Let There Be Brunch

“It’s really a great day when somebody finds their grandpa’s name in that book,” Curator Aja Mason says, referring to a 1901 employee pay records book from the Big Four Mine in Boonville, Indiana. It’s one of the oldest artifacts in the Museum of the Coal Industry, which Mason and his founding partners opened in Lynnville in 2000.

Photo provided by The Museum of the Coal Industry

The historical showroom sits on a portion of land that Peabody Coal Company donated to the Warrick County town in 1965. Museum Director Alex Taylor says the goal is to educate the public about the history of coal mining, from the tools to the methods to the workers. “We have about 1,400-1,500 visitors a year, and we put 2,000-2,300 volunteer hours into the museum per year,” Taylor says.

Artifacts include tools, hard hats, belt buckles, lanterns, and ledgers. One of the museum’s main attractions is Tinker Bell, a 1940 locomotive used from 1968-1999 at Peabody’s Lynnville Mine. Another feature is an electric shovel — which is being restored — built at the Bucyrus-Erie plant in Evansville.

Visitors can step back in time via replicas of a company house where mine workers resided and a company store where employees bought goods. A maintenance building houses coal-burning and wood-fired stoves as well as other equipment. “[The workers] would be paid so much for the week, and then they owed the company for stuff they bought through the company store,” Taylor says. “A lot of them were paid in company scrip, and they would have to spend that in the store.”

The museum hosts a fall Collectors’ Day and Toy Show, where visitors can buy and sell memorabilia and display mining models. Last summer, folks signed up for “A Date With Big Kate” at Peabody’s Wild Boar Mine. “Big Kate is a mining dragline [excavator] that Peabody runs near Lynnville, and it’s been shut down for the last couple of years. We were able to arrange a tour for people to visit the machine and get pictures next to it,” Taylor says.

Other events include a disc golf tournament, yard sale weekend, family and friends breakfast, and concerts. Between events, volunteers stay busy collecting items for exhibits. “It’s coming in faster right now than it ever did,” Mason says. “All the old coal miners are passing away, and so we’re adding stuff rather rapidly.”

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Woods & Stems Takes Mushrooms From Earth to Table

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March 10, 2026

Ginger and Becky Woods stand in the greenhouse for their mushroom-growing business, Woods & Stems — Ginger Woods and Becky Woods photo by Audra Straw

Becky Woods found her love for mushrooms playing in the forest: “I was always into herbal medicines.”

Her passion was ignited near the unincorporated community of Saint Joseph, where she and her siblings and cousins searched for morels in the woods around her grandmother’s home. While taking online courses through Sky House Herb School & Apothecary in 2017-18, the classes on the benefits of mushrooms “really held my interest,” Becky says. That is where the idea for Woods & Stems was born, inside a 24-by-36-foot pole barn where she began cultivating cordyceps for stamina and kidney health, lion’s mane for brain health, turkey tail for immune and gut function, and reishi for overall well-being. “We’ve almost outgrown our space for growing,” says Becky’s wife, Ginger, who co-owns the business and also works in accounts payable at Separation by Design.

To operate Woods & Stems, Becky — a senior IT support technician at Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp. — learned more about practical uses for fungi, something she has experience with. Her father, James Woods — whose love of watching owls inspired the company’s avian logo — was battling kidney cancer and treated his symptoms with reishi and cordyceps before passing away in 2020. “People don’t know a lot about mushrooms aside from what you get in the grocery store,” Becky explains. “They’re all wonderful in their own way.”

Woods & Stems extracts, spices, and other products — Photo by Audra Straw

As the business has expanded online and in retail, so has the couple’s knowledge. “It’s been a challenge to learn about growing. With so much on the market that is hard to trust, doing it right mattered to me. I wanted to be involved in the entire process — growing, extracting, and formulating everything myself,” Becky says. Their business has grown “fast,” she adds, with small-batch products like extracts and mushroom-infused tonics, coffee, and spice blends sold at Social Bird Boutique, Hometown Roots, and Posh, plus at events like Franklin Street Bazaar, Wesselman Woods’ Woodland Wonders, and the Old Courthouse Craft Show. Woods & Stems’ mushroom jerky is exclusively sold at Paul’s Pharmacy, and its mushrooms have found their way onto the menu at Damsel’s Brew Pub (try the beer-battered lion’s mane mushrooms as an appetizer) and dinner plates at West Baden Springs Hotel.

To further mushroom education, the couple hosts cooking classes, including sold-out farm-to-table events at Seton Harvest last July and October — participants feasted on lion’s mane steak and wild mushroom risotto. Try cooking with black pearl mushrooms, Ginger’s favorite, which have umami flavor with peppery and earthy undertones; she recommends them as a meat substitute for pulled pork, tacos, and sloppy joes. Becky prefers the savory, smoky flavor of pink oyster mushrooms, which she describes as “surprisingly bacon-like.”

The Woodses hope to acquire more space to grow their fungi, expand their offerings, and educate more people through classes and events. “People tell us ‘thank you,’ and they appreciate what we’re doing,” Ginger says. “It feels rewarding that you’re out in the community getting people healthy.”

One For The (Vinyl) Record

By

Art Woodward

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March 10, 2026

Art Woodward poses with his music collection, which includes CDs, cassettes, vinyl records, and more. — Photo of Art Woodward's music collection provided by Art Woodward

I’ve been an avid collector of various music forms since my early teens. The “Museum of Art” — in my basement — features pieces from eccentric to norm: an 1880s Edison cylinder, 78-rpm records, 8-tracks, 45s, cassettes, 33-rpm LPs, and more. My favorite is the LP (Long Play) record, and not just out of nostalgia, although I was around when “classic rock” was simply called “rock.”

Apparently, I am not alone in appreciating vinyl. The Recording Industry Association of America reported that vinyl record sales topped 43.6 million in 2024, the 18th consecutive year of growth.

Today, we get music streamed or downloaded — yawn. Where’s the romance in that? Songs are encoded into advanced audio codings (AACs) or smashed down to mp3s and similar formats. This process compresses audio signals, often resulting in a loss of sonic nuances — special splashes of sound that artists intended for you to hear.

I remember holding my new copy of Foreigner’s self-titled debut album — I bought it the day of release in March 1977. I positioned it on my turntable, moved the stylus over the slick outer ridge, then, with a touch more delicate than I had ever bestowed upon anything, I placed it on the record and waited for the tiny “pop” as needle met acetate. As Mick Jones’ guitar filled the room, I devoured everything from cover to sleeve: artwork, photos, lyrics, credits. The experience was visceral, aural, ocular, and tactual.

Art Woodward treasures “7800° Fahrenheit,” Bon Jovi’s second album, whose inside cover photo shows a tank in Germany that Woodward was assigned to as a mechanic during his Army days.

In Evansville, we are fortunate to have several choices for buying vinyl. There’s the “OG” Book Broker, in business since 1975; Space Monkey Records, the largest record retailer in the region; and Atmosphere Collectibles, a cool-vibes record boutique that offers a wide selection of rare and new releases. You can also score new records at the big box stores and find vintage deals at thrift shops and antique malls. A pet peeve of mine when shopping the brick-and-mortars is not having the records alphabetized.

A new generation is discovering the magic of vinyl. According to Vinyl Alliance, an organization that reports on the record industry, Generation Z is the driving force behind its renewed popularity. A reported 76 percent buy records at least once a month. Vinyl’s newfound appeal seems to follow an upward trend in Gen Z’s appreciation of music from the ’70s era. In the article entitled “How Gen Z Is Embracing Classic Rock in 2025,” Rock Scene Auction reported, “classic rock is now pulsing through Gen Z’s playlists, fashion, and even social identities.” This generation grew up hearing that music at home and in the family car. They resonate with its authentic sound, as opposed to modern music that is often overproduced, autotuned, or even 100 percent AI-created. Record companies have taken notice and produced re-releases, half-mastered recordings (to capture sound lost in the digital process), unearthed soundtracks, never-before-released live recordings, artist demos, and other special records to offer during Record Store Day on April 18.

Riley Jarrell, a 27-year-old record collector from Evansville, harbors a love for the format. “When that needle drops, I am taken to another place: fully present and at one with the music. The slight crackle, the rich tone … it makes the music feel more personal to me,” she says. “(Today) we practically have any song at our fingertips — which is wonderful, but purposefully selecting a record feels much more intentional than just tapping a few buttons on your screen. (Record buying) requires patience and determination as you search for that special album. When you find it, it feels like you struck gold! You don’t get that feeling from a quick search on a streaming service.”

Playing a record is much more than passively “listening” to music on a device — it’s an “experience” that can be shared with family, between friends, and online in record collector groups across all socials.

Art’s Advice When Shopping For Records

Tips for buying new: Be aware that many new, re-produced albums are merely the aforementioned digital audio recordings cut to vinyl — they’re digital not analog — which generally lessens the sound quality. There are exceptions, though. New re-recordings should be labeled “new vinyl.” Also, look for special re-recordings, mastered “from original analog files.”

Tips for buying vintage: Understand the Goldmine Grading System for record rating, ranging from poor to mint. Pay attention to descriptions: glazing, scratches, hiss, skips, pops, and the like. Album covers are graded, too. Note the value of a record can dramatically increase, based on a wide variety of contingencies: first pressings; numbers engraved in the dead wax (the area that doesn’t contain sound), or elsewhere on the album/cover; if it’s signed by the artist; sealed vintage; cellophaned; alternate covers; misprints; or a myriad other reasons.

Tips for buying online:
• The two GOATs are eBay and Discogs, but there are many others, too.
• Record Store Day is the best time to find special releases.
• Black Friday is a great day for re-releases and special deals.

Art Woodward, also known as Art the Dude, is a writer and lifelong lover of music — skill sets that serve him well when reviewing Evansville’s concert and events scene.

Mallory Pleiss Bakes Sweet Celebrations

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March 10, 2026

Mallory Pleiss stands in her kitchen with an intricately decorated buttercream frosting cake from her business, Icing On The Cake — Photo of Mallory Pleiss by Zach Straw

At a young age, Mallory Pleiss was drawn to both art and baking. Her aunt had a cake business and created cakes for themed birthday parties her mother planned for Pleiss and her sisters; Pleiss fondly recalls receiving a “Pocahontas”-themed confection for her eighth birthday.

Pleiss began decorating cakes of her own at age 13. Today, her home-based Icing On The Cake business — started in 2017 — produces intricately designed and tasty treats for weddings, baby showers, Super Bowl parties, and celebratory events. “Each cake is decorated with a rich and sweet buttercream icing, the signature of my cake business,” says Pleiss, who especially enjoys crafting football helmet cakes. “I love the challenge of just looking at a photo to freehand draw the logos on the helmets,” she says.

It was through her primary job as the operations manager at Genesis Tri-State Athletic Club that she met another culinary inspiration: Just Rennie’s owner Doug Rennie, who works out at Genesis. Pleiss had the honor of baking her friend’s 60th birthday cake, naming it “Chef Doug’s Peanut Butter Chocolate Dream Cake.”

“We exchange desserts and critique each other, and he many times has challenged me on things,” Pleiss says of Rennie. One such challenge was an opera cake, a French recipe known for its rich coffee and chocolate flavors. “Its name comes from its layers resembling the tiers of an opera house,” Pleiss says. Another recent addition is a carrot cake recipe courtesy of her friend Patti Marx.

Pleiss has increased Icing On The Cake orders through friends, word of mouth, and social media, and she says her marketing degree earned at Oakland City University enhances her entrepreneurial spirit. Inspired by her mentors as well as a book she’s reading — “The Creative Act: A Way of Being” by record producer Rick Rubin — she says she’s learned that “art and stories are all around us just waiting for someone to notice and give them life.”

Pleiss also loves building relationships through baking — that is what’s behind the name of her small but growing business. “I have come to see that helping with a celebration is the ‘icing on the cake’ — connecting with people, sharing their stories,” she says.

Find Room For Reading In A Home Library

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March 10, 2026

Joshua Claybourn and Melissa Cooney-Mudd stand before shelves of books that make up their home library. — Photo of Joshua Claybourn and Melissa Cooney-Mudd in their home library by Zach Straw.

“I would suspect for most people, being surrounded by books creates an ambiance and a warmth and calm,” Joshua Claybourn says.

Being an attorney with Jackson Kelly PLLC and a noted historian of Abraham Lincoln, Claybourn is well read, as is his wife, Melissa Cooney-Mudd. Creating space for their collections of books was not going to be a quick job, but it was worth the effort. Shelves were built by contractor Marlin Briles, who hand-cut the crown molding since the existing trim was no longer was made.

The couple’s best estimate is that around 1,725 volumes line the walls of a small living room, just off the entry hall, in their Lincolnwood Drive home. “People always ask when they come in here, ‘Have you really read all these?’ And with the exception of a couple of reference books, the answer is yes,” Claybourn says.

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Three volumes he has edited on the 16th president are included in the section dedicated to Civil War history. Other sections are devoted to children’s books as well as holiday themes, culture, travel, sports, music, art, theology, religion, philosophy, classics, fiction, and Claybourn family, local, world, and ancient history. Claybourn’s favorites include “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” by Edward Gibbon and Homer’s “The Odyssey.” Cooney-Mudd, a special education teacher at Haubstadt Community School, loves the “Song of Ice and Fire” volumes that the TV series “Game of Thrones” was based on.

When the couple first stocked their library after marrying in 2022, “We wanted that entire section to be accessible for the kids. They could run in, grab a book, and hopefully not mess up the entire library,” Cooney-Mudd says of her and Claybourn’s children: Jordyn, 17, Prudence, 10, and James, 9. As lifelong book lovers, they have a hard time parting with volumes. “Every time I step in here, I feel my blood pressure drop, and I’m happy and peaceful,” Claybourn says.

Jennifer Scales sits and holds an Assouline volume, part of her home library collection, while wearing white gloves — Photo by Zach Scales. Jennifer Scales was sent white gloves to handle her favorite Assouline volumes, as each is hand-bound and features inlays of hand-applied photography.

Jennifer Scales, owner of interior design firm Y Factor Studio, also knows the power of books in expressing personality. “Books should be touched, loved, and used,” she says. “I like my clients to have real books that show their passions — they are some of my favorite accents.” Her own home library was inspired by an Airbnb in Nashville, Tennessee, that included an expansive library categorized by topics on “just about anything you could dream of,” she says. The owner “had a handwritten letter hoping that guests would unplug and enjoy a book during their stay,” Scales says. “I took that to heart and wanted my family and friends to do the same.”

Her geodesic home on Newburgh Road creates a unique layout for a personal library. Eight 10-foot-tall black, open bookcases store volumes related to design, art, travel, architects, and pop culture that she has collected over 10 years. The exact count is unknown, but her children, Dean, 15, and Estella, 12, joke that she has “more books for interior design than Barnes & Noble,” she says. “Not only do I love to design with books, I love to be inspired by seeing the works of other interior designers. I use the books to pull inspiration from designs across the world.”

Her father, Danny, fabricated the bookcases with no backs to break up an open concept layout. Artfully positioned are volumes by cosmetics pioneer Estée Lauder’s granddaughter Aerin Lauder, coffee table reads from fashion designer Tom Ford, and signed copies picked up at interior design markets, including Lauren Rottet’s “Authentic Design” and “Aero” by Thomas O’Brien. Scales’ favorites are two hand-crafted volumes about Versailles and Tiffany & Co. from the prestigious design line Assouline. Near the dining room, guests can lounge on two sofas, sip from the wine bar, and enjoy an unobstructed view of the backyard. “I personally love being surrounded by books,” Scales says. “I wish more people would dedicate the space for them.”

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Bruce Pearl: After The Last Whistle

By

Gordon Engelhardt

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March 10, 2026

Bruce Pearl cuts a piece of the net after he coached the Auburn University men's basketball team to victory. — Photo of Bruce Pearl coaching at Auburn University by Zach Bland, Auburn Athletics

Bruce Pearl relished the idea of building a basketball program from the ground up, and the University of Southern Indiana handed him that chance. Named in 1992 as the men’s head basketball coach — his first leading post — he quickly lifted the Screaming Eagles into the stratosphere, making it a NCAA Division II runner-up finish in his second season and a national championship in his third.

Three decades later, he has hung up his whistle. After retiring in September as Auburn University’s coach, Pearl considered running for the vacant U.S. Senate seat left by Tommy Tuberville, who is running for governor of Alabama this fall. Instead, Pearl opted for television, sharing his vast knowledge of college basketball on TNT and CBS. “I could be something people want,” says Pearl, who guided Auburn to the NCAA Division I Final Four in 2019 and 2025. “That’s to be determined.”

He was succeeded at Auburn by his 38-year-old son, Steven, who was 5 when his father took the helm at USI. “He remembers everything,” Pearl says. “There’s nobody more prepared or deserving. What we did, we did together. Our players called him ‘Little Buddy.’ He’s grown up to be a better coach than his dad.”

USI's 1995 men's basketball team celebrates its NCAA Division II national championship. — Photo of USI’s 1995 NCAA Division II national championship men’s basketball team provided by USI Photography and Multimedia

PLANTING ROOTS AT USI

When Massachusetts-born Pearl arrived in Southwestern Indiana in 1992, he didn’t lease a house — he bought one. Coming from his job as an assistant at the University of Iowa to his first head coaching job at USI, Pearl didn’t want to look at it as a training ground. “I had a lot of other opportunities, but I didn’t want to leave,” recalls Pearl, who posted a 231-46 record in nine seasons on Evansville’s West Side. “I had so many great friends.”

In his third season, USI made a miraculous comeback in the national championship game to defeat California Riverside, 71-63. The Eagles trailed 39-21 at intermission, but Marc Hostetter hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key early in the second half to launch their improbable resurgence.

Bruce Pearl coaches the University of Southern Indiana's men's basketball team in the 1990s. — Photo of Bruce Pearl coaching the Screaming Eagles provided by USI Photography and Multimedia

“Adversity reveals character. It doesn’t always build it,” Pearl says. “That team was made up of some characters, strong personalities. It was a player-driven program. We put Evansville on the map, like Coach (Arad) McCutchan did with Evansville College [now the University of Evansville]. At USI, I developed a program and built a fan base. I helped USI grow.”

Regarded as a master motivator and an offensive genius, Pearl was “what you see is what you get,” says Rick Herdes, Pearl’s top assistant at USI in those glory years from 1992 to 2001. He notes one exception: The Eagles spent the majority of their time trying to improve defensively; the high-octane offense took care of itself.

Current USI men’s head coach Stan Gouard says he never would have gotten into coaching if not for Pearl; he characterizes Pearl as a larger-than-life figure who molds players together from different backgrounds and maintains life-long relationships. Gouard, the National Association of Basketball Coaches’ Division II Player of the Year under Pearl in 1995 and 1996, has shepherded the Eagles into the Division I ranks as head coach since 2020.

In Gouard’s sixth season as USI head coach, the Eagles are experiencing growing pains at the highest level of college basketball. Pearl says USI’s administration gave him the resources to compete in the Great Lakes Valley Conference at the upper level of Division II. But as an outsider looking in, he isn’t so sure Gouard and the current Eagles’ program are receiving the proper tools to compete in the upper level of Division I’s Ohio Valley Conference. USI completed its transition to full Division I membership prior to the 2025-26 school year, allowing it to compete for NCAA postseason championships in all 19 intercollegiate sports.

“If (the administration) doesn’t give the current program what it needs, nothing is going to change,” Pearl says.

EXCELLING IN THE UPPER ECHELON

After leaving USI for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2001, Pearl led the Division I Panthers to the NCAA tournament in 2003 and their first Sweet Sixteen berth in ‘05. He kept winning at the University of Tennessee, lifting the Volunteers to the Elite Eight in 2010. Following the 2010-11 season, Pearl was fired for unethical conduct after lying during an investigation into recruiting violations.

The NCAA slapped him with a three-year “show-cause penalty,” essentially keeping him out of coaching for that period. Auburn took a chance on Pearl in 2014, and he rewarded the Tigers by leading them to their only two Final Four appearances in school history. (He also received a short suspension in 2021 for sidestepping NCAA compliance during his tenure.)

After leading Auburn to its first Final Four berth in 2019, Pearl received a raise, which helped enable him to spend $900,000 on a lot along Lake Martin, Alabama, and build a $3 million, 8,000-square-foot dream vacation home profiled in August 2023 by the Wall Street Journal. Regarding the life he shares with wife Brandy, who he married in 2009, “God has blessed us beyond what we deserve,” Pearl says.

Herdes, who succeeded Pearl at USI and served as the Screaming Eagles’ head coach through 2009, says a post-retirement Pearl didn’t want to be figuratively buried under Auburn’s Neville Arena — he wanted to try something new. Pearl has always maintained a variety of interests besides basketball. In fact, he posts more about politics than basketball to his 183,500-plus followers on X.

