently is offered. 

Some also are placed in the community and get hands-on training with local businesses in such areas as civil engineering, electrical contracting, clinical positions and building and contracting. While the academy is developing lab space for technical training, community partners provide a number of valuable resources, Hutcheson says. For example, students interested in firefighting are able to use the county fire training facility.

“These kids are my trailblazers,” says Hutcheson. “Scheduling is a challenge, but these students can pick up 17 dual credits and three industry certifications,” through the academy before leaving high school. 

Lamont Johnson and Tucker Bogue are two of those trailblazers. Both 18 and seniors at West Lafayette High School, the young men will graduate in May with a high school diploma and a Certified Nursing Assistant certificate, after passing the state certification test. They hope to continue their education and become physical therapists.

“I knew I wanted to help people since I was little,” Johnson says. “I found out about this from my school counselor who knew what I wanted to do in college. Tucker and I have similar passions.”

Bogue became interested in physical therapy after suffering a series of knee injuries playing basketball in junior and senior high and going through rehab. 

“I was 100 percent sure what I wanted to do with my life, but (the academy program) boosted my confidence and ignited what was already there,” says Bogue. “Taking these courses in high school gives you a different outlook earlier in life.”

As part of the program, Johnson, Bogue and more than 25 other students interested in health sciences spend several hours a week at the Indiana Veterans Home. They help the residents with small tasks, visit with them and help out in other ways. They also are learning about the different areas of service at the home, such as the pharmacy and rehabilitation programs. 

“I would never have spent this much time with older people otherwise,” Johnson says. “I’m really learning to respect them and getting to know their unique personalities. We’re helping people who served our country.”

Going to the academy has meant some sacrifice for these young men. While they still have morning classes at WLHS, each afternoon is spent at the academy or the Veterans Home, and they miss eating lunch with friends and hanging out after school.

“But the trade-off is worth it,” says Bogue. “If you have any hunch about what you want to do (after high school) just act on it. I recommend it to anyone interested in these courses.”

The Tippecanoe Building Trades Council also is committed to encouraging the exploration of a career in the trades, says Snyder. Last summer the council and 10 professional trade associations sponsored a free, multi-week summer construction camp for anyone 14 and older. 

Each day participants worked alongside a skilled professional on such tasks as operating heavy equipment, laying brick, welding, finishing cement, installing drywall and painting. Some students signed up for multiple weeks and explored a number of careers. Free lunch and appropriate protective gear is provided, as well. The expo will be offered again this June and July. 

The council also cooperates with local agencies such as the United Way of Greater Lafayette, Greater Lafayette Commerce and Region 4 Work Force Development Board. The promotion of 14 apprenticeship programs offered by area trade associations and unions also is a priority. Those apprenticeship classes are accredited by Ivy Tech Community College and taught at local facilities designed for the specific trade. 

“We have first-rate training facilities for these three- to four-year apprenticeships that include benefits,” and hands-on training, says Snyder. “No one wants to talk about working hard and doing anything but getting a college degree, meanwhile the infrastructure is crumbling. We provide the practical end of things,” he says, adding that without skilled trades and construction workers, a community’s roads will fall into disrepair, new homes won’t be built, buildings will not be maintained and the tools required to keep a community thriving will be missing. 

The council is committed to help train a competent, drug-free, skilled, local workforce to Tippecanoe County businesses and to encourage those professional trades people to be actively involved in community life, Snyder says. 

Josh Kiger, who owns a small home renovation company with his wife, Sarah, agrees that the availability of reliable workers is critical to his success. The Kigers opened New View two years ago and specialize in window, door and garage door installation and repair, and general home renovation. While Josh Kiger had experience in those areas before starting the company, he and Sarah obtained some certifications to make sure they could offer their customers the best service possible. 

The family-owned company employs two people in the winter when demand slows down and five people as the weather warms and outdoor work picks up. The Kigers emphasize clear communication with each of their clients and work to maintain a good relationship throughout each project, Josh Kiger says. But finding quality employees has been a challenge.

“It’s been really difficult,” he says. “Even finding people who are teachable has been hard. We can teach anyone if they’re willing, if they’ll make themselves presentable. Really we’re looking for the simple things.”

Such concerns have been voiced by other business owners, says Hutcheson, and local educators are offering a new certification program to help students learn life skills that will help lead to success in any career.

The Governor’s Work Ethic Certificate (GWEC) program is a state initiative run by the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, says Jay Davis, assistant director/career counselor at the Greater Lafayette Career Academy. 

The program, open to all juniors and seniors, began in Tippecanoe County last fall and more than 320 students signed up. A trial run of the program in 2018-19 yielded 45 students who earned the GWEC, he says. Students must become competent in nine academic and work-related areas. Some are subjective — such as persistence, respectfulness and dependability. Some are objective — such as grade point average, few disciplinary issues and meeting all graduation requirements. Students also must complete six hours of community service.

“The GWEC looks great on resumes and job applications and can increase (a student’s) chance of getting job interviews and job opportunities,” Davis says.

The program’s stated goals include:

 • Providing students with an understanding of necessary skills that will help make them employable for in-demand jobs and giving them opportunities to demonstrate those skills while in high school.

• Providing local employers with potential workers who understand the values and importance of responsibility and perseverance in the workplace.

A community advisory council collaborates with local school districts to maintain the program and reward students who obtain the certificate. For example, cooperating businesses might guarantee job interviews to students with the certificate or provide an incentive such as professional mentoring and possible reimbursement of college tuition, according to the program website. 

“The response from the community has been positive to this point,” says Davis. “I believe a realistic goal would be to eventually involve as many as 100 community partners for the GWEC program in Tippecanoe County.”

Interested in any of these programs or opportunities? Learn more at:
• Work Ethic Certificate: glcareeracademy.com/work-ethic-certification
• Greater Lafayette Career Academy: glcareeracademy.com
• Tippecanoe Building Trades Council: unionsbuilditbetter.com
• New View: newview-gdw.com

BY CINDY GERLACH
PHOTOS BY CHRISTINE PETKOV

Chic. Hip. Trendy.

These are the words that come to mind when one pictures living in an urban downtown. Surrounded by high-rise buildings, eclectic architecture and nightlife — it’s a young sophisticate’s dream. 

And it’s available right here in River City. 

Downtown, right on the riverfront, a short walk to the courthouse, with stunning views — it’s the hip and happening place to live in Lafayette. 

And if you want to be part of it, brace yourself: There may be a wait.

Destination of choice

When Ben McCartney and Cathleen Campbell moved to town in 2018, downtown was their preference on where to live. McCartney actually grew up in West Lafayette. But after being away for several years living near the East Coast, he and his new wife decided they wanted that urban feel.

“When moving to Lafayette, Cathleen and I were hoping to embrace what small-town life has to offer,” says McCartney. “For us that meant walking to work, walking to church and walking to our favorite restaurants and hang-out spots.” 

It’s been a perfect fit for the two of them; McCartney walks to work at Purdue University, and they’ve found their niche with places to eat downtown. They wouldn’t have it any other way. 

Convenience and charm 

Proximity to bars and restaurants plus the ability to walk places are all reasons given for opting to live downtown, says relocation specialist Faye Cole of Lafayette Relocation Services.

“Part of it is just the charm of living downtown,” Cole says, “A lot of my clients are younger people. They love to be able to walk to bars and restaurants, and they don’t want to risk getting a DUI.”

Downtown culture is a big draw, says Kelsey Talbot, property manager with W.H. Long. Adding to that, the allure of the uniqueness of the architecture makes it a desirable place for young professionals to get their start. 

“The downtown market is hot,” she says. “The proximity to campus without being on it, that’s a really big draw.”

Plus, she says, people are attracted to the historic buildings. 

“The exposed brick, the character of these buildings,” she says. “You don’t get that everywhere. The corner units with downtown views — people really like that aesthetic, being in the heart of things.”  

Yet it’s not just young people who opt for life downtown. 

“We see all walks of life in terms of ages and lifestyle,” Talbot says. She sees graduate students who want to be near campus, but not right in the heart of the undergraduate party scene, which can be a little loud and rambunctious. She also sees Purdue faculty and professionals who travel frequently, thus they don’t want the upkeep of a house and a lawn. 

“Downtown draws a lot of different people in; so many people are here for different reasons.” 

Arts and culture at your fingertips

Part of the attraction of living in downtown Lafayette is the proximity to entertainment, arts and culture. 

For some people, it’s the convenience of being able to walk to so many restaurants and bars. And the options don’t disappoint — downtown Lafayette is home to more than 20 eateries, with food options from hamburgers and pizza, Italian, sushi, pub fare and high-end dining with fine wines. Plenty of these restaurants offer patio seating for warm weather dining. And for people who live just up the block, these all come without the hassle of searching for parking.

And for others, it’s access to performances and nightlife. Downtown Lafayette is home to multiple art galleries, which open their doors several times each year to host downtown Gallery Walks. Many bars offer live musical performances by local bands. And regular performances by local performing arts groups are featured downtown, including Civic Theatre, the Lafayette Master Chorale, the Lafayette Symphony Orchestra and the Tippecanoe Chamber Music Society — all of which perform in downtown theaters and churches. 

The Long Center for the Performing Arts and the Lafayette Theater both bring in outside programming, an eclectic variety of shows geared toward audiences of all ages. 

There are multiple houses of worship downtown that also are easily accessible. Fun and funky gift shops, antique stores and bookstores — locally owned — offer fun for both buyers and browsers alike. The county library is convenient. And from May to October, the downtown farmers market offers shopping for high-quality food items from local vendors. 

Downtown festivals are another big draw. The aforementioned Gallery Walks keep downtown alive on Friday evenings throughout the warmer months. Mosey Down Main Street, designed to highlight upper Main Street, also draws crowds, as it features local musical performances and eateries. The annual Taste of Tippecanoe features multiple stages with live performances and dozens of local restaurants. Lafayette’s giant Independence Day celebration also is downtown, with fireworks being lit from the pedestrian bridge over the river. And come December, the Christmas parade and Dickens of a Christmas bring a fun and festive holiday air — again, right downtown. 

Downtown residents get to take part in all of these celebrations and activities — again, minus the frustration of looking for parking. It’s a perfect mix, says Talbot.

“You’re a part of downtown but not right in the middle of it,” she says. “You still have some quiet and serenity when you want it.”

For some young people, being right in the midst of things is a lifestyle choice. Talbot finds that a lot of her younger clients are committed to living more sustainably, to buying local and living in a community they know well. For them, downtown living means they drive less and frequent businesses with whom they have a relationship.

“Buying local, supporting small businesses,” she says. “You see that familiar face — it makes you want to go back and be a part of it.”

Options for living

Just like the people who live downtown, the downtown residences are not all the same. From quirky lofts to high-end luxury apartments, downtown dwellings come in all shapes and sizes. 

Many apartments are part of buildings that are around a century old. For example, the historic Schultz Building, 216 N. Fourth St., is a mixed-use building with businesses on the main floors and apartments above. An older building, the units feature high ceilings with an urban loft feel, some with exposed brick and vents and tall windows, giving a panoramic view of downtown. The apartments vary, from studio to two bedrooms, anywhere from 460 square feet to nearly 900. They all come with renovated kitchens with a dishwasher, garbage disposal and microwave. Plus, each unit comes with in-unit laundry facilities. 

Contrast the older architecture with the Marq apartments, just a few blocks away on Second Street. The Marq is brand-new construction with more of a luxury high-rise ambience. The apartments have private balconies, walk-in closets, in-unit laundry and garage parking. Upper floors have stunning views of the Wabash River.  

Multiple other complexes are scattered throughout downtown, from the Lahr Apartments — a former hotel — to Renaissance Place, across from Riehle Plaza. And all over downtown are various apartments hidden above shops and storefronts, all with a variety of floorplans and amenities. 

Drawbacks

For some people, worrying about parking might make living downtown a bit intimidating. Talbot says there are places to rent a space that are affordable. And Cole, whose office is downtown, says the lack of parking downtown is exaggerated. 

“The perception is there’s no downtown parking,” she says. “In my experience, I can always find a parking space within one block of where I’m going,” 

Plus, with the Connector Bus, which runs between downtown and Purdue University every 20 minutes, it’s easy to get from one place to another. 

Safety might be a concern for some, with downtown areas generally having a reputation as being a bit more gritty and edgy. Also not true, says Cole.

“There is no place in Lafayette/West Lafayette I wouldn’t park my car and still get out and walk,” she says. “We’re still a better community than most of them.”

And for people who might rent in a building that does not offer standard amenities such as laundry and workout facilities, those places are all available downtown, just a short walk. 

If living downtown sounds like the perfect fit for you, be prepared: Vacancies are few. Talbot says there is a waiting list, with most places near capacity. 

“In the last two years, prices have shot up,” Cole says. “There’s beautiful new construction, but it’s executive housing. Affordable housing will soon be lacking.”

For McCartney and Campbell, living downtown has proven to be exactly what they were looking for.

“Downtown Lafayette has so much going for it that it’s been super easy to live mostly on foot,” McCartney says. “And with new restaurants — and the spring — just around the corner, we’re excited to continue to live downtown!”

BY KARIS PRESSLER

The United States Census, the once every 10-year count of those living in the U.S. and its territories, was first taken in 1790.  Now, 230 years later, local leaders are working feverishly to help Greater Lafayette understand that the Census can impact everything from what buildings will be built, to what roads will be repaired, and what resources could be made available to our community over the next 10 years and beyond.

“The things that come out of those 10 questions is amazing,” says Cindy Murray, Lafayette city clerk.  Murray has been meeting with civic groups, organizations and businesses for months helping community members realize how simple and painless participating in the Census can be.

The goal of the 2020 Census according to the U.S. Census Bureau is “to count everyone once, only once, and in the right place.”  Starting this spring, the 2020 Census questionnaire will ask who was living in a home, apartment, or mobile home on April 1, along with the age, sex, ethnicity, and race of everyone identified.  This demographic information will then be used to determine how much federal funding can be allocated to help build and maintain infrastructure and is also used to calculate the number of Congressional seats for each state.

“When a new manufacturer or industry wants to come to our community, they definitely look at the Census to see the demographics, and what our economy is, and the type of folks that are here.  And so, the Census plays a huge role.  It develops our community,” Murray says.

Jeff Zeh, chief operating officer for IU Health Arnett, says that accurate Census data are essential in providing quality healthcare throughout the region since “the Census is the best way for us to have an understanding of the population we serve.”

Zeh explains that knowing demographics related to age, race and ethnicity is important so healthcare professionals can, for instance, actively work to decrease the high rate of pregnancy-related deaths among black women, and effectively treat lupus, a chronic condition that is more common among Asian and Hispanic women compared to non-Hispanic white women.

