The
MEGAPHONE
Elwood, Indiana Elwood High School(s)
Volume 7, No. 7 Tuesday, July 4, 2006
The Plum House -- nw corner of So. J and Anderson Streets
Contents
-- Page numbers on the left can be used as links --
Page 1 . . . In and Around Your Hometown -- Nancy Sumner
Page 2 . . . Panther Den Birthday & Anniversary Calendar -- Nancy Sumner (Our Calendar Girl)
St. Joseph's Church -- Karen (Stine) Hollies
Page 3 . . . Nick's Place -- Chris Pantos
Page 4 . . . Taps -- A Lesson For All of Us !!!
Page 5 . . . Standing In Line -- Bob Hinshaw
THE Hall Clock -- Linda (Meltzer) Harris
In and Around Your Hometown
by Nancy Sumner
It has been a week and people are still talking! Talking about the
Farmers’ Market. There have been a few
messages on the Den about the market and I don’t believe there has been a poor
report! Just in case you only read the monthly Megaphone, you might not be aware
of what is happening in your Hometown!
The Farmers’ Market concept came from a meeting of the Elwood Main
Street Association late last year. We had been discussing ideas of how to
attract our local citizens to the uptown area. One of the members thought it
would be nice to have a farmers market, possibly in the area of the old train
depot at 16th
and South B streets. We loved the idea of the market but with the fire
department also very near that location we needed to keep thinking! Another
suggested the open land on Main street where the Elwood Theater formerly stood.
Nope, not very good for parking and heavy vehicle traffic.
We wanted to stay on the main drag and have parking available. The fountain area
seemed to meet all our criteria. Now to get permission to use the area every
Saturday morning in the summer! That nod of approval came by way of Mayor
Taylor. He loved the idea and has been a staunch supporter from the beginning.
Other things we had to check into before we could even get started: liability
insurance, approval to close south B street, Health department guidelines from
the state of Indiana, develop a set of rules and regulations,
etc. We created a brochure to create interest in the project. The word started
to spread like wildfire! Even before the first market day, people were anxious.
Then came the task of finding vendors!
We wanted a ‘farmers market’ not at ‘flea market.’
We had press releases in all the area newspapers to get the buzz going.
Meetings, meetings and more meetings turned into weekly meetings to keep
finessing our goals and plans to make this work! We had a meeting of interested
vendors and there were about 15 to attend! Wow, this is great.
They shared ideas of what worked and didn’t work from the other farmers
markets they had attended.
Our first Farmers Market was June 24! Our
group was very excited to see this idea and project come to fruition! And as the
summer moves on, more and more vendors will appear with their fresh vegetables
and outdoor items. The place to be on a Saturday morning in Elwood will be
- The Farmers’ Market in uptown
Elwood! The market will run every
Saturday, June 24 through Sept. 2, from 8 a.m. to noon!
Depending on the weather and growing season, the market could run longer!
More activity is going on in the uptown area and it concerns the Opera
House! Randall Hall a few years back purchased the sad and rundown Opera House.
It needed lots of
refurbishing to even bring it up to code. Electrical, plumbing, interior
restoration and a much needed face
lift. The first areas to concentrate after those basics was to put in some type
of business in the lower level while the upper floors continued to be remodeled.
After that was started, the exterior also needed improvement.
A firm was hired to clean the brick and remove the old paint. Unfortunately,
the firm hired was not quite up to par in their cleaning ability! After the work
started it was very evident that not only was the paint being removed so was the
face of the bricks! Slowly the bricks were being destroyed in the cleaning
process. That work came to a halt! It
has been 2-3 years and after some legal issues were cleared up, another company
with proper techniques came to town this past week. The result is amazing! Below
you will see before and after pictures of the work that is being done. It is
absolutely beautiful. The heritage and the history of a time gone by has
returned. More work needs to be done but it is now on the right track!
Before I close for this month’s edition there is just one more thing!
This might sound like a ‘pat on the back’ … well it is!
Another community group I am involved with is the Elwood Pipecreek
Historical Society. Last fall you probably heard a lot about our group
concerning the old City Building and the Robert M. Palmer Institute of
Bio-mechanics who acquired the building. On Thursday, June 29, our group was
honored with an award from the eastern region of the Historic Landmarks
Foundation of Indiana. Three awards were
presented that evening to organizations who preserve and protect the heritage of
their cities and their structures. The Elwood City Hall was on the foundations
list of 10 most endangered buildings twice. The EPHS with help from Historic
Landmarks convinced the city to donate the building to the society for a 2 year
period to find an occupant for the building with a goal of preserving the
structure. As stated in an article in the Indiana Preservationist (May-June
2006), “This white elephant
donated its body to science. The nonprofit Robert M. Palmer Institute of
Biomechanics, co-founded by Palmer with Joe and Pam Haig, is transforming the
former city hall into a facility teaching advanced biomechanics to professionals
in foot and ankle care, footwear, and orthotics.”
Two other awards that evening were given to the preservation group from Henry County for their work in revitalizing New Castle’s historic district and to the Randolph County Historical Society for their work in the preservation of the Randolph County Court House. Remember the Calendar Girls of Randolph County!! ( I think their median age was 75!!) The Henry County Historical Society boasts a membership of 400! The Randolph County Historical Society held rallies where hundreds attended. The Elwood Pipecreek Historical Society membership varies from 5 to 8!! Five of us attended the event!! It was a great evening. It was an honor to receive such an award. And I am so very PROUD!!
The
Elwood Pipecreek Historical members left to right:
Linda Ead, Ranny Simmons, Dave Berkemeier, Wayne Goodman
from
Historic Landmarks, Theresa
Mangas and Nancy Sumner
Hometown
news brought to you by:
Nancy Sumner '66