Producing Evansville Living magazine affords our team opportunities to join classes, fly in historic planes, tour stunning homes, and meet cool people with incredible stories. It’s hard to whittle down a list of favorites, but here are 15 beloved images from 2025 stories.
Eclectic Rest Stop
This winter feature went inside four very different Airbnbs available to Evansville visitors. One favorite was The Nest, a rustic retreat in the two-story carriage house of a historic home on Sunset Avenue. Renters can enjoy a courtyard (and visitors from neighboring chickens) between The Nest and the main house.
Itty Biddy Ballers
Retired caterer Frank Patton Jr. tipped us off about Biddy Ball, a YMCA of Southwestern Indiana program teaching adorable toddlers the basics of playing basketball. Watching students (including Frank’s grandson, Myles) amble about the court and get the hang of dribbling and shooting left a big smile on our faces.
Flavored with Love
A January/February cover story celebrating the city’s multiculturalism included a spotlight on Korean chef Jaya Dodd, longtime owner of Jaya’s Authentic Food. For 45 years, she helped diners celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, special occasions, and even just a sumptuous meal at her Downtown Evansville restaurant, which she closed on Dec. 31, 2025. We were sad to see it go. Happy retirement, Jaya!
Then and Now
What better way to celebrate Evansville Living’s 25th anniversary than revisit where it all began? This February dusk shot of the riverfront calls back to the magazine’s debut cover image by Fred Reaves in March 2000. The city’s skyline has seen additions and subtractions since then. One new resident? Evansville Living, housed on Riverside Drive since 2019.
Cuteness Overload
These child volunteers were consummate professionals during a spring shoot in, under, and