“I’ve always worn my Jewish identity on my sleeve,” says Pearl, who is chairman of the U.S. Israel Education Association and was a co-founder and first president of the Jewish Coaches Association. He is also a Senior Fellow in the America First Policy Institute. “I love God and love my country, (and there are more important) things than beating Alabama and Kentucky,” he adds. “I don’t think I would’ve made a very good politician. As a conservative, I watch the parties fight each other. They can’t get something done. It’s supposed to be a majority and a minority party, not a majority party and an opposition party. I’m all about building things and finding common ground. A 65-year-old junior senator won’t change things.” Pearl turns 66 on March 18.

Bruce Pearl jobs commentators at an Auburn University basketball game. — Photo by Zach Bland, Auburn Athletics. Retired from coaching, Bruce Pearl has become a TV college basketball analyst and is cheering on his successor at Auburn: his son, Steven.

Asked what he wanted his legacy to be, Pearl says: “I think I always left ‘em better than I found ‘em. I relentlessly pursued greatness and kept it 100 percent real.” Evansville already has paid him homage by naming a West Side street Pearl Drive in his honor.

Pearl’s list of accomplishments, which includes an overall record of 706-268, could eventually place him in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. But that’s for the historians to determine. Regardless, he will always have a soft spot in his heart for USI, which gave him his big break all those years ago. “It’s all about the people, players, coaches and fans,” Pearl says. “Whether it was (USI Presidents) Dr. (David) Rice and Dr. (H. Ray) Hoops, (athletics director) Dr. (Donald) Bennett to administrators such as (retired Athletics Administrative Assistant and Ticket Manager) Joanie Jost, it’s all about the people.”

Pearl has retained friendships in Evansville but hasn’t visited in several years. “I miss my friends, I miss Turoni’s pizza, and I miss the Fall Festival,” Pearl says. That should change this fall, when he returns to the River City and embraces a new title: Grand Marshal of the West Side Nut Club Fall Festival.

God’s Garden Offers A Spiritual Scene

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March 10, 2026

Jim and Mary Ann Wilsbacher stand in God's Garden, their publicly accessible garden just off the Rivertown Trail in Newburgh, Indiana. — Photo by Brodie Curtsinger

For 20 years, the backyard of Jim and Mary Ann Wilsbacher’s home along the Rivertown Trail in Newburgh has been a spiritual, scenic paradise — a place for lifting prayers, snapping photos, and taking in resplendent Ohio River views.

The couple calls it God’s Garden — “Time began in God’s Garden,” says an engraved stone at the entrance — and passersby can wander the brick path, lounge in the gazebo, and take in the fountain, statues of angels, and many colorful flowers. At peak times of year, “In the spring, we have azalea bushes blooming along with gorgeous creeping phlox. The dogwood trees and weeping crabapple tree put on quite a show. Daylilies, lantana, and a variety of annuals provide colorful blooms in the summer, before the mums pop open in the fall,” Mary Ann says.

Visitors to God's Garden can relax in the gazebo or browse walkways of blooming flowers just of Newburgh, Indiana's Rivertown Trail. — Photo of God’s Garden by Brodie Curtsinger

The Wilsbachers do much of the maintenance themselves, but family, friends, and neighbors chip in occasionally, as well as Corressell Landscape when professional services are needed. The couple also hires teenagers to help with planting annuals and major pruning each spring.

The Wilsbachers bought their Jennings Street house in 2002; it was built by Jim’s late uncle. However, the lot behind it in the 100 block of West Water Street was owned by Indiana American Water Company, which used it as a storage yard. It eventually was put up for bid, “and I started praying that we would be the successful bidders,” Mary Ann says. “I poured out my heart to God in petition, and His response was that we could have the property, but we had to share it. At that point, we began planning a beautiful garden.”

It doubled as an event venue until 6-7 years ago because of the effort involved; Jim notes that he and Mary Ann are in their late 70s. But the garden still gets substantial foot traffic and is decorated for Christmas and other holidays. “Each season has its own quality,” Jim says. Mary Ann adds that it’s a popular spot for prom photos, and on those evenings, “you can’t stir them with a stick.”

Incidents with vandalism are rare, according to the Wilsbachers, and that has enabled them to continue to provide the riverfront refuge. “We post that it’s a private property, please respect it,” Mary Ann says of God’s Garden. “And most people do.”

Dani Schiffer Whips Up Meals With Meaning

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March 10, 2026

Dani Schiffer cooks up a meal of Dishes By Dani — Photo of Dani Schiffer by Zach Straw

When Dani Schiffer snuck bites of home-cooked food out of to-go containers while tending bar at The Hornet’s Nest, patrons noticed. It was 2018; Schiffer worked at Lefler Collision (now Gerber Collision) and was a part-time bartender who dedicated herself to eating healthier by making her own meals.

“A lot of them didn’t really like to cook,” Schiffer says of her bar patrons. What started as dishes for a few friends grew into meals for 10 as word spread. By 2021, she had established a niche for herself by producing ready-to-eat meals for clients. “If I’m going to do it, I might as well go for it,” she thought. Dishes by Dani launched full-time that July in the former Gatrick’s Bar-B-Que at the corner of South Kentucky Avenue and East Gum Street.

Dani Schiffer, Cris Carter, and Shannon Orr stand at the counter of Dishes By Dani, Schiffer's meals-to-go business. — Photo of Dani Schiffer, Cris Carter, and Shannon Orr by Audra Straw

Nearly five years later, in a new location at 421 Read St. — the former site of Read St. BBQ — Schiffer estimates she makes 250 meals per week for clients ordering off her website or via text. To keep up with demand, she gets most of her ingredients from Sam’s Club — “they know me there,” she says — and updates Dishes by Dani’s Facebook with items she’s offering that week, usually “a little bit of everything,” she says. Customers can inhale a dill pickle chicken salad or jalapeño popper potato salad, then dig into blackened chicken mac and cheese, parmesan herb-crusted chicken, garlic parmesan or parmesan truffle salmon, or honey chipotle shrimp, and polish off a Biscoff pie for dessert. If your mouth isn’t already watering, Schiffer says the chicken bacon ranch pasta and lasagna are client favorites. “Chicken bacon ranch seems popular no matter what you do with it,” she says, but she enjoys experimenting: “I like making different kinds of salmon with Brussels sprouts.”

Photo of a Dishes By Dani meal by Audra Straw

Schiffer’s experimentation also extends to sandwiches, like honey chipotle chicken and candied bacon pepper jack chicken. Schiffer also caters corporate events and hosts events, and her creations can be purchased at the Civic Center Complex’s snack shop. “I like that meal prepping makes life easier for people,” she says. Sometimes, “I wish someone would cook for me,” she says.

Don’t worry, she is not doing it all by herself. In 2023, Schiffer began leasing space at her former location to Sammi Jo Idleman of Syncere Sweets to offer walk-in customers hot food and baked goods, including cheesecake, brownies, pudding, as well as custom cake orders. Idleman had been cooking and baking for 10 years, but needed more work-life flexibility after her son was diagnosed with autism. Schiffer offered to lease her space.

Dishes By Dani occupies the former space of Read St. BBQ. — Photo at Dishes By Dani by Audra Straw

“There’s nowhere else in Evansville that two businesses are thriving and successfully operating out of the same building,” Idleman says. “We help each other.”

Schiffer and Idleman also make take-and-bake meals, fresh salads, hot lunches, and more for walk-in customers on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Schiffer gets help from part-time assistant Shannon Orr, as well as her son, Cris Carter, 19.

The most rewarding part of helping others eat well? When “people text me and tell me how good the food is,” she says.

Things We Learned: Of Mushrooms and Mines

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March 10, 2026

Pale white mushroom blooms grown by Woods & Stems — Mushroom photo provided by Ginger Woods of Woods & Stems

We’re stuffed from sampling a bunch of brunch dishes for the feature story, but we also picked up quite a bit of knowledge producing this issue. Learning sprouted in our reporting on Woods & Stems, which touts the nutritional and medicinal benefits of mushrooms.

Southwestern Indiana has a well-known history in mining, but even we were delighted to discover The Museum of the Coal Industry. It sits on Warrick County land that Peabody once owned and displays cool artifacts such as a 1940 locomotive used at the Lynnville Mine. The big hulk’s name: Tinker Bell.

Speaking of Warrick County, the inspiration behind Boonville’s Commander’s Grill was a bonafide local hero who supervised the construction of the U.S. Navy’s first rigid airship. Read more about Ralph Downs Weyerbacher and the restaurant named in his honor.

Spring arrives March 20, and our minds are tuned to enjoying the outdoors at two publicly accessible sites. The East Side home of Patrick and Susan Lattner has a dazzling azalea garden that you’re welcome to visit when in bloom. Likewise, meander through God’s Garden on Newburgh’s Rivertown Trail and soak up the season’s natural beauty.

Eight12 Run Club’s JarDan Ramon: ‘Health is Wealth’

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March 10, 2026

Eight12 Run Club founder JarDan Ramon poses along the Riverfront Esplanade in Evansville. — Photo of JarDan Ramon by Zach Straw

If getting healthier requires added motivation, JarDan Ramon is happy to help. Events hosted by Ramon’s Eight12 Run Club are a judgment-free zone where no one runs or walks alone, and all who come can stride a distance that best suits them.

An Evansville native and fitness and health enthusiast, Ramon believes that mental and physical wellness intersect. He launched the Eight12 Run Club on Oct. 12, 2025, when 27 runners took off from River City Coffee + Goods and ran up to three miles before returning. More than seven runs — typically attended by 50-75 people — have been held since then, most with a 7 a.m. start time.

Other gatherings, such as an afternoon run on New Year’s Day, attracted at least 100 people eager to get 2026 off to a healthy start. That event started and finished at Honey Moon Coffee Co. in Newburgh. “We currently have over 300 registered participants within the Eight12 Run Club community, and that number continues to grow,” Ramon says.

The runs are free and open to anyone. Security and medical personnel are on hand. Those who attend are led in a warm-up exercise, and after running, they’re encouraged to hang around for coffee and conversation. “It’s just to build camaraderie and a healthier community,” Ramon says.

About 100 people gathered at Honey Moon Coffee Co. in Newburgh, Indiana, for Eight12 Run Club's event on Jan. 1, 2026. — Photo provided by JarDan Ramon. Eight12 Run Club’s New Year’s Day run began and ended at Honey Moon Coffee Co. in Newburgh and drew about 100 people.

Ramon’s company, JarDan Ramon Enterprises LLC, encompasses a boxing and fitness program called Hit & Hustle EVV, plus JarDan Ramon Meditations. He’s looking to establish the Eight12 Run Club as a separate nonprofit entity. While the free community runs remain a core focus, Ramon is thinking bigger. His other goals include supporting scholarships or athletic gear for children in need, while also building partnerships with businesses and organizations that promote wellness and holistic practices.

“I want it to be a foundation that helps create access, opportunity, and support for people of all backgrounds, especially youth,” Ramon says of the run club. “This is about building a healthier, more connected community, and establishing something that can positively impact lives not just here in Evansville, but far beyond it.”

“Health is wealth,” he adds, “and I’m an advocate for that. I want to see a healthier city above all in Evansville, and we have a lot of entrepreneurs and businesses who can help bring awareness.”

Lace up your sneakers and join in: Find upcoming events via the club’s website and Facebook and Instagram accounts.

Forever-Green Spring Decor

By

Evansville Living Staff

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March 10, 2026

Look closely, and you’ll notice that spring arrives in layers, not leaps, of green. Designers are embracing that nuance with botanical tones that feel timeless yet unmistakably current. Saturated jade, heritage olive, forested moss, and delicate mint form a palette rooted in nature and well suited to everyday living. In the home, they layer easily through painted walls, textiles, ceramics, and living plants, creating spaces that feel calm and connected to the outdoors — a visual breath of fresh air after a harsh winter.

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International Wonders in Daylight, Indiana

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March 10, 2026

A wooden replica of moai on Easter Island is installed at Daylight Sculpture Garden in Daylight, Indiana. — Photo of an Easter Island replice at Daylight Sculpture Garden provided by Cindy Hupfer

Inspiration for new additions to Bill Young’s Daylight Sculpture Garden — an impressive display of green wood art in northern Vanderburgh County — came from distant corners of the world.

The U.S. Army veteran and Vectren Corp. retiree has about 150 sculptures outside that the public can visit, more than double the total he reported when Evansville Living visited in November/December 2022. Another 450 creations are in Young’s home.

Young credits Evansville’s Hoffherr Landscaping for a replica of Stonehenge near Salisbury, England. Hoffherr “does really good work” and has added a totem pole, Young says. He cast a wider net for a likeness of Easter Island stone heads on the Chilean territory in the Pacific Ocean. Its moais were delivered from Texas, but they were carved from green lava stone in Indonesia.

Stonehenge and Easter Island “are two of the most fascinating places in the world,” Young says, and he thinks he has the largest display of moai in the continental U.S. The Easter Island pieces took four months to arrive in Evansville from Texas, and “the two big ones weigh 750 pounds apiece. “They’re not going anywhere.”

Young is a sculptor, too — he’s self-taught and has long enjoyed building and creating vehicles and works of art, including projects with his late grandson, Andy Hupfer, who succumbed in 2021 to COVID-19. Young started the sculpture garden as a tribute, and “I’ve been keeping it going in his memory.”

A wooden replica of Stonehenge is installed at Daylight Sculpture Garden in Daylight, Indiana. — Photo of a wooden Stonehenge at Daylight Sculpture Garden provided by Cindy Hupfer

The Lattners’ Garden In Bloom

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March 10, 2026

Patrick and Susan Lattner's is home surrounded by azalea bushes, trees, and blooming flowers. — Photo of Patrick and Susan Lattner's home by Zach Straw

Patrick and Susan Lattner’s Georgian Colonial home is a beautiful sight year-round, but it levels up each spring when the dazzling azaleas bloom. A tradition since Judge Phillip C. Gould and his wife, Roah, bought the property in 1929, the backyard azalea garden is a showcase along South Roosevelt Drive. It’s also meaningful for the Lattners: Although the couple moved into town from McCutchanville only three years ago, their home has been a part of their lives for far longer.

The Lattners don’t hire help with landscaping — they care for it with their own hands and tools. (They have the know-how: Patrick worked for The Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. late in his career). The garden hosted Patrick and Susan’s wedding reception 25 years ago, while the red brick home that faces Lincoln Avenue was occupied by Susan’s parents, Joe and Linda Scott. For decades, it’s been a place to reflect and enjoy nature. “We have witnessed lots of prom photo sessions, a couple of weddings, picnics, and parties,” Susan says.

The lush, tranquil space is hemmed in by a hedge standing about 14 feet, and its red, pink, coral, lavender, orange, and white azaleas make company with variegated hostas, knockout roses, creeping phlox, blackeyed Susans, oakwood hydrangeas, irises, several Japanese maples, and a beautiful Japanese cherry tree.

Shrubbery abuts a stunning brick shed with a wooden door crafted by Susan’s late father, Joe Scott (more on him later). The Lattners love to grill, lounge on the veranda, and entertain family, including two children, their spouses, and soon-to-be five grandchildren, as well as neighbors and friends. But browsers are welcome, too. “We have a tradition,” Patrick says. “We leave the (garden) gates open during the peak season of azaleas. People can come to view them.”

One admirer was Boonville, Indiana, resident George Thomas Minning. Before he passed away in 2022 at age 89, he painted a picture of the colorful azaleas; the Lattners have it hanging in their great room, where glass doors lead to the beauty outside. Susan explains that Minning was a spiritual man as well as an artist, and one year, he “came back with a painting as a gift.”

Countless works of art cover walls inside their 4,156-square-foot home, and the property’s grandeur is hardly confined to its magnificent garden. Both Patrick and Susan are artisans, and creative talent runs in the family. Right now, Susan is re-creating a mural that hung in the Akin Park house where she grew up, and she’s also reproducing a painting of Alcatraz (done by a prisoner there) that will hang in an upstairs room that once was her father’s office.

Their grandchildren also are budding artists. When they visit, “we pull out the art stuff and supplies,” Susan says. “They love their little projects.”

Patrick has paintings of his own in the four-bedroom house, and the Indiana University and University of Notre Dame sports fan also cherishes hanging mementos to late footballer Johnny Lattner, the 1953 Heisman Trophy winner from Notre Dame Johnny Lattner’s father and Patrick’s late grandfather were brothers.

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The Lattners’ expansive kitchen is decorated with paintings of a lemon tree and florals created by Susan’s mother, Linda Scott, who lived there 28 years. Gold hues in those works mesh with soft yellow Crown Cabinets with brown glaze installed by Susan’s dad. The prior cabinets “were dark oak,” Susan says, “and they wanted to brighten things up a bit. He and my mom both painted them. Joe’s craftsmanship also is visible in the kitchen’s island — another renovation project.

Just off the kitchen is a butler’s pantry, which Susan describes as “a nice surprise. It really adds to the kitchen. It has storage, and it’s a good place to mix your drinks.” Colorful rugs, high ceilings, and ornate chandeliers permeate the home, and the intimate sunroom features wicker furniture and narrow, tall windows.

The family room is big enough for the whole clan to gather around a piano – Susan is re-learning to play. Their Staffordshire pitbull, Achilles, enjoys roaming inside and outside. A winding staircase to the second floor is a distinguishing feature, and it’s ideal for family photo shoots. The home has three fireplaces and numerous attractive built-ins.

Family plays a larger role in their lives now that the Lattners are retired, or moving closer to it. Patrick worked for Anchor Industries for 25 years and then Stauffer Glove & Safety and The Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. before retiring. Susan has had a small rental home business for about 15 years, and she’s always had interest in old homes dating back to her childhood in the Akin Park neighborhood. She recalls being “devastated” when her parents moved from that home to Lincoln Avenue. Little did she know that she and her husband would make it their own home years later.

The Lattners are proud that the legacy of Susan’s father lives on in their home. Joe Scott died in 2016 at age 73 after being injured in a skiing accident. His widow, Linda, remained in their home another eight years and moved to a far smaller property on Evansville’s East Side in 2023 when Patrick and Susan took ownership of the house and magnificent garden that her parents loved.

Earlier owners also deserve credit for preserving the home, the Lattners say. The Goulds started the garden and began opening the gates for public viewing during the peak azalea blooming season. David and Cynthia Stinnett hired H.G. McCoullough Designers in 1983 to sketch additions. After Joe Scott passed, Linda took care of the house on her own. “She is an amazing woman,” Susan says of her mother. “Great style, great taste, and one of the hardest workers you would ever meet.”

Susan and Patrick also are proud to carry forward the tradition of opening the garden to visitors. Susan says that her parents, upon buying the home, were unsure about welcoming in strangers. They eventually embraced the idea that the garden was a treasure to be shared, and they strived to perfect it for themselves as well as others. “They have truly loved working in their garden, adding and changing things and making it more beautiful every year,” Susan says. “It brought them so much joy.”

Here’s To Brunch, And Lunch!

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Kristen K. Tucker

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March 10, 2026

Kristen K. Tucker stands in the Amazonia section of Mesker Park Zoo & Botanic Garden — Photo of Kristen K. Tucker at Mesker Park Zoo & Botanic Garden's Amazonia by Zach Straw

Gone are the days when brunch was reserved for Mother’s Day or Easter — a once-a-year affair, typically an elaborate buffet at a hotel or country club. When I was a teenager, our family liked the Sunday brunch at the Ramada Inn at U.S. 41 and Lynch Road, with the Red Wick Orchestra playing around the indoor pool in the atrium. It was quite popular. Even today, New Harmony’s Red Geranium Restaurant remains a lovely, and very popular, choice when the holidays roll around. (And the scenic drive ensures you are in the spirit upon your arrival at this quaint town.)

But brunch has evolved. It’s no longer confined to white tablecloths and special occasions. Today, you can find and savor brunch almost anywhere, from fine dining establishments to neighborhood bars and taverns. In the feature story, “Let There Be Brunch,” Managing Editor Jodi Keen and Creative Director Laura Mathis curate a collection of brunch specialties that can be enjoyed in and around Evansville. A restaurant doesn’t have to advertise “brunch,” we learned, to deliver one. It simply needs a little sparkle in the glass — Champagne or mimosas (Bloody Marys work too, of course) — and the perfect mix of sweet and savory, breakfast and lunch. After all, that’s the beauty of the portmanteau itself. Order pancakes and that smashburger, and raise a glass to brunch.

Lunch also has been on my mind — not just normal food noise, but my annual date to host the Social Literary Circle (established in 1901), this year in early March. Members commit to dates to both host and present (we do not read the same book each meeting at SLC; rather, the presenter discusses a book she has read). Meetings are held at lunchtime either in the host’s home or, frequently, in Biaggi’s Wine Room or the Reitz Home Museum’s Carriage House. Last May, I hosted a meeting at Igleheart Gardens — a semi-private estate and childhood home of the late Phyllis Igleheart Kerdasha — with box lunches.