Census data are also linked to a community’s emergency response resources, as Murray learned when a local Census representative told her that while visiting a rural fire station, a resident shared, “You know, if it weren’t for the Census, we wouldn’t have gotten the federal money to build this firehouse.”

Murray sees the Census’s impact everywhere, even when driving around town.  “People don’t know that they’re actually driving on roads that the Census helped us get the money for,” she says, citing the current construction on Twyckenham Boulevard as an example.  “There’s $675 billion out there that can go to communities, and that can be spent on schools, fire trucks, infrastructure, transportation … And so it is important for people to be counted.”

Jos Holman, the librarian for the Tippecanoe County Public Library, appreciates the Census’s long reach over the past, present and future.  As a librarian, he values the Census for its ability to paint an accurate portrait of America over time but also knows the immediate impact that federal funding can have on a library’s resources, specifically within rural communities.

“Were it not for the Census, smaller rural libraries would not be able to do some of the things that they want to do by way of technology, and technological resources, and services to their community,” he says.

“The hardest part is getting folks to not be afraid,” says Murray, when reflecting on people’s reluctance to participate in the Census.  Although information reported to the Census must by law remain confidential, it remains difficult to convince everyone to participate.

“It’s not unusual for people who are poorer, people of color, and children to be undercounted,” explains Holman.  He continues, “People of color who are in lower economic situations, they’re reluctant to share information … If I’m living in poverty, (taking the Census) is not high on my priority list.  It’s not.  It’s about my next meal, it’s about taking care of my kids, it’s about keeping my job, it’s about paying my rent.”

For this reason, Holman and Murray are collaborating with area organizations such as the YWCA and Greater Lafayette Commerce (GLC) to organize and sponsor events that can teach the public why participating in the Census is vital to the community’s success and its future.  At these events Census workers will also be present to help attendees fill out and submit their household’s Census form.

“It’s not a difficult process,” explains Sana Booker, West Lafayette city clerk.  “It’s not hard to do if we can get people to see the meaning of it … I think one of the things that the Census has not been very good at in the past is explaining why they are important.”

Murray agrees, and she has noticed a shift in how the Census has engaged with the public.  In 2010, Census marketing materials – cups, pens, and bags emblazoned with the Census logo – inundated Murray’s office.  But this time around, Murray appreciates how the Census has focused on making print and online materials available that clearly explain the Census’s purpose and impact.  The Census Bureau also has invested in making the questionnaire more accessible.  This year, for the first time, Census forms can be submitted either online, by mail or by phone.  The questionnaire also will be available in 13 languages.

Murray is passionate about the Census’s direct connection to Greater Lafayette’s future.  “It’s important that everybody participates no matter your age, your race, or ethnicity, your financial status … Because those numbers do count.”

When Booker, a woman of color, holds up a 2020 Census pamphlet and looks at it, she breaks into a wide smile then declares with a hint of awe, “I see me … for the first time.”  On its cover, the pamphlet showcases a kaleidoscope of skin color.  “This feels personal,” she says.

The addition of various skin tones on the Census’s promotional materials is one indicator of how far inclusion in this country has come.

“African Americans were often uncounted because they were not considered human.  And so, when I think about the Census today, and in my lifetime, I should say, it was important to know who was present.  And we were, but we were treated as invisible people.  So, it is important on a very personal level to me that all people are counted.  All people.”  Booker pauses before continuing.  “Everybody counts, every person has a story, and we all have a message.”

The GLC Diversity Roundtable has selected the motto “We all count” for its upcoming community-wide event that will aim to raise awareness and boost Census 2020 responses.  Holman, who’s been a member of the Diversity Roundtable for 17 years, says that this event will celebrate the connection we all have to each other by living in the same geographic region.  “We believe that if we can bring people together based on a Census event … where we do some hands-on things, but we also do some basic education, that is an opportunity to…allow people to join together, to bond,” he says.

“We are not counting things,” Booker shares with conviction when anticipating the impact that the 2020 Census will have on the community.  “We are counting human lives that matter, who are the reason why education matters, the reason why hospitals matter, these are things that serve people.”  And for this reason Booker hopes that everyone will participate in the 2020 Census and celebrate their role in making Greater Lafayette a thriving community that will continue to flourish for decades to come.

Whether you prefer sourdough bread or frosting-stuffed cupcakes, vegan cheesecake or flourless chocolate tortes, Greater Lafayette bakeries offer something for nearly every taste and dietary restriction. After contacting shop owners and asking locals for recommendations — and trying some on our own — we compiled a list of some of the best baked goods around.

Flour Mill Bakery, Rossville

facebook.com/flourmillbakery

Sandra Hufford and her sister, Sheryl, started the Flour Mill Bakery in 1996 in Hufford’s house, “literally in the middle of the cornfield,” she says. While the sisters had not intended to sell donuts, word had gotten around town that a donut shop was opening, and so they added them to the menu. “Donuts have always been our biggest seller,” Hufford says. “We sell approximately 450 dozen per week.” After Hufford’s sister moved on to other ventures, Hufford sold the business in 2016, only to repurchase it three years later. At its current location on State Road 26 in Rossville, the bakery sells donuts, pies, cookies and angel food cakes, along with homemade salads, soups, espresso drinks and deli meats and cheeses. 

Gigi’s Cupcakes, Lafayette

gigiscupcakesusa.com

As a young girl in Wolcott, Indiana, Brittany Gerber loved watching her mom decorate wedding cakes and began dabbling in the art as soon as she was old enough. After attending Purdue University and working in customer service for several years, Gerber purchased the Lafayette Gigi’s franchise in 2019, where she serves up cupcakes, cakes, cookies stuffed with frosting, macarons, cheesecakes, cake truffles and miniature cupcakes. Three gluten-friendly options are on the menu every day, including the GF Triple Chocolate Torte. Custom cakes and vegan options are also available by special order. An annual sponsor of the Cupcake Run/Walk for the Public Schools Foundation of Tippecanoe County, Gigi’s donated 1,248 cupcakes for race participants in 2019. 

Great Harvest Bread Company

greatharvestlafayette.com

Thirteen years ago, Jerry and Janet Lecy were working in a Christian non-profit organization when they decided to buy the local Great Harvest franchise. Within two years, the bakery’s sales had doubled, and the business has continued growing since then. Great Harvest specializes in made-from-scratch breads using flour that is ground in-house with a stone mill. The bakery also offers cinnamon rolls, muffins, scones, cookies and bars, along with fresh granola and sandwiches. “Most of our breads are vegan, the basic bread having five basic ingredients — fresh-milled flour, water, yeast, honey and salt,” Jerry Lecy says. All six of the couple’s children have worked at Great Harvest over the years. 

Mary Lou Donuts, Lafayette

maryloudonuts.com

Started in 1961 by Mary Lou and Steward Graves, Mary Lou Donuts changed hands several times before being purchased in 2017 by Jeff Waldon, who has seen a growth in sales and is considering expansion. The bakery specializes in donuts, cream horns, apple fritters and cookies, and also serves danishes, brownies and cupcakes. The cream horns are vegan. Mary Lou produces several thousand dozen donuts weekly, providing all the donuts for Purdue’s Universiy’s dining halls and retail locations on campus. This fall, the bakery — and its Donut Truck, which regularly visits campus — will be featured on the Big Ten Network’s program “Campus Eats.” 

Scones and Doilies, Lafayette

sconesanddoilies.com

After immigrating to the United States, Sergei Dhe and Natasha Vasili worked in the food service industry while crafting pastries and cakes on the side. In 2014, with their daughters’ encouragement, the couple launched their own business. They currently share a space with City Foods Co-op on Main Street in Lafayette. Scones and Doilies specializes in European-style baked goods using original recipes, including seasonal items such as decorated Easter cookies and Greek Easter bread. “Our goal is to share the same excitement and creativity we have for food with our community,” says Vasili. Signature items include scones, rugelach, biscotti, galettes and specialty cakes. Several gluten-free pastries are regularly available, and gluten-free cakes and vegan items can be made to order. The couple supports the International Center at Purdue University, participating in such events as 2019’s Summer Supper series. 

Smittybread, Lafayette

smittybread.com

If the name of this newish bakery sounds familiar to you, that’s on purpose: This artisanal bread shop pays homage to the old Smitty’s Foodliner, which served customers for five decades at the corner of Northwestern and Lindberg in West Lafayette before closing in 2005. As the story goes, when veteran Journal & Courier editor and reporter Dave Smith decided to turn his breadmaking hobby into a business, he received permission to use an updated version of the grocery’s logo. Ever the wordsmith, Smith gives his bread creations one-of-a-kind names like Amber Wave and Kalamata Olive Pain au Levain, and occasionally blogs on topics like friendship, travel and farmers markets. Along with breads, the shop offers a rotating selection of cinnamon rolls, croissants, Danishes and morning buns, noted on the daily schedule online. If you have your heart set on a particular goodie, however, the shop advises that you call ahead. Smittybread also serves up soups and sandwiches, including the B.E.S.T. (bacon, egg, spinach and tomato) and Farmers Market (ham, salami, provolone and veggies), all made on house-made bread.

Stone House Restaurant and Bakery, Delphi

facebook.com/stonehouserestaurantandbakerydelphi

Bacon-wrapped pastries, anyone? For the Stone House Restaurant and Bakery in Delphi, last year’s Indiana Bacon Festival was the perfect occasion for dispensing more than 800 crème-filled, maple-iced long johns covered in bacon — and that was despite the blistering hot weather. “We don’t let the heat stop us,” says owner Lisa Delaney, who opened the shop nearly 20 years ago after purchasing an existing bakery in town. On regular days, Stone House serves up more traditional offerings, such as cookies, pies and specialty brownies, many based on recipes from Delaney’s grandmother. Sugar- or dairy-free options are available with 24 hours notice. The bakery, which also offers breakfast, lunch and dinner, crafts all of its own sandwich buns, bread and rolls onsite, including its newest addition, dill pickle bread. 

Sweet Revolution Bake Shop, Lafayette

sweetrevolutionbakeshop.com

Passionate about baking since she was a child, culinary school graduate Sarah McGregor-Ray worked in the industry for more than a decade before joining forces with her brother, Jonathan, and her mom, Debbie, to launch a bakery of her own. After selling at local farmers markets and festivals, McGregor-Ray opened a brick-and-mortar bake shop in 2017 next door to the Knickerbocker Saloon. Sweet Revolution offers daily seasonal pastries, quiches and pies, baked fresh with all-natural ingredients. Gluten-free, keto and vegan options are available, including keto vanilla cheesecake, vegan and gluten-free apple cinnamon muffins and flourless chocolate torte. Customers can wash down their treats with cold brew coffee and chai tea, among other specialty drinks. 

Two Guys Catering and Bakery, Brookston and Lafayette

twoguyscateringandbakery.com

Randy Griffin and Chad McFally began their catering business by tailgating for Purdue football games, which eventually led to graduation parties and weddings and then to selling their goods at local farmers markets. When a commercial kitchen became necessary, “those two guys,” as their customers called them, began using the YWCA’s facilities. In late 2019, Griffin and McFally purchased the Klein Brot Haus Bakery in Brookston, where renovations are currently underway. Once reopened, the bakery will serve cinnamon rolls, cheesecakes, cookies, brownies and cakes along with pies and specialty breads made from original Klein Brot Haus recipes. Their specialty item is the Big Daddy, a peanut butter cookie stuffed with a brownie and a peanut butter cup and drizzled with chocolate. If you’re not so hungry, you can get the Little Mama, a smaller version of the same concoction.

BY CINDY GERLACH

For some, a visit to an international grocery store is about acquiring the proper ingredients to create authentic ethnic cuisine. Yet for others, it’s a way to feel at home. 

Jenny Hwang, manager of Hana Market in West Lafayette, says shopping at Hana Market evokes fond memories, where shoppers can be surrounded by the familiar sights and smells that remind them of home. 

“We try to carry lots of food for students,” she says. “They’re far away from home.”

The presence of Purdue University, and its population of international students – one of the highest for a major university in the country – means that grocery stores that cater to that population are plentiful. Yet the stores are also popular for people with an epicurean streak, as it’s possible to get the best possible ingredients for one’s culinary endeavors. The stores feature authentic items – some fresh, some frozen, some ready to eat – and right in your own backyard. 

ALDI

210 SAGAMORE PARKWAY, WEST LAFAYETTE
957 SAGAMORE PARKWAY, LAFAYETTE

Maybe you don’t know that shopping at Aldi is actually a German supermarket experience. This explains why you must pay a deposit, or pfand, when you pick up your shopping cart, which is refunded upon its return. Shoppers are encouraged to bring their own bags; Aldi does have plastic bags, but customers are charged for them – another German practice. 

Aldi, a no-frills supermarket, carries standard grocery items, but many of them are European brands. Its housewares are a hit, but as regulars at Aldi know, you can’t depend on finding items from one week to the next. At Christmastime, Aldi is the best place in town to find traditional German holiday treats, such as mulled wine, or Gluhwein, and chocolate advent calendars. 

ASIA MARKET

2400 YEAGER ROAD, WEST LAFAYETTE

Asia Market caters to multiple ethnic palates. Aisles are clearly labeled, noting food items from Africa, India, Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, China and Taiwan. Fresh and frozen meats, rice in bulk, and frozen items are all available, as are spices, sauces and easy-to-prepare foods. Dishes and housewares are also available. 

BETTER WORLD MARKET

402 BROWN ST., WEST LAFAYETTE

Better World Market is hidden just off the West Lafayette levee, tucked in behind Tapawingo Park and Wabash Landing. A fairly large supermarket, it carries a variety of items that cater to its Asian clientele. The store carries a variety of vegetables, from lotus root to Japanese yams. Customers can find everything they need to cook their dishes, such as bulk rice, fresh meat and spices, or they can find easy-to-prepare ramen noodles and frozen items. 

Some toiletries also are available, with translated labels, making it friendly for those unfamiliar with English. 

The store also offers local delivery and free pick-up.  

As a bonus, there is a small restaurant hidden in the back of the store, offering authentic Chinese cuisine. 

HANA MARKET

3457 BETHEL DRIVE, WEST LAFAYETTE

From its inauspicious frontage in a strip mall, Hana Market appears to be tiny. But upon entering, it’s a large space, filled with rows of items that cater to its audience. The store is about 80 percent Korean items, says Hwang, with some Japanese and Chinese items.

It’s a haven for those far from home, Hwang says, a place where they can find familiar items – especially for students, who long for the comforts of home.

“It’s a hangout for them,” Hwang says.

The store offers a variety of grocery items – from staples for cooking to quick items, easy to heat up and prepare, which are popular with students. People can pick up snack items or their daily supplies, such as rice and kimchi. 

