I moved to town just over one year ago. A job that was too good to pass up lured me away from my hometown and Southern roots. Luckily, the job has exceeded my expectations and so has Fort Wayne. I am a Southern girl, happily transplanted to Northeast Indiana.
Weekends, when you are new in town, can be tough. The combination of not knowing anyone and lots of free time can result in misery. Luckily, it did not take me very long to discover that Fort Wayne has a lot of opportunities to do, learn, and have fun. In fact, a year later, I am still finding new and fun things in Fort Wayne. If you are new to Fort Wayne or if Fort Wayne is your hometown and you want a new perspective, here are two of this newbie’s favorite Fort Wayne things – parks and art.
One great benefit of miles and miles of flat land is that you can create parks. Everywhere. Fort Wayne has parks. Everywhere. Where I am from, the mountains of Southwest Virginia, parks are either located on narrow strips of land by the river or on the tops of mountains where mountain top strip mining has created flat usable land. The benefits of those types of parks is that you either have a nice cool shady place by the river or a beautiful view from the mountain top. But here, there is so much land that you can take an old farmstead and turn it into a working farm for a park or take a swath of land downtown and create a rose garden. Options abound. Fort Wayne’s many parks and recreation areas provide great choices for group or individual fun. If you are looking for a nice place to spend a Saturday morning or afternoon you will never have to look far for a park in Fort Wayne or Allen County.
Salomon Farm Park
Both Foster Park (on the city’s south side) and Salomon Farm Park (to the north) have fantastic walking trails that link to the Fort Wayne trail system and offer beautiful views. You may golf or walk by the river at Foster Park, while at Salomon Farm you can check out the summer farmer’s market or other farming activities that may be available throughout the year.
Lakeside Park and Rose Garden
All Fort Wayne parks are pretty, but none are quite as special as Lakeside Park. In the late spring and summer Lakeside Park’s rose garden comes alive with blooms and the sweet aromas. It is a nice little oasis in the midst of downtown. You can take a stroll through the flowers than sit by the lake and enjoy lunch or just take in the view. On occasion you might even get to witness a wedding in the rose garden!
Headwaters Park in the heart of downtown Fort Wayne is an essential spot for all newcomers. When you arrive in town, check out the Calendar of Events so that you can keep up with all the festivals and events at Headwaters Park. There are fun times to be had all summer long. You won’t want to miss GermanFest or Three Rivers Festival!
The best thing about Fort Wayne parks is that they are filled with Fort Wayne residents, whom you will find to be friendly and kind. This is a great way to get to know your community and have a big time.
It was a surprise to find that Fort Wayne has an active and interesting arts scene. No, it is not New York, Los Angeles, or Chicago, but interesting art is alive and well. Fort Wayne is home to many talented artists. If you are looking for handcrafted jewelry, sculpture, paintings, or mixed media, it is here. A good place to start is the Fort Wayne Museum of Art. It is lovely. The Museum hosts Thursday evening events in the gift shop and art openings regularly. Other galleries and festivals thrive in the area, including a monthly event called Last Saturday where local galleries and businesses downtown host art-related events. A must see gallery is The Orchard Gallery located in the Covington Plaza. You can find all kinds of treasures at The Orchard. It is worth a visit. Speaking of Covington, the Covington Art Fair in the Covington Plaza on Jefferson Boulevard is an eclectic collection of local, regional, and national artists. It is an awesome local art event. You can find everything from photography, paintings, and sculpture to jewelry made from recycled bowling balls. The arts scene in Fort Wayne is rich with talent, treasure, and interesting and kind people. To find out what is going on with local artists check out Artlink, Arts United, or the Downtown Improvement District calendars.
The best thing about being new in town is the excitement that comes with discovering all the new, fun things to do. In Fort Wayne there is enough to keep that excitement alive for a long time; in my case it is at a year and counting.
Whitney is a Southern girl. She is an attorney by trade and an administrator by birth who works at a local college. Whitney spends her free time adventuring with her border collie Scout and blogging at It is pretty - https://coalfieldstocornfields.wordpress.com.
The 3rd Annual Northeast Indiana Playwright Festival will bring together modern day Shakespeares on Saturday, June 1-3 at the Arts United Center.
The winning script was awarded to Athea’s Well by Ruth Tyndall Baker. Second place went to Hands Under the Table by Theron RD Steinke, and third place went to Spring at the Willowbrook Inn by Douglas C. Evans and Jonathon Van Dyke.
The winner was selected from 15 entries written from Northeast Indiana residents, from Auburn to Indianapolis.
Athea’s Well is written about Athea Wheeler who is a God-fearing woman struggling to hold her own against her abusive husband by praying to her personal God for strength. This morality play is set in post-depression Missouri where educated drifters are viewed with great suspicion – except by a God-fearing woman! The drifter finds his need for family met in Althea. In a theme that resonates in any decade, the heroine overcomes emotional and financial burdens to claim her own happiness.
The festival will feature the world premiere of Athea’s Well as well as readings of the 2nd and 3rd place winning plays. Also throughout the weekend there will be the Civic premiere of Alive and Dead in Indiana, a workshop, panel discussions, post-show discussions and a reception for the winning script.
Come to the Playwright Festival and enjoy these original works written in Indiana!