Three Gourmet magazines from the 1990s — Photo of 1990s Gourmet magazines by Kristen K. Tucker

This year, I became more ambitious. My program is about my favorite cookbook writer, the late Laurie Colwin, who is more accurately a kitchen storyteller. I enjoyed her columns in Gourmet magazine in the 1980s and knew she had died too young, in 1992 at age 48. To prepare, I read her books “Home Cooking” and “More Home Cooking.” I also ordered more than a half-dozen copies of Gourmet from 1989 to 1993 hoping to find her original essays. I did find one, a piece on Nantucket cranberry pie in the November 1993 issue, published after her death. After my research, I settled on a simple menu Colwin would approve of: Perfect Poached Chicken Salad; Laurie Colwin’s own Potato Salad; greens, like arugula; bread that I will not bake; and Katharine Hepburn’s brownies.

The stack of Gourmet magazines arrived during January’s snowstorm and provided a great deal of entertainment. The magazines are beautiful — written and designed in a way that looks current today. And the ads! It was a time when life was certainly good on Madison Avenue.

So, here’s to brunch, and lunch! Cheers!

As always, I look forward to hearing from you!

Kristen K. Tucker
Publisher & Editor

Follow Kristen on Instagram @kristenktucker. Email letters to [email protected].

Sharla Cowden: In the Spotlight

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March 10, 2026

Sharla Cowden sits in her duck-stuffed office in the University of Evansville's Theatre Department. — Photo of Sharla Cowden by Zach Straw

Sharla Cowden is a talent whisperer, newlywed, and businesswoman with an artist’s heart. For 25 years, the Oklahoma native has helped guide the University of Evansville’s acclaimed Theatre Department, traveling to 10 states to recruit students and becoming a surrogate mother to them in the process. Turn the page to find out what brought her to the Hoosier State, how “power-consuming” media is her hobby, and why her office is stuffed full of rubber ducks.

You’re a newlywed! How did you meet your husband, Don Hooper?
I met Don 24 hours after I graduated high school in 1984. I was a member of the teen company at the Oklahoma Shakespearean Festival, and he was the scenic designer that summer. He’s nine years older than I am. He has no memory of meeting me that summer, which is probably fine — I was only 17 years old. Then in 2012, I saw him at a recruiting event in Plano, Texas, and he asked me if I would come in early a year later and go out to dinner with him. We did long distance for 10 years. He retired after 38 years teaching theatre at Centenary College of Louisiana and then moved here in May 2023. We got married in September 2024. … I never thought I would get married, actually, so getting married at 58, it feels easy and peaceful. I feel like I really know who I am. He really knows who he is. And, we’ve known each other for over 40 years, so that’s kind of wild to think about, too.

You don’t have children of your own, except for Don’s adult son, but …
I feel like I have a lot of kids. [laughs] A lot of students say, “That’s my mama,” that kind of thing. It’s been really great to watch people flourish. My friend Tay Ruthenburg teases me because he’s always like, “Oh, what are you going to do when so-and-so graduates?” … I never let myself … want to hoard them. That is just not in my nature. I really do believe it has to be about what’s next.

Sharla Cowden instructs a group of UE Theatre students. Photo by Zach Straw

How did you become connected to UE Theatre while working at the University of Oklahoma?
At a recruiting event in Texas — all my big life changes happened in recruiting events in Texas [laughs] — I met [late UE department chair] John David Lutz. He was speaking with Kae Koger, who was the dramaturg at the University of Oklahoma and happened to be a University of Evansville alum. She introduced me to him, and he said that he was looking for someone to be the marketing director and head of the theatre management program. And Kae said, “She’s the best, but you can’t have her. She’s ours.” She walked away, and I said, “I actually might be interested in that position.” And it shocked me because I was really happy there.

What cemented your decision to join UE Theatre?
Kae said this statement: “It’s just a pretty magical place.” I remember thinking, “Oh, I want to work in a magical place.”

You audition 2,000-plus students a year. How do you pinpoint which path they’d be most successful studying?
I will see a student audition and they have a really great presence. I’ll think, “You’re not going to be one of the 16 actors that we take, but there’s something about you.” I look at their resume and I notice, “Look at all of this student government. They’re president of their thespian association. They’re student council president. They’re head of the cheerleading squad. They’re a Girl Scout.” … Sometimes I do break their heart when I say, “I’m not calling you back for you to be an actor here. But if you’re interested in having a life in the theatre, have I got a deal for you.”

Tell us about your hobbies.
My best girlfriends tease me because I literally have no hobbies. I would say that I am an “indoor enthusiast” who enjoys power-consuming media (television, films, books, theatre, etc.). What I mean by “power-consuming” is binge-watching streaming television, watching a double feature at a movie theater, beginning and finishing a novel in one day, or going to New York City for three days to see five plays. I also like having dinner with people, including college students one night and dear friends in their 70s another night.

What’s one of the biggest ways Evansville has changed since you moved here in 2001?
The revitalization of Downtown has been exciting to witness. Evansville is such a vital community and boasts truly essential arts and cultural attractions that make it a lovely place to live.

What will be your career’s epitaph?
I have loved getting to spend my life with artists. It’s been the privilege of my life.

FEELING DUCKY
University of Evansville theatre management students are nicknamed “ducks,” after retired professor and costume designer Patti McCrory said, “they certainly help us artists keep our ducks in a row.” “I try to teach them to remain calm on the surface but paddle like the devil underneath,” Sharla Cowden says. The nickname took off, and now an entire wall of her office is filled with gifts of rubber bath toys, hand puppets, stuffed animals, and even wooden sculptures. “I did not realize how ingrained it had become in our culture here until I went to a dress rehearsal, and I heard the stage manager call: ‘Cue duck speech: quack, quack, quack,’” she laughs.

Convivium Micro Bakery Creates Connections

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March 10, 2026

Abby and Tim Smith pose by their freestanding homestead. — Photo of Abby and Tim Smith by Zach Straw

“Convivium” a word meaning “feast” that is pieced together by the Latin terms for “together” and “to live,” evokes thoughts of a shared table for Abby Smith, “where good food, good company, and good conversation invite us to slow down and savor,” she says.

Abby Smith etches a design into a loaf of pre-baked sourdough bread for Convivium Micro Bakery and Homestead — Photo of Convivium Micro Bakery and Homestead’s sourdough by Zach Straw

Smith’s family — husband Tim, a science teacher at Mount Vernon Junior High School, and children Sadie, 13, Ellie, 11, Lainey, 8, Hudson, 7, and Greyson, 5 — moved from Texas to near Saint Philip in Posey County five years ago to be closer to family. She partook in a friend’s chocolate chip sourdough bread and figured she’d try creating one because “I’ve been baking for as long as I can remember,” she says. At first, her baking stayed between friends and family, but Sadie wanted to sell clay bead bracelets at Mount Vernon’s Market Nights and suggested her mother bring sourdough bread to sell, too. “It ended up being a big success and grew from there,” Smith says. She began operating Convivium Micro Bakery and Homestead in 2024.

She bakes up to 12 loaves of varying flavors and ingredients at a time in her Simply Bread Oven. Tim helps out with baking, packaging, mixing, and grating. “We might need a second oven, but we’re out of space,” she says. Her scones, brioche bread, English muffins, cinnamon rolls, oatmeal cream pies, and seasonal quicker bread, hamburger buns, and pretzel buns have been featured at regional farmers’ markets and craft fairs.

Sourdough break from Convivium Micro Bakery & Homestead — Photo of Convivium Micro Bakery & Homestead’s sourdough bread by Zach Straw

Demand grew to the point where Smith estimates she makes between 80 and 100 loaves over three days each week. That led her in November to open ‌a bread house on her property to store pickup orders and baked goods, including products from fellow market vendors, which has developed into a “really unexpected little community. Small businesses support small businesses,” she says. The bread house stocks Smith’s baked goods alongside herbal remedies and goat’s milk baths from Moonlight Hollow Homestead, merchandise from Hausman Honey and graphic tee business West Market, homemade jams and herb and seasoning mixes from Earthryz Permaculture Farm, and wood decor from MaurerMakes. Smith’s bread also can be pre-ordered at New Harmony’s Petal & Patch and through e-marketplace Local Source.

Her most popular items include oatmeal cream pies, cinnamon rolls, and jalapeño cheddar and rosemary garlic sourdough. Smith often uses rosemary garlic to make paninis or dips it in zuppa toscana, a creamy soup with sausage, potatoes, kale, and bacon mixed into a savory broth. Her favorite, though, is the bread that started it all: chocolate chip with butter or cream cheese. But the joy of baking comes back to the camaraderie: “I love being able to connect with customers,” Smith says.

Philip Lawrence Takes A Beat

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March 4, 2026

1-Grammys-2026 WEB — Photo provided by Philip Lawrence. The songwriter was up for three awards at the 2026 Grammys for "APT," a song he cowrote with Bruno Mars and Rose.

After 20 years, Philip Lawrence and Bruno Mars still can create magic. The songwriting and producing pair’s latest work — six songs on Mars’ nine-track album “The Romantic,” his first solo release since “24K Magic” in 2016 — includes the infectious beats and soaring vocals that Mars’ songs are known for. But a thundering brass section, Latin percussion, and sweeping orchestral movements usher in a new era of Mars’ music.

Lawrence, a 1992 Reitz Memorial High School graduate, began working with Mars in the late 2000s and quickly found success creating music for other artists. Mars’ solo work debuted in 2010, rocketing both to success that includes eight Grammy Awards for Lawrence.

Although Lawrence and his children, parents, and siblings now call Southern California home, they retain strong ties to their family in Evansville. Married to model and songwriter Louise Chantal since 2025 and the father of five children, Lawrence is balancing time in the studio and mentoring other songwriters with building a better home life in Los Angeles — but he says the success of another chart-topping album still tastes sweet.

“The Romantic” was released Feb. 27? How is the reception?
It seems that people are really loving the album and … embracing who Bruno, as an artist, is showing up as.

To start an album with an emotional, orchestral song like “Risk It All”? Bold move.
Dare I say, risky? [laughs] See what we did there? [laugh] Obviously there is a tremendous amount of thought that is put into the sequential order of these … That is how an album, and especially this one in particular, was meant to be heard. From beginning to end, we are trying to tell a story. And when we were thinking about the first song, typically it’s uptempo — usually the opposite of “Risk It All.” … But when we had written “Risk It All” and finished it, it felt like it was the show opener to the album.

What made it feel like an opener?
When you listen to the album, it has all of these elements. This, to me, feels like not only a love letter to these incredible musicians we’ve been surrounded by, it’s a love letter to our previous albums, from song structure to tempo to even some of the subject matter. I feel like every one of those albums before, you hear in this album with more Latin influences layered in. “Risk It All” has all of those elements in it. And when you think about “24K Magic” as a body of work, we wanted to reintroduce him as the 10 years of living, 10 years of touring, 10 years of life evolved version of himself, right away. We didn’t want to ease people into it. And I think “Risk It All,” with the horns right up front, the mariachi horns, immediately let you know, “Oh my goodness, wait, this ain’t what I thought it was going to be.” This is the world we are now in. Come join us, grab your maracas, and let’s go do a conga line.

What influences those Latin elements on this album?
Bruno’s half Puerto Rican on his dad’s side. His dad used to be a band leader and plays incredible congas and bongos — a very, very talented musician family, so I think it was inevitable. I think that it’s always been in the back of his mind, not only from a familial inspiration standpoint, but also from a live show standpoint. As the years have progressed, we’ve slowly added more and more bits to the band, and the most recent edition has been this incredible percussionist from Cuba.

Performance photo provided by Philip Lawrence

Mars’ Las Vegas residency and club, The Pinky Ring, had some influence, too …
I think there has always been this challenge and desire to bring more of what we do live into the studio, because what we do live is such an extension of who we are and what we want people to feel. … So, to set up and prepare for The Pinky Ring, Bruno had this idea of there being live music. The Hooligans, our band, were rehearsing for weeks, and I think the band had never had that opportunity to rehearse anything outside of whatever we were performing and prepping for the show. So, there was this opportunity for them to play some of the greatest songs ever, and do it not in a stadium or an arena, but do it in a small room where they could hear each other. It’s just sort of like a time capsule from, like, the ’70s. And what was born out of that was almost like this elevated, evolved version of the band that started to sound almost like an album. That started to sound like an extension of what we do live, but its own thing: “Wait a minute, I think this might need to be translated into some original music.” That was kind of the inspiration behind really showcasing the band. We’ve always wanted to add orchestration and build out the production and songs before. But to your point, this is the first time that we’ve really gotten the entire band in and recorded it all live as if it’s a live performance on a record. I think the proof of concept was The Pinky Ring. And that’s how it happened!

You really can feel the live band, Las Vegas-style energy in “The Romantic”!
We’ve really kind of planted our flag in Vegas, and Bruno has his sight set on being a modern day Sammy Davis/Elvis, which is good. “Yes. Do that. Do more of that, please.” He wants to do it from the legacy standpoint of being an artist that can live alongside and exist in Vegas and not succumb to Vegas. You know, a lot of these giants like Sammy Davis and Elvis, these guys fell victim to what Vegas offers. (Bruno) wants to have a legacy in Vegas where there are nightclubs and shows and life as a part of Vegas. He wants to turn that on its head, and it seems to be working so far. He’s kind of pulling it off. [laughs]

After 20 years of songwriting, “I Just Might” was your first single to debut at No. 1.
If you debut at No. 1, it’s a thing. It’s one of those things that, again, it’s almost like writing any song. You never know how it’s going to be received. You can never predict any sort of chart success at all. You just have to believe enough in the energy and the idea you’re trying to put out in the world that resonates with you. It may resonate with other people. But there was urgency around what we were going to do next for Bruno, you know, outside of “APT.,” outside of “Die with a Smile,” on the heels of these massively successful songs. “What does Bruno himself sound like?”

Photo provided by Philip Lawrence. His wife, Louise, and four youngest children gifted him this cake celebrating Bruno Mars’ and Rose’s song “APT” winning “Song of the Year” at the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards.

You’ve chosen not to go on tour to support this album. You even demurred from performing with Bruno, Rose, and the Hooligans at the Grammys in February.
We had the conversation maybe a couple weeks before where I told him, and he got it. He understood and he said, “Hey, we ain’t going nowhere. We’re gonna be touring forever. Whenever you’re ready to come back, whenever things settle down, your spot is here.” You know, it was a hard conversation to have, but it was a healthy one. And definitely the right thing for right now.

Instead of touring, what will fill your time?
Lots of other things, but at the top of the list, being a dad. I had thought about this usual cycle that we do where we create this album, and then we take the next two to three years and tour all over the world. And my kids are getting older. My son’s in high school now, and he’s got two more years until he graduates. … so these are crucial years. And I know that if I were to look back on this time, having spent the majority of it touring, I might regret that. So I’m going to be here and more available not only to them, but I’m also pursuing some more songwriting. I’m doing more motivational speaking, executive speaking, sharing my story, doing podcasts … living with intention.

What’s one cool memory that you have from recording this album?
There was a time where Bruno was rehearsing the album day in and day out with the band before recording. And on their last day, he texted me and said, “Come to the studio and check it out.” And hearing the songs come to life with the horn section, the percussionists, and to see all of these guys that are like my brothers play this music that took us years to make for the first time … I’m in the booth, Bruno’s dad is next to me, and I cried. It was absolutely beautiful. And it was one of those moments that let me know that all the choices I made, if it led me to that moment, were the right choices.

Good Sports

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March 4, 2026

Penelope and Darrell Pennington

Photo of Lily King and Mayor Stephanie Terry by Greers N Motion

Lilly King doesn’t regret retiring last August from competitive swimming, a sport she participated in since age seven. “It’s nice to not have to get up at 5:30 every morning to go to practice and worry about what I’m doing every single day,” she says.

Her story — from training in local pools to winning her first gold medal in the 100-meter breaststroke at the 2016 Summer Olympics — came full circle March 3, as she championed a new wave of female athletes at the Evansville Regional Sports Commission’s inaugural Power of Women in Sports Luncheon.

Held on the eve of the Ohio Valley Conference women’s and men’s basketball tournament, the luncheon celebrated King’s accomplishments by placing a sign in her honor near the Deaconess Aquatic Center in Garvin Park and announcing the winner of a namesake award. The first Lilly King Award for Integrity and Athletic Excellence was given to North High School senior Libby Ryan, an outside hitter on the Huskies’ volleyball team who has committed to Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She completed her senior season with 357 kills and a .309 hitting percentage on a Class 4A team that finished 28-3 and second in the Southern Indiana Conference.

“I think it’s just really nice to get in here and get to honor Libby and all the things she’s done in her career, and get to celebrate her moving forward to Oral Roberts, get to celebrate with the leaders of the community,” King says.

Photo of Lilly King and Libby Ryan courtesy of North High School

Attention now turns to the women’s basketball team at the University of Southern Indiana. Under the leadership of longtime head coach Rick Stein, the No. 3 seed is aiming to clinch its second conference title, its first coming in the 2023-24 season. After entering the 2024-25 tournament as the No. 5 seed, USI advanced to the semifinals before losing to eventual OVC champion Tennessee Tech University. Now, the Screaming Eagles are ready to reclaim the championship. (Missing in action is USI’s men’s team coached by Stan Gouard, which didn’t qualify for the tournament.)

There’s more at stake at this year’s tournament: It’s the first opportunity a title-winning Screaming Eagles would be eligible to compete in the NCAA tournament after completing its reclassification to Division I sports.

Photo provided by the University of Southern Indiana/Elizabeth Randolph

For Sports Commission Executive Director Brandon McClish, that’s a big reason why local fans should head to Downtown Evansville. “The first ticket punch to March Madness happens in the Ford Center,” he says. “The University of Southern Indiana women’s basketball team is coming in as a No. 3 seed in a powerhouse of a conference, where anyone can win on the women’s side.”

OVC Acting Commissioner Greg Walter agrees. Heading into the tournament, “our top five men’s seeds were within three games of the lead. The top four women’s seeds were within three games of the lead at the end of the year,” he says. “Both our men’s and women’s conference rankings in the NCAA are higher by multiple slots this year and were higher by multiple slots last year, so we’re growing and getting better and improving, and we think that fans that come out are going to see a really high-quality product on the floor.”

The 2025-26 OVC tournament runs March 4-7. The Screaming Eagles take the court at 3 p.m. March 5 in a quarterfinals game against No. 7 Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville.

On The Road Again

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March 4, 2026

Penningtons collage WEB — Photo collage of Darrell and Penelope Pennington in Morelia, Mexico, provided by Penelope Pennington

Darrell and Penelope Pennington made good on their goal to travel the world, as detailed in the July/August 2024 issue. Since listing their home and selling most of their belongings, the couple have visited 44 cities in 14 countries across Europe. After their first visit home in 14 months, the couple has embarked on Round 2 of their global adventures. In this monthly series, Penelope — who quips she’s “a broad abroad” — shares missives from the road. Read the inaugural column here.

Hello, Evansville Living readers! Music has been an important part of my life since I can remember, so it was no surprise that Willie Nelson’s iconic song “On The Road Again” floated through my mind as the plane I was sitting in achieved liftoff at 6 a.m. Jan 12, and Darrell and I once again departed the United States for a year on the road.

We had such a pleasant and refreshing visit home for the holidays. It was an interesting dynamic adjusting to being around familiar faces and places and identifying changes that had occurred in our hometown of Owensboro, Kentucky, since we first set out in October 2024. And while we already miss so many people (and Sam, my parents’ husky), by January, I was feeling restless and ready to return to what had actually become my most familiar routine: being on the road.

Early on, Darrell and I decided that Central and South America would be our Year Two destination. We selected Europe for Year One because we knew that we would have budget shortfalls but did not want to miss out on the adventures we had dreamed about. Based on that assumption, we identified Central and South America for Year Two, as we fully expect it to provide a significant budget surplus. After some debate and discussion, we moved forward with that plan despite an increase in geopolitical tensions in that area. Our approach has always been to pick our initial destination and then make further plans from there. After some research, we selected Morelia, Mexico, as our initial stop because it fit well within our budget, has a population of more than two million people, and includes an airport to fly into.

In just our first week back abroad, it was exhilarating to be in such a different culture than we had experienced in Year 1. Although Mexico is much closer to the U.S. than the places we visited last year, our experience here reminds us of Morocco in feeling much more foreign to our lives and previous experiences. The poverty can feel overwhelming, and the communities within Morelia are very isolated and distinct from one another. The cartel has a significant presence in the town.

It also has been surprising to discover that so few people speak English in Morelia despite its close proximity to the U.S. There was no country or city we visited in Europe where most people we encountered did not speak conversational or fluent English. Because of this, we have met and interacted with fewer people. Despite that, we love everything about it so far. The weather is PERFECT, the local restaurants are a treat, and the street art is among some of the most amazing I’ve encountered yet. While we have not socialized as much here as we did in Europe, the people we have encountered have been incredibly welcoming and helpful. I suspect (and hope) this will repeat itself throughout Year Two.

Feel free to follow along and reach out as often as you’d like — we love hearing from all of you.

Follow the Penningtons on YouTube, TikTok, and Facebook @penelopepennington. In their eighth column, they navigate discussions about geo-political turmoil.