The market also tries to keep up with what is trendy, Hwang says, which appeals to both students and U.S. customers, who, thanks to the Internet and social media, have often heard of particular items and are anxious to try them. Currently, very spicy items are en vogue – and Hana is sure to have them. 

People often come in and ask Hwang about particular items that are trending. And she is happy to lend assistance.

“If I’m not busy and someone asks about the recipe, I can explain how to make it,” she says. 

KHYBER SUPERMARKET

237 E. STATE ST., WEST LAFAYETTE

Khyber Supermarket offers a selection of Middle Eastern items. Located near the Purdue University campus, it’s convenient for students and faculty alike. Spices are readily available, as are ingredients for many beloved Middle Eastern dishes. 

OASIS MEXICAN GROCERY

2338 SAGAMORE PARKWAY, WEST LAFAYETTE

This store, on the edge of West Lafayette, offers everything one needs to make authentic Mexican food. From beans and rice to pre-made tortillas, Mexican food lovers can find everything they need. Beverages and specialty sweets are favorites.

Other international groceries:

INDIAN AND INTERNATIONAL GROCERY: 1070 SAGAMORE PARKWAY WEST, WEST LAFAYETTE

JALISCO GROCERY: 3315 MCCARTY LANE, LAFAYETTE

LA CHIQUITA: 1440 SAGAMORE PARKWAY NORTH, LAFAYETTE

LA PLAZA: 2100 VETERANS MEMORIAL PARKWAY, LAFAYETTE

LA VILLAGE FOOD MART: 208 SOUTH ST., LAFAYETTE

BY ANGELA K. ROBERTS
PHOTOS PROVIDED BY SUBARU OF INDIANA AUTOMOTIVE

In 1994, Laurel, Mississippi, native Allen Hodge — who had relocated with his young bride back to her hometown of West Lafayette, Indiana — took a job at a burgeoning automotive factory on the outskirts of Dayton, Indiana. Twenty-five years later, just as Subaru of Indiana Automotive was celebrating the production of it’s 4 millionth Subaru vehicle, Allen’s son, Jon Hodge, followed in his footsteps by stepping onto the 820-acre campus for the first time as a contract worker.

“It was a combination of planning for my future and accounting for my needs at the time. I wanted a job that paid well and I could make a career out of,” says the 22-year-old Hodge, who works for CTI Personnel as a materials handler, delivering parts to the line for his fellow associates to attach to cars.

The young Hodge says that when his number comes up, SIA will transition him from a temporary job to a permanent one. That may happen sooner than he originally anticipated, given the plant’s recent announcement. In February, SIA released plans to invest $158 million in a new service parts facility and transmission assembly shop, which together will generate 350 new jobs for Greater Lafayette. Construction will begin this summer on the service parts facility, a stand-alone building, and the transmission assembly shop, an addition to the plant. “We’re proud to continue investing in Indiana,” says Scott Brand, senior vice president of administration and quality.

Ramping up production

For years now, local auto dealer and advertising icon Bob Rohrman has urged Greater Lafayette television viewers to “Buy Subaru and keep Lafayette driving.” The tagline has a lot of truth behind it: SIA is woven into the community’s fabric, churning out cars, jobs, customers and community service at a time when some automobile manufacturers are struggling to keep the lights on.

The Lafayette plant is Subaru’s only manufacturing facility outside of Asia and currently employs more than 6,000 associates, of which more than 5,000 work in production. When the plant opened in 1989, associates built the Subaru Legacy and Isuzu Pick-up. In the years that followed, SIA continued to produce Subaru models in addition to other vehicles, including the Isuzu Rodeo, Honda Passport and Toyota Camry.

Since June 2016, the plant has exclusively produced Subaru vehicles. Current cars rolling off the assembly line here are the Ascent, Impreza, Legacy and Outback models for North America.

SIA executives project that the plant will build 410,000 cars over the next year. Production levels, in fact, have tripled over the last 10 years, says Brand, and the announced expansion will help the company meet increased customer demand.

Loyal customers

When it comes to car buying, loyalty is key, according to the data analytics firm J.D. Power and Associates: Local drivers will return to buy or lease from the same manufacturer and will recommend the brand to friends and family members.

In the firm’s first-ever loyalty survey in 2019, Subaru ranked highest among mass market brands — and highest overall — with a loyalty rate of 61.5 percent, edging out even the highest-ranked luxury car, Lexus, which topped out at 47.6 percent.

Loyalty and popularity ratings underscore the support of local Subaru drivers like Drew Hallett, a web programmer at Purdue University who shares a Forester with his wife. “It was the best value midsize SUV and seemed to have the most spacious interior,” Hallett says of the car, which they purchased as a pre-owned vehicle.

Hallett, who recommended the Subaru Ascent to his parents when they were car-shopping recently, says he’s had “zero problems” with his SUV: “No single car can do it all, but the Forester comes close.”

For Purdue University graphic designer Sarah Anderson, who had a toddler when she purchased her Forester several years ago, safety was her top priority. “I had done a lot of research and narrowed it down to two options that I really liked,” she says. “We ended up going with the Subaru Forester because of the local reputation and resale value.”

Like many Subaru drivers, Anderson says she loves her car. “I’ve only had a couple small issues, and the team at Subaru have been fabulous to work with,” she says. “It’s a dependable car that gets my family where we want to go safely — with good gas mileage.”

When it came time for her parents to replace their SUV, Anderson convinced them to purchase an Outback. Now, she says, “They even come to Lafayette for service visits.”

Safety, Environment and Community

For safety-minded buyers like Anderson, features such as adaptive cruise control and pre-collision breaking are innovations that helped the company earn top honors in Kelley Blue Book’s most-trusted brand competition every year from 2015 to 2019. That focus on safety extends to the plant floor as well. In February, SIA was recognized with a Governor’s Workplace Safety Award from the state of Indiana for a 2019 internal awareness campaign that contributed to an 80 percent reduction in slips, trips and falls from the previous. year.

Over the past 30 years, the plant also has achieved several environmental milestones. SIA was the first U.S. auto plant to become smoke-free, earn an ISO 14001 Certification for Environmental Management, be designated as a Backyard Wildlife Habitat by the National Wildlife Federation, achieve zero landfill waste and earn an ISO 50001 Certification for Energy Management, according to Craig Koven, communications and external relations manager.

Those successes are likely routed in the strong work ethic of SIA’s employees, who undergo a stringent hiring process and rigorous training, and are governed through Kaizen, a system of continuous improvement that emphasizes personal discipline and teamwork.

Associates bring that team spirit into the community with them by volunteering with Wabash Center, the Imagination Station and other local causes. In turn, the SIA Foundation issues grants for capital projects in arts, culture, education, health and welfare in Tippecanoe County and beyond. Given that nonprofits help spur economic activity, that’s another way that SIA keeps Greater Lafayette driving.

By Angela K. Roberts.

More than a century and a half ago, when people rode their horses to town and brought baskets to hold their purchases, Greater Lafayette residents began gathering in downtown Lafayette to buy products such as cured meat and fresh fruit directly from farmers. Today, this historic downtown Lafayette Farmers Market, which has been in continuous operation since 1839, is one of our four seasonal retail marketplaces in Greater Lafayette. From bath salts to barbecue and from mushrooms to marigolds, local markets – just like the ones of the 19th century – offer farm-fresh and small-batch goodies along with the chance to meet the people who create them.

Lafayette Farmers Market

lafayettefarmersmarket.com

Fifth Street between Main & Columbia. Runs May through October, Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Organized by Greater Lafayette Commerce, the historic Lafayette Farmers Market is known primarily for its abundance of fresh produce, as well as flowers, plants, baked goods and to-go meals, along with specialty items such as wildflower honey, beer jelly, botanical bath salts, handcrafted jewelry, herbal medicinals and hand-sewn baby clothes. Bring your reusable bags and shop to the tunes of local artists playing folk, rock, country, blues and jazz. A vendor list can be found on the website, which also features a chart showing produce currently in season and a fruit-and-vegetables quiz for kids.

Purdue Farmers Market

lafayettefarmersmarket.com

Memorial Mall on the Purdue University Campus. Opens July 2.

Organized by Purdue Campus Planning and Sustainability in conjunction with Greater Lafayette Commerce, the Purdue Farmers Market features around 25 vendors each week, including the Purdue Student Farm, operated by the College of Agriculture. Pick up local fresh produce, herbs, plants, fresh-cut flowers, meat and baked items as well as prepared foods, and pick a comfortable spot to have your lunch. Through the market’s passport program, you can collect stamps when you visit market vendors and return to the Campus Planning and Sustainability booth to spin a wheel for zero-waste prizes. Email sustainability@purdue.edu or visit the market to sign up for a weekly newsletter.

West Lafayette Farmers Market

facebook.com/westlafayettefarmersmarket

Cumberland Park, 3001 N. Salisbury Street. Runs May through Octoboer, Wednesdays from 3:30 p.m. – 7 p.m.

Nestled among the ball courts of Cumberland Park, the dog-friendly West Lafayette Farmers Market is organized by the City of West Lafayette. It features around 50 vendors each week with fresh produce, baked goods, handmade items such as soap and jewelry, food trucks and wine from two local wineries. As you shop, sip and eat, listen to live music and visit information booths, where you can learn about community happenings.

Carnahan Hall Winter Market

lafayettefarmersmarket.com

Market Square Shopping Center, 2200 Elmwood Ave., A6, Lafayette. Runs November to April.

The new indoor market, which debuted in January and is sponsored by Carnahan Hall, Greater Lafayette Commerce and Market Square Shopping Center, brings together local shopping enthusiasts with merchants in chillier months. Some vendors are scheduled for the entire season, while others are only there on select days. Collectively, they offer faux leather earrings, barbecued meat, local honey and maple syrup, herbal medicinals, custom woodworking, natural skin care products, homemade dog treats, fresh bread, organic produce, art, jewelry, cosmetics, handmade baby items and vegan cheese.

BY ANGELA K. ROBERTS
PHOTOS BY ALEXANDER VERTIKOFF

Imagining the evergreen-adorned lot off Northwestern Avenue that John and Catherine Christian had chosen for their new home, Frank Lloyd Wright thought of the papery winged seeds that twirl and flutter to the ground like helicopters — but not the large, long ones that take flight from maple trees, or even their lesser-known sisters from the elm, ash or basswood. 

Most people, John Christian later wrote to a group of inquisitive sixth graders at Benton Elementary School, “do not know that there are winged seeds in pine cones. Mr. Wright knew this and chose them to design my house. 

“From the tiny winged seeds of pine cones, he made an artistic sketch as the logo for my house. He called his design SAMARA and used it for many designs both inside and outside.”

Even back in 1956 when SAMARA was completed, says Linda Eales, associate curator, the Christians understood the historical significance of their Wright-designed home, a Usonian style tailored to more moderate incomes. Thanks to the couple’s foresight and discipline, SAMARA – whose namesake stylized pattern repeats in elements from the living room rug to the perforated window boards — remains largely unchanged 64 years later. 

Now a museum home supported by the family’s trust, the 2,220-square-foot structure stands as a testament to a uniquely American style by quite possibly the most famous architect that ever lived, and surely the most renowned builder who designed for the middle class. Secluded by a line of foliage across the road from Mackey Arena, and surrounded by Mid-century and Colonial neighbors in the Hills and Dales neighborhood, SAMARA is also a hidden treasure of Greater Lafayette. 

AFFORDABLE IDEALISM

Wright, who had a reputation for caring more about aesthetics than budget, devised the Usonian in the wake of the Great Depression. According to the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, the home style was named after “Usonia” (United States of North America), a term attributed to writer James Duff Law, who had written in 1903, “We of the United States, in justice to Canadians and Mexicans, have no right to use the title ‘Americans’ when referring to matters pertaining exclusively to ourselves.” 

In his quest to build more affordably, Wright began experimenting with less labor-intensive practices that would still embody his vision of an ideal architecture unique to the U.S. Like his earlier Prairie style, Usonians had low-slung flat roofs, vast living rooms, built-in furniture, and abundant natural light, but on a more modest scale. Wright substituted carports for garages, created perforated window boards to replace pricey custom stained glass, and, to make the homes appear more expansive, incorporated a compress-and-release design in which a small room opens to a much larger space.

“He was an architect of light and an architect of space,” says Eales. 

EXPECTATIONS & COMPROMISE

In Usonians, Wright often combined the living and dining areas as a cost-saving measure, but that was a non-starter for the Christians, who frequently invited friends to dinner and also envisioned using their home for salons, an 18th century Parisian throwback that brought together friends for intellectual discourse. The living room should accommodate up to 50 guests, the couple said.  

Catherine “Kay” Christian was a social director at Purdue University, and her husband was a College of Pharmacy professor who traveled around the world to teach the safe handling of nuclear materials. “Mrs. Christian was very formal and wanted draperies and carpet,” Eales says. “They worked together over five years to design this house.” 

Wright never actually visited the lot, but Kay Christian painstakingly set her expectations for the architect, putting together a 26-page document titled “What We Need for How We Live.” Based on a quiz book she had read on home planning, the booklet contained a table of contents, biographies on both Christians, a list of storage needs, and details on the wooded terrain. 

“She included a topographical map and a panoramic photograph of the lot, that was taken by her as she snapped one picture, turn a bit, then take another, et cetera,” Eales says. “So, he had a good idea of what the lot was like.”

Although Wright was well known for his oversized personality, his relationship with the Christians appears to have been collegial. The architect agreed to give the couple plans for furnishings they couldn’t afford to complete right away. “He brought them to his way of thinking as well,” Eales says. “They did not get a garage or basement.”  

Kay Christian also asked Wright for more vibrant colors than were typical of his designs, and he obliged by asking for help from his third wife, Olgivanna Lloyd Wright, a self-styled interior decorator. The signature colors of SAMARA became turquoise and Wright’s Cherokee Red, which complemented the home’s brick, crafted in Attica, Indiana, like many Purdue buildings. As is typical of Wright-built homes that repeat exterior elements inside, the brick was left exposed on several interior walls, and the mortar in the horizontal lines was trimmed back to emphasize the flat Midwestern landscape. 

Some 20 years later, Mrs. Christian asked for a palette update from Mrs. Wright, who was tied up with other projects but assigned two apprentices to the project. Just as turquoise and red had reflected the design sentiments of the 1950s, the refresh was very much in keeping with the 1970s, with avocado green, goldenrod and burnt orange cushions adorning the 15-person banquette, swivel chairs and sofa in the vast living room. Those colors are still the palette today. A few vestiges of the original turquoise can be seen in the gate at the end of the home’s driveway and in linens in the guest bedroom.

