January / February 2020

Features

Our ’70s Story

Bell-bottoms, disco, shag hair, and peace and love — the 1970s was a tumultuous decade with moments and events that have shaped the world we live in today.

Open Spaces

Amish and Sonia Patel’s house in McCutchanville feels like a resort with the spacious floor plan, backyard pool, three kitchens, water features, in-home theater, and indoor soccer field. At its core, however, it is a true family home.

Center of Attention

Celebrating Wishes

Losing a child is the hardest thing a parent can experience. Instead of falling into darkness, Tiffany and Brian Ball made the decision to celebrate the life of their son Jacob through the founding of the Jacob Ball Wish Fund. The nonprofit organization helps the families of special needs children of any level have experiences they wouldn’t normally be able to access by funding “wishes,” such as swinging in adaptive swings and playing custom percussion instruments.

Arts and Events

Fine Tuned

Listening to and watching the musicians and groups that rolled through a small pub where he worked was the perfect motivation for Lindsey Williams. “Seeing those solo and duo acts jamming acoustic for applause, money, drinks, and attention from the ladies lit a fire for me to fashion something out of my already desperate need to play, sing, and write,” says the Henderson, Kentucky, native.

Making a Mark

Libraries lend their books to members of the community, but sometimes they get more than books back in return — bookmarks. Through these forgotten items, Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library Central have a found a unique way to liven up their space and connect with readers.

Business and Industry

More than Meats the Eye

Owner David Siewert says Major Munch, 101 N.W. First St. in the Old Post Office Complex isn’t fast food, but they are quick. The family-operated restaurant acquires a line of customers out the door — all served as rapidly as they arrived. Since 2009, Major Munch has offered major flavors with burgers, Philly cheesesteaks, po’boys, a salad bar, and tenderloins — all $12 or less.

Framing Up

As the new year starts, progress on the Evansville Living Idea Home 2020 kicks into high gear! Framing of the home was completed in late December, which means the project will now start rolling forward with more noticeable development. The excitement of a build is not new for Corey Hirsch, owner of Hirsch Custom Homes and the contractor on the Idea Home project. It’s something he’s been familiar with from a young age.

Fashion Forward

Over the past decade, Downtown Evansville’s Main Street has seen a resurgence of boutique shopping. The one piece missing, however, was a store catering to clothing and fashion — until Posh on Main moved into the space at 330 Main St., Ste. B, in April last year. Posh was previously located on the West Side, known as Posh Artisan Marketplace and owned by Tami Doerflein. When Doerflein’s business partner, Vicki Bohleber, teamed up with her to co-own the shop, the pair decided to move Posh to the city’s growing Main Street.

Against the Current

In her professional life, Morgan Castillo says she has taken two big leaps of faith. The first was purchasing The Tin Fish Newburgh in 2007, becoming the fourth owner of the coastal-inspired fish joint that originally opened in Newburgh, Indiana, in 2005 at 300 W. Jennings St. The second was moving Tin Fish to a new location in Newburgh at 707 State St. almost one year ago.

Fashion and Style

A Father’s Legacy

David Abell was a car guy, period. His daughters Julie Abell, Amy Winchester, and Ginger Bushur remember their father’s love of Chevys, going fast, and showing off his classic cars. And they remember the joy he found before his death in his restored 1956 Chevy Bel-Air. “He was so proud of it,” says Winchester. “It’s a beauty.” “He always wanted to get a 1956 Bel-Air like he had when he was younger. Same colors and everything,” says Abell.

Chew On This

About the Magazine

Happy New Year, 2020!

While we were planning Evansville Living features for this last year of the decade, we realized as the calendar turned to 2020, the 1970s would be 50 years behind us. That math is not debatable, as shocking as it seems to me (and perhaps you) that the 1970s are 50 years behind us. My family moved to Evansville from Iowa in 1971, when I was 7 about to enter the second grade. Coming from small towns in Iowa, I looked forward to living in the city. A sense of place — 1970s Evansville, Indiana — factors large in my childhood memories:

Encyclopedia Evansvillia

History on the Move

While many parts of Evansville’s history are no longer visible, the new Evansville African American Heritage Trail is preserving prominent African-American landmarks and places in Baptisttown through a neighborhood walking tour. “These markers speak to their existence so they will never be lost and preserved for future generations,” says Ashley Jordan, executive director of the Evansville African American Museum.

Good Living

Hangin’ Tough

It takes a lot for me to trust — especially when it involves a hook in the ceiling holding a fabric hammock I’m sitting in. Yoga has long been one of my favorite activities. After its opening, the Downtown Ascension St. Vincent YMCA announced it would offer a new aerial yoga class to members, and I was eager to try. The class uses traditional seated, inversion, and balancing poses adapted to be performed with the use of a hammock suspended from the ceiling.

Departments

Obituaries 2019

With each passing year, we mourn and celebrate the lives lost of members of the community who made a difference in their places of work, to civic organizations, and to their families and others. We pored through death records and obituaries to find notable men and women who helped shape the Tri-State through their contributions.

Off the Beaten Path

Linking Nashville, Tennessee, and music together is common among travelers. It’s hard not to make the attachment with the many honky-tonks, country music shrines, and recording labels in the city, but Nashville is evolving. And as the 34th most populated city in the country, I found out during a recent trip that it’s growing and changing how it is defined. 

Dining

Trust Your Gut

Jan Wiggers, a member of the Southwestern Indiana Master Gardener Association and chair of the organization’s cookbook “Harvest: 30 Years of Growing and Cooking,” has a simple philosophy when it comes to soup: it’s soup; it’s hard to mess up. She does, however, believe in using homemade stock for a richer tasting dish. “Any time you can use homemade stock and fresh herbs, you just have a little elevation of your taste,” she says.

Going Bananas

Since 1912, Nisbet Inn (6701 Nisbet Road, Haubstadt, IN) has served hometown favorites. Now, the banana cream pie fish bowl is offering a new twist on Nisbet’s traditions. “We are ‘world famous’ for our coldest beers, so we wanted to expand on the fish bowl and utilize it in our own new way,” says owner Becky Harl. The banana cream pie fish bowl is offered year round and was created after Harl’s seasonal strawberry pie fish bowl found overwhelming popularity about three years ago.

Anatomy of a Dish

Okay, Poké!

After working in a Japanese restaurant in New York and later helping his father Charlie Cao get Big Bang Mongolian Grill off the ground on Green River Road, Jun Cao was ready to bring some fresh flavors to Diamond Avenue in the former location of his father’s Charlie’s Mongolian BBQ. In November last year, Poké Pirate began offering Evansville a taste of the Hawaiian and Japanese cuisine, poke (which rhymes with OK).