Editor’s note: This story is an extended version of the column appearing in March/April 2026 Evansville Living.

A Hole in One

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March 1, 2026

TaylorMade-9105351-WEB — Photo at TaylorMade's Evansville distribution center by Zach Straw

TaylorMade Golf Co. is expanding its Vanderburgh County presence, adding up to 50 new jobs by the end of 2031, Gov. Mike Braun said in a Feb. 25 news release issued by the Evansville Regional Economic Partnership.

The company moved its warehouse and distribution operations to Evansville in 2017, and it will invest millions to occupy and equip a new built-to-suit warehouse facility on 53 acres at 6700 Petersburg Road.

According to the release, the move supports increased demand across North America for TaylorMade’s golf products, as well as pro golfer Tiger Woods’ Sun Day Red-branded apparel and footwear.

It says that the company’s Southwestern Indiana location allows it to reach more than 80 percent of its customers within three days, and the expansion means it will have capacity to ship millions of products annually. TaylorMade’s current local employment is about 150 workers; the facility is on Garrison Avenue.

“It’s been a year- to two-year process,” Jessica Delgado, TaylorMade’sAssociate Director of PMO Operations, tells Evansville Business. “Since we moved here about six years ago, we’ve hit some huge numbers and haven’t slowed down, and we had to figure out what our next play was. We went through a market analysis of what’s best for our customers as well as our people. We still landed on Evansville after all that work. We love the town and we’re glad it could stay here.”

“TaylorMade’s decision to expand in Vanderburgh County is a strong vote of confidence in our community and our workforce,” Justin Elpers, President of the Vanderburgh County Board of Commissioners, said in the press release. “This project reflects a long-term partnership and our commitment as Commissioners to support employers that create good jobs here.”

Founded in 1979 and headquartered in Carlsbad, California, TaylorMade manufactures high-performance golf equipment — including clubs, balls, accessories, and apparel — and is viewed as an industry leader in customization and personalization. Sun Day Red was created by Woods, a 15-time major championship winner, in 2024. Other well-known golfers under the TaylorMade umbrella include Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler.

TaylorMade’s investment includes roughly $23.7 million in manufacturing and logistical equipment over the next four years, and the real estate developer that will construct the building and fill out its interior for TaylorMade to ultimately lease is expected to invest about $35.2 million. Based on those plans, the Indiana Economic Development Corporation has committed an investment of up to $555,000 in the form of incentive-based tax credits. According to the news release from E-REP, these incentives are performance-based, meaning the company is eligible to claim state benefits once investments are made and jobs are created.

Evansville and Vanderburgh County, meanwhile “will offer additional incentives to support the project,” the news release states.

International Connections

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February 25, 2026

DSCF6184-WEB — Photo of Transylvanian students with the Gimi2US program at the University of Evansville, provided by Anna Gergely

What’s the most impactful part of welcoming an international student? When host families and guests “connect and create relationships,” Anna Gergely says. “It opens your mind to a whole new perspective and thought process.” Now, she’s preparing for a delegation from Transylvania to visit.

Gergely and her husband, Istvan, both are natives of the Transylvanian region of Romania. After attending high school and staying with host families in Chicago, Illinois, she earned a Master of Business Administration from the University of Evansville. Since then, she has spent 30 years living and working in the area, primarily in education and most recently at Evansville Day School as a Spanish teacher. The Gergelys have planned many trips for international students, most recently in April 2025, when 26 students from Gergely’s high school, Tamási Áron Gimnázium in Odorheiu Secuiesc, Romania, visited Evansville as part of the Gimi2US program. In Romania, the program is supported by the Hungarian Medical Association of America Transylvanian chapter. Students traveled by bus to Budapest, Hungary, flew to Cincinnati, Ohio, via Paris, France, then boarded a bus taking them to Evansville Day School and their awaiting host families. The entire journey took 28 hours.

During their 10 days in Evansville, students stayed with 18 host families. Lauren Piekos, husband Chris, and son Elliott welcomed two students. (Evansville Living readers may remember Elliott, now 15 and a ninth-grader at Signature School, as a 9-year-old state-ranked chess player featured in the March/April 2020 cover story, “Cool Kids.”)

The family has hosted students from Ukraine, Germany, and Spain, and Piekos keeps in touch with all of them. While the spring 2025 hosting experience only lasted a week, Piekos believes any exposure to different perspectives always adds to your own.

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“Overall, we were able to learn more about their perceptions of the U.S., and it led us to have meaningful conversations,” she says. The visiting students have advanced English skills in addition to speaking Hungarian. Although from Romania, the area of Transylvania from which the students hail once was part of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, so Hungarian still is the primary spoken language, along with Romanian. Piekos and Gergely both say Hungarian is one of the hardest languages to learn as a non-native speaker.

The itinerary had students joining classes and extracurricular activities at Evansville Day School, Reitz Memorial High School, and North High School; taking part in workshops at the University of Evansville; and visiting Escalade Sports, BFiT, Eastland Mall, Showplace Cinemas, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana, and the Evansville Museum of Arts, History & Science. Students spent their last evening at a farewell barbecue.

“In such a short time, the students felt welcome,” Gergely says. “When I saw students leaving their host families, I knew this was going to make a huge impact on everyone involved.”

Students toured Indianapolis and Chicago before heading back to Transylvania, where word spread and other high schools began reaching out to arrange similar partnerships. “It was so successful and impactful, it made me realize this was powerful in so many ways. I realized we could continue,” Gergely says.

Photo of students from Bolyai Farkas Elméleti Líceum in Târgu Mureș, Romania, provided by Anna Gergely

This year, a Bolyai2US delegation from Bolyai Farkas Elméleti Líceum in Târgu Mureș, Romania, includes 50 students and four staff members. After arriving in Evansville on March 30, students will attend classes at Reitz Memorial High School and workshops at UE and the University of Southern Indiana. They’ll experience many of the same activities and destinations as the 2025 group, then tour the state and U.S. capital cities before departing April 11 for Transylvania. Piekos is excited to host another two students. “We get to experience a new group of students together. It gives you more empathy for people and broadens your perspective, bringing another culture and country home,” she says.

Twenty-five host families are lined up, but Gergely hopes another 5-10 will open their homes to the students. “I think our Evansville community has the opportunity to shape how others think about the U.S.,” Piekos says.

Those interested in hosting — preferably Evansville-area residents with high school-age children — can apply online. Another trip is scheduled for Sept. 13-27 for students attending Márton Áron Főgimnázium in Miercurea Ciuc, Romania.

Sap to Syrup

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February 25, 2026

IMG_4031-WEB — Photo of maple tapping receptacle at Wesselman Woods by Jodi Keen

With the 48th Maple Sugarbush Festival around the corner — and more than 1,500 attendees bringing their appetites to Evansville’s virgin old-growth forest for a pancake breakfast March 7-8 — Wesselman Woods enlisted a team of nearly 20 volunteers to carry out a tradition older than many of the forest’s trees.

Over two hours on a chilly January morning, Wesselman Woods staff led volunteers through a process refined over the years, but owing its roots to Indigenous people who discovered sugar content in Southwestern Indiana trees. (Although the maple tapping class occurs only once a year, Wesselman Woods offers other courses through its environmental studies series. Tickets are $15 for Indiana Master Naturalists and $20 for the public.)

Photo of Derek Walsh leading a Jan. 17, 2026, maple tapping class at Wesselman Woods by Jodi Keen

“Sugar maple is most common here, then silver, then red maples,” says Derek Walsh, Wesselman Woods’s Director of Natural Resources and Research. “Sugars thrive here. The sugar maple tapping industry this far south is about the limit.”

Tapping is a form of pressure release that poses no danger to the tree if performed early, so Wesselman Woods’s staff typically begins in early or mid-January when winter temperatures allow tree sap to move through a freeze-thaw process. They select trees with a minimum 10-inch diameter and tag them with a yellow ribbon. Traversing into the nature preserve’s grove of sugar maples — a sugarbush — sugar tapping volunteers drill 1.25 inches into each selected tree to reach the sapwood. After cleaning the drilled hole of shavings, a spigot is hand-screwed in and hooked up to a bucket and cover to ward off water and insects.

Photo of Derek Walsh helping maple tapping class participant Katelin Keene hang her sap-collecting pail by Jodi Keen

“The trees transport gallons of sap per day; we tap a fraction,” Walsh says. Wesselman Woods’ sugar maples produced 10 gallons of sap per day 20 years ago and logged 400 gallons for the 2022 season. The rate dropped to 55 gallons by 2024 and led to a year off because of a lack of freeze-thaw cycles in 2025.

Walsh reports that it takes 40 gallons of sugar maple sap to make one bottle of syrup. Because Wesselman Woods needs 15-20 gallons of syrup to feed the public at the Maple Sugarbush Festival, the syrup served at the festival comes from the Harris Sugarbush in Greencastle, Indiana. But festival attendees can purchase syrup tapped from Wesselman Woods trees, some of which are more than 200 years old.

Before being bottled for sale, sap collected twice daily by volunteers is transported from the forest to a sugar shack and stored in plastic barrels to keep it cool and free of bugs and mold. The sap drips through a track and boils over a fire for 33 hours — “it smells incredible,” Walsh says, “being cooked outside over flavored wood and having a smoky flavor” — reducing water content and thickening before passing through an industrial-grade coffee filter.

Photo of maple syrup produced and bottled at Wesselman Woods by Jodi Keen

The time-intensive process requires extra hands — hence the recruitment for volunteers, including for Wesselman Woods’ popular breakfast fundraiser. Evansville resident Katelin Keene signed up for the tapping class after pitching in at last year’s Maple Sugarbush Festival — “I was a sugar shack sentinel,” she says — and wanting to see the syrup process from start to finish. “We were joking and calling it ‘professional development,’” she laughs.

But it’s a sweet tribute to Evansville’s natural environment, Walsh says: “It’s a labor of love.”

Sample the state’s sugar maple success stories 7 a.m.-noon March 7-8 at the Maple Sugarbush Festival. Tickets start at $12 and reserve each ticket holder one spot at an hourly seating at the breakfast held at Wesselman Woods, 551 N. Boeke Road.

Stuffed to the Gills

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February 18, 2026

Major-Munch-00748-800 — Photo of Major Munch's catfish sandwich by Zach Straw

From Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday, religiously devout Tri-State residents will refrain from eating meat on Fridays while observing Lent. Although Lenten traditions vary between Christian denominations, no-meat Fridays are common, and so are fish fries. The weeks leading up to Easter are filled with these community gatherings. Here are a few in the Evansville area through Good Friday on April 3.

Saint Benedict Cathedral has a fish fry scheduled for 4:30-7 p.m. every Lenten Friday starting Feb. 20 at its school cafeteria, with dinners served to adults for $15, children 6-12 years old for $5, and children under 6 for free. Carry-out is available. Saint Wendel Catholic Church is holding a Lenten soup supper after 6 p.m. mass on Feb. 25.

Dine-in or drive-thru Fish Fry-Days hosted by the Knights of St. John from 5-7 p.m. on Feb. 20 and March 13, featuring potato salad, coleslaw, baked beans, cornbread, and more. Saint Boniface Parish is hosting dine-in or drive-thru fish fries at its Saint Agnes campus on Feb. 27 and March 13 with potato salad, coleslaw, mac and cheese, and cornbread for $14. Switch things up with a shrimp boil, 5-7 p.m. Feb. 27 at Corpus Christi Catholic Church. Throw in potatoes, corn, and sides like green beans and cornbread. Plates start at $15 and are cash and drive-thru only. Don’t forget the Cajun dipping sauce!

On the West Side, Resurrection Catholic Church offers fish sandwiches, chips, and dessert for $8, drive-thru only from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Feb. 20. Two days later, patrons — dine-in, carryout, and drive-thru — can fill up on fried fish, mac and cheese, sweet and sour coleslaw, baked beans, cornbread, and dessert for $13 each. Fill up on fish filets, German potato salad, baked beans, coleslaw, and cornbread at Saint Joseph Catholic Church & School in Vanderburgh County. Plates are $14 per person, 5-7 p.m. Feb. 27 and March 13. Meals are carryout only. On Feb. 20 and March 6 from 5-7 p.m., Holy Redeemer Catholic Church serves up fried fish, macaroni and cheese, baked beans, slaw, cheddar biscuits, dessert, and a drink for $16 (kids 8 and under eat for $10). Dine-in and drive-thru are available.

Saint James Catholic Church in Haubstadt, Indiana, offers baked or fried Alaskan pollock, grilled cheese, German potato salad, baked beans, cornbread, macaroni and cheese, coleslaw, dessert, and a drink. Adults can eat for $14; children’s plates cost $7. Dine-in and carryout are available 4:30-7:30 p.m. Feb. 27 and March 13. Saint Clement Catholic Parish in Boonville, Indiana, holds a fish fry 4:30-7 p.m. every Friday during Lent — except Good Friday — with fried or baked fish fillets, cornbread, slaw, sides including choices of potato salad, green beans, baked beans or macaroni and cheese, and a homemade dessert. Plates cost $15 for adults and $6 for children 12 years and younger. Dine-in and carry-out are available.

The Men’s Club of Saint Philip Catholic Church in Mount Vernon, Indiana, hosts a fish fry starting at 4:30 p.m. March 27 that includes baked beans, macaroni and cheese, coleslaw, and cornbread for $14. Saint Matthew Catholic Church, also in Mount Vernon, holds its March 13 and 20 fish fries from 5 to 7 p.m. The menu includes fried fish, coleslaw, hush puppies, fries, potato salad, macaroni and cheese, and cheese pizza. Plates are $14 for adults and $8 for kids.

Head to Germania Maennerchor on Feb. 20 for the first of its four Lenten fish frys. Plates start at $12 with a fish sandwich and one side, including German or American potato salad, coleslaw, baked beans, and rye bread. Plates also can include one or two breaded and deep-fried filets, and desserts also can be purchased. This fish fry runs 4:45-7 p.m.

Observing Lent while dining at a restaurant? Start at Knob Hill Tavern, whose catfish fiddlers start at $12.95 and are a favorite dish all year. Major Munch does a brisk lunch business and serves a deep-fried catfish sandwich each weekday, in addition to a shrimp sandwich and catfish shrimp po’boy.

Cast a line into the fillet-filled menu at Journey Fish & Chicken. Choose from meals starring cod, whiting, ocean perch, tilapia, and catfish available individual or for family-size orders. Comfort by the Cross-Eyed Cricket offers fried catfish fillets, Atlantic salmon, and Icelandic cod starting at $16 for lunch and dinner. Diners at Biaggi’s Ristorante Italiano can select from sea scallop risotto, Dijon salmon, Chilean sea bass, grilled Mahi-Mahi, and seafood-based entrees.

Fish dinners are a menu staple at St. Philip’s Inn. Catfish sandwiches can be had for $8.49. Catfish steaks start at $10.99; add a second filet for $1.50. All fish dinners are served with two sides and rye bread or a dinner roll. At The Tin Fish, patrons can tuck into platters of mixed fish including salmon, swordfish, tilapia, trout, or walleye. Bonefish Grill’s seafood-stuffed menu includes winter specials like grouper with crab cake and bang hollandaise for $32.90, lobster ravioli for $31.50, and cedar plank “old-fashioned” salmon for $24.90. Take a load off at The Hilltop Inn and dig into Icelandic cod fillets for $19, catfish fiddlers for $18, or a fried fish sandwich for $9.50. At The Deli at Old National Bank, fish are a regular Friday staple: Choose from a two-piece fish basket with fries for $9.50 or a fish sandwich for $7.25.

Irish hospitality is served at Patsy Hartigan’s Irish Pub, including fish. Cod is beer-battered and deep-fried to a golden crisp before being served with Irish chips, tartar sauce, and slaw. Take your cod on a Martin’s Potato Bun, or for dinner, order a pan-seared swordfish with butternut squash and kale risotto, brussel sprouts, and an oregano mustard cream sauce. On the go? Grab an order of fish and chips from Bodine’s Newsstand food truck or its “chipper” shop at Main Street Food & Beverage.

A Refreshed Vision

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February 13, 2026

1-EvansvilleRiverfront_Playground_260211-WEB — Rendering of Evansville riverfront playground provided by Sasaki

The Evansville Regional Economic Partnership and its Boston, Massachusetts-based engineering partner Sasaki have released updated renderings of a long-term vision to overhaul Evansville’s Ohio River shoreline Downtown.

Designs shared Feb. 11 show sports courts and townhouses near Sunset Skatepark and the Evansville Museum of Arts, History & Science. Many modifications since the plan’s initial May 2024 release have been driven by flooding patterns. “We’ve always had flooding as part of our design way back to the vision plan,” says Anna Cawrse, principal landscape architect with Sasaki, but subtle changes strive to ensure the riverfront’s major features are protected.

Cawrse says that more detailed information has allowed engineers to tweak designs “by in some cases a couple inches, some cases a few feet.”

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Major features of the project have not changed. There’s an accessible playground that would replace Mickey’s Kingdom, plus a splash pad, restaurant building, grand staircase leading to the river’s bank, large grassy plaza at Riverside Drive and Main Street surrounding the relocated Four Freedoms Monument, and winding pedestrian path with an elevated canopy.

Officials say their current top priority is finding dollars to complete construction drawings, a necessary step to start the project and complete it on the shorter end of its expected 10-30 year timeline. Engineering and design estimates will cost roughly $5 million.

“Right now, we’re at 50 percent schematic design. If you look at construction terminology, a schematic design is 30 percent of a full construction document. So, we’re on our way. It just will get more and more detailed (from here),” Cawrse says.

Where will the dollars come from to complete the construction documents and then get shovels in the ground? Officials say they have communicated with foundation sources as well as different levels of government.

Sasaki engineers also have discussed riverfront concepts for Mount Vernon, Indiana’s Sherburne Park, as well as in Newburgh, Indiana. Both are part of the Ohio River Vision Strategic Master Plan, a multi-county initiative to deliver new investment along a 50-mile stretch of the river. Officials say full construction costs are still being estimated by local contractors and engineering consultants.

“This is a transformative regional plan,” says Ashley Diekmann, E-REP’s River Vision Advancement Director. “It will take a lot of collaboration on the local, state, and federal levels, as well as philanthropic investments. So those are the conversations and the collaboration with our community leaders that we continue to have on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis, making sure that we are driving this plan forward.”

A Family Reunion

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Gordon Engelhardt

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February 13, 2026

1-Preston,-Don-at-mattingly-charities-event-WEB — Photo provided by Don Mattingly. Don and Preston Mattingly attended a Mattingly Charities event in 2025, the same year that Preston joined the nonprofit his father established in 2007.

In the “City of Brotherly Love,” it’s a family affair — with a twist. Hired as bench coach for the Philadelphia Phillies, Don Mattingly is working for his son, Preston, the club’s general manager.

“He is my boss,” says Don, a Reitz Memorial High School graduate who spent the past three seasons as the Toronto Blue Jays’ bench coach. “It is different for me and would be different for anybody. The way the game has changed has made it easier. Ten or 15 years ago, it wouldn’t have happened.”

Preston calls the situation “unique.”

“When you peel back the layers for myself and Dad and the Phillies organization, we share a big goal, which is the World Series,” he says. “I think it’s a great fit.”

Philadelphia, a National League East club, last advanced to the World Series in 2022, losing to the Houston, Texas, Astros in six games. Last season, the Blue Jays fell to the Los Angeles Dodgers — a team Don managed in 2011-15 — in seven games in the elder Mattingly’s first career trip to the World Series after more than four decades in professional baseball.

Don says major league front offices have become much more hands-on in day-to-day operations in recent years, creating a comfort zone that wasn’t there before. “I always felt the guys could trust me,” he says.

Preston says Phillies players don’t have to worry about Don running upstairs to the front office with clubhouse information, even if the general manager is his own son. “Normally, the front office goes hands-on,” Preston says. “We’ll be around the guys on Feb. 10 (for spring training) and hopefully into October and November. I’m not that concerned.”

Preston’s Journey to GM

Photo provided by Don Mattingly. Preston, Don, Louie, and Lori Mattingly attended the Rawlings Gold Gloves Award ceremony on Nov. 7, 2025, in New York City. Mattingly Charities received the Heart of Gold Award.

Was it drive, determination, or talent that catapulted Preston to general manager? “All of the above,” Don says.

Dealing with the pressure of being the esteemed retired Yankee’s son, Preston was a first-round draft choice of the Dodgers, the 31st overall selection, out of Central High School in 2006. He stalled at the Single-A level. Undaunted, Preston switched to basketball, where at age 26 he played Division I ball for Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas.

Returning to baseball, he worked his way up in management, originally serving three years as a manager of scouting for the Padres of San Diego, California. Preston was named the Phillies’ GM in 2024. “His journey led him here,” Don says, noting that Preston’s visits to the Yankees locker room helped him become comfortable in major league surroundings. “He started at San Diego at the very bottom. He’s come a long way.”