ARCHITECTURAL INGENUITY

Wright kept furniture costs down by crafting pieces from plywood covered in Philippine mahogany veneer, but the Christians still couldn’t afford all the custom pieces at once. As a compromise, he suggested that the couple purchase some of his mass-produced pieces that had not done well commercially; finally, in 1989, the Christians were able to build the originally planned dining room table and chairs. The custom living room rug was added later as well.

Wright also picked out china to complement the house, a formal Lenox Cretin and a less informal Fitz and Floyd Dragon Crest. John Christian later purchased Wright-designed china for his guests to admire, including Tiffany-produced china for the Imperial Hotel in Japan. Today, the dining room features a mélange of china and nesting dolls and other art collected by the couple when John Christian lectured in Russia, Thailand, Japan, Africa, South America and India.

In contrast to the oversized living room, Wright designed a modestly sized two-room kitchen, which still houses the original dishwasher and the 1948 stove the Christians bought when they first married. While bulkheads were a common feature in 1950s homes, the cabinets in SAMARA reach all the way to the ceiling for more storage. And for the couple who loved to entertain, Wright designed a rolling cart to match the cabinets that could be cranked up and down to service the homeowners in the kitchen and at the dining table. 

The architect’s ingenuity is also present in the TV trays, comprised of a flat top and a separate folding base adorned with the home’s signature winged seed design; a hidden TV cabinet in the living room; and a built-in desk in the guest bedroom. Cantilevered to make room for the window curtains, the desk has drawers for clothes instead of shelves to hold office supplies that a weekend guest would not need. 

SUBCONSCIOUS HARMONY

In his never-ending quest to bring the outside in, Wright also designed the guest bedroom with a wall of brick and a French door secreted into an expanse of windows so that guests could walk outside without having to venture through more public areas of the house. 

Along with the master bedroom, the home’s original nursery, built for the Christians’ daughter, Linda, is closed to the public. Once she sorts through the items being stored there, Eales says, those rooms may be opened as well. 

In the meantime, guests can enjoy the home’s landscaping, also designed by Wright. Bordered by a double brick wall and a vegetative barrier, the garden boasts exterior walkways, terraces and courtyards through which guests can wind their way while enjoying the expansive foliage. 

Just like the inside, SAMARA’s exterior is marked by a series of four-by-four elements as a unifying element. A hallmark of Usonian style, Eales says, was designing on a grid: “In our case he gave us a four-foot square-grid.” 

Outside, the lights in the deck and the posts supporting the terrace are four feet apart. Inside, the perforated boards over the windows are four feet wide, and the curtains hang every four feet to match the width of the plate glass windows. The lights in the living room bookshelves are four feet apart. The cushions in the living room also are four feet wide, and the doors underneath for storage measure four feet as well. “It gives you a harmony that is subconscious,” Eales says. 

In 1957, Eales says, Wright gave a talk in Indianapolis, and the Christians heard that he was coming. Kay Christian wrote him a note and said the home was 65 miles away, and wouldn’t he want to come visit? 

“He wrote back saying, ‘I’m sorry but I’m just too busy now. But I don’t need to see your house. I know what it looks like,’” Eales says. 

“He had walked through those rooms a million times in his mind. He said, ‘Never put anything down on paper until you have it all worked out in your mind.’”

BY CINDY GERLACH
PHOTOS PROVIDED BY TIPPECANOE ARTS FEDERATION

“Grow the arts”

It’s a simple motto — and one the Tippecanoe Arts Federation undertakes with the utmost gusto.

The Tippecanoe Arts Federation (TAF) serves as a regional arts partner, one of 11 in the state. As the center of a 14-county district, TAF is the umbrella organization and helps advocate for these 14 counties, many of which are rural, providing educational opportunities in visual, literary and performing arts, outreach programs for underserved communities and underserved youth, and funding for operational expenses for fellow arts organizations in the region.

TAF dates back to 1976, when it was determined broader support for the arts locally was needed, says Tetia Lee, TAF’s executive director. In its nascent period, TAF was actually just an arts calendar, a way to list everything that was happening in one place. 

“It was a way to support other arts organizations,” Lee says. 

As its mission and vision grew, the organization changed accordingly, supporting various types of programming. TAF found its home at the Wells Memorial Library, just north of downtown on North Street; at the time, the library was transitioning out of the building. 

The current board has adopted the simple mission statement — “It’s something short and sweet that the board members can remember,” says Lee. 

“We work within that mission,” she says. “We’re allowed to be creative, to think outside the box.”

“We can play to the resources in the community really well,” says Ann Fields Monical, TAF’s chief operating officer. 

The Regional Arts Partnership is a network of 11 regions throughout the state. Under the purview of the Indiana Arts Commission, the regional partners work to enhance the delivery of arts services and to move the decision-making closer to the community and its arts consumers. Region 4, the largest geographically, serves a population of more than 525,000 and has served in this capacity since 1997. 

And it’s a huge undertaking. With such a large geographic area, needs are widely variant, Lee says. 

“Rural counties’ needs are so much different than organizations in Tippecanoe County,” she says. 

The work focuses on engagement, education and sustainability. TAF helps groups assess their needs. But how those are addressed changes. 

Because, says Lee, every community benefits from the vitality of the arts. Whether it’s arts education, public art displays or performances that draw in tourism, the arts are vital to the survival of a community. 

TAF has more than 200 arts partners. These member organizations use TAF as their hub, as these are often small groups with no physical home — or the resources to have one — so TAF provides them with meeting space, a mailing address and help with marketing and publicity. 

“The majority of our organizations are smaller, with budgets less than $25,000 who are looking to expand,” Lee says.

Member organizations range from large groups such as the Lafayette Symphony, Carnahan Hall or the Indiana Fiddlers’ Gathering, to much smaller, more obscure groups and many individuals. Even a group of fly fishermen.

“That doesn’t sound like the arts,” says Monical. “But they make these beautiful lures.

“That tells you how much stuff is going on. So many different groups.”

One of the ways TAF is looking to the future is by the remodeling and expansion of its physical space. The nearly century-old Wells Community Cultural Center had been showing signs of age. So TAF undertook a major restoration project — a project that was handled very deliberately and thoughtfully. The timing had to be right in terms of financing the project and finding public support. It was a process that took nearly a dozen years.

The result is a stunning interior renovation of the old library. The stacks were removed to reveal an entire back wall of windows, opening up the space, allowing for a much-needed smaller performance venue, as well as updated gallery space and staff offices. 

The building’s footprint remains unchanged. But every inch of the building has been renovated, with the lower-level rooms being given the same treatment, with a full overhaul. Each of the four rooms has been redesigned with a distinct purpose — a dance studio, arts studio, recording studio, meeting room — yet each can be used for multiple purposes, to create, interact and learn. The smallest meeting room was given a wall of glass to make it feel less claustrophobic.

The state-of-the-art recording studio is a major coup. Funded by a grant issued to the Songwriters Association of Mid-North Indiana, the studio will serve as a teaching tool for both recording artists and engineers; it also will be a space for people to record projects, from interviews to podcasts to spoken word performances. It will open up opportunities for education and collaboration within the songwriting and recording community. 

The final touch to the building was when the stolen outdoor lights were returned. The bronze lights, stolen last summer and sold for scrap, were reconstructed, Monical says. A mold was  found to recreate a missing part, and the lights were completed and returned to their rightful home in front of the building, albeit with tighter security, in December.

Having more space is key to the future of TAF, Lee says. As the renovations progress — this was Phase I of a three-phase project — it will live in the space and evaluate how it works before progressing to the next steps. 

“We hope to expand,” says Lee. “What that looks like is changing.” 

Each year, TAF hosts its annual fundraiser, The Taste of Tippecanoe, which brings arts together with tastings from area restaurants. It shows off the best of the area, from food to visual art to performances of all kinds. 

TAF is instrumental in getting art to the people in the communities it serves. Currently, it oversees a variety of programs, including: 

• The after-school arts program, with classes for kids in elementary up through high school
• Visiting artist program, which reaches underserved communities
• An instrument lending program, providing students with musical instruments, allowing them to join band or orchestra
• Gallery space for art exhibits
• Sponsoring gallery walks, which open up nearly 30 downtown Lafayette galleries
• Wabash Walls, a public art initiative to rebuild and beautify the Wabash Avenue neighborhood, one of Lafayette’s oldest
• Mural Art Initiative, a collaborative educational outreach program that serves at-risk or underserved youth, helping to beautify community areas and promote the benefit of public art installations in the community.

As the umbrella organization, TAF has a broad mission and goals, as they help advocate for the benefit of public arts, for education. Every day, Lee says, they live that motto of “Grow the Arts” — in all the glorious ambiguity that wording allows.

BY CINDY GERLACH
PHOTOS BY CHRISTINE PETKOV

As colder weather sets in for an extended stay, our tastes turn toward a different type of cuisine. Gone are longings for cold salads, fresh fruit and meat straight off the grill, replaced with the sights and smells of winter. 

It’s comfort food time. Food that makes us feel special. 

Anything that makes people feel warm and cozy can be considered comfort food, says Ambarish Lulay, executive chef of East End Grill. 

“It’s a little bit indulgent, a little bit richer than what we normally eat on a day-to-day basis,” Lulay says. “It takes you to a happy place, makes you feel at home. 

“Usually there is some sort of a strong memory associated with it, that mom or grandma used to make. Those food memories are very important.”

Throughout Lafayette, different restaurants create comfort food in a variety of ways. 

Bistro 501

Comfort food is all about how the individual chooses to define it, says Bistro 501 co-owner and executive chef Cheyenne Buckley. 

“To me, comfort food is just the thing that no matter what you’re deciding on eating always sounds good,” she says, “For me, that would be my mom’s pot roast. It’s always in my mind.”

But for others, it will depend on where they grew up, or how they were fed growing up. Because comfort food is so ensconced with memory, with family and tradition. 

As winter sets in, Buckley infuses a little taste of Thanksgiving traditions into several of Bistro’s entrées. It’s subtle enough that people may not notice it right away. But as those dishes are so familiar, sneaking in a cranberry gastrique and cornbread stuffing with the duck helps evoke those memories of holidays past. 

“You take a bite and you’re transported,” she says. 

A popular cold-weather item is the duck poutine. Buckley puts the Bistro’s own spin on it, adding thyme, goat cheese and cherries soaked in cognac. 

“It’s rich and it satisfies and hits all the flavors,” she says. 

The brunch menu has familiar items, such as biscuits and gravy, chicken and waffles. And the chicken pot pie — another popular comfort item — makes a return. 

“Everybody waits impatiently for that to come back,” she says. 

Everyone derives satisfaction from familiar flavors, from gravy, cheese and casseroles. This year, Bistro introduced cassoulet, a French casserole. 

“It’s fun to explore different cultures,” Buckley says.  

The dessert menu also offers some familiar flavors. Gone is key lime pie, replaced instead with bread pudding with caramel whiskey sauce, fruit cobbler and sticky toffee carrot cake — another perennial favorite.

The flavors may vary a bit, but the basic dishes will seem familiar enough.

“The comfort food we have resonates with us and my upbringing,” Buckley says. “We try to stay true to the Midwest. The regionality influences us for sure.”

East End Grill

When East End puts away the summer menu staples of tomatoes, grilling and crunchy salads, thoughts turn toward fall and winter, Lulay says.

“When I think of menus, I’m thinking of fall ingredients, fall flavors and fall methods,” he says. 

For East End, this means slow braising of meats, fall greens, butternut squash, parsnips and Brussels sprouts. 

Sauces get richer, and flavors are sweet and savory, using butter and capers, tarragon. 

Lulay likes to braise shanks, long and low.

“You sneak in things that work toward that,” he says. “Aromas of thyme, garlic and rosemary.”

Pastas remain on the menu, but they have a bit of a heavier, creamier sauce. Macaroni and cheese is a favorite. 

Desserts change with the season, as well, with fruit cobblers coming in to play. Flavors such as apple and cinnamon work well. 

Sometimes, it’s just taking a menu item and tweaking it a bit to change for cooler weather. Don’t worry — the signature shrimp and grits are not going anywhere.

“That’s truly the power of comfort food,” Lulay says. “There are summer memories of mac and cheese. Even if it’s heavy, it still works.”

Walt’s Pub and Grill and Walt’s Other Pub

Comfort food, says Walt Foster, evokes memories of how your grandmother used to cook. 

“It’s heavier, it’s usually potatoes, usually larger portions,” he says. “It’s feel-good.”

At Walt’s Pub and Grill and the Other Pub, it means country fried steaks, Manhattans, chicken and waffles. 

It’s also about heavier soups and stews.

“We’re probably one of the few restaurants in town that makes homemade soups and chowders,” Foster says. Thus, for winter, that translates into cream-based soups, chowders — seafood and clam chowder — and cream of mushroom soup. 

The Lafayette location is known for its signature white chili; in West Lafayette, it’s a red chili. Desserts change, too, with warm fruit desserts and bread pudding. 

“We get excited about football season and fall,” Foster says, and the menu reflects that change. 

There are fireplaces in both locations, and as the temperatures lower, sitting there, in the glow of the fireplace, “It’s warm and cozy,” he says. “That’s what we call comfort.”

Arni’s

Arni’s is a Lafayette institution. Arni Cohen opened the first restaurant at Market Square in 1965; it has since grown to several locations around the state. But for people who grew up in Lafayette or who attended Purdue University, a visit back to town means a chance to “Meet you at Arni’s.”

Thus, a visit to Arni’s is, in and of itself, a foray into comfort food.

“It’s a nostalgia thing, a family tradition from when they were younger,” says marketing director Liz Hahn.

The menu at Arni’s remains pretty consistent all year long. Items like pizza, salads, sandwiches and subs are always available and always popular with patrons. 

And people who make a visit to Arni’s at Market Square almost always want to peek into the Toy Room. The room has remained virtually unchanged for years, even after renovations that have updated the restaurant, says Hahn. But guests like to pop their head in, check if the toys are in the same place they remember from their childhood. There is one particular clown that people always wonder about. No worries, says Hahn. It’s still there. 

And for those who would like to send the special flavor of Arni’s pizza to someone who has moved away, fear not — Arni’s ships its pizzas all over the United States. Comfort mail delivered to the front door!

Nine Irish Brothers

“The first part of comfort food is that it’s literally warming as well as figuratively,” says Matt Rose, a partner in Nine Irish Brothers.

And nothing is as emblematic of comfort food as pub fare. Guinness stew, shepherd’s pie and corned beef and cabbage — meat and potatoes are the heart of comfort food. 

About three quarters of the Nine Irish Brothers menu doesn’t really change for winter, Rose says. But as fall comes around, they change things up a bit. They introduce a Manhattan — a beef sandwich with gravy — that clearly fits the mold. 

