January/February 2025

Huddled inside bulky sweaters and puffy coats at Swonder Ice Arena, families and caretakers keep their eyes affixed to the ice, watching jersey and helmet-clad hockey players push pucks around the frozen surface. But these are no ordinary skaters. Meet

Read more about Evansville’s international community in the January/February 2025 feature story. Drive any main commercial stretch in the Evansville region, and you’ll see the influence of immigrants. Numerous restaurants in the area were opened by entrepreneurs from other nations who

What makes a city unique? Language, food, and history all play a part, and so do its people. A Midwestern city with a dash of the South, Evansville also boasts a wide range of international cultures, cuisines, and perspectives. Thousands

Read more about Evansville's international community in the January/February 2025 feature story. With a heart as big as her smile, Jaya Dodd has served food and fellowship to Evansville since relocating to her husband Timothy’s hometown in 1969. It may

Read more about Evansville's international community in the January/February 2025 feature story. After immigrating to the U.S. as a child, César Berríos had to grow up fast. He found a stable community in his new hometown. His family immigrated from

Read more about Evansville's international community in the January/February 2025 feature story. Over the past 35 years with Deaconess Health System, often the last image a surgery patient sees before they fall asleep is the deep brown eyes of anesthesiologist

Read more about Evansville's international community in the January/February 2025 feature story. Years ago, Evansville real estate agent Gelina Mascoe – a native of Haiti – recognized a growing need in her community. Area hospitals serving newly arrived Haitian immigrants

Read more about Evansville's international community in the January/February 2025 feature story. Halyna Badeinova has a perspective on her new hometown that few others could comprehend. The 48-year-old, with her husband, Serhii Badeinov, and their 7-year-old daughter, Mia, arrived in

Read more about Evansville's international community in the January/February 2025 feature story. Imagine arriving in the U.S. as a child, speaking little to no English, and trying to fit in at your school and in your community. Lena Billimon has

Read more about Evansville's international community in the January/February 2025 feature story. Marjorie Bergen and her husband, Scott, didn’t have children of their own, but their exchange student from Montenegro became just like one. Jason and Kristy Denton, meanwhile, say

Read more about Evansville's international community in the January/February 2025 feature story. Universities often are catalysts to bring residents to the Evansville region and keep them here. Consider the example of culinary entrepreneurs Doros and Ellada Hadjisavva — natives of

Read more about Evansville's international community in the January/February 2025 feature story. Various Tri-State area organizations are filling the needs of immigrant communities, only becoming more urgent as the number of people migrating to the area increases. The Immigrant Welcome

Read more about Evansville's international community in the January/February 2025 feature story. Many immigrants’ paths to U.S. citizenship include obstacles, no matter who they are or where they came from. That said, Evansville organizations are working to make the process

Read more about Evansville's international community in the January/February 2025 feature story. International flavor is woven into Evansville’s annual events calendar, and appropriately so, given all the cultures represented in the community. Evansville always has had global presence – neighborhoods

Read more about Evansville's international community in the January/February 2025 feature story. Many churches and organizations provide forms of outreach to the region’s international populations, seeking to make them feel welcome while also giving the larger region opportunities for education

Read more about Evansville's international community in the January/February 2025 feature story. Spend enough time milling about Evansville’s general populace, and you’ll hear a potpourri of tongues spoken. Like in most U.S. cities, English dominates the vernacular — according to

Tori and Luke Scheidecker didn’t cross paths until adulthood, but basketball always was a common thread. A mutual friend named Stu had coached Tori — Mater Dei High School alumna — for years and then served as a mentor for

College connections played a part in Scott and Ashly McCain’s love story. Scott, a Signature School graduate, and Ashly, a Fort Worth, Texas, native, met at an ambassadorship interview at Indiana University Indianapolis (formerly IUPUI) in September 2018. “Ashly had

When a mutual friend introduced Zane and Jordyn Kisner in 2020 during their senior year of high school, their connection was immediate and undeniable. After three years of dating, Zane — an F. J. Reitz High School graduate — proposed

Though Kaylee and Max Haynie attended Reitz Memorial High School and had mutual friends, they didn’t meet until junior year on the swim and dive team. They began dating that year, and attending separate colleges — Indiana University in Bloomington

Aeriel and Jon Grimm share a love for skating and call Evansville’s Swonder Ice Arena their second home. Despite skating in the same circles — Aeriel as a figure skater and Jon as a hockey player — their love story

Bailey and Josh Franklin may have graduated from different high schools — Bailey from Mater Dei and Josh from Harrison — but the University of Evansville’s 2014 Freshmen Welcome Week 4 is what brought them together. They instantly bonded when

While the population remains overwhelmingly American-born and English-speaking, the Evansville area’s global diversity is growing. Data made available via Welborn Baptist Foundation show 2.8 percent of residents in Vanderburgh, Warrick, Posey, and Gibson counties in Indiana, plus Henderson County, Kentucky,

Toddlers learning to play sports? It’s as cute as it sounds. Children ages 3-5 are taught the basics of basketball and soccer at Biddy Ball, an eight- week-long program offered for the last 15 years by the YMCA of Southwestern

How does a plate of just-off-the-griddle pancakes dripping with real maple syrup sound? If it strikes your fancy, the 47th annual Maple Sugarbush Festival at Wesselman Woods Nature Preserve is for you. The ticket prices — free for those 3

The Daily Grind takes its coffee so seriously that General Manager Cadey Hess went overseas to sharpen her craft. The Southern Illinois native has been a barista for 15 years and learned of classes at a Scottish coffee school when

How hot do you like it? Bad Randy’s Hot Chicken & BBQ Lounge owner Jeremiah Galey wants you to know that any answer is just fine — even if it’s on the milder side. The new West Side joint offers