Preston, 38, says his passion and experience helped him grow. “If things don’t go your way, you get back up and dust yourself off,” he says. He came into the top job when analytics are considered more important than what a scout, coach, or manager may see with their own eyes. Preston embraces modern technology, blending that with his gut feeling. “They are pieces to the puzzle,” he says. “We rely on evaluations and instincts. If you don’t (use technology), you fall behind. You want to use as many tools as you can.”

The younger Mattingly would like nothing more than to help guide Philadelphia back to the World Series, with his father on the bench — but he says the two-time defending champion Dodgers could be standing in their way. “I feel real good about our team,” he says. “We’re capable of winning it all. We have a great organization. Hopefully it will happen this year.” Father and son also collaborate at Mattingly Charities, a youth sports-focused nonprofit that Don established in 2007 and has co-run with his wife, Lori, since their wedding in 2010. Preston joined the charity’s board of directors in 2025.

The World Series Through A Child’s Eyes

Photo provided by Don Mattingly. Louie, Don, and Lori Mattingly guard themselves against splashing celebratory drinks on the field at Rogers Centre in Toronto after the Blue Jays earned a trip to the 2025 World Series.

Pandemonium reigned on the artificial turf of Rogers Centre in October after the Blue Jays eliminated the Seattle Mariners 4-3 in Game 7 of the 2025 American League Championship Series. But Don and Lori were overjoyed seeing the wonder dancing in the eyes of their 11-year-old son, Louie. Mattingly, serving as Toronto manager John Schneider’s right-hand man, finally participated in a World Series after what MLB.com writer Sweeny Murti counted as 5,231 games as a MLB player, coach, and manager. Despite the Blue Jays’ eventual loss to the Dodgers, the Mattinglys call the experience unforgettable.

“It was awesome. It was quite a ride,” Don recalls. “We had a good group of guys, and nothing was easy along the way. They played the same way they had played during the regular season and didn’t want to lose.”

Because of off days after Toronto hosted the first two games of each series, Louie had the opportunity to get on the field at Yankee Stadium in New York; T-Mobile Park in Seattle, Washington; and Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. “Honestly, he loved it. There were some other guys around his age who were on the field, and he got into it,” Don says. Although the Dodgers are a juggernaut, Mattingly says they were beatable. “We outplayed them, honestly,” he says. “The ball didn’t bounce in our favor.”

Don led the Dodgers to three successive NL West Division championships as manager but never advanced to the Series. He guided L.A. to the NLCS in 2013, when they lost to the Saint Louis Cardinals. In his final year as a player, Mattingly’s two-run double gave the Yankees a 4-2 lead over the Mariners in the sixth inning of decisive Game 5 of the 1995 American League Division Series. But Seattle rallied to post a 6-5 victory in 11 innings. Ironically, “Donnie Baseball” hit the final home run of his storied career — a go-ahead solo homer in Game 2 — off fellow Evansville native Andy Benes and finished the series with a .417 batting average. Achingly, the Yankees won the World Series the next season.

Mattingly posted a .307 batting average for the Yankees from 1982-95, was a six-time AL All-Star and a nine-time Gold Glover winner, an AL record for a first baseman. He won the 1984 AL batting title and was the 1985 AL Most Valuable Player. Schneider, the now 46-year-old Blue Jays manager, recalls tacking his future bench coach’s iconic “Hit Man” poster on his bedroom wall as a kid.

After his playing career was over, Don was Joe Torre’s bench coach in 2004 as the Yanks held a seemingly commanding 3-0 series advantage over the Boston Red Sox in the ALCS, only to lose four in a row. He was a coach for the Yankees from 2004-07 and the Dodgers from 2008-10 before landing the job as the Dodgers’ manager from 2011-15. While managing the Miami Marlins from 2016-22, he earned NL Manager of the Year honors in 2020 as the Marlins earned their first playoff berth since winning the 2003 Fall Classic. After parting ways with Miami, Don spent three seasons as the Blue Jays’ bench coach.

New York retired Don’s No. 23 jersey, making him the lone Yankee with his number retired without having won a World Series with the team. Now, he hopes to mark that as a coach for the Phillies. “Philadelphia is a great club with a great fan base,” he says. “(Phillies President of Baseball Operations) Dave Dombrowski is an outstanding baseball guy.”

A Baseball Lifer’s New Chapter

Photo provided by Don Mattingly. Don and Louie celebrate Oct. 20 after the Blue Jays scored a trip to the 2025 World Series.

After his contract expired with the Blue Jays in fall 2025, Don thought his days in the dugout might be over. “I knew that was it in Toronto,” says Don, who lives in Evansville each off-season. “I thought it was time to come home (to Evansville), but (Louie) seemed to be having such a good time after going to the World Series that he didn’t want it to be done. He wanted to continue on.”

Don, of course, was the main decision-maker. Aside from Preston serving as the Phillies’ GM, Don also is well-acquainted with Phillies Manager Rob Thomson: They were members of Torre’s Yankees coaching staff.

Regarding Louie, his youngest of four sons, Don says MLB has come a long way regarding family, letting youngsters hang around the ballpark more often in recent years. “I wanted to make sure I could spend as much time with him as possible,” Don says. But he didn’t want to manage again.

“It is a lot because you don’t really have an offseason,” says Don, who turns 65 on April 20. “You have to meet with the media twice a day and deal with the front office and free agency and contracts. I don’t want to say I didn’t have the energy to manage again. It was probably more about drive, if I wanted to do that much. I like my role (as a coach). I’m more of a teacher. I’ll help any way I can.”

Before passing away in 2014 at age 83, longtime MLB player and manager Don Zimmer once famously boasted that he never received a paycheck that wasn’t from professional baseball. Don Mattingly can say the same thing. “I look at it as I am just grateful,” he says. “I’ve been in the game about 45 years, with a couple of years off. You don’t always get the opportunity to stay in the game. It has taken care of me. I’ll always be grateful for what the game has given me.”

Fat Tuesday Treats

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February 11, 2026

Donut-Bank-WEB — Photo of Donut Bank paczkis by Zach Straw

Fat Tuesday is around the corner, and with it comes a slate stocked with juicy seafood, jumbo cocktails, and shiny beads. Deerhead Sidewalk Cafe starts the party Feb. 11 with a menu that includes seafood gumbo, red beans and rice, shrimp jambalaya, and more that can be washed down with fruit juice-and-rum-filled hurricanes. The following day, the American Legion in Newburgh rolls out a five-day Mardi Gras lineup of gator, oysters, crawfish dip and French bread, po’boys, shrimp boils, and more.

Six Strings on Franklin trades spooky vibes for relaxed tunes on Friday the 13th, with the Jimmy Buffett tribute band Parrots of the Caribbean headlining a bead-heavy Mardi Gras party. Tickets start at $21.50.

Up for sale, Stockwell Inn is marking what could be its final Mardi Gras — always a popular event at the East Side tavern — with a crawfish boil, boudin balls, oysters on the half shell, gator burgers, white chocolate bread pudding, and more through Feb. 17. Fans of Knob Hill Tavern’s annual Cajun Fest can fill up on a huge menu of crawfish étouffée, Creole catfish, and oyster, gator, and shrimp po’boys, plus more dishes through Feb. 17.

Seafood restaurants are taking the opportunity to dial up their usual offerings. Available starting Feb. 13 at Catfish Willy’s are gator fries, cornmeal fried shrimp, blue crab and shrimp dip, Creole shrimp and grits, blackened catfish, and more.

Starting Feb. 13, Donut Bank is bringing back the popular Polish pastry, paczki, plus orders of King cake for five days. The Kempf family business isn’t the only establishment jumping on the paczki parade. Patsy Hartigan’s Irish Pub pays homage to co-owner Joshua Pietrowski’s Polish ancestry on Feb. 17 with a one-day special of a Polish plate, plus the sugary-filled pastry for dessert.

The Frontier Restaurant & Bar in northern Vanderburgh County is packing its Mardi Gras celebration into one day — naturally, Fat Tuesday — with a bash that includes jambalaya and peel-and-eat jumbo Gulf shrimp, plus drink specials.

Need to stretch Fat Tuesday a little longer? Pappa Bear’s Catering is setting up shop outside Myriad Brewing Co. in Newburgh and serving fish or shrimp tacos, Cajun chicken pasta, gumbo, and more Feb. 17-21.

Full Circle

By

Amanda Krause

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February 11, 2026

1 IMG_4590-V2-WEB — Photo of Aaron Soulberry with his collage piece "His Eye Is On The Sparrow" by Jodi Keen

Aaron Soulberry was 13 years old when the University of Evansville dedicated the new Melvin Peterson Gallery at the corner of Lincoln and Weinbach avenues in 2010. He grew up in the surrounding East Side neighborhood and regularly walked past the building, remembering it as a former strip shopping center with a bookstore where he would buy trading cards. When it transitioned into an art gallery in his proverbial backyard, it planted a quiet belief that another path was possible for him.

For a time, the New Tech Institute graduate tried more familiar career routes — working third shift at a factory and taking college classes at Ivy Tech Community College — but none felt like the right fit. “This is Evansville; we’re in a blue-collar city. You’re kind of taught to have your fun hobbies, but eventually you’re going to have to grow up and work a trade, go to college, be a business person. And my imagination was just … (My) creativity was just too big for that,” Soulberry says. His journals were filled with drawings and dreams, and he kept coming back to the feeling that he was meant for a different path. He spent hours at Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library, exploring mediums and constructing different styles of art pieces in a studio space that the library offers free of charge.

More than 15 years later, Soulberry has returned to the corner of Lincoln and Weinbach avenues — this time, as the artist he once quietly imagined himself to be. As this year’s University of Evansville Artist in Residence with his exhibition, “A New Shade of Soul,” Soulberry uses bold colors and a layered collage style to reflect on dreaming big, persisting, and the responsibility to share creative energy with others.

Photo of Aaron Soulberry with his piece “Three Miles ‘Til Infinity” provided by the University of Evansville

Soulberry regularly invites others to participate in his work, especially young artists. He encourages them to see their own imaginations and dreams as valuable and achievable. For him, art is a form of civic engagement — it is something to be built, shared, and experienced together rather than viewed from a distance.

In the center of the Peterson Gallery, piled on the floor around a podium, lies Soulberry’s “Three Miles ’Til Infinity,” a cascading chain of paper links created with help from friends, students, and community members. Each participant added a slip of paper inscribed with a dream, fastening it to a growing chain until the piece stretched the symbolic length of three miles — the farthest distance the human eye can naturally see before the Earth’s curvature limits the view.

As Soulberry explains, that physical limit has always felt to him like another way of thinking about infinity — the point where vision reaches as far as it can go. By building the work one small link at a time, he wanted to show that goals which feel unreachable often are accomplished through simple, steady steps, each one as humble as a strip of paper.

Anne McKim, former Executive Director of the Arts Council of Southwestern Indiana, says this spirit of inclusion is the foundation of Soulberry’s craft. “Aaron’s work has always centered on the belief that everyone is creative, and everyone can take part in the creative process,” she notes. “The University of Evansville turning that old bookstore into a gallery and inspiring him to imagine becoming an artist is exactly what he now does for others.”

McKim adds that Soulberry has become her first call when a project needs someone who can energize people and bring the community together through art. His sincerity, openness, and refusal to treat art as exclusive make him a natural connector. His own journey, she says, is a reminder of why access to creative spaces matters — you never know who is watching, or who might see a doorway into their own future.

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For Soulberry, this residency is more than a professional milestone. It is a full-circle moment — one that links a childhood sense of possibility with a present-day commitment to community. In returning to the gallery that once ignited his desire to be a working artist, he is helping to foster that sense of possibility in others.

Professor Emeritus Eric Renschler — the newest recipient of the Mayor’s Art Award — and UE’s Associate Dean of the Ridgway College of Arts & Science and Director of Community Art Engagement met Soulberry through UE trustee Steve Worthington, who was seated with Soulberry at the Arts Council’s Mayor’s Art Awards banquet in August. “Aaron’s passion for the craft, strong local ties, and commitment to community engagement made him an ideal choice for the Efroymson Family Fund’s Emerging Artist recognition in the Melvin Peterson Gallery,” Renschler says.

“A New Shade of Soul” is on display at the Melvin Peterson Gallery through Feb. 28, with an opening reception and artist talk scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Feb. 12.

Shelbyville, Indiana, native Amanda Krause, Dean of the Ridgway College of Arts & Sciences at the University of Evansville, is an academic writer who believes great communities are built by local artists, local businesses, and local voices.

‘Just Rob Being Rob’

By

Gordon Engelhardt

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February 11, 2026

1-Rob-Maurer-at-the-plate-for-the-Texas-Rangers-WEB — Photo courtesy of Mike Goebel

Rob Maurer was destined to seize the moment. Andy Benes could sense it.

Dominant on the mound, Benes was blanking No. 1-ranked Arizona State University, and the University of Evansville baseball team was on the verge of a monumental upset if the Aces could only score. Maurer belted a home run in the seventh inning, and Benes made it stand up for a 1-0 victory in the first round of the 1988 NCAA tournament at ASU’s home ballpark in Tempe, Arizona.

“I thought going into the ASU game, he was going to have to do something special,” Benes says. “And he did in a spectacular way — A majestic home run that put UE on the map.”

Benes, a Central High School graduate, was selected by the San Diego Padres as the top overall pick in the 1988 Major League Baseball amateur draft. Maurer, a Mater Dei High School grad, was a left-handed-hitting first baseman drafted by the Texas Rangers in the sixth round.

Maurer was “just a pure hitter with a great stroke,” Benes says. “I was telling the guys during the game, ‘Just one run.’ And our best hitter stepped up in the clutch, and we won the game. That’s all we needed — just Rob being Rob.”

Maurer, who played for the Rangers in 1991 and ’92, passed away unexpectedly at his home in Evansville on Jan. 21 at age 59. “Rob suffered a cardiac event after finishing a workout in his home gym,” says Mike Goebel, who was offensive coordinator on Mater Dei’s football team when Maurer played for the Wildcats. He also served as Maurer’s wrestling coach.

Tributes to Maurer poured in, including from outside of Evansville. Former Rangers teammate Dan Peltier recalled Maurer as his roommate and best friend in professional baseball. “I am devastated by the news of his passing,” Peltier wrote on Maurer’s obituary page on Pierre Funeral Home’s website. “I am blessed that he was part of my life.”

AN ALL-STATER IN THREE SPORTS

Maurer excelled in every sport he tried, earning all-state honors in baseball, football, and wrestling at Mater Dei and later being named a member of the UE and Mater Dei athletics halls of fame. “Rob was a natural in everything that he did; he was such a gifted athlete who made the most of his talents,” Goebel says. “Rob was fiercely competitive, intense, and an unquestioned leader.”

Maurer earned all-state honors as a quarterback/defensive back on Mater Dei’s first undefeated regular season team in 1984; the Wildcats eventually finished 11-1. He broke all of Mater Dei’s passing records to that date, was the team’s leading scorer, was a top tackler on defense, and led the team with six interceptions. In wrestling, Maurer finished third in the 177-pound division of the 1988 Indiana High School Athletic Association state tournament, losing in the state semifinals and ending his high school career 24-1 as a senior in ’85. “Rob was important in setting the stage for Mater Dei’s first-ever IHSAA state title the following year,” Goebel says.

Maurer’s accomplishments in baseball speak for themselves. He led the city with a .514 batting average and, as with football, was chosen to play in the state senior all-star game. Maurer, who batted .396 for UE in 1988, worked his way up the Rangers’ organization after being drafted in 1988. He won Class AAA American Association Rookie of the Year honors in 1991, hitting .301 with 20 home runs and 77 runs batted in for Oklahoma City. Called up to the parent club in September of that year, Maurer played behind then-perennial MLB all-star Rafael Palmeiro.

“Rob’s promising MLB career was cut short by reconstructive knee surgery, which cost him the 1993 season,” Goebel says. The following year, a second knee surgery ended his playing career. “I never heard him mention or complain about his bad luck with injuries and what might have been had he been able to continue to play baseball,” Goebel adds.

True to his character, Maurer came home to Evansville, completed his college education in business administration at the University of Southern Indiana in 1997, and worked at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana for 27 years, mostly as a project analyst, until his retirement in June 2025. He stayed close with friends from Mater Dei’s 1985 graduating class and joined tailgates at his alma mater. Along the way, Goebel says, “Rob focused his life’s attention on his family,” including his wife, Kathy, who he married in 2022, and his three daughters.

A PIVOT FROM COLLEGE FOOTBALL TO BASEBALL

As he tried to build the Aces’ baseball program in the mid-1980s, head coach Jim Brownlee knew he had to land two local players: Maurer and Benes, who hoped to play both baseball and football. However, then-UE football coach Randy Rodgers didn’t want to recruit either player. After Rodgers was fired, Brownlee bent the ear of new UE football coach Dave Moore, who was receptive to the idea of the athletes playing two sports.

Brownlee watched in awe as a rail-thin Maurer hit an opposite-field home run completely out of Bosse Field as a freshman at Mater Dei. “I knew I had to get both,” Brownlee says. “Rob and Andy were in (football) two-a-days in August, and (Rob) had practiced for two weeks and said he didn’t want to play football anymore. He wanted to play fall baseball. He’s one of the best players I ever had.” Moore honored Maurer’s football scholarship that season, and Maurer went on a baseball scholarship the following year.

Maurer had no problems displaying his emotions. Brownlee recalls a Mater Dei game against Harrison High School: After Maurer homered, then-Warriors coach Frank Schwitz ordered his pitcher to walk Maurer in his next at-bat. Maurer responded by yelling, “You’re a coward.” Nevertheless, Harrison walked Maurer three more times.

The most famous home run of Maurer’s college career came using a Central Michigan University bat. Back in those days, aluminum bats were “loaded,” says Brownlee, alluding to their power. In fact, the UE team used the same three Easton aluminum bats so often they were almost “flat as a pancake,” he says. Before the NCAA tournament game against Arizona State in 1988, umpires ruled that UE’s bats did not pass inspection.

Brownlee quickly talked to Central Michigan coach Dean Kreiner, a good friend, whose Chippewas were playing in the game following UE-ASU. “Can we borrow three or four of your Easton bats?” Brownlee asked Kreiner, who obliged. “Rob Maurer hit that home run with a Central Michigan bat.”

Inextricably linked forever through that game, Benes says he was just thankful to be Maurer’s teammate. “Gone too soon,” Benes says. “Rest in peace, my friend.”

In addition to his wife, Kathy, Maurer is survived by daughters Ashton Maurer and fiancé Michael Volkman, Madi Chaykowsky and husband Zack, and Ali Maurer and her fiancé Andrew Schoettlin; a stepdaughter, Grace Doane; and two grandchildren, McKenna and Cole Chaykowsky. In a final nod to the place where his talent first took off, memorial contributions may go to the Mater Dei Athletic Department.

Rough Edges?

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February 9, 2026

By Maggie Valenti, with Jodi Keen and John Martin

New rendering provided by Prince Alexander Architecture

A Nov. 25, 2025, media event at the Warrick County Museum pulsed with pre-holiday excitement. Standing onstage with Christmas trees in the background and television cameras rolling, Boonville, Indiana, resident Teresa Shanks, among others, announced that the EDGE of the Lakes project was moving out of the concept phase.

The development plan — the latest version of which includes convention hotels, rustic shops and restaurants, a man-made lagoon, and entertainment options — was on the way, organizers said. Dirt would move by spring or summer. Officials said land was acquired, financing was in place, and the massive $250 million site spanning more than 200 acres next to Boonville’s Walmart, near Indiana 62, would bring with it union construction jobs, permanent jobs, and visitor traffic unlike anything the town of 6,700 had seen.

Speakers enthusiastically showed renderings of the completed project. “It’s like if you took Dollywood and all the businesses around it and put it on one piece of property … that’s what this feels like,” said Stephen Alexander, owner of Indianapolis-based Prince Alexander Architecture. Zac Guy, identified as EDGE’s Chief Operating Officer, hailed the development as being full of family-friendly discoveries and a place where “the Ritz Carlton meets Bass Pro Shops.”

Original rendering provided by EDGE of the Lakes

But so far, these and other projections have not matched reality. According to officials’ initial press conference in November 2023, construction was to begin in the third quarter of 2024. The land acquisition referenced in November? As of mid-January, Warrick County government officials confirmed that no entity known to be associated with EDGE (an acronym for Economic Development Generating Education) had obtained any properties at the site — including six parcels owned by Ray and Jann Allen, a Boonville couple seen signing a document at the press conference. Apart from Evansville Business articles in 2024 and 2025, and a November 2025 story by the Courier & Press newspaper, the project’s delays, inconsistent public statements, and ever-changing cast of characters have not been publicly questioned.

“I have not seen a transfer of any land or any building permits come through our department,” Warrick County Assessor Sarah Redman said, adding she did not know what document the Allens signed at the Nov. 25 event. Offices of the county recorder and auditor also could not produce any such documents in January. When contacted earlier that month, the Allens, through an acquaintance, declined to comment citing a “non-disclosure agreement.”