“For a lot of people, it’s ‘Oh, my mom used to make this,’ ” Rose says. 

Entrées that are heavier and more cream-based are more popular, items like fisherman’s pie, with fish, shrimp and mussels, with the requisite mashed potatoes and cheese. 

And for the pièce de résistance? Irish coffee: a combination of coffee, whiskey, sugar and whipped cream.

“It’s got all the important food groups,” Rose says. “Nothing makes you feel better. “I think it’s the very definition of comfort food.”

BY KARIS PRESSLER

Just inside the Northend Community Center, to the right of the main entrance, is a bulletin board with a spray-painted title that reads “Community @ Work.”  Guests and volunteers brush past the corkboard peppered with job announcements while heading toward meetings, the pool, the indoor PlaySpace, or any of the nonprofit organizations housed inside the building. The space around the board seems to inhale and exhale every time the automatic front doors swish open and front desk volunteers greet guests.

Several steps from the front desk Rod Hutton works in his office.  As director of Northend, Hutton sees the comings and goings of almost everyone who passes through the community center.

“If you want to see a happening place, you need to visit the Senior Center,” says Hutton, while pointing to a set of doors just around the corner.

On this morning at the Tippecanoe Senior Center, more than 25 seniors play bid euchre, where cards feverishly flutter toward the center of tables, and the sound of knuckles knocking on wood echoes as players signal their wish to pass.  While the groups play, several Meals on Wheels volunteers buzz about, preparing to serve the day’s lunch.

Meanwhile, tucked into a quiet corner, the Senior Center’s Art Expressions group creates.  Here, Barbara German paints a landscape of a rowboat resting on calm water, while Kay Pickett puts the finishing touches on a painted replica of the quilt square that hangs from her family’s barn in Michigan.

There’s life and light, color and sound in this space, and throughout many community centers in Greater Lafayette.

This is a community at work.

Faith East, Faith West and Northend community centers

“It’s one continual history,” explains Hutton, when considering the organic spread of Faith’s community centers throughout Greater Lafayette that started when Faith East opened in 2007, followed by Faith West in 2013, and the Northend Community Center in 2018.

Sharing a common connection through Faith Church, each Faith community center works to meet the unique needs of the surrounding neighborhoods.  Faith East caters to the recreational and childcare needs of those living on the east side of town, while Faith West offers housing and programs for Purdue’s students, faculty and international community.

Northend, the largest community center in Faith’s network, nurtures partnerships with 13 area organizations that have dedicated space either inside or next to the community center.

Hutton explains that being able to collaborate with established organizations that serve the community well — such as Bauer Family Resources, Hanna Community Center and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Lafayette — is “a big piece of what makes the Northend tick,” because it allows everyone to connect.

At Northend, a dedicated team of volunteers known as The Care Team spends more than 50 hours a week addressing the physical, emotional, social and spiritual needs of community members.  

“What they do is sit down and listen, hear the story, understand and build a relationship,” explains Hutton.  He continues, “We need to be able to understand where people are coming from.  The attitude of empathy and understanding is one of the best things we can do to actually help.”  Although the Care Team may not be able to fix needs immediately, team members work to connect individuals to resources, including the organizations inside of Northend that are equipped to help.

Hutton shares that there are no current plans to build additional Faith community centers.  “We want to grow what we have right now. … We will always continue to dream, but right now what we’ve been dreaming about is how can we grow and love the community with the facilities that God has blessed us with.”

River City Community Center

River City Community Center, located on Old U.S. 231, is the newest community center to open in Greater Lafayette.

“The question that I’ve gotten from many community members is, ‘Can I use this space?’  And the answer is, ‘Absolutely!’” says Terry Gilbert, director of the community center.

“This center is about reaching out to the community, it’s about engaging in partnerships both with individuals, nonprofits and businesses.  We hope that it will be like an intersection between those that are of faith, and the business and commerce world,” he explains.  

The center is currently collaborating with Purdue’s School of Nursing in a service grant that aims to assess healthcare needs, and also works with Food Finders to host a bi-monthly River City Market Food Pantry.  “We have the pleasure of serving 300 to 400 people out of this food pantry every month,” Gilbert says.

Whenever Gilbert needs a reminder of River City Community Center’s purpose, he recalls this story.

“This was maybe two years ago, it was summer,” he begins.  

“I was here with a group of Purdue students; they’re connected through (River City Church’s) program called Chi Alpha. They were here doing some landscaping work for us, pulling up weeds and stuff like that.” 

The building, a former grocery store that sat abandoned since 2005, had just been donated to River City Church, and Gilbert brought the students inside the cavernous space to share his vision for the future community center. Suddenly, a woman entered and exclaimed, “Who’s in charge of all this?”

Gilbert recalls introducing himself and gently asking the woman if there was anything he could help her with, as the 20 college students watched.

Then the woman began to cry.

She said, “I just want you to know that I’ve been living in this neighborhood for almost 20 years. And this place has been an absolute eyesore. And every time I look at it I was like, ‘This would be a great place for kids to come play.’… ‘I cannot thank God enough for you guys and what you’re doing in this community because this community really needs something like this.’” She then retrieved $1.26 from her pocket, handed it to Gilbert and said, “This is all I have right now. Can you use this?”

“That’s who we owe it to,” says Gilbert – the citizens of Lafayette’s south side who want to invest and see their corner of the city continue to develop and grow.

Lafayette Family YMCA

Walking into the Lafayette Family YMCA feels a little like walking into a town nestled within a town.  

The sprawling 120,000-square-foot space located on South Creasy Lane hosts a steady stream of people en route to exercise classes, the gym, the pool, IU Health and Franciscan healthcare appointments, child care and more.  More than 3,700 individuals enter the facility every day.

As Paul Cramer, president and CEO of Lafayette YMCA, gives a guided tour of the facility he opens a set of secure doors and enters Junior Achievement (JA) BizTown.  Here, storefronts of familiar local businesses such as PEFCU, Caterpillar, and Kirby Risk line a miniaturized main street.  Then, it suddenly becomes clear.  This really is a town inside a town.

“You may want to move off the grass there, you could get a citation from the city,” jokes Cramer.  He points to a painted patch of grass covering the cement floor and then motions toward the Lafayette City Government office several steps away.  “There’s city council, there’s the mayors, there’s the CEOs, they’re here for the whole day,” he says of the 12,000 students who will visit this JA BizTown space throughout the school year to learn in this virtual setting.

Cramer’s energy crescendos as he explains.  “So, they’re going to learn financial literacy in the preschool programs (at the YMCA), here they can learn it in the elementary, middle and high school.  Then Ivy Tech takes them through the college level.”   

This is the heartbeat of the YMCA – connecting people of all ages to positive programming whose long-reaching effects can spill over into successive generations.  Cramer explains that the mindset at Greater Lafayette YMCA is “Infants to infinity … we want to be multigenerational in reaching and experiencing.”

After opening in December 2018, this facility has become a shining example for YMCAs across the country.  “So, everything in this building was designed about partnerships and collaborations.  That’s why this is a new model for the country,” explains Cramer, who says that planning for this facility began over a decade ago when leaders from Ivy Tech approached the organization hoping to form a partnership.  

Building the new YMCA on a plot of land just steps from Ivy Tech’s Lafayette campus now gives Ivy Tech students everything from affordable childcare, access to the fitness center, and an invitation to join classmates in the gym when the school hosts athletic events with other Ivy Tech campuses.

In addition to working closely with Ivy Tech, the YMCA also partnered with Franciscan Health and IU Health to create space within the facility for healthcare services.  More than 300 patients a day visit the facility to receive physical and occupational rehabilitation, then are encouraged to continue exercising at the YMCA once their rehabilitation goals are met.

Collaboration is key, according to Cramer.  “Really I think what helped this move along so well was the wonderful relationship between the county and the city and how they work together in a collaborative way.  And that’s what this is.  Our theme here is, ‘We complete one another.  We don’t compete with one another’… It’s really a community that works together.”

Greater Lafayette YWCA

Greater Lafayette YWCA had a lot to celebrate as 2019 marked the 90th year of the organization’s presence in Lafayette, the 50th year of the YWCA Foundation, 40th year of the Domestic Violence Intervention and Prevention Program (DVIPP), and 25th year of the Women’s Cancer Program.  

The organization started at a critical point in history when the first meeting was held at the Community House Association, now Duncan Hall, just months before the stock market crashed in 1929. “When the YWCA was started by this fearless group of women, this was in one of our country’s most dire times… this was a period of time when our country was in a chaos and people weren’t starting new organizations,” explains director Allison Beggs.

Through it all, the YWCA has remained a steadfast force in the local community by working to empower women and eliminate racism.

“While women are the (primary) market we serve, there are male victims of domestic violence and those who identify as transgender or other.  We serve all of those populations.  It really doesn’t matter where you live, who you love, what you believe; we serve everyone,” says Beggs.

The organization’s impact has extended well beyond Tippecanoe County.  In 2018, the YWCA’s Women’s Cancer Program staffed by seven employees provided nearly 4,000 free breast and cervical cancer screening services to women in 41 Indiana counties.  That same year, DVIPP assisted in filing nearly 450 domestic violence protective orders and provided more than 9,000 nights of safe shelter in the 30-bed facility located in the historic Rachel and Levi Oppenheimer house on Sixth Street.

Beggs praises her staff for serving with heart.  “You can’t come to work every day in our domestic violence program and hear the stories, the horrible stories that these families have gone through.  Or be with a family if they’re diagnosed with Stage IV cancer… our staff has to internalize that each and every day as they’re working through our client needs.  It is tough work, and it takes a special kind of person to truly live out our mission.”

In addition to providing consistent comfort, shelter and support, the YWCA also provides opportunities for growth through its Culinary Incubator program, where food and catering businesses use the facility’s commercial kitchen to prep and cook.  Beggs hopes that the Culinary Incubator along with a new Dress for Success program will evolve to empower domestic violence victims with training and employment opportunities.

“Ultimately… when you help one family be able to overcome an obstacle, you’ve just created another healthy family in our community that will hopefully go out and pay it forward,” Beggs says.

When considering how the YWCA fulfills its mission, Beggs praises the local agencies who work with the YWCA, such as Food Finders, Mental Health America, Willowstone, Bauer Community Center and The United Way, along with support from the local community.  “In other places that I’ve been, while they were good communities, you just don’t see this kind of engagement and involvement from so many different areas of our community as you do in Lafayette…. We have a generous community.”

What spurs this generosity?  In Beggs’ opinion it’s Hoosier heritage.  “It’s hard working people who care about others and follow the Golden Rule, and I think they truly understand that they’ve been blessed, and they want to bless others.  It’s just that simple.” 

Fun Awaits

Below is a sampling of the events, programs and amenities offered within the community centers. For a complete list of services, as well as partnerships, please visit the following websites.

Faith East Community Center 
faithlafayette.org

• Multi-functional spaces for events and meetings
• Gym
• Fitness center
• Oasis Park Indoor Playground
• Preschool
• Friday family fun nights (free)

Faith West Community Center

• Multi-functional spaces for events and meetings
• Gym
• Fitness center
• Café Literato
• Student housing
• Preschool

Northend Community Center

• Multi-functional spaces for events and meetings
• Fitness center
• Pool
• Kid’s playSpace ($1 per child)
• Friday family fun nights (free)
• Co-working studio

River City Community Center
cc.rivercity.info

• Multi-functional spaces for events and meetings
• Kids’ play space ($1 per child)
• Monthly family fun nights (free)
• Food pantry
• River of Hope grief support group
• The Table Cafe + Eatery

Lafayette Family YMCA
lafayettefamilyymca.org

• Gym
• Fitness center
• Pool
• Junior Achievement
• Health care facilities (IU Health Arnett and Franciscan Health)
• Preschool and daycare

Greater Lafayette YWCA 
ywcalafayette.org

• Domestic violence intervention and prevention program
• Women’s Cancer Program
• Dance program (Y-Dance)
• Volleyball program
• Culinary incubator
• Adult activities and networking programs

BY AMY LONG
PHOTOS PROVIDED BY VISIT LAFAYETTE – WEST LAFAYETTE

On a hot, dusty afternoon in late summer, Jason Behenna took a break from refinishing the floors of a 2,800- square-foot space tucked into a small strip mall next to the popular Lindo Mexico restaurant, at 405 Sagamore Parkway South in Lafayette, to talk about his new business.

On this particular day, the spartan space, with its construction clamor and drywall debris, was rather stark and uninviting. But it was also rife with possibility: a blank slate ready to be filled. The space has been vacant for the better part of a decade, but Jason and his wife, Heather Howard, envision a bustling brewpub where Behenna can brew his award-winning stout, among other beers, and a small kitchen will serve up vegetarian and vegan fare. 

Behenna’s space could be a metaphor for the local craft brewing scene: at one time a rather lonely landscape, but recently coming into its own. 

His brewpub, Escape Velocity Brewing Company, due to open in early 2020, will be the sixth craft brewery to open in Lafayette-West Lafayette, and the fourth since only 2017, following Brokerage Brewing Company in West Lafayette, Thieme & Wagner Brewing Company in downtown Lafayette, and Teays River Brewing & Public House, on Lafayette’s south side. 

Bolstered by state legislation that has increasingly favored small breweries through the years, a swell of consumer support for locally owned and operated businesses, and the general public’s growing taste for a wide range of high-quality, full-flavored beers, the local boom mirrors a national trend. 

According to the Brewers Association, a nonprofit trade group, the number of craft breweries in the U.S. (defined for association membership as small, independent operations producing less than six million barrels of beer annually) has nearly doubled in four years: 7,346 in 2018, up from 3,814 in 2014. (The legal definition is much narrower in Indiana, where the law caps small brewery production at 90,000 barrels per year.)

“You’ve just seen an explosion in the last 10 years of breweries opening up,” says Greg Emig, who opened Lafayette’s first brewpub, the Lafayette Brewing Company, more than two decades ago.

Without controlling corporate interest, independent brewers can experiment and innovate, using traditional ingredients to interpret historic styles of beer and adding nontraditional ingredients for originality and flair. Over time, “consumers became more interested and aware of the breadth and flavor of differing beer styles,” Emig explains.

“Chains are trending down,” observes Jeff Burnworth, who worked for Buffalo Wild Wings for 17 years before launching Teays River Brewing in 2018. “People want to see that their money is staying local and see people in their communities succeeding.” 

A long time coming

But the recent surge of local microbreweries and brewpubs is not so much an explosion as a slow burn that sparked nearly 30 years ago.

After graduating from Purdue in 1986, Emig was an avid homebrewer through the early ’90s when he first conceived of the Lafayette Brewing Company as a craft brewery and restaurant – at a time when Indiana law prohibited beer production facilities to sell their product on-site. 