Angel Mounds State Historic Site has unveiled an updated exhibit featuring modern perspectives on Mississippian history and traditions. Reopened to the public in November after two years of work, the revamped exhibit cost $6.5 million. “A lot of people in

Six months after opening, Patsy Hartigan’s Irish Pub is going strong in Downtown Evansville, satisfying the palate of diners who crave traditional pub fare in a sports bar-like atmosphere. The 2018 closure of Rí Rá after 12 years left a

Portable automated external defibrillators long have been essential tools for jump-starting the hearts of sudden cardiac arrest victims. But at $1,650 each, many organizations can’t afford them. Enter HeartSaver. Since 2014, the program has funded nearly 900 AEDs for first

More than 70 dog-owner pairs are enjoying Kay C’s Barkville at Woodmere, the three-acre private dog park next to Evansville State Hospital’s park. Efforts to establish the park began nearly a decade ago when the city’s only dog recreation spot

If the New Year inspires thoughts of travels to new-to-you destinations, consider Washington County, Texas, where I visited late last year. Washington County is the Birthplace of Texas; the Texas Declaration of Independence was created and signed there in 1836.

It once was true that Newburgh, Indiana’s historical Black cemetery on Bell Road was lost to time. Thanks to efforts by area residents, it has reemerged as a proper burial ground. Newburgh resident John Strange, an adjuster with Custard Insurance,

Presidents Day is Feb. 17, and Evansville has brushed elbows with quite a few future, sitting, and former U.S. presidents over its more than 200 years. John F. Kennedy (October 1960) and Jimmy Carter (September 1976) both came to the

Happy New Year! Welcome to the year 2025! Keen-eyed readers may have noted they are reading Volume 26, Issue 1 of Evansville Living. You’ll find the volume and issue number on page 5, the table of contents. When Creative Director

When Evansville Living devoted a 2007 cover story to the city’s international population, it was apparent that demographics were shifting. The magazine noted a growing total of ethnic restaurants and markets, and it reported that from 1980 to 2005, the

For 30 years, the Henderson Area Arts Alliance in Kentucky has fueled the arts through stage shows, programming, and partnerships. Created in 1994 — about the same time the facility now known as the Preston Arts Center opened at Henderson

Diving into frosty waters in the dead of winter may seem like a crazy idea, but for those who participate in the Polar Plunge, it’s all about raising money for charity. Every January and February, the regional Special Olympics’ Polar

Julie De Young is proof that it’s never too late to pursue a new passion. Since 2007, the Evansville artist has been painting landscape, still-life, and abstract works in watercolor. “Color has always fascinated me,” she says. That passion launched

When Gina McCalister, a former interior designer, opened Mulberry Jean’s Accents 21 years ago, she was thinking of the women in her family who ran gift shops of their own. Her grandmother, Mulberry, ran the gift store in the old

There are standard garden gazebos, and then there’s the one on Chad and Angie McGee’s property on St. George Road. Quite the handyman, Chad built the family’s home as well as the gazebo. But the latter wasn’t stocked with enviable

When River City visitors seek a landing place after a day of exploration, respite after a concert, or even a staycation, the area offers unique options. These historic homes, cozy nooks, and modern commercial spaces are ready for you to

Picture opening a door and being struck by the new tone across the threshold. It takes an artist’s honed senses to understand the whys and wherefores that make that tone resonate. Evansville native Tay Ruthenburg feels he simply was born

Dan Melchior grew up hearing the story of Rudolph Ziemer’s death. Learning the full scope decades later changed his life. The Harrison High School graduate knew three paratroopers from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, beat Ziemer — an openly gay man —

Two houses shimmer in their frames, garbed in Christmas lights and aluminum siding. They seem nostalgically familiar, as if you have seen them on a suburban street or rural road. Both are the subjects of “Aster Drive” and “Atom Road,”

Black History Month Activities Now through Feb. 28, Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library Oaklyn Children’s Area, 3001 Oaklyn Drive Children can learn about Black heritage through scavenger hunts, coloring sheets, and more. New Traditions Diversity Series 6-7 p.m. Feb. 6, Nazarene

Radon, a naturally occurring gas that can cause lung cancer after prolonged exposure, gained a local headline when its detection last summer in the Old Vanderburgh County Courthouse pushed out a longtime haunted house. After completing mitigation efforts, officials have

The Tri-State Hot Stove League’s Night of Memories has raised more than $2 million since its debut 25 years ago, and it’s still going strong. An autograph signing and memorabilia auction, the Night of Memories fundraiser benefits school and youth

Breasha Pruitt’s star continues to rise, most recently as a Musial Award recipient. The owner and women's head coach Breasha Pruitt Elite Gymnastics received the sportsmanship honor, named for late St. Louis Cardinals baseball star Stan Musial, on Nov. 23

Tri-State Orthopaedics now has two in-state partner companies, forming one of the 10 largest independent orthopedic practices in the U.S. A mid-2025 merger of the 75-year-old Evansville-based physician group, OrthoIndy in Indianapolis, and Fort Wayne Orthopedics will create OrthoIndiana. It

Giving Dry January a try? You’re not alone. CivicScience found that a quarter of Americans over age 21 observed a month of only alcoholic-free drinks in January 2024, and another cumulative 49 percent over 21 showed interest in cutting out

MLK Day Appreciation Jan. 16-18, Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library Oaklyn Branch, 3001 Oaklyn Drive Bring the kids to learn more about the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by playing a matching game, paper activities, and more. Community Breakfast 9-11

Editor’s note: This story was updated at 4:45 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2025. Mother Nature made a big first impression in 2025. Tall drifts of snow blanketed the Evansville area early the morning of Jan. 5, with up to an