Schedule of Events:
Friday, June 1, 2012
8:00 pm Alive and Dead in Indiana
Saturday, June 2, 2012
10:00 am Workshop
11:00 am Lunch break (on your own)
12:00 pm Spring at the Willowbrook Inn reading with post discussion
3:00 pm Civic hosted break
4:00 pm Hands Under the Table reading with post discussion
7:00 pm Dinner break (on your own)
8:00 pm Althea’s Well with post discussion, Post-show reception in the Ian Rolland Gallery
Sunday, June 3, 2012
12:00 pm Panel Discussion
1:00 pm Box luncheon
2:00 pm Alive and Dead in Indiana with post discussion
Arts United Center
303 E. Main Street
(260) 422-8641
Megan Adams is a senior at Huntington University and will be graduating with a degree in Public Relations in May. She is currently working as the Marketing Intern at Visit Fort Wayne and is enjoying getting to explore and learn more about the city. In her spare time, Megan loves working out, playing tennis, reading, shopping, and traveling.
Did you ever see a building and imagine it had a personality based on its owner? That’s the way Fort Wayne artist Diane Groenert looks at many structures. Diane specializes in home and business portraits. “I attempt to put a bit of the personality of the owner into the painting by playing with line, color, and perspective,” she said. “For that reason some buildings are more animated than others.”
Artist Diane Groenert’s work, totaling 35 pictures, are on display at Fort Wayne International Airport now through June. The colorful paintings are hung in the large gallery on the secured side of the terminal on the upper level near the air museum. They are also able for viewing in the small gallery on the non-secured side of the terminal near the ticket counters.
After having admired some of Diane’s work of downtown landmarks at the Visit Fort Wayne office at 927 South Harrison, I’m planning to catch this fun exhibition and buy her note cards of the Embassy Theatre, Coney Island, and Tiny Tim Diner to send to my far-flung kids. Hopefully, the note cards will remind them of good times we have had in those spots. The note cards are available for $2.25 each.
You can see more of Groenert’s work at her website: www.dagroenert.com.
Groenert’s display is part of an ongoing exhibition the airport sponsors under the “Art in the Airport” program. The airport does not charge artists to display their work nor does it take any commission on pieces sold.
If you would like to be considered for the “Art in the Airport” program, please send an e-mail to Michele Platte at mplatte@fwairport.com. Please include a short bio about yourself, your contact information, 3-5 photos of your work or a link to your website. Good luck!
Kayleen Reusser has written children’s books and had stories in Chicken Soup books. She writes features for the News-Sentinel newspaper and profiles for the Ossian Sun Riser. She loves to travel and write about her experiences at her website: www.KayleenR.com
Join us in downtown Fort Wayne for Summit City Comic Con!
Back for it’s 3rd year, Summit City Comic Con will take place on Saturday, May 12, from 10am to 6pm, at the Grand Wayne Center. Sponsored by 3 Rivers Federal Credit Union and Huntington University, this year’s event promises to be bigger and better than ever, with over 100 creators present.
According to the convention’s founder Zack Kruse, “Our primary goal is to promote comics as an art form and get people to turn out and experience the community and medium that we all love.”
A sketch by Gabriel Hardman
This year’s line up boast creators like Gabriel Hardman (Secret Avengers, Hulk, Planet of the Apes), Mike Norton (Spider-Man, Young Justice, Battlepug), Tom Scioli (Captain America: Hail Hydra, Godland, American Barbarian), and Katie Cook (Fraggle Rock, Star Wars), to name a few.
Admission to the event is $10.00 and tickets are available at the door. Children 12 and under will be admitted for free with a paid adult admission.
ACTIVITIES
May 10: Comics Workshop for kids at the Allen County Public Library
May 11: pre-show party at Dash-In
May 12: Convention
May 12: After party at Dash-In
DAY OF SHOW ACTIVITIES:
Kids costume contest
Panel discussions/spotlights
Meet comic book creators, get/purchase individualized sketches and commissions from creators
501st is present (Star Wars Stormtrooper charitable organization)
Amber Recker moved here from Illinois in 2002 and is proud to call Fort Wayne home. She's a non-profit leader, freelance writer, community volunteer, and food blogger, with over ten years of writing and editing experience. By day, she serves as the director of development and marketing for Cancer Services of Northeast Indiana, where she handles fundraising, marketing, and public relations. In her spare time, she volunteers for several non-profit organizations and creates content for a service-centered blog, contagiouscommunity.org. She and her husband Jon launched thegingerkitchen.com, a food blog, in 2010, and enjoy spending time in the kitchen. They have two Great Danes, Lucy and Lenora, who keep them on their toes.
This past weekend I was roaming downtown Fort Wayne with my family. It was their first time in Fort Wayne and I was showing them around. We visited the Allen County Public Library, the Botanical Conservatory, and were roaming the streets when we stumbled across the Last Saturdays events that take place on the last Saturday of every month.
In particular, we stopped at a very cool “pop-up store” that was selling individually packaged gourmet and exotic popcorn flavors. Such a great little store that was occupying a vacant retail space for that one day only. Conveniently located and fun.
We then continued down to J.K. O’ Donnell’s and had an authentic Irish dinner, complete with fish and chips and some imported Irish beer. After leaving we could still here the music of a live band playing on Calhoun Street, smack in the middle of downtown Fort Wayne. What a great way to top of the evening with some good fun.
Overall Last Saturdays is a unique experience that is conveniently located in Downtown Fort Wayne. Check it out on the last Saturday of every month!
Alex Souders is the Web Marketing Manager for Visit Fort Wayne. A Ohio native, Alex is still experiencing many of Fort Wayne's treasures for the first time. He hopes to get the most out of Fort Wayne's great food, festivals, activities, music and more.