Together with Jeff Mease, who would eventually open the Bloomington Brewing Company, Emig lobbied the state legislature for a bill that would grant retail permits to small breweries. The bill passed on the first go-round, Emig says. “People didn’t really know what the concept was, so there was no real opposition to it.” 

On Sept. 17, 1993, LBC was granted Indiana’s first small-brewers retail permit. The brewpub opened that very day. 

“That piece of legislation opened some doors,” says Emig, who notes that the microbrewery trend really flourished in Indiana through the 1990s, with about 20 brewpubs opening across the state.

“Our mission was really to educate people about the variety and quality of beer that was out there,” Emig says. While most of the country was drinking one or two styles of mass-produced American lager, “there were 50 styles of beer that people just had no idea about, and we wanted to introduce them.”

But, Emig says, the number of brewpubs actually slumped through the early 2000s, in part because the brewery trend took off before quality-control measures could catch up, leading to a market of not-so-great craft-brewed beer. Consumers lost interest, and brewpubs across Indiana, with a few notable exceptions, were forced to close.

“This shakeout left a solid core of breweries that understood the necessity of producing a quality product,” says Emig.

LBC was one of those core breweries. An anchor on Lafayette’s Main Street for more than 25 years now, the roomy interior includes a bar and an all-ages dining room with a full menu. Day to day, LBC offers up to 15 beers, all made in-house – from the easy-drinking Star City German-style lager to the Black Angus English-style stout with notes of chocolate and roasted coffee – and a range of specialty and seasonal beers. 

But in part because of the “shakeout” that Emig describes, LBC was the only craft brewery in the Lafayette area for 15 years – from its start in 1993 until Chris Johnson opened People’s Brewery in 2009. 

Johnson actually honed his craft under Emig’s direction. He started as a keg cleaner at the Lafayette Brewing Company and quickly worked his way up to LBC head brewer, a position he held for seven years.

“We noticed that there wasn’t much craft beer being produced that was being put out into the community,” says Johnson, who focused his business on brewing classic American ales and German lagers for distribution to area package stores and restaurants.

Within months of opening the brewery, Johnson also opened the People’s Tap Room in a small space at the front of his building, with seating for a handful of people – intended as a place where customers could try different beers and fill their growlers for carry-out.

By 2013, business was booming, and People’s underwent an expansion that doubled the facility’s space to 11,000 square feet and expanded the taproom, which now opens up to a patio, accommodates about 80 patrons inside and out, and hosts game nights, live music and local food trucks throughout the week. 

Johnson notes that the latest craft brewery craze has taken off right under his nose. When he started working at the Lafayette Brewing Company in 2000, Indiana had only 12 microbreweries. Nine years later, when he launched People’s, it was the 27th brewery in the state. Today there are 170 microbreweries across Indiana.

A burgeoning scene

After graduating from Purdue in 1998, Brian Russell spent about a dozen years on the West Coast, where he attended the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, then worked as a chef and pub consultant around Portland, Oregon. When he returned to his hometown of West Lafayette in 2011, he says, he looked around for a place to grab a beer on a Saturday night, but was surprised that there weren’t a ton of options outside of the college-town watering holes close to the university.

A few years later, Russell discovered a column by James Fallows in The Atlantic magazine, detailing “Eleven Signs a City Will Succeed.” The first 10 or so signs were no-brainers. Successful cities, Russell read, focus less on divisive national politics and more on community issues; invest in public-private partnerships; and are located near large research universities. But number 11 on the list was unexpected: “Successful cities have craft breweries.”

“A town that has craft breweries also has a certain kind of entrepreneur,” Fallows wrote, “and a critical mass of mainly young customers.”

It was a lightbulb moment for Russell. “We thought there’s space in the market for a craft brewery in the bar scene in West Lafayette,” says Russell, who partnered with his wife, Laura, and his sister and brother-in-law, Stacy and Dustin Grove, to open Brokerage Brewing Company on Sagamore Parkway in West Lafayette in late 2017.

“We now joke that we are West Lafayette’s oldest brewery,” Russell laughs. “It’s funny and true at the same time.” 

With 40 seats inside, the Brokerage taproom is already so popular – and crowded – that a multi-phase expansion is in the works that will double the size of the brewery, and then add a kitchen and an all-ages dining room sometime this summer, if all goes as planned. 

Within months of Brokerage’s debut, other craft breweries also have established themselves.

Brian and David Thieme opened the Thieme & Wagner taproom on Lafayette’s Main Street in early 2017. David began brewing bock beer from an old family recipe the following year. The father-son owners are descendants of Frederick A. Thieme, who, with John Wagner, established a brewery at the corner of Fourth and Union streets in Lafayette in 1863. At the turn of the century, Thieme & Wagner was one of the largest and most successful breweries in the state, but it was forced to cease beer production with Prohibition in 1918. 

Today, the 50-seat Thieme & Wagner taproom sits above the basement space where David brews six different beers, from an American lager to Thieme’s signature bock. The taproom also offers selections from other local and regional microbreweries, as well as a full bar and a light menu.

In early 2018, Jon Hodge and Burnworth, who had both worked for Buffalo Wild Wings for years, opened Teays River Brewing & Public House on South Ninth Street in Lafayette. Besides a brewery and a taproom, the establishment also comprises a full bar with wine on tap, a broad outdoor patio and an all-ages restaurant with an open kitchen.

“We wanted to be creative and unique and do things that weren’t really happening in Lafayette,” Burnworth says. “Lafayette is still a small town but we wanted to bring some of the cosmopolitan ways of a bigger city, but still keep it in a small-town atmosphere.” 

And then there’s Escape Velocity, which enters the scene this year. If a new craft brewery in Lafayette is no longer groundbreaking news, the fact that this establishment is, according to its website, the only all-vegetarian restaurant in Lafayette and Indiana’s only all-vegetarian brewpub makes it pretty special. 

The sum of its parts

Not one of the local brewery owners feels that the market is crowded. They don’t see the new businesses as competition. Rather, they welcome newcomers and embrace a kind of fellowship. And they say they have more than enough customers to go around.

“There’s still a great opportunity for more brewers in this city,” says Behenna, of Escape Velocity. “It’s nowhere near saturated for a city this size. It’s kind of like the Starbuck’s model. When are there too many Starbucks? When one of them opens and it’s not busy. It can be the same with brewers.” 

Behenna also points out that each local brewery has its own neighborhood that it serves, and its own niche that it fills. 

LBC offers family dining and a huge upstairs event space, and Teays takes pride in its innovative lunch and dinner menus. 

Thieme & Wagner pays homage to old Lafayette with a historical brew, while Brokerage, at barely two years old, celebrates its standing as the most established westside brewery. Escape Velocity fills a void east of Sagamore Parkway as it embraces a space-age theme.

You can run into any package or liquor store from the north side of Chicago to the south side of Indianapolis and bring home a six-pack of People’s to stash in your fridge, or you can head to any one of the taprooms and meet the brewer face to face. 

What ties these places together is a devotion to the community and a drive to be part of something bigger than what each individual brewery can be on its own.

The local brewers all seem to know each other, and they know what everyone else is working on – not because they compete, but because they collaborate. “There’s a camaraderie between small breweries that you don’t see in a lot of other industries,” LBC’s Emig says. 

All of the local brewpubs and taprooms offer friendly gathering spaces where everyone is welcome. If they have space, they also feature live music and monthly game nights. Brokerage even puts on a Sunday evening “Beer and Hymns” casual worship event. 

And while these happenings, of course, are intended for fun and fellowship – the business model for any bar or restaurant – they also are opportunities to educate customers about craft beer.

The local brewers understand that they are brand ambassadors. If one brewer can get one person interested in craft beers, then more brewers can get more people on board. “The more brewers the better,” Emig says. “The more awareness of what we do, the better it is for everybody.”

Over the summer, for example, Johnson, at People’s, teamed up with the Lafayette Aviators baseball team to present Thirsty Thursdays at Loeb Stadium. At People’s Patio along the first baseline, fans could buy beers not just from People’s Brewery, but from other local and regional breweries, as well, including LBC, Brokerage and Teays River.

“The craft industry is a little bit different when it comes to competition,” Johnson says. “It’s a friendly business.” 

“Rising water raises all ships,” Behenna says. “We’re becoming a brewery destination for people to drive to Lafayette to try all the breweries. The more of us there are, the more of a community there is, and the more of a destination we can be.”

BY JANE MCLAUGHLIN ANDERSON
PHOTOS PROVIDED BY PURDUE RESEARCH FOUNDATION

“A lot of communities claim to be focused on the needs of business, but this community proves it.”

Built so they would come, Purdue University-affiliated Discovery Park District landed Swedish-based Saab as a major aeronautic manufacturing facility in May. It’s a perfect match.

Saab, an acronym meaning Swedish Aeroplane Company Limited, has been making fighter planes since 1937 and is heavily invested in the defense and security industry. According to Saab’s website, its strategy for growth in new markets is to pursue excellence through technology, research and cooperation.

Purdue President Mitch Daniels had the vision to capitalize on Purdue’s strength in aerospace engineering research, intellectual capital and the university’s airport to create an ecosystem that would bring in industry-related businesses.

Saab will invest $37 million and hire up to 300 employees to make fuselages (the central body of an aircraft) for T-X advanced jet trainers developed by Boeing and Saab for the U.S. Air Force. Hiring will start in 2020, Job ramp-up will occur between 2021-2026.

Paul Moses, assistant vice president at Purdue Research Foundation, helps serve as matchmaker for major corporate and university partnerships. “Each company has its own reasons for wanting to engage with Purdue. Usually, it’s tied to some desired technical expertise or workforce development,” he says.

“We work to help them build bridges to the many experts on campus, our licensable intellectual property or patents, and of course, the bright young minds who will become their employees. We also help international companies and their employees assimilate into our community.”

When asked why Greater Lafayette was attractive to Saab, Moses cited that Saab appreciated that the community (Purdue, Purdue Research Foundation, and city, county and state leaders) all worked together to answers its questions, provide meaningful incentives, and helped them understand and acquire its needed workforce. Supported by the cooperation of Indiana’s pro-industry ecosystem, Saab found the perfect partners for its next chapter. As an added bonus, West Lafayette reminded Saab officials of Linköping, the Swedish city in which Saab currently does most of its airframe manufacturing.

Initially, Saab will focus on building airframes to fulfill the U.S. military contract of producing at least 351 jet trainers for the Air Force. According to a Purdue press release, Saab will also collaborate with the university to expand research and development within possible areas of sensor systems, artificial intelligence and autonomous systems. Purdue also has areas of expertise in trusted microelectronics, hypersonics and cybersecurity that Saab or other interested companies can consider employing.

“A lot of communities claim to be focused on the needs of business, but this community proves it,” Moses says. “When companies come, they feel the sincerity of our local leaders. They experience how truly collaborative we are. They see the quality of our existing workforce and our commitment to developing it further. They learn about the expertise available and the bright young minds being turned out by our world-leading educational institutions. When you combine all that with the affordability of our great quality of life, it makes our community among the most compelling of places to consider locating a business.

BY ANGELA K. ROBERTS

Lana Beck, a bright, inquisitive second-grader at Mintonye Elementary in Lafayette, was born into a STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) family. Her parents are university administrators with degrees in science, and a grandfather and an uncle are biomedical engineers.

Between visits to family members’ research buildings and bedtime readings of books such as “Rosie Revere, Engineer,” Lana’s parents make a point of exposing her to all things STEM during her off-school hours. When it came time to schedule Lana for summer camp in 2019, it was only logical to mix in stints at Straight Arrow and Boiler Kids Camp with a week at Super Summer, sponsored by Purdue University’s Gifted Education Research and Resource Institute. 

As Lana and her classmates explored the theme of “Discovery through History,” examining the role of ancient civilizations on the modern world, they employed their STEM skills to develop a Mayan calendar, discover how a solar oven works, and create an aqueduct out of cardboard.

The verdict? Lana loved it. “I have wondered if it was the novelty of it, but it was certainly her favorite [of the three camps]. And she liked the other two,” says her mother, Kaethe Beck, operations director for the Purdue University Life Sciences Initiative. “She came home one day looking for us to translate her message that she wrote using hieroglyphs after they learned how to make their own paper. She was just thrilled to have a secret language and to know how paper is made.”

For several decades, the GERI program, part of Purdue’s College of Education, has provided enrichment activities for academically, creatively and artistically talented youth. Super Summer offers programming for kindergarten through fourth grade in not only STEM subjects but also social studies, art and language arts. The Summer Residential Camp has similar offerings for students in fifth through 12th grades. GERI is one of many programs in the Greater Lafayette area designed to open local students’ minds to the possibilities of STEM education, and ultimately, careers. 

A STEM-based economy

Science, technology, engineering and mathematics play a key role in our nation’s economy. According to a Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data, employment in STEM occupations — which Pew broadly defines as including not only computer science and engineering, but also healthcare — grew from 9.7 million in 1990 to 17.3 million in 2016, outpacing the nation’s overall job growth. Those statistics are especially relevant in areas such as Greater Lafayette, where industry and healthcare reign. 

While Purdue University may be the top employer in Tippecanoe County, seven others on the top-10 list — including Subaru of Indiana Automotive Inc., Caterpillar Inc. and Wabash National Corp. — are manufacturers. The other two are IU Health Arnett Hospital and Franciscan St. Elizabeth East. Search the online want ads for the area, and you’ll find postings for engineers, factory technicians, registered nurses and certified nursing assistants, all of which require various levels of STEM skills.

“The local economy here is heavily manufacturing based, and we’re trying to address that,” says Miranda Hutcheson, director of the new Greater Lafayette Career Academy (GLCA), which opened in August in the old Lafayette Life building on 18th Street across from Lafayette Jefferson High School. “Almost every industry right now needs employees; we hear that almost every day.”

Pathways to success

GLCA, a cooperative effort that includes Lafayette School Corp., Tippecanoe School Corp. and the West Lafayette Community School Corp., is designed to prepare students for both college and careers. Students attend their home schools for a half-day either in the morning or the afternoon and spend the rest of their time at the academy. Credits at the academy count toward a diploma from their home schools. 

Local schools offer some beginning career and technical education courses, says Laurie Rinehart, director of guidance and assistant principal at Lafayette Jeff. However, GLCA is providing “more advanced courses and more advanced experiences to connect them with the next step, whether it’s the workforce or going to trade school or college,” she says. Through such programs as advanced manufacturing, computer science and nursing, academy students can earn industry certifications, dual credits or both. 

Coursework aligns with the new Graduation Pathways program, approved by the Indiana State Board of Education in 2017, in which Hoosier students create their own roadmaps to preparing for life after high school. Those pathways took effect last fall for incoming high school freshmen.