In fact, no one contacted for this story says they know what document the Allens signed at the press event. Mark Phillips, attorney for the City of Boonville, says he also is curious about it — perhaps, he suggests, it was a purchase option. “Oftentimes (purchase) options are recorded, some are not,” Phillips says. “But show me the money, a deed, and incremental steps that are being taken, and we’ll react on the city’s side.”

That hasn’t been happening. The Boonville City Council in April 2024 created a tax-increment financing district to build $25 million worth of road and utility infrastructure needed to advance the project. But Phillips says the city government has committed no funding or resources to the EDGE or preparing the site for construction, and the city would need many more details for that to occur.

Waiting For Details

Getting answers to these questions has proved challenging. As Phillips notes, EDGE leadership has changed. Some entities initially involved seem to no longer be part of the equation, one being Heavenly Pros, a Florida home renovation business. Its owners appeared with Shanks at the April 2024 City Council meeting and promoted the EDGE in a May 27 Facebook video alongside Boonville Clerk-Treasurer Tammy Boruff. Heavenly Pros has not had a presence in promotional videos or press releases since then; company officials did not return Evansville Business’ emails.

Rendering provided by Prince Alexander Architecture

Earlier versions included a three-story golf-themed restaurant and bar with an 18-hole miniature course. This part of the development was led by Lori Dyer, a Boonville native and founder and president of Florida-based Hazards Entertainment, which would spearhead the newly announced amenities. Like the Heavenly Pros officials, Dyer talked with Boruff in a spring 2024 Facebook clip, but there was no reported mention of the golf attraction during November’s media event. Messages to Dyer and Hazard Entertainment CEO Zach Miller were not returned.

In a May 9, 2024, press release, EDGE officials also cited Evansville-based Traylor Building, LLC, a Traylor Construction Group company, as being a partner, but that involvement appears to be minimal. “Traylor Building has participated in early conversations and remains engaged in project discussions as it further develops,” Traylor Building Preconstruction Director Pete Giannini told writers in a January 2026 email. “While still in the preliminary stages, we maintain an interest in supporting opportunities that align with our expertise as the plans evolve.”

Amid questions about land ownership, construction timelines, parties involved, and its shifting definition, one of the biggest mysteries surrounding EDGE of the Lakes centers on its mind-boggling $250 million estimated cost, at least triple the $74 million figure initially presented. For comparison, the City of Boonville’s total municipal budget for 2025 was about $12 million. In a March 4, 2025, press release issued by the EDGE, Sam Brody, President of New Jersey-based LCS Capital, is quoted as saying: “We are not looking for investors, as we have funding sources already subject to specific terms and conditions.”

Research by Evansville Business has found no known public sources as part of its financing. A Courier & Press article about the Nov. 25, 2025, media event stated “there was talk” of the EDGE having received a grant from Indiana’s READI 2.0 program, which supports economic development statewide. However, Josh Armstrong, Evansville Regional Economic Partnership’s Chief Economic Development Officer, confirmed to Evansville Business that the project has received no READI funding. As of press time for this article, identities of the leading financial backers were unknown.

New Names, Same Questions

Zac Guy, founder and CEO of Fort Worth, Texas-based American Antique Hardwoods, appears to be a current key player. American Antique Hardwoods’ website states the company’s involvement in projects for the Cook Out restaurant chain, chef Wolfgang Puck’s restaurants, Holiday Inn, Winnie Palmer Nature Preserve in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, and unspecified sporting goods stores. Guy did not return a call seeking details about the company’s participation in those endeavors.

Saying he and Shanks had been friends “for many, many years,” Guy proclaimed: “We’re anticipating as many as 2,000 barns will come down across the U.S. and Canada and donate pieces of themselves into this project. That’s how big this is.” Shanks praised the lagoon portion, saying Orlando, Florida, company Martin Aquatic would deliver an attraction that would put “heads in beds” year-round.

Evansville Business asked Shanks in an email about land ownership, the development’s financing, and changes in its leadership and focus. Shanks responded that the development team will send future press releases that will “formally outline the scope of the project, recent progress, and key milestones.”

“The EDGE continues to advance at a rapid pace and is shaping up to be a premier destination, while also creating meaningful career opportunities and contributing to regional economic growth,” Shanks said in the emailed reply.

While names of participating entities have come and gone, Shanks has been a constant, acting as the project’s public face. She has pushed major developments in the region before: In the early 2000s, Shanks — then known as Teresa Thuerbach — spearheaded a proposed aquarium and children’s museum in Evansville. It collapsed under questions about its financing and credibility.

There has been similar confusion about the EDGE, even among local organizations charged with cultivating economic development. Leaders of E-REP and Success Warrick County say they are not involved and know only what information the EDGE has released to the general public.

What’s Next?

Rendering by Prince Alexander Architecture

Phillips, the Boonville city attorney, says the EDGE would be “a life-changing dynamic for a community, a workforce, everybody,” and the city would be foolish to close the door on such a proposal. But Phillips says he has not met the project’s current leadership group, and issues that remain unaddressed include the EDGE’s utilities needs — including a large one that predates the development.

Boonville needs a new sewer treatment plant, since its current facility is running at 90 percent capacity, Phillips says. Given the EDGE’s size, he says it would need to participate with the city in a new treatment plant.

Shanks did not address Evansville Business’ question about the utilities issue.

Boonville Mayor Charlie Wyatt confirmed that the city has made no financial commitment via bonds or TIF funds. It was Wyatt who first unveiled the project on Nov. 3, 2023, less than a week before he was re-elected. In the time since, he has largely refused to answer Evansville Business requests for status updates. In a Sept. 17 text message to writers, Wyatt said, “I am still working on details, and I have signed a non-disclosure agreement and I intend to honor it.”

Now, he says the city needs more details from EDGE officials. “Like any other economic development project considering Boonville, we stand ready to work with the EDGE developers when they are ready to proceed, whether it be through assisting in navigating zoning considerations or creating TIF districts, a common local government tool in attracting and encouraging economic development projects,” Wyatt told Evansville Business in a January email.

He added, “ The city is also aware of the recent announcements by the developers concerning the land acquisition, but is not privy to those documents.”

Where does EDGE of the Lakes go from here? Phillips says city officials await more conversation and exchanges of key information. “I’m hopeful that this comes to fruition, I really am,” Phillips says. “But I guarantee you the mayor, the City Council, the Board of Works (are) not going to commit one red penny until we see what their commitment to us is, and that would be borne out in deed transfers and sewer development. Those are things we would ask them to participate in.”

A Timeline of EDGE of the Lakes

NOV. 3, 2023: Boonville Mayor Charlie Wyatt announces EDGE of the Lakes as a $74 million development with a hotel, event center, retail stores, restaurants, a public safety training center, and condominiums, plus bowling, miniature golf, batting cages, a shooting range, axe throwing, indoor karting, and an amphitheater. Construction is said to start in the third quarter of 2024. Wyatt won re-election days later.

MAY 2024: EDGE officials promote the project via Facebook videos showing Boonville Clerk-Treasurer Tammy Boruff interviewing representatives of Heavenly Pros and Hazards Entertainment, the latter promising an elaborate restaurant and miniature golf venue.

DECEMBER 2024: The year ends with no construction on the project.

MARCH 4, 2025: A news drop reveals new entities steering the project. Estimated costs soar to $250 million; no timeline is given for construction.

NOV. 25, 2025: Renderings now show a man-made lagoon, convention hotel and cabins, shops, and restaurants. American Antique Hardwoods and Martin Aquatic are introduced as new participants. Officials say dirt should move in spring or summer 2026, and land has been purchased.

JANUARY 2026: No public record of a property deed transfer has been filed with Warrick County officials.

A Second Family

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February 9, 2026

Easterseals-1087121 — Photo of Residential Services Administrator Christy Gogel and clients Ethan and PJ by Zach Straw

Sandy Ford’s life has bustled with activity. The retired nurse has enjoyed a 37-year career caring for patients at Evansville State Hospital, raised her son, R.J., and, today, plays with her grandchildren. Such an active life may have seemed impossible for someone diagnosed as a child with cerebral palsy and, later in life, spina bifida and breast cancer. Those obstacles haven’t slowed Ford down, and she credits Easterseals Rehabilitation Center.

“This place kept me going,” says Ford, who still receives weekly physical therapy and swims in the pool independently forexercise four times a week. “The therapists have listened to me laugh, held me when I’ve cried … emotionally supported me.”

Through her decades-long relationship with Easterseals, Ford, 67, has seen the organization hit new heights. What began in 1946 as Vanderburgh County’s chapter of the National Society for Crippled Children has evolved into a multi-faceted operation offering speech, physical and occupational therapy, group homes, and more services to nearly 5,000 individuals from 30 Tri-State counties. “They’re not behind the times,” Ford says.

With a cornerstone reading “For Building Better Lives,” the organization’s rehabilitation center on Bellemeade Avenue in 1957 became the first freestanding facility in the U.S. designed specifically for outpatient rehab services. After rebranding nationally as Easterseals in 1967, the local affiliate twice majorly expanded its building as the nonprofit’s services broadened to include early childhood programs, mental health outreach and education, medical rehabilitation, assistive technology, psychology services, aquatic therapy and exercise, augmentative and alternative communication, recreation and fitness, and residential services.

Initially, the Society for Crippled Children (and eventually also adults) helped fund wheelchairs, walkers, hearing aids, special equipment, and travel to larger cities for treatment not yet available here. “When Easterseals started, they were not service providers, but more facilitators,” says Ray Raisor, president and CEO of the local affiliate from 1982 to 2015. When he began, Easterseals served approximately 2,000 people. During his nearly 34-year tenure, Easterseals launched its group home program, added a warm-water therapeutic pool, and increased staffing from 33 employees to 375. “When I came, it was a time when medical science was making tremendous improvements in identifying and treating disease. So, children were surviving birth problems, and we were able to keep people alive with devastating injuries. They were going to need some kind of therapy intervention for the rest of their lives,” Raisor says.

Pete’s donation photo provided by Easterseals

A large part of Easterseals’ appeal is that essential core services are provided for all ages regardless of the client’s ability to pay. The organization does not receive federal funding, and state funding comes only through Medicaid. To underwrite its services, Easterseals turns to private donations from individuals, businesses, and foundations, plus events. Ritzy’s Fantasy of Lights, a longtime drive-thru holiday display in Garvin Park, has raised $4.9 million since 1993. More than 11,500 therapy sessions also were underwritten by $907,797 raised at last year’s telethon. Launched in 1978 and aired on WEHT-TV, the annual event has raised a total of $29,722,096. Raisor clearly recalls the day in 2012 when it hit $1 million for the first time: “When the digital counter showed a million dollars, the crowd went nuts,” he says.

Photo of John C. Schroeder by Zach Straw

To sustain operations, Easterseals mostly relies on individual donations, a responsibility the public has fulfilled for decades. Some make sure to call into the annual telethon. Others always mark the spring day that the LemonAid Stand is set up on Bellemeade. And then there’s Pete. No one knows who he is — his 44 donations have remained anonymous since 1990 — and his donations are hidden on the Easterseals campus. Pete leaves a note with instructions for staff to find his gifts, which now total $108,000. His sign-offs have become his trademark: “You will hear from me again. Pete.” “In 2025, Pete and all the ‘elves’ who followed his lead made Christmas brighter for over 190 people,” says Easterseals President and CEO Kelly Schneider. “It’s so much fun to see that outreach multiply and it all started with Pete’s generosity.”

Longtime donor John C. Schroeder saw inside Easterseals’ operations in 2025, when his wife, Diane, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. “Diane feels that Easterseals has been very beneficial to her as she moves along the line,” says Schroeder, the president and CEO of Crescent and Wabash Plastics. “The staff here do it because of their love for wanting to help others. You can see it in everything they do and all the work that they put in. They see the good that comes out of it.”

A Healing Atmosphere

Doctors at Louisville, Kentucky’s Norton Children’s Hospital told Ethan Hills and his family that he would never walk. The 13-year-old Castle North Middle School student suffered a traumatic brain injury in April 2024 after a tree fell on him during a camping trip. Since starting physical and speech therapy that November, his mobility has improved exponentially. “Easterseals has impacted me and my family by helping me get out of a walker and walking all by myself,” says Ethan, who served as Easterseals’ Youth Ambassador in 2025. “Getting back to normal as much as we can is the big benefit,” adds his father, Aaron. “Seeing the amount of growth since he came home with Easterseals has been incredible.”

Ethan’s progress has been staggering. He could not speak until October 2024; now, speech therapist Christi Watkins has him telling stories, stopping in problem areas to fine-tune his projection and pronunciation. Occupational therapist Lisa Ingler works on his hand strength and fine motor skills. Physical therapist Rachael McCullough incorporates sports Ethan loves into their twice-weekly sessions. “Easterseals has made me part of their family,” Ethan says, pointing to the resulting friendship between his sister, Emilia, and 2024 Youth Ambassador Eleanor Daywalt. “They care about me, help me, and give me a lot of encouragement.”

Eville Iron Street Rods member Maurice Berendes was somewhat familiar with Easterseals; the nonprofit benefits from proceeds of the club’s annual Frog Follies festival. But his connection to Easterseals changed dramatically after a February 2014 fall off a scaffold lodged a piece of backbone in his spinal cord, an injury that left the retired Indiana Bell Telephone Company mechanic in a wheelchair. A social worker at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, Georgia, advised him to seek rehab at Easterseals.

Berendes returned to his hometown and began twice-weekly sessions two months after his accident. “I was probably hard to get along with at first, but the people here, they were just wonderful,” says Berendes, now 85, who attends weekly therapy with physical therapist Patty Balbach. “I can’t imagine getting rehab at any place else that could have given me the strength and the confidence to do what I do. I basically do everything I’ve done before I got hurt. … I just do it (in) my wheelchair.”

Named Easterseals’ Adult Ambassador for 2016, Berendes was paired with then-6-year-old Youth Ambassador Gracie Tucker. As a one-year honor and commitment, each annual pair of ambassadors assists Easterseals with community outreach and publicity, fundraising, and even meetings with state and national legislators. The ambassador program also helps Easterseals clients broaden their own perspective of the organization. “The most gratifying thing is how they help the children here. To see that the kids make so much progress, you know? That’s more gratifying than anything for me,” Berendes says.

A Compassionate Presence

As robust as Easterseals’ services are, clients and executives frequently attribute its strength to dedicated employees, many of whom have spent their entire careers with the organization. Balbach, a 46-year physical therapist, insists that the impact clients have on her is greater than her impact on them. She applied for a job at Easterseals in 1980 because “I knew this place had what I wanted,” she recalls. After holding leadership positions, including supervisor of physical restoration and director of rehab services, she stepped back when she had children and refocused on her true passion for working directly with clients. “I’ve met some of the most resilient, amazing people. I never would’ve had that opportunity anywhere else,” she says, recalling a client with a spinal cord injury who doctors said would never walk again. A longtime pipe fitter, he worked with Balbach until he could walk with braces, and although he could never go back to his old position, he still could work with the same employer. “He could be employed again, and at a job he truly loved,” she says.

Early Learning Center teacher Monich Carter needed Easterseals after her daughter, Diamond, was born in 1991 with profound hearing loss. Now, as lead teacher in Easterseals’ pre-K classroom, she educates and cares for 18 children of all abilities, helping them prepare for kindergarten while also adjusting their glasses and leg braces, helping nonverbal students communicate with switchboards, and assisting kids with G-tubes and who use wheelchairs or walkers. All three of her grandchildren also have needed Easterseals services for profound hearing loss. “I wouldn’t send them anywhere else,” she says.

Not just a rehab or education center, Easterseals expanded with residential programs by opening its first group home in 1987. “That was a huge addition because it’s the first time we were offering a 24-hour-a-day service. That really changed the way we operated, but it also gave us an opportunity to really make an impact in people’s lives,” Raisor says. Christy Gogel can attest to that impact. As residential services administrator, she oversees the eight group homes — six in Vanderburgh County and two in Warrick County — accommodating 64 residents. “We serve people throughout the longevity of their life,” she says. “We have clients who’ve been here for over 35 years. Their group home genuinely is their home.” Her passion stems from watching her adopted twin brothers grow up with disabilities, facing both the challenges of everyday life and how they were treated by society. When she joined Easterseals in 2000 as a group home coordinator, Gogel oversaw group home teams and enjoyed a game of UNO or an afternoon of crafts with clients. Just as in other departments at Easterseals, staff and residents grow close, she says: “Genuinely, the clients we serve become family.”

Gogel says she has worked alongside many of the same employees for 15-20 years, a recurring theme at Easterseals. “I used to say that if you haven’t been here 10 years, you’re still kind of new,” says Schneider, who began her Easterseals career in 1988 as a manager in the group home program, then moved into leadership positions before succeeding Raisor as president and CEO in 2015. She says that in the last 38 years, she’s never imagined working anywhere else. Despite different departments that typically do not overlap, all Easterseals employees are committed to banding together, including with regional partners, to integrate services. “We always look for opportunities to partner with other providers in the community so we can make sure we’re meeting the needs of people to the best of our ability,” Schneider says, pointing to the culture she inherited from Raisor. “We say it all the time, but it really is true: It’s a real teamwork atmosphere.”

What’s next for the 80-year-old Easterseals? More space is needed, which could mean leaving its longtime location on Bellemeade. “We’re completely maxed out here. So, for us to continue to meet the community need, we definitely need another alternative, with more space. And we’re currently looking at those options,” Schneider says. Leaving that facility will be bittersweet, but Easterseals’ future “always needs to be about the mission,” she adds. “The most fulfilling thing is seeing that lived out with clients, staff, our culture, our relationship in the community, and our volunteers.”

A Timeline of Easterseals

1 of 5

In The News

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February 9, 2026

BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT

‘Never-Ending Energy’
With retirement coming, Ray Simmons is honored by his peers.
By John Martin

Ray Simmons has been with the University of Southern Indiana for 37 of the institution’s 61 years, working in sports information and communications as Screaming Eagles teams have won conference and national titles, risen from NCAA Division II to Division I athletics, and built a new arena. Peers are saluting USI’s director of athletic communications as he prepares to retire in June. In January, College Sports Communicators bestowed Simmons with a Lifetime Achievement Award. “It’s nice to be recognized and know they appreciate the breadth of your work over almost four decades,” he says.

Simmons cherishes the relationships he’s maintained with USI student-athletes, saying the worth of those relationships didn’t change over the years, even though so much else did. Today’s routine, which includes producing ESPN+ coverage of home sports events, is a far cry from the start of Simmons’ career, when he needed a key to the campus mail room so he could send faxes following ballgames. “Then I got a fax machine in the office and in my house,” he recalls. “It went from a typewriter to a computer to the internet and cellphones and carrying your office with you at all times.”

Simmons adapted well to evolving technology and sports communications demands, as the award indicates. Retired USI administrator Sherrianne Standley — Simmons’ first supervisor in 1989 — says he applied “never-ending energy to never-ending tasks” and is “so deserving of the national recognition he has earned.”

BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT

Back To Work
David Smith returns to education with new Evansville Promise Neighborhood role.
By John Martin

Named the inaugural Sustainability Coordinator for Evansville’s Promise Neighborhood, David Smith is focused on making sure the initiative continues its impact once its five-year federal grant expires.

Since the federal funds cannot be used to sustain EPN, the new position involves not only fundraising, but also putting “systems and structures” in place so the University of Evansville and its partner agencies “continue to work together and work better together,” says Smith, who retired in 2025 as Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation’s superintendent. Fifteen agencies have joined UE on EPN’s sustainability council.

EPN’s goals include preparing children for kindergarten and young adults for success beyond high school. Smith points to early success stories: In August, EVSC touted an 11-percent jump in Indiana Reading Evaluation and Determination (IREAD) scores. The exam is given annually to third-graders.

The Promise Neighborhood initiative was created in 2023 through a five-year, $30 million federal grant, plus a $32.5 million match from 24 partners. UE’s Center for Innovation and Change led the application process and is the EPN’s home base.

Smith worked at EVSC for 43 years, including 14 as superintendent. “That he has chosen to work on the Evansville Promise Neighborhood in his well-earned retirement is a testament to the transformational nature of this opportunity,” says Erin Lewis, director of the Center for Innovation and Change.

“We have been able to add to our team an incredible individual who brings years of experience and expertise who can now apply a concentrated focus to sustaining this work beyond federal funding,” adds EPN Director Derek McKillop.

NEW HIRES/PROMOTIONS

Ten Adams has named Jon Headlee CEO, welcomed Danielle Falconer as President and Chief Strategy Officer, and promoted Brandon Scott to Chief Innovation & Growth Officer. Headlee, son of Ten Adams founder Jack Headlee, has been president of the company for three decades and will focus on long-term vision, culture, and strategic partnerships in the new role. Falconer most recently was Senior Vice President of Client Strategy with Element Three, while Scott, who has been with Ten Adams for 12 years, now will lead its innovation and digital transformation efforts.

Riverside Capital Management Group announced the promotion of Hayden Wood to financial adviser. The University of Southern Indiana graduate successfully earned his FINRA Series 7 and Series 66 registrations and will offer personalized financial guidance to clients.

Rebekah Dodd has been named Associate Branch Manager for Baird’s Evansville office. She joined the firm in 2017 as a trust officer and became a certified wealth planner in 2022. In her new capacity, Dodd will help Branch Manager Philip Roberts oversee the firm’s daily operations.

Autumne Baker was named Executive Director of Ark Crisis Children’s Center, succeeding Angie Richards Cheek, who took over in November as Executive Director of Junior Achievement of Southwestern Indiana. Baker is a lifelong Evansville resident who most recently was Development Coordinator for Southwestern Healthcare. She also has held roles with Junior Achievement of West Kentucky, the American Cancer Society, and March of Dimes.

Kahn, Dees, Donovan & Kahn has named Joshua R. Trockman a partner in the law firm, where he practices estate planning and administration, real estate, business law, and municipal law. The third-generation attorney is an Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law graduate and also serves as the Evansville City Council’s attorney. Elizabeth “Betsy” Happe and Dylan Murphy also have joined the firm as associate attorneys. Happe graduated from Indiana University’s Maurer School of Law and holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Southern Indiana. Her practice will focus on the areas of business, construction, and estate planning law. Murphy is a graduate of the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law as well as USI. His practice will focus on business, creditors’ rights and bankruptcy, insurance, and litigation.

Raymond Dudlo has joined Dentons’ corporate practice as a partner in its Evansville office. He is responsible for advising health care entities on regulatory compliance, data privacy, and complex dispute resolution matters.

Trevor Lakins is the Evansville Otters’ new General Manager, succeeding Brycen Moore. The Knoxville, Tennessee, native has spent nearly a decade with professional clubs across the country, most recently as Director of Corporate Partnerships with the Scranton-Wilkes Barre (Pennsylvania) RailRiders, Triple-A affiliate of the New York Yankees. The Otters also promoted Jackson Pullen to Assistant General Manager. He previously was the Frontier League baseball club’s Director of Group Sales. Dan Kluesner has rejoined the Otters as Head Groundskeeper, a role he had previously before stepping away for a year. Nick McLean was named Director of Group Sales & Community Relations after spending last season as a group sales intern. Quinton Watt is the Otters’ new Director of Social Media, Marketing, and Fan Engagement after spending last season as communications intern.

Lauren Barker has rejoined the Albion Fellows Bacon Center as its new Director of Advancement. The Harrison High School and Full Sail University graduate worked five years at the domestic violence support center, including as its director of engagement and resource development, before joining Evansville Day School’s marketing and communications team in July 2022, eventually rising to assistant director of institutional advancement and assistant director of external affairs.

Ethan Jaworski has been named Head ESports Coach and Coordinator at the University of Evansville. The December 2024 alumnus joined the program in July 2025, months after leading the UE Overwatch 2 team to the school’s first National ESports Collegiate Conference Regional Championship and National Championship.

Hafer has welcomed Indianapolis native Jack Sizemore as a staff electrical engineer. He holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Southern Indiana.

Vanderburgh Humane Society has promoted Alison Stocker to Events & Engagement Coordinator, succeeding Mackenzee McKittrick. Stocker has led VHS’ River City Cat Cafe social media campaigns for nearly a year. She holds a bachelor’s degree in communication, public relation, advertising, and applied communication from Saint Louis University, plus a Master of Arts in communication from the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

DEPARTURES

Old National Bank Commercial Banking CEO Jim Sandgren is retiring in April after a 35-year career. He shaped ONB’s commercial banking strategy, fueling the Evansville-based bank’s transformation into a $71 billion institution with banking centers in 10 states. Sandgren served in multiple executive roles, including president and chief operating officer and Southern Region CEO.

Holly Carter, Executive Director and Dean of the University of Evansville’s Harlaxton College since 2022, has departed to pursue other opportunities, UE President Christopher Pietruskiewicz announced. Kristen Strandberg, current UE Library Director, has been appointed Interim Dean and Executive Director.

AWARDS/RECOGNITIONS

Junior Achievement of Southwestern Indiana announced the 2026 JA Evansville Regional Business Hall of Fame Laureates at a press conference on Jan. 12 at the University of Southern Indiana. They are Ray Hoops, who oversaw dramatic growth at USI during his presidency from 1994-2009; Otha Eugene “Gene” Warren Jr., developer of North Park Shopping Center, more than 20 retail drug stores and other retail properties in the area; and the late Ted C. Ziemer Jr., a partner in the Ziemer, Stayman, Weitzel & Shoulders law firm who held numerous community leadership and philanthropic roles. Laureates will be recognized at the annual Hall of Fame breakfast May 19 at Old National Events Plaza.

Toyota Canada President Tim Hollander was honored by Youth First with the Dr. William Wooten Champion of Youth First Award at October’s Breakfast of Champions reception. The Evansville native previously was Toyota Indiana president and general manager of Toyota West Virginia, and he’s a longtime supporter of Youth First, having been a board member. He remains on the Youth First Advisory Council.

Hafer’s design work on Wesselman Woods Nature Preserve’s Arwood Family Treehouse has been honored with the Built Works Design Award for projects less than $2 million by the Indiana Park & Recreation Association. Unveiled in June 2024, the treehouse offers ramps, rock walls, rope bridges, climbing ropes and nets, and 140 feet of ADA-accessible ramps. In recognizing the treehouse in its Awards of Excellence, IPRA noted Hafer’s design for creative use of materials and construction techniques, sustainability and ecological sensitivity, inclusive and accessible design, and responsiveness to a specific community need.

Dr. James Porter, president of the Deaconess Health System Physicians Division, was appointed chair-elect of the American Hospital Association’s Committee on Clinical Leadership for a three-year term — he will be Chairman in 2027 and Past Chair in 2028. The committee focuses on advocacy positions, public policy issues, and strategic priorities related to clinical leadership.

Hafer Interior Designers Avery Reiter and Scarlett Riney have earned certification with the National Council for Interior Design Qualification. Human Resources Coordinator Hailey Gwaltney also passed the exam for the Society for Human Resource Management Certified Professional, a premier certification program in the HR industry.

The University of Evansville announced that a $50,000 gift from 1981 alumna Kristin Bailey established the James and Kristin Bailey Endowed Scholarship, celebrating the enduring connection of Bailey and her late husband to UE. The fund will support undergraduate students in the College of Education and Health Sciences.

The University of Southern Indiana won Best of District V award from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) for Solarpalooza: How Totality Changed the Trajectory of USI. The honor recognized USI’s campuswide celebration of the 2024 Great American Eclipse, which brought together thousands of students, alumni, and community members. CASE District V represents higher education institutions in five Midwest states. USI also received a $1 million endowed scholarship from Larry Rutledge to support graduate nursing students enrolled in the family nurse practitioner or acute care nurse practitioner masters of science programs in the Kinney College of Nursing and Health Professions. A new auditorium in the Health Professions Center will be named the Rutledge Auditorium in honor of this gift. Computer science students and faculty from USI’s Romain College of Business participated in the Association for Computing Machinery Super Computing 25 International Supercomputing Conference in St. Louis in November. Students Alyson Collins and Maya Seshan’s research project, “An ML Model for Predicting Medication Non-Adherence Using Large-Scale Mental Health Data,” was selected among the Top 10 posters from among nearly 500 submitted. They were guided by Associate Professor Srishti Srivastava and Josh McWilliams, instructor in Computer Information Systems.

GROWTH/DEVELOPMENT

Local officials celebrated a new housing development with an Oct. 7 ground- breaking at Franklin Street Lofts. Owned by Heritage Petroleum, the project will build 56 apartments into the historic Hercules Plow factory on West Franklin Street. The $13 million development is the first in the region to be funded in part by the Lilly Endowment Initiative managed by the Indiana Economic Development Corporation.

The Papa John’s Foundation made a $2,500 donation to the Green River Kiwanis Foundation, which intends to use the funds to support area nonprofits and community organizations.

Sixth & Zero owner Mary Allen has sold the Main Street sustainable products business to store employee Celeste Ablin. Allen is running for the Indiana Eighth District Congressional seat held by U.S. Rep. Mark Messmer.

The University of Southern Indiana’s Counseling and Psychological Services office has been accredited by the International Accreditation of Counseling Services, which sets benchmark standards for similar operations at colleges and universities worldwide.

ATA has entered the Indiana market through a collaboration with Evansville accounting and advisory firm Vowells & Schaaf LLP, which has adopted the ATA name. Longtime Vowells & Schaaf clients are continuing to work with the same advisers, supported by ATA’s broader resources and expanded service offerings.

Honey Moon Coffee Co. and Bluestocking Social are splitting the former salon and barbershop space adjoining their businesses in the 600 block of Weinbach Avenue near the UE campus. Construction is slated to begin this winter. Zac and Jessica Parsons opened Honey Moon’s original location at this site in 2016, and Matt and Annie Fitzpatrick followed with their independent bookshop in 2020.

Inman’s Picture Framing is moving from 2828 Lincoln Ave. into a studio space in Rare Bird Gifts & Goods’ building at 2605 Lincoln Ave. Inman’s next-door neighbor, Casey’s Dugout pizza shop, intends to expand into the framing store’s former site.

The D-Patrick family of automotive dealerships announced a series of charitable gifts. D-Patrick Nissan donated $1,000 to YWCA Evansville; D-Patrick Evansville Ford presented $2,500 to the Santa Clothes Club; D-Patrick Honda presented $1,500 to the Koch Family Children’s Museum of Evansville and $1,500 to The Hope Gallery; and D-Patrick Boonville Ford gave $1,000 to the Labor Day Association and the Warrick County Chamber of Commerce.

Henderson Chevrolet GMC is going by a new name, Kate Faupel Chevrolet GMC, as Kate Faupel Grealish has taken on management of the dealership from her father, Ron Faupel. She previously purchased the Henderson, Kentucky, Ford dealership in 2023. Both dealerships are under the umbrella of Faupel Automotive, founded by her father.

Love That Piano. Hate That Piano.

By

Todd A. Tucker

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February 9, 2026

bc_052125_toddtuckerportrait_5-WEB — Photo of Todd Tucker by Brodie Curtsinger

On a recent Friday afternoon, my wife, Kristen, and I were going to lunch and asked our younger son, Jackson — home from college on winter break — if he wanted to join us. Of course, he did; he knew he wasn’t buying. I told him to select a restaurant, and he offered, “How about Jaya’s?” That received positive affirmation all the way around; our family has been fans of Jaya’s Authentic Foods for years. Boy, were we surprised to see a note on the door saying it was the iconic, 45-year-old restaurant’s last day. Jaya’s seemed like the place that would be serving up chop chae and hot tea forever, a great spot to convene for business, board meetings, or with friends in one of the oversized booths. Jaya Dodd told Evansville Living in an interview for the January/February 2025 issue that she was considering retirement. On Dec. 31, the doors closed for good. We all know that change is inevitable, but it still saddens me that a local go-to place to relax and enjoy great food has served its last meal.

The Tucker family piano certainly never produced the sound of a Chopin concerto, but it has been sentimental to me all the same. Purchased approximately 58 years ago, it is a Wurlitzer upright that I have had a love-hate relationship with. When you are 10 and your buddies are waiting outside to play ball with you, 45 minutes of practice seems like an eternity.

Of course, as a school teacher, my mother used to time my practices. I do not know if she ever caught onto me constantly and aggressively sneaking into the kitchen to move the timer up. My sister, Tracee, made me look bad — that was not hard to do — by practicing like she was supposed to, without all the complaining and shenanigans. One of the great moments of my life was my mother saying, “OK … you can quit piano lessons.” No argument from me or the piano teacher.

She kept the piano for many years before pawning it off — I mean, graciously gifting it — to Kristen and me. It has resided in our house now for approximately 10 years. No one plays it, and it is impossible to get another photo frame displayed on it. I have spent two years making every inquiry imaginable to schools, churches, friends, etc. The bottom line is that no one wants a piano. I finally came to the realization that it was going to be chopped up and sent to the landfill. But I could not do it. My elder son, Maxwell, and his girlfriend, Meghan, have given the piano a stay of execution, and it will be released to their home in Indianapolis. Now, I wonder who will learn the art of moving a piano?

I love that piano. I hate that piano.

IU Football photo courtesy of Indiana Athletics

I can only hope that my fellow Hoosiers enjoyed this football season as much as — or even more than — I did. I truly believe that Head Coach Curt Cignetti’s very improbable rise to a 16-0 season and national championship win rivals any coaching feat or sports story. When he took the microphone in fall 2023 at Assembly Hall and introduced himself with gusto and bravado, I initially thought it was just that.

In early January, I had the opportunity to take my son, Jackson, to the Peach Bowl in Atlanta, Georgia. The pride of Indiana fans and alumni was incredible. What once seemed improbable became fact, not fiction, with the national championship win over Miami on Jan. 19. Since then, I believe the majority of Hoosiers have had an extra bounce in their step, with their heads held high.

Thank you, Indiana University football, for an absolutely thrilling season. If you didn’t learn a few life lessons along the way, you weren’t paying attention.

EDGE of the Lakes rendering provided by Prince Alexander Architecture

Beginning on page 26, “Rough Edges?” addresses the EDGE of the Lakes development in Boonville — namely why, more than two years after it was first announced, plans haven’t been finalized and construction hasn’t started. Senior Writer John Martin unearthed even more questions regarding the project than I had before — and I had a lot. Calls and emails haven’t been returned, a whole new cast of players is involved, no property has changed hands, and none of the development’s leaders is willing to discuss, really, anything. What will it take to move the needle forward? Is there a needle?

As always, I look forward to hearing from most of you.

Bright Spots in Tough Moments

By

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February 9, 2026

Ascension-St.-Vincent-IMG_4852 — Photo of Evansville Otters Room provided by Ascension St. VIncent Evansville Foundation

Baseballs, dragons, a stuffed lion sporting an Evansville Aces T-shirt — the themed pediatric care rooms at Ascension St. Vincent Evansville’s Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital are decked out to cheer up young patients. “We were looking for a healing and functional environment,” says Sharyn Townsend, Ascension’s manager of pediatrics and the department’s intensive care unit.

Five of 10 rooms have been renovated, with eight fully funded thanks to donations to the health system’s foundation. Discussions started in 2017 to make the rooms more child-friendly, following in the steps of PMCH’s partner facility in Indianapolis. Plans for the sports-themed first room, sponsored by the Ted & Clare Ziemer Society, began in 2022. Donations from the foundation’s 2023 Cornette Ball funded a fairytale room with fairies, knights on horses, and dragons. Hafer developed the donor-chosen themes — PMCH ensures each plan meets clinical standards for patients and staff — and Danco Construction completed updates by August 2024.

Both firms renovated three more rooms by September the following year. “These aren’t sterile, dark, typical hospital environments — they’re kid-friendly environments that meet them on their level and take the anxiety out of the unknown,” Townsend says.

Photo of University of Evansville Room provided by Ascension St. Vincent Evansville Foundation

Patients in the University of Evansville room are transported to its local and United Kingdom campuses. “Spending time in a hospital room is not fun, especially for a small child and for the child’s parents. Decorating a room with pictures of the University of Evansville makes the surroundings feel more familiar and more personal,” says Crescent and Wabash Plastics President and CEO John C. Schroeder, who funded the UE room with his wife, Diane. In the Evansville Otters’ room, team owner Bill Bussing wanted patients to feel like they were spending a day at historic Bosse Field. “What better way to bring joy to children at a traumatic moment of their lives than with a bright, colorful depiction of the third-oldest ballpark in America and the magical game that is played there?” Bussing says. The theme was funded by the Bussing-Koch Foundation.

In the Tools4Teaching room sponsored by the Kinney Family Foundation, patients can seek and find images of pencils, paintbrushes, Lego bricks, and chess pieces on the wall. One patient’s mother was anxious and nervous, and it was a weight lifted off her shoulder when she walked into the room. “She could relax and breathe knowing her child was safe,” Townsend says.

The Designer Becomes the Client

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February 9, 2026

HAFER-164826 — Photo of Hafer office renovations by Zach Straw

For nearly half a century, architects at Hafer have shaped regional structures such as Deaconess Aquatic Center, United Companies Air Center, and Wesselman Woods’ Arwood Family Treehouse. But a recent project turned the firm’s design focus on itself.

Photo by Zach Straw. Hafer Architect and Principal Eric Rang and Associate and Interior Designer Rebecca Brady stand in the architecture firm’s materials library.

Eric Rang, an architect and one of the firm’s principals, described the prior office design as “outdated.” “You walked in, and it was gray carpet, gray panel cubicles that were probably six feet high, and you couldn’t see anywhere,” he says. “We really wanted to open the space up to increase collaboration, create an open area where we could all communicate with each other better.”

The 10,000-square-foot office on the eighth floor of 21 S.E. Third St. also was overcrowded, so Hafer decided in 2023 to expand and renovate the ninth floor, where its engineers relocated. Back on the eighth floor, Hafer surveyed employees and used their responses to develop a new layout, starting from scratch.

“Then, we had another meeting that was just sitting down with everyone and saying, ‘OK, this is our idea.’ … We got great feedback … and since we’ve moved in, no complaints,” says associate and interior designer Rebecca Brady.

Hafer personal workspace photo by Zach Straw

Employees could tour the concept through a virtual reality headset before Key Construction Company, Inc., began work in January 2024. Grays now are balanced with Hafer’s brand colors — deep blue and green hues — as well as warm wood tones. Employees’ workstations feature cabinets for storage and the ability to transition between standing and sitting. “It was something that came up quite a bit in the conversations with the employees,” Brady says.

Large sliding whiteboards encourage collaboration and brainstorming, plus provide hidden storage. Employee feedback inspired the six “hotel rooms” (personal workspaces with more privacy) and small conference rooms called “hubs.” The materials library keeps textiles, tiles, and more in one location — something Brady, as an interior designer, appreciates. “Our work stations were inside our material library, and it was just chaos,” she says. “Being able to create our own material library and design it for ourselves just makes my life so happy.” Rang’s favorite aspect is the “openness and energy of the space … not feeling so compartmentalized,” he says.

Photo of Hafer’s multi-purpose Hangout space by Zach Straw

To wind down, employees grab a coffee in The Hotspot breakroom or play ping-pong, Scrabble, and checkers in the multi-purpose Hangout. Employee ping-pong tournaments “give us a chance to break out and get to know each other,” Brady says.

German American Bank building photo by Zach Straw

Key Construction completed the bulk of the renovations in five months. Through the redesign, Hafer kept its purpose front and center. Wall space is devoted to displaying the firm’s core values: Give It, Check It, Share It, Own It, Challenge It, and Imagine It. Its mission statement — “designing what matters most” — greets everyone, guest or employee, in the lobby. All touchpoints underscore the bright, airy office’s emphasis on creativity and collaboration.

“From the start, we wanted the new office to reflect Hafer’s core values — people-first, creative, and collaborative,” Brady says. “It’s an investment in our team: a space that energizes them, supports different ways of working, and creates more opportunities to connect. Ultimately, the goal was a space that works as hard as our team does.”

Wild Wins

By

Evansville Living staff

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February 9, 2026

AdobeStock_31085689 — Photo of orchids from Adobe Stock

Mesker Park Zoo & Botanic Garden celebrated a banner year in 2025. Not only did the winner of Evansville Living’s Best Family Attraction award welcome a record-setting 229,278 visitors, it also savored success with Wild Summer Lights, an eight-week light installation that sold more than 50,000 tickets. Ahead are more notable numbers from the past year.

700+
Animals among 186-200 species that call the zoo home

40+
Large-scale Chinese lantern displays installed for Wild Summer Lights

2
Approximate pounds of fresh fish the each resident of Penguins of Patagonia eats per day

400
Average number of orchids on display during February’s Orchid Escape exhibit

5,060
Pounds that Bandhu the Greater One-Horned rhinoceros weighs

365
Days a year that Mesker Park Zoo & Botanic Garden is open

Source: Mesker Park Zoo & Botanic Garden

Testing 1, 2, 3…

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February 9, 2026

Tsunami siren system against clear blue sky. Tsunami siren provi — Siren photo from Adobe Stock

Remember those weather siren tests that blared across town each Friday at noon? They are a thing of the past. Through system upgrades a few years ago, “we can individually and electronically quiz each unit and make sure they are ready,” says Cliff Weaver, director of the Evansville-Vanderburgh County Emergency Management Agency.

Vanderburgh County has 41 sirens, including 20 within Evansville, and all are operated using software from Sentry Siren, a warning systems company. Sirens are activated during tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings, and Weaver says they worked perfectly on Dec. 28, when a storm-line touched the county’s north edge and produced five alerts. “We had just replaced the sirens before Christmas and used themfive times the following week,” Weaver says.

Although sirens no longer sound on Fridays, they still are frequently checked — occasionally through systemwide tests that EMA announces on social media — and upgraded, Weaver says: “The local system is constantly being updated.”

Backing Better Outcomes

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February 9, 2026

IMG_4272-WEB2 — Photo of Brittany Wendel and Ebony Winfield-Lee by Chanda Ramsey

Tackling the opioid crisis is a massive undertaking, but local groups are making big strides. After the state of Indiana received approximately $508 million of 2021’s $26 billion federal settlement with opioid manufacturers and pharmaceutical distributors, $3.4 million initially was allocated for Evansville. In three years, city officials have awarded nearly $2.9 million to 23 organizations and nonprofits to combat the devastating effects of opioids.

“Southwest Indiana continues to see rising … substance use challenges, with limited options for individuals who don’t need hospitalization but still need intensive support,” says Katy Adams, President and CEO of Southwestern Behavioral Healthcare Inc., which received $150,000 for a 20-bed, short-term residential facility with 24/7 care for adults experiencing mental health or substance-related crises. It’s anticipated to open in the next 12 months.

Twenty-one recipients in 2024-25 were selected by a mayor-appointed committee. Caleb’s Bridge of Hope plans to use $34,000 for recovery housing scholarships for people leaving inpatient treatment programs for opioid-related addictions. “We anticipate scholarship awards ranging from $600-$800, depending on the sober living housing costs and any required bed deposit fee,” says Caleb’s Bridge co-founder Scott Olsen.

Southwest Indiana Recovery and Empowerment’s focus on training peer recovery coaches began with $250,000 in 2024 funds allocated to the Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office. With an additional $23,100, SWIRE staffs five coaches at VCSO’s detainment center, with a caseload of about 140 people. “Our goal is to build on the foundation already in place so that individuals leaving custody are not released without support, resources, or a clear next step during reentry,” says SWIRE Executive Director Katherine Beyers.

The Mental Health Court, a division of Vanderburgh Superior Court, can manage 50 active cases at one time after using $96,000 awarded in 2024 to bring on board two full-time employees: case manager Brittany Wendel and probation officer and case manager Ebony Winfield-Lee. A joint grant with the Drug Court also allows one case manager to see participants dual-diagnosed with mental and addiction issues. “Our goal is, eventually, we’ll combine both courts, and they’ll be under one umbrella,” Mental Health Court Judge Les Shively says.

Angie Richards Cheek

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February 9, 2026

Angie-Richard-Cheek-185252 — Photo of Angie Richards Cheek by Zach Straw

Education Bachelor of Science in journalism, University of New Mexico (1994)

Hometown Evansville

Resume President, Junior Achievement of Southwestern Indiana (November 2025-present); executive director, Ark Crisis Children’s Center (2011-25); director of development, St. Vincent Early Learning Center (2009-11); morning and midday anchor, WEHT-TV (1998-2009)

Family Husband, Seth; son Lucas Cooley, 25; daughter Livia Cooley, 23

Angie Richards Cheek is helming a different nonprofit agency — but children still are her mission. After more than 10 years guiding the Ark Crisis Children’s Center, which assists children during times of high stress, Cheek joined Junior Achievement of Southwestern Indiana in time to help break ground on its Discovery Center, a 25,000-square-foot East Side facility for hands-on learning. “The opportunity was incredible,” Cheek says of her new role leading JA’s 15-county service area. “This is the right time to join this amazing organization, with the launching of our Discovery Center, a committed board of directors, and great team. It was just the perfect time to have a new challenge in my career at a place that is ready for the next chapter.”

For decades, your work has focused on children. What is one of the toughest challenges you’ve seen facing children today?
Always being connected to a digital world. While there are many positives to having information, entertainment, and communication at your fingertips at any time, it also puts pressure on children to be constantly connected, and may expose kids to influences and information they might not be developmentally prepared to handle.

What is the biggest boost children can get that sets them up for future success?
Having strong relationships. That is where children learn to love and trust, how to develop emotional intelligence, empathy, and healthy communication skills. Those critical skills provide a strong foundation for all future learning and success.

Describe one challenge of running a nonprofit right now.
It all comes down to the relationships that have been built and the relationships you can build from, not only with your staff but with your board of directors, with the constituents, the people who you serve, and the people who make that work possible — the funders. It’s critical to the success of any organization, but it’s also the most important piece to learn and sometimes the hardest piece.

How will the new Discovery Center enhance Junior Achievement’s mission promoting entrepreneurship and work readiness?
Pretty much everything we do is school-based. That’s the standard JA model: bring people in and teach these amazing courses to young people to give them inspiration. But this Discovery Center is going to completely change that. Not only will we be in schools, the culmination of what they’ve learned will end up in the Discovery Center. They will get to take on jobs, they will have budgeting, they will be able to figure out how the world works through simulation. Do I want a brand new car? Do I want a new house? Do I have a dog? Do I have to pay health insurance? How am I going to make all of this work with this job? That helps spark the idea of, what do I really want to do? Is this achievable with the goals you have, or do you need to scale back your goals or dream of something else?

How is that investment expected to pay off?
Educators, students, families, staff, and funders and corporations — the investment they’re making now in the Discovery Center is truly an investment in young people growing and becoming their future employees, their future CEOs. … With the Discovery Center, we will be able to bring in young people from the Owensboro-Henderson region who aren’t in our footprint. They don’t have a Discovery Center, and we want to give everyone we can this opportunity.

A Legacy of Giving

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February 9, 2026

Francis-Joseph-Reitz-2 — Image of F.J. Reitz from Wikimedia Commons

By the volume of buildings named for him, Francis Joseph Reitz clearly left his mark on Evansville. One of 10 children in the prosperous German family, he accumulated wealth on his own and ended up giving away half. Ninety-five years after his death, the impact of his donated millions perseveres.

Reitz got his start in the family’s foundry and lumber business. Later, he was a leading banking executive and grew his fortune through interests in two railroads, a furniture business, utilities, and a telephone company. When he died in 1930, his estate was worth nearly $1.1 million — almost $22 million in today’s dollars.

With several siblings, Reitz gave heavily to the local Little Sisters of the Poor chapter, which served elderly residents from 1882 to 2013. He also funded a new wing at St. Vincent Orphanage, which operated in Vincennes until 1972. But Reitz’s biggest impact was on education. An investment of $25,000 — $591,339 today — helped Moores Hill College relocate from Dearborn County to Vanderburgh; it opened as Evansville College (now the University of Evansville) in 1919. First National Bank, of which he was president, also sponsored the bond issued to build a new West Side school. When it opened in 1918, F.J. Reitz High School was named in his honor.

Reitz’s largest gift was nearly $1 million — topping $16 million today — for a new Catholic high school whose construction he helped oversee. Reitz Memorial High School — also bearing his name — opened in early 1925.

His immediate family’s legacy is on display at his father’s French Second Empire mansion in the Riverside Historic District, which now operates as the Reitz Home Museum.

A Cleaner City Playbook

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February 9, 2026

475277545_122200472930181781_2647213287879499263_n — Photo of Block-by-Block Neighborhood Cleanup Program provided by the office of Evansville Mayor Stephanie Terry

Beautifying a community doesn’t happen in one fell swoop, as discussed in June/July 2025 Evansville Business, but measures passed by city officials strive for long-term positive impacts.

One ordinance passed in July 2025 expands the Building Commission’s authority to collect different types of trash at properties flagged as nuisances. City Council President Ben Trockman says the commission cited limitations before — for example, it could pick up a rubber tire but not a wheel.

Such restrictions were removed, and the council in October upped penalties for the owners of trash-riddled properties, which Trockman says had been unchanged in about 15 years. Flat fines of $100 per unkempt property now can soar as high as $5,000 for the most chronic violators, with exact amounts tied to the tons of hauled-away refuse.

“We felt like with these two ordinances, it gives us the ability to pick up more trash, and if it’s a repeat violator, we have the ability to fine them more appropriately,” Trockman says.

Councilors in November also took aim at what Trockman calls “sign pollution.” As recommended by the Area Plan Commission, councilors reduced the maximum size of electronic message signs in commercial areas from 32 to 18 square feet, and increased the message duration of on- and off-premises signs from three to eight seconds. The same ordinance trimmed the maximum number of all signs. Trockman says councilors used rules in comparable cities as a guide.

Trockman, who represents the First Ward, says all new guidelines seek to move city beautification forward through both trash removal and “setting a better precedent for future developments.”

Honoring The Black Community

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Evansville Living staff

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February 4, 2026

1 Photo by Ariah Leary — Photo of Rev. Adrian M. Brooks Sr., Mayor Stephanie Terry, Sondra Matthews, and George Flowers, Jr., by Ariah Leary

The city’s 2026 Black History Month celebrations launched with a poignant new project honoring local trailblazers. The Evansville-Vanderburgh County Human Relations Commission’s inaugural Downtown Black History Month Banner Project was unveiled Feb. 3 at Innovation Pointe. Community members nominated living and late residents whose leadership, resilience, and service continue to impact the city.

“Black history is Evansville history,” Stephanie Terry, the city’s first Black mayor, said in a statement. “It is important for all of us to acknowledge and celebrate the contributions and impact Black residents have had in shaping our city.”

Of 33 individuals nominated by the community for consideration, 10 were selected:

Willie Effie Thomas, a former NAACP leader and educator considered the “first lady” of Evansville’s civil rights movement. She passed away in 2001.
Estella Moss, the first Black woman elected to county public office in Evansville
Educator Aurelia S. Bradley (1906-2002)
George Flowers Sr., the city’s first Black fire chief
Rev. Adrian M. Brooks Sr., who founded the Memorial Community Development Corporation
Stevenson’s Realty and Insurance Company co-owner Alberta Stevenson, who was the first Black school counselor in the city’s integrated school system. She passed away in 1993.
Jacqueline LaGrone, the first Black woman appointed to city government. She passed away in 2018.
“Our Times” newspaper founder Sondra Matthews, who also helped found the Evansville African American Museum
Business owner and author Dallas Sprinkles, who passed away in 2001.
Boom Squad founder Verdelski Miller

Evansville resident Dennis Haire nominated Bradley, his schoolteacher at the former Columbia Street School. His family frequently moved due to evictions, causing a young Haire to bounce between multiple schools each academic year. Bradley noticed the toll it took on her pupil. One day, “Mrs. Bradley quietly asked me to stay after homeroom so she could talk with me privately. She was very careful to not cause embarrassment to me in front of the other 30 kids. As I cried, she very lovingly and steadily said to me, ‘From now on, Dennis, your address is my address as far as school is involved. I am not going to let you change schools again. Just let me handle this,'” Haire recalls. “I never was sure what she exactly did, but I was able to stay at Columbia until I graduated eighth grade. … Mrs. Bradley did not see color. She saw a young boy who was desperate and needed help.”

Haire also shared a memorable connection with Stevenson, who helped him land a spot in the Upward Bound college-prep program for low-income, first-generation potential college students while he attended Central High School. “She lived and taught during segregation and Jim Crow. She saw Martin Luther King assassinated and countless other discriminatory actions, yet she was standing up for a poor white kid who lived in the projects,” he says. “What Mrs. Stevenson did took courage, as she didn’t know if by accepting me it would knock out a poor white kid in the country or an Evansville city Black kid. I never knew, but I was hoping and praying, that I was just one extra body and there wasn’t anyone affected by my acceptance into Upward Bound.”

In addition to unveiling the new walkway, events are lined up to celebrate Black History Month in Evansville. Moss, the city’s first Black woman elected official, is the subject of a new exhibit, “An Evansville Trailblazer: The Life and Career of Estella Moss,” celebrating the 1976 victory in the race for Vanderburgh County recorder that made her the county’s first Black woman elected official. “An Evansville Trailblazer” runs through Feb. 28 at Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library’s Central Branch. More exhibits on Black history are found Wednesday-Saturday at the Evansville African American Museum, where visitors can enjoy free admission through the month of February. EVPL branches also are hosting family-centric Black History Month activities, including a Guess Who? scavenger hunt and trivia night Feb. 23 at the East and West branches, respectively.

Several resource fairs are planned this Black History Month. Feb. 7, meet Black entrepreneurs, creatives, and service providers, shop their products, and engage their services at the Black Business Showcase at The Helms Hall Wedding & Event Venue. The University of Evansville’s Journey to Justice program also is hosting Hezekiah Williams, mistakenly arrested for being a freedom rider at age 13 — which led to a lifelong fight for civil rights — for a talk at Benjamin Bosse High School Feb. 12. The he Victory Theatre will host “Back To The Roots,” a free concert featuring the Unity Choir under the direction of Kandace Hinton, plus performances by a children’s choir, Byron Lander, and Shawn Humphries.

Rounding out the month’s festivities, New Hope Missionary Baptist Church pastor Ryan Jackson gives the keynote address at the NAACP’s MLK Community Breakfast: The Fierce Urgency Of Now, Feb. 21 at the Greater St. James Missionary Baptist Church. General admission is $40.

Month of Love

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February 4, 2026

WEB_Orchid_Escape — Photo of Orchid Escape provided by Mesker Park Zoo & Botanic Garden

Treat Yo’ Self: A Galentine’s Event
4-7 p.m. Feb. 6, Social Bird Boutique, 2744 Epworth Road
This nod to the “Parks and Recreation” hallmark includes a charm bar and wax melt bar.

Galentine’s Reset
2-4 p.m. Feb. 7, Cold Plunge and Wellness Studio, 8390 High Pointe Drive, Ste. 401, Newburgh
Relax with your friends at this contrast therapy event. Tickets are $49; email [email protected] to secure a spot.

Galentine’s Day Dinner
6 p.m. Feb. 10, Entwined, 303 Main St.
Grab your best gals and dig into four courses featuring brie en croute, tomato bisque, crab cakes, and mini flourless cake bites. Tickets are $75 per person; add $45 for wine pairings.

Bingo for the Parks
5:30-8:30 p.m. Feb. 11, Friedman Park Event Center, 2700 Park Blvd., Newburgh
Warrick Parks Foundation’s bingo series takes a sweet Valentine’s Day theme. Enjoy themed drinks, snacks, and prizes. Tickets are $30 per person or $300 per table of eight. 21+.

Aligned with Love Wellness Weekend
10 a.m.-4 p.m. Feb. 13-14, The Joint Chiropractic, 8403 Bell Oaks Drive, Newburgh
Show yourself some love at this free event offering chiropractic adjustments, stretch demonstrations, chair massages, contrast therapy, hair styling, and fresh snacks.

Candlelight: Coldplay & Imagine Dragons
8:45 p.m. Feb. 13, Trinity United Methodist Church, 216 S.E. Third St.
Treat your Valentine to the Listeso String Quartet performing well-known pop numbers during these multi-sensory musical experiences. Tickets are $39-$42.

Chocolate Charge 5K
9:30 a.m. Feb. 14, Deaconess Sports Park, 4300 Heckel Road
Is chocolate your valentine? Milk chocolate fudge truffles from Sweet Schmitt’s Candy are awaiting participants in this footrace. Registration is $30-$40.

Valentine’s Day Lunch and Dinner
noon-3:30 p.m. and 5-9:30 p.m. Feb. 14, Farmer and Frenchman Winery, 12522 U.S. 41, Robards, Kentucky
Treat your Valentine to an intimate meal. Choose from two seatings of a three-course lunch for $80 (plus $10 for a wine pairing) or three seatings for a five-course dinner for $145 (add $20 for a wine pairing).

Love Is In The Air Vow Renewal
1 p.m Feb. 14, Evansville Regional Airport, 7801 Bussing Drive
Ninety-nine couples can sign up to redeclare their love at this mass vow renewal ceremony. One couple will walk away with an $800 flight voucher to Saint Petersburg, Florida, courtesy of Allegiant Airlines.

The Back Nine Soft Opening
1-4 p.m. Feb. 14, The Back Nine, 6840 Logan Drive, Ste. C
Impress your sweetie with an early look into Evansville’s newest indoor golf simulator business. Officially open starting Feb. 28, the store offers full-swing simulators, private bays, and 24/7 access to those who purchase memberships.

Cupid’s Target Practice
2-4 p.m. Feb. 14, Angel Mounds State Historic Site, 8215 Pollack Ave.
Give Cupid a hand with his aim at this archery event with Bear Archery. Tickets are $8-10 per person or $15 per couple and include bottomless hot cocoa.

Orchid Escape Preview Party
6-9 p.m. Feb. 14, Mesker Park Zoo & Botanic Garden, 1525 Mesker Park Drive
Sample cuisine from South America and warm up in the zoo’s Amazonia section at the launch party for this year’s Orchid Escape. Tickets are $75. Orchid Escape runs Feb. 15-March 14; there is no entry fee apart from zoo admission.

Upper Room Ballroom Valentine’s Dinner
6 p.m. Feb. 14, Comfort by the Cross-Eyed Cricket, 230 Main St.
New Comfort Chef Zach Szabo introduces his culinary vision at this intimate prix fixe dinner featuring oysters, beef carpaccio, Japanese hamachi crudo, Maine lobster cappelletti, braised short rib, and chocolate truffle panna cotta. Reservations are $120 per person.

Dinner And A Show: Dueling Pianos
7-11 p.m. Feb. 14, Bokeh Lounge, 1007 Parrett St.
Enjoy dinner of shrimp cocktail, stuffed pork loin, chicken tortellini, chocolate-covered strawberries, and more with your sweetheart, plus tunes played by Twilight Tunes Dueling Pianos. Dinner is $82.50. Just here for the tunes? Show-only tickets are $20.

Valentine’s Traffic Light Latin Dance Night
9 p.m. Feb. 14-2 a.m. Feb. 15, Six Strings on Franklin, 2131 W. Franklin St.
Slip on a colored attire — green, yellow, or red — to let attendees know if you’re single or taken, then fill your dance card at this 21+ event. Admission is $10 and includes an intro lesson on salsa and bachata.

Taking a Toll

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January 30, 2026

IMG_6036-rotated-WEB — Photo courtesy of I-69 Ohio River Crossing

Steps are being taken in the I-69 Ohio River Crossing project — and they don’t just include the arrival of more concrete beams to support the four-lane bridge’s northside approach.

A bi-state Tolling Body has been established to set tolling rates and policies, in anticipation of the span’s completion in 2031. The tolling commission consists of Indiana Department of Transportation Commissioner Lyndsay Quist, Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Secretary Jim Gray, and other to-be-named representatives. The group is expected to begin its work in the near future.

There are voices against tolls, including a Change.org petition. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear also advocated that the project move forward without tolls, but the state’s General Assembly passed legislation requiring them.

Why will it cost drivers to cross the new bridge? The simplest answer to a complex question is the scarcity of money for transportation projects, says I-69 ORX spokeswoman Mindy Peterson. The bridge’s estimated cost is just shy of $1 billion, and its financing relies on toll revenue as well as federal and state funding from both states.

“There are many needs and limited dollars,” Peterson says. “Alternative funding really does have to be a solution to move projects forward. Tolls are almost a user fee in the purest sense of the word. Commuters are enjoying the benefits of shaving minutes from their trips and getting home a little faster.”

Bi-state travelers in Louisville, Kentucky, pay to cross northbound and southbound Interstate 65 Ohio River bridges, as well as the Lewis and Clark Bridge connecting Prospect, Kentucky, and Utica, Indiana. Peterson says tolls were needed to finance those bridge projects, which cost about $2.3 billion.

The I-69 bridge, championed for decades by political and business leaders on both sides of the river, “is a major transformational project, and it’s not one with a small price tag,” Peterson says. “It’s a critical project, and we have talked about tolling from the very beginning. You need this literal skin in the game from the community.”

As for the future of the U.S. 41 twin bridges (officially known as the Bi-State Vietnam Gold Star Twin Bridges), Peterson says the outlook remains the same: Once the new I-69 crossing is in service, the southbound U.S. 41 bridge will close and the U.S. 41 northbound span will offer two-way traffic.

Peterson says transportation officials are aware of the public’s desire that both U.S. 41 bridges remain in use long-term, and “there is still time for those continuing conversations.” But again, she explains that dollars are an issue.

Keeping both U.S. 41 bridges in use “would have to make sense financially,” Peterson says. “Both have been around a long time (the northbound span dates to 1932, the southbound one to 1965), and maintenance costs are high.”

Beams’ arrival will tie up traffic

Meanwhile, delivery of the last beams for the approach to the new bridge in Evansville is next, but the winter storm of Jan. 24-25 pushed back that timeline; the new delivery dates are Feb. 3-5; Feb. 16-19; and Feb. 23. Because the 32 concrete beams from Decatur, Indiana, range from 134 to 163 feet long, traffic will be impacted when the beams are hauled in.

As beams are delivered, two short-term, rolling closures each lasting 5-10 minutes are expected on U.S. 41 to allow delivery vehicles to safely make the left turn from southbound U.S. 41 to Waterworks Road. Deliveries are anticipated between 1 and 4 p.m.

Message boards along U.S. 41 will remind drivers of these closures. ORX officials say the schedule may be adjusted due to weather conditions and is subject to change.

A City On Pause

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January 26, 2026