Hutcheson describes the pathways as on- and off-ramps on an interstate. “Whatever your educational attainment goal is or career goal, you can get off the ramp if needed and then get right back on if that’s what you choose,” she says. Students with industry certifications can enter the workforce immediately or spend two or four years in college before using that certification on the job. Others may work for a while, then attend college. Those who earn dual credits can go right on to college or delay their postsecondary education for a while. 

All GLCA classes are designed to be as hands-on as possible, both on- and off-campus. Aspiring medical assistants, for example, will attend labs where they learn skills such as checking vital signs, giving injections and charting patient progress. After graduation, they will complete an externship at a local healthcare facility.

Some students may discover that they don’t enjoy what they’re studying. That’s actually a valuable learning experience, Hutcheson says: “It’s a win for us if a student says, ‘This is not for me.’ We’ve eliminated that from a student’s future career options.”

STEM competence and confidence

Beyond the career academy, many other local initiatives are designed to build STEM competence and confidence. Greater Lafayette Commerce, for instance, sponsors CoderDojo, a free computer science club in which kids aged 7 to 17 learn programming from computer science professionals. Programs average 30 students at each of the two locations, says Kara Webb, workforce development director. Last fall, GLC planned to add two more locations to the monthly lineup.

GLC’s annual Manufacturing Week showcases STEM career possibilities available here in the Greater Lafayette region. More than 3,34o students signed up for last year’s event, which ran Sept. 30-Oct. 4. High school students toured manufacturers, seeing the workforce in action and learning what type of training would prepare them for industry careers. Middle schoolers attended a daylong expo, exploring stations focused on design, production, distribution and support services, such as nursing and cybersecurity.

“We highlight that manufacturing has numerous career pathways, not just production,” Webb says. Elementary students attended a half-day manufacturing awareness workshop, learning about lean manufacturing, quality, teamwork and the effect of manufacturing on people’s lives. 

Across the river at Purdue University, K-12 STEM programs abound. Purdue’s Women in Engineering offerings, for example, include after-school programs such as Imagination, Innovation, Discovery and Design (I2D2) for kindergarteners through fifth graders and Innovation to Reality (I2R) for sixth to eighth graders.

“Children are being exposed to STEM education in their formal school settings already, so what we do is really intended to be a reinforcement of that exposure,” says Beth M. Holloway, assistant dean for diversity and engagement in the College of Engineering and the Leah H. Jamieson Director of Women in Engineering. A fundamental part of WIEP’s programming is engaging current engineering students, particularly women, to serve as role models to youngsters.

Starting early

“For our programs that are targeted to seventh to 10th grades, we also do sessions for parents that address ways to encourage their child’s interest in engineering in particular, and STEM in general,” Holloway says. “Course expectations are covered there as well.”

Middle school is an ideal time to begin planning for high school, Rinehart says. In fact, she and her colleagues at Jeff are talking to eighth grade parents about the career academy so that interested students can plan their schedules accordingly. 

“They’re over there a whole half day. Not all students can do that,” Rinehart says of the GLCA students. “These conversations have to start with our kids in middle school, in eighth grade and freshman year; we have many students who want to go but can’t fit it in their schedule.”

For parents like Kaethe Beck, it’s never too early to start preparing her children for the future. “I can expose her to many different things and let her choose what interests her, reinforcing that she can explore any one of these disciplines in a capable, confident way,” she says of her daughter Lana.

And regardless of whether Lana pursues a career in STEM or in another discipline, lessons like those at Super Summer are equipping her with important life skills, Beck says. 

“I think children are inherently curious,” she explains. “It’s the what, why, how that kids always want to ask about anyway. In my mind, STEM fields address those questions in a number of ways, but most importantly, give you the tools to think critically about any type of problem you’ll encounter in life.”

BY JANE MCLAUGHLIN ANDERSON
PHOTOS PROVIDED BY PURDUE RESEARCH FOUNDATION

The timing couldn’t be better. Just as Purdue University and Greater Lafayette were envisioning a new generation of high-tech companies for the Discovery Park District, Purdue alumnus Edmund Schweitzer III came back to campus. His original intent was to honor his alma mater with a $1.5 million endowed professorship in electrical and computer engineering, and to donate an additional $1.5 million to support Purdue’s power and energy research area, now named Schweitzer Power and Energy Systems. 

“Last fall Purdue Research Foundation and others honored Ed and his wife, Beatriz, for their contributions,” says factory manager Jake Church. “As that story unfolded, it inspired Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL) to build a facility near campus, and the project took off.” 

The 100,000-square-foot plant across from Rolls Royce is indeed taking off and will be up and running in early 2020.

Edmund O. Schweitzer III is truly a renaissance man. Having received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering from Purdue in 1968 and 1971, he worked out West for the government for five years before deciding to pursue a doctorate degree. He received his Ph.D. from Washington State University in 1977 in Pullman. While teaching at WSU and raising a family, he founded Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories in his basement in 1982 to build digital relay devices for power systems to replace the cumbersome and unreliable current mechanical devices. It was revolutionary engineering for electrical protection at the time; he received a patent for the first microprocessor-based digital relay, one of his 200 patents in the field. Because of it, he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2019. Academic. Inventor. Entrepreneur. Philanthropist. He is a man of vision with the ability to make it happen.

“The mission for the company is to make electric power safer, more reliable, and more economical,” Church says. “With that goal, it opens the door to customers who need safe and reliable high-speed control of their power systems like electric utility companies, hospitals, universities, and virtually any entity that needs reliable power.” The West Lafayette plant will make recloser controls. These devices control reclosures that act as high-voltage electric switches that shut off the flow of electricity on a power line when trouble occurs due to wind, lightning, falling trees, animals, among other things. 

“We are excited to manufacture SEL technology so close to some of our Midwestern customers (Duke, Indianapolis Power & Light and Tipmont), but it’s also an opportunity to be close to Purdue University and collaborate with them,” says Church. “You can’t put a price on the synergy created by partnerships between the community and the university.” SEL’s manufacturing plants are located in Pullman, Washington; Lake Zurich, Illinois; Lewiston, Idaho; and now West Lafayette. SEL products are used by virtually every U.S. electric utility and are protected power systems in 164 countries around the world. Moving to West Lafayette is a game-changer for the growing Discovery Park District with win-win benefits for the company, community and university.

Church is among the first of 30 employees of the 100 percent employee-owned company to make the move to Indiana. “All volunteered and applied for the transition. They’re eager to come and are so excited to make Greater Lafayette their home,” he says. SEL will ramp up hiring from there with a projection of eventually 300 employees, with manufacturing jobs coming first and research and development and engineering to follow. 

“We’re thrilled to work with Greater Lafayette Commerce and others here to get the word out as needed. Purdue Research Foundation and GLC offered to help incorporate our people into the community, including our spouses,” Church adds. “It’s a testament to the community, with so many different parties involved at different points, whether it was PRF and staff, GLC helping with logistics, both mayors’ offices very supportive and eager to help us get a safe, good building constructed, and county commissioners to help with the workforce. Everyone has been topnotch — very welcoming, professional and supportive. We’re thrilled to be building this business here.”

BY CINDY GERLACH
PHOTOS BY CHRISTINE PETKOV

East End Grill feels right at home on Main Street, thanks to Purdue grad’s vision.

Upper Main Street in downtown Lafayette wasn’t always known as the hippest part of the block. But things change. And much of the credit must go to the neighborhood’s swankiest eatery, East End Grill. 

Located on the north side of Main Street, between 11th and 12th streets, East End occupies a building that was formerly a coffee shop and, prior to that, a health clinic. But you’d never know it — the building has been transformed, and its previous owners would likely not even recognize it. With its exposed ductwork, open ceiling, wood and metal accents, the interior is urban and chic, evocative of an urban loft. 

It’s a transformation that was all intentional, says owner Scott Trzaskus. He did a lot of research, looking into the needs and desires of the community.

“We really wanted to bring a more urban environment,” he says. “And hopefully add something to this end of the street. We have some really well-traveled people.”

Trzaskus moved to the area in the late ’80s to attend Purdue University, planning to study civil engineering. “I wanted to build bridges,” he says. But somewhere along the way, he lost interest in construction, while, at the same time, he became fascinated with his work in dining and hospitality as he worked part-time in local restaurants.  This, he decided, was where his passion lay. So, armed with a degree in hospitality and tourism management from Purdue, he set off to make his way in the world, working in high-end establishments in Houston, San Francisco, New York and Chicago, and learning everything he could.

He ended up back in the Lafayette area when he and his wife, fellow Purdue alum Erin, decided this was where they wanted to raise their family. And Trzaskus noticed immediately the possibility of opening a new eatery in downtown Lafayette — the business community would embrace it, he felt, as would Purdue.

“I always wanted to do something. I never thought it would be here, but it turns out it was,” he says. 

Teaming up with partners Bearing Point Developers — John Nagy, Pat Jarboe and Tim Balensiefer — they chose this spot on Upper Main Street, knowing it had potential. 

“We’re really happy to be on this part of the block,” he says 

Trzaskus wanted to create a space that was open to all sorts of possibilities — he didn’t want to limit the restaurant to either high-end dining or to sandwiches and beer. Instead, he focused on creating a space that is open to multiple uses — whether it’s just dropping in for drinks and snacks, a special event or burgers with the family. 

“It’s got some serious flexibility,” he says. “Whether it be a cheese reception, a wine reception or a business function, we want it to be what the guests want.”

And the space has been designed and configured to allow for this flexibility. The main dining area has standard tables that can be moved around to fit any size party, yet you’ll note they are not terribly close together, allowing for more private conversation space. The bar area has the same sorts of tables but also has a traditional bar area along with high-top tables. An area in the back can be closed off to allow for private space — perfect for either a family reunion or an off-site business gathering, complete with audio-visual hookups and a television that doubles as a screen. 

“We didn’t want to do anything that would feel dated in two years,” he says. 

The menu is designed around local, fresh ingredients. It’s seasonal; the focus is on what is fresh and full of flavor.

“We really focus on foods when they’re available,” he says, “Everything here is from scratch. Everything is produced in house.”

And proof of this commitment to fresh ingredients? The restaurant has only a refrigerator — no freezer. 

“It’s really important for us to eat seasonal foods when they’re at the height of the season and then wait for them to come back next year,” says executive chef Ambarish Lulay. “Why push it? I know I’m going to get good quality when it’s in season.”

Not only are items only served seasonally, but they are procured as locally as possible, from local farms. All steaks are cut in house. 

The same commitment applies to the bar menu, as bartender Thomas Gregg has created all signature cocktails. 

In the coming months, East End will be expanding this same ideology across the street. Trzaskus and his investors have purchased a space across the street, where construction has begun on a new venture, a multi-use facility. Upstairs will house an event space and outdoor patio; downstairs will feature a casual eatery with counter service — yet the cuisine will be higher end, echoing the sort of menu items that can be found across the street at East End. 

“What we’re trying to do is fill all the holes that East End didn’t,” Trzaskus says. “Counter service is the direction people want. We want to make it really easy to grab high-quality food.”

Trzaskus has worked very hard to create an open, welcoming environment. He is a hands-on owner, in the restaurant, paying attention to feedback from his customers.

“One of the things we try to do is listen,” he says. “And I don’t say that lightly.”

Case in point: When the restaurant opened, the noise level was much higher than anticipated. With the open ceiling and exposed ductwork, the acoustics were dreadful — people sitting across from one another could barely engage in conversation. 

The acoustics may have been dreadful, but Trzaskus did hear the complaints. Acoustic padding was added to the ceiling, helping the sound.

“You could literally feel the difference,” he says. 

The same can be said of the menu: They listen to customer input.

“When it comes to our specials, we play with them,” says Lulay. “And people tell us one way or another. We do our best to listen to what people are saying and respond accordingly.”

As Trzaskus sees his restaurant fill up night after night, watches as he expands across the street, he feels pretty satisfied about what he’s done. 

“We want people to feel very comfortable,” he says. “People need to know the story about what we do and why we do it. 

“We don’t do anything that’s terribly fancy, but we use high-quality ingredients. We don’t want to be pretentious, but we want to be highly informed.”

Clearly, it’s a recipe for success. Fresh vegetables and sides. Clean cooking. The kitchen is always open — that’s a key part of the integrity that he wants to foster. 

“It’s not that hard to do,” Trzaskus says. “It just takes some effort.”

This simple commitment to quality, to service, has proven to work well for his clientele. 

“The fun part is when people come in and say you’ve hit both sides, the food and the service,” Trzaskus says.

“I’m really happy here. Hopefully, this place will still feel in time in 10 years.”

BY CINDY GERLACH

That’s the message made loud and clear by the many cultural and welcome centers in the Greater Lafayette-West Lafayette community. You are welcome, and your culture is celebrated. One thing that every group makes known: These centers are not limited to the group whose name is used in the title. Each is open and inclusive — anyone is welcome to drop by and take part in activities. 

Asian American and Asian Resource & Cultural Center
905 Fifth St., West Lafayette
Purdue.edu/aaarcc

The Asian American and Asian Resource and Cultural Center opened in 2015, with the goal of providing educational and cultural resources for Purdue, as well as for the Lafayette-West Lafayette community.

Programs are in place to help provide academic support to students, with academic outreach being one of the core goals of the center. A number of courses and minors are available to students who want to pursue further study.

The center partners with other organizations across campus to sponsor programming, including speakers, movies, cultural events and panel discussions. 

A number of organizations are open to students, with academic, cultural or social missions, all related to Asian cultures. 

Black Cultural Center
100 Third St., West Lafayette
purdue.edu/BCC

Born during the tumult of the late 1960s, Purdue’s Black Cultural Center provides a place where the entire community can be educated and enlightened about the African-American experience.

The building is designed to reflect much of that experience. Many of the design elements reflect parts of African-American culture, from the portal entrance — symbolizing the entrance to African villages — to the layout of the building, which incorporates metaphors related to these same villages. The lobby is open, encouraging community rather than exclusion. And an upper wrought-iron balcony railing represents enslaved Africans of the 1700s, who often worked in metal trades and blacksmithing, says Director Renee Thomas.

The center provides a community for all Purdue and community members who have an interest in this culture. Of particular note are the performing arts groups that are part of the BCC, including:

• Black Thought Collective: A dialogue-centered service learning group that provides an Afrocentric perspective, fostering intellectual enlightenment and educational opportunities 
• Black Voices of Inspiration: A choral ensemble that performs spirituals to gospel and contemporary music 
• Haraka Writers: A group of student writers, sharing the literary expression of the African-American community through short stories, essays and poetry 
• Jahari Dance Troupe: A student dance company that traces the history of Black Dance in America
• New Directional Players: The student theatrical company that performs thought-provoking drama about the African-American experience
• Purdue Express: A 30-minute stage production about life at Purdue. 

The BCC features a library, a computer room and space for students to gather and be social. And its location between the academic center of campus and the residence halls makes it a convenient stop for students.

“Students who have a greater sense of belonging have stronger retention rates,” Thomas says. “We try to engage them through our programming and our performing arts ensembles.”

The BCC has two very distinct personalities. There’s the standard workday atmosphere between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., when it feels like an academic department. But in the evenings, the place comes alive with a vibrant, social vibe as students take over. 

“Lots of students take advantage,” says Thomas. “They really see it as their space as well.”

International Center of West Lafayette
523 N. Russell St., West Lafayette
Intlctr.org

The International Center focuses on education about various cultures. It offers a variety of foreign language classes and conversation groups in English, which is helpful for newcomers to the United States, says Executive Director Soo Shin.

“They love coming here so they can practice English with people with so many different accents,” she says. 

People come to attend language classes for a variety of reasons, from faculty planning to spend time overseas to people planning travel for leisure. The classes also focus on the cultural component and travel essentials. 

English as a Second Language classes also are offered, a popular option for newcomers to the area. 

Throughout the year, various social activities are held at the center. On Fridays, the Global Café is a free program featuring a speaker on a particular location. Sometimes they focus on life in the United States — how to foster pets, the rules on gun ownership — and other speakers focus on life and the culture in another country. 

“People want to hear the other side of the news they never hear about,” Shin says. “It’s so good to break those stereotypes.”

The International Center is proud to host the food bazaar at Global Fest each year, featuring cuisine from nearly 25 different countries. 

“When you enter this building, you get rid of the stereotypes and get to see what the real person is like,” Shin says. “This place has been a safe space regardless of where they are from. It’s amazing how word of mouth works; students go back to their home countries and spread the word.”

Latino Center for Wellness & Education
Northend Community Center, Lafayette
Latinocenter.orgspring.org

The Latino Center for Wellness and Education was organized to help integrate the Latino culture into the community. 

“We’re promoting our culture and want to highlight our culture,” says board president Cassandra Salazar. “We want to integrate cultures. That’s part of our mission.”

The group’s largest activity of the year is the Tippecanoe Latino Festival each fall. It also features a community resource fair, whose participants include schools, churches, businesses, arts and culture, groups like Greater Lafayette Immigrant Allies and the Mexican consulate. 

The event is the group’s largest fundraiser as well, providing support for its other outreach throughout the year.

But Salazar is quick to point out that the organization is not Mexican-centric — all Latino cultures are represented, with board members from all over Latin America.

The center provides resources and assistance to people, including academic scholarships, translation services (including providing translators at school events), referrals for those new to the community (doctors, lawyers, mortgage lenders), and other need-based services.

In December, a large holiday celebration is held, with activities, crafts and gifts for children. In April, Día de Niño is celebrated, a national holiday in many Latin American countries. Literacy is often a focus, with all children going home with a book. 

“All of our events are 100 percent free to the community,” Salazar says. “That’s something we strongly believe in. We just want to serve as a resource.”

Latino Cultural Center
426 Waldron St., West Lafayette
purdue.edu/LCC

A welcoming and inclusive community can be found at the Latino Cultural Center, which fosters meaningful dialogue and cultural understanding of all Latinx communities. 

Director Carina Olaru feels strongly about inclusion. 

“One of our founding mottos is ‘All are welcome,’” she says. Which is why the center has adopted the use of the Latinx, which, while somewhat controversial, is inclusive in ways “Latino” and “Latina” are not.

“We use it here because we want to show that it’s an inclusive space.”

The center offers study space and a computer lab, a place where students can drop in. The building itself is filled with artwork and color, a visual link that clearly illustrates a tie to Latin America. 

And not just Mexico, Olaru points out — the center is open to all, the campus community and the community beyond Purdue as well. 

The center has a library, which is a great resource for students who are just beginning to learn about their culture and want to explore. 

They have a pop-up food bank as a way to help combat food insecurity. And in back of the center is a garden, which can be a teaching tool as well as a place for relaxation. 

“It allows for us to think about being mindful,” Olaru says. “Through gardening or just reading.” 

The center sponsors speakers and discussions that will benefit students. Last year, for example, it partnered with the LGBTQ center on adoption of the term Latinx and all that entailed. 

“What happens at the center comes from what our students and faculty needs are,” Olaru says. “We support them in how creative they want to be.”

Each fall, an open house and research fair, El Puente, welcomes students to campus. A student retreat, Conexiones, invites students to come and build community, with a variety of workshops offered. 

“When people think of Latin culture they think of food, fun and fiesta,” Olaru says, “But really, we are the Latino Cultural Center, creating cultural understanding, creating a sense of belonging and creating a dialogue.”

LGBTQ Center
230 Schleman Hall, Purdue University
purdue.edu/lgbtq

Purdue’s LGBTQ center was organized in 2012 to help support the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer students, faculty and staff at Purdue University. Director Lowell Kane is the center’s inaugural director. 

Because the center serves the LGBTQ community, it crosses over into all disciplines, all cultures and all walks of life, Kane says. 

“We try to show the intersectionality of the community, which is a very diverse group,” Kane says. “Our community is every community. We really are this incredibly diverse population.”

The center is open during the day, offering study space, a computer lab and tutoring for students. There also is a lounge where students can just hang out. 

Kane emphasizes the center’s opening and welcoming atmosphere. There is a collection of artifacts on display, illustrating the history and struggles of the LGBTQ community. 

The ultimate goal of the center is to help students be successful. The center works toward educating the university on how to create an inclusive campus environment, offering training to faculty and staff. This has created a “safe zone” network across campus, so students can find allies who will offer support. 

And because students can confidentially identify as part of the LGBTQ community with their enrollment — and can change that designation at any time — the center has access to a database of grades and demographic trends, seeing where their students most need academic support. 

Each fall, the Rainbow Callout is a resource fair for students; it has grown from nine tables in a room at the Stewart Center the first year to filling the Union ballrooms, with more than 1,300 attendees.  

And each spring the center offers a Lavender Graduation, which includes about 60 graduates, from undergraduate all the way up through doctoral students. 

“It’s very nice, coming together to celebrate the achievements of the community,” Kane says. 

The center partners with various groups across campus to sponsor educational programming throughout the year. Last year, it partnered with Convos in bringing the Tony-award winning musical “Rent” to campus. And through a partnership with the College of Liberal Arts and Women and Gender studies, it brought a visiting scholar to campus, Sasha Velour from “Ru Paul’s Drag Race.” She uses her platform to advocate for social justice causes, particularly for LGBTQ women’s rights, race/ethnicity and international issues. 

Native American Education & Cultural Center
903 Fifth St., West Lafayette
purdue.edu/naecc

The Native American Cultural Center is home to Native American, Alaskan Native and Hawaiian students, faculty and staff, with more than 60 tribal nations represented. 

The center is focused on providing academic support in order to foster student success. It also provides educational outreach about the United States’ indigenous cultures. 

Throughout the year, a variety of programs are sponsored by the center. An open house kicks off the year, with tours of the center and a preview of the fall’s events. Students also are   introduced to the various student organizations they can join that relate to their culture. 

Various programs are scheduled throughout the year, including film screenings and discussions, visiting artists and historical discussions.

Aloha Fridays are a popular event; on the Hawaiian Islands, it’s a farewell to the work week, and here, programming varies, from food to discussion to arts and crafts. 

Throughout November, Native American Heritage Month, the center sponsors a number of speakers on history, culture and education. 

Pride Lafayette
640 Main St., Lafayette
Pridelafayette.org

Pride Lafayette was organized 16 years ago to serve members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer community and its allies. The oldest advocacy group in the state of Indiana, says board president Ashley Smith, it hosts a variety of activities and speakers to help support its constituency. 

At its downtown Lafayette location, it hosts a variety of different activities, from support groups for teens or family members, to game and movie nights. 

The center is designed to provide flexibility: screens can be moved and arranged to provide privacy to support groups meeting inside; a back door is available for those who want to drop in but need or want to protect their identity as they enter — “Some people just aren’t ready to be out,” says Smith. “We respect their privacy.” 

Pride’s biggest and best-known event is its annual OUTfest, a festival that takes over downtown Lafayette each August. It started in 2008 as OUT-oberfest, but over the last 10 years, the event has grown and now features food, music, resources, more than 70 vendors and family-friendly activities. Several local churches and area politicians can be counted as supporters, including the mayors of both Lafayette and West Lafayette. The event always ends in a spectacular drag show; last year’s event included a Freddie Mercury tribute. 

Each November, Pride hosts a family weekend, coinciding with other Family Equality events. Families come from all the state to attend.

BY ANGELA K. ROBERTS
PHOTOS PROVIDED BY GREATER LAFAYETTE COMMERCE AND TIPPECANOE ARTS FEDERATION

When Henry Leavitt Ellsworth, the first United States Patent Commissioner, published a booklet in 1838 touting the agricultural advantages of a new town in Indiana’s upper Wabash River valley, his efforts likely constituted the first-ever marketing campaign for Lafayette, Indiana, population 3,000.

“The county of Tippecanoe, in which Lafayette is situated … embodies and is immediately surrounded by some of the most beautiful prairies and plains of Indiana,” the Connecticut native wrote. “The rapid increase of the town of Lafayette, from a settlement of scarce ten years ago, is truly astonishing, and can be accounted for only by the extreme felicity of its position.”

In the 182 ensuing years, the combined population of Lafayette and its twin city across the river to the west — which began with the settlement of Chauncey in 1860 — has swelled to more than 194,000 residents, by latest estimates. Back then, agriculture was king; now the key industries are education, manufacturing and healthcare. And while both towns began with only a few streets and a handful of homes and businesses, today Greater Lafayette encompasses a vast area containing historic and brand-new neighborhoods, high-quality school corporations, parks and trail systems, two hospitals, a world-class university and a regional community college campus.

Now, a new coalition seeks to make Greater Lafayette even greater by bringing a unified approach to marketing efforts aimed at increasing the talent pool, spurring new business development and enhancing community pride.

Creating prospects

Seven local entities — the City of Lafayette, the City of West Lafayette, Tippecanoe County, Visit Lafayette-West Lafayette, Purdue University, the Purdue Research Foundation and Greater Lafayette Commerce — have come together to form the Greater Lafayette Marketing Coalition (GLMC). Its aim is to promote the area as an ideal place to live, play and work.

 “We work very well as a community here, with the cities and the county and Purdue and Ivy Tech. Overall, we have a strong economic climate,” says Tony Roswarski, Lafayette’s mayor. “But we understood that to continue to be globally competitive, we needed to look at how do we market ourselves in a new way? How do we look at the world for attracting new businesses here, to keep existing businesses competitive, to finding skilled labor?”

The ultimate goal of the campaign is twofold, says Scott Walker, CEO of Greater Lafayette Commerce: one, attracting more residents to the community, and two, attracting more businesses.

“We’re not necessarily trying to create more visitors,” he explains. Instead, coalition members want to convert visitors to prospects. “How do we get them to think, ‘How do I bring my business here, because I see how businesses are growing and thriving here?  Or how can I move myself and my family here, because I’ve really enjoyed my time in the community?’” 

Work-live-play strengths

To lay the groundwork for a cooperative marketing effort, GLMC partnered with Ologie, a Columbus, Ohio, agency that spearheaded Purdue University’s “Makers, All” campaign several years ago. The agency conducted face-to-face meetings with more than 125 residents, business leaders, hiring managers, Purdue University faculty, administrators and students, area non-profits and city and county employees.  It also developed an online community survey that yielded responses from more than 1,500 individuals.   Local hiring managers and business owners also participated in online discussion boards. 

Among the key insights: A connection to family is often what draws residents to the area and what keeps Purdue University graduates here. Additionally, Lafayette and West Lafayette may have distinct personalities, but thanks to their collaborative spirit, the two cities are often seen as one. Finally, despite its challenges, Greater Lafayette has a variety of work-live-play strengths, including employment opportunities, shared public spaces and high-quality public schools. 

Where community thrives

All of this adds up to the core message that Ologie developed: “Greater Lafayette is where progress, creativity and community thrive, so that you can live expansively.” 

For job seekers, Greater Lafayette is a hub for diverse and state-of-the-art industries, which translates to unlimited professional opportunities, according to Ologie’s messaging guide. For visitors and residents looking for entertainment, the area offers a variety of arts, culture and tech opportunities, which provide memorable experiences. For people seeking a sense of belonging, Greater Lafayette is a close-knit and prosperous community, the Ologie team notes, which leads to greater personal fulfillment for its citizens.

The campaign’s optimistic messages resonate with officials like Tom Murtaugh, Tippecanoe County commissioner. Born and raised here, he’s been delighted with changes in recent years, particularly the revitalization of downtown areas.

“When I was in college, downtown was desolate. There was an adult bookstore on the courthouse square. At night there was nobody downtown. To think that in 30-some years, that has completely turned around: investment in the downtown corridor, the MARQ project and the project by City Hall,” he says of the renovation of the Morton Community Center for West Lafayette city offices. “There’s a great history and a great future for this community.”

Working well together

As the campaign progresses, coalition officials will track progress. They’ll be looking for positive changes in audiences’ perceptions of Greater Lafayette as well as positive economic outcomes, such as new residents and businesses. 

“A growing economy is a thriving economy. Property and tax values depreciate, so you’re constantly having to create new investment,” says Walker. “There’s no such thing as status quo. Alternatives to growth are decline.” 

Demand for new houses drives new residential development, Walker adds: “We know what happens when the capacity expands over demand. That’s what the Great Recession was. Fostering that demand is really important; it provides assurance for developers.”

As West Lafayette Mayor John Dennis notes, Greater Lafayette is already seeing a housing boom. “We just approved the Provenance development on State and Airport Road in August. These will have wonderful housing options including apartments, condos and single-family houses. West Lafayette and Greater Lafayette as a whole is clearly a popular place to live because houses don’t stay on the market for long, but more are being added and will continue,” Dennis says. 

Several new businesses have also announced moves to or expansion in Greater Lafayette in the past year, including Saab, SEL (Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories), Inari and Zeblok. 

“The reason this is a great place to do business is because it is a great place to live. Our schools from kindergarten through Ph.D. are some of the finest in the country, our arts scene is robust and innovative, we have a growing culinary culture, our housing stock is wide-ranging and within reach for our residents,” Dennis says. 

“And finally, one of the main reasons Greater Lafayette is so great is that we all work together. It sounds cliché, but it’s what makes us, on both sides of the river, such a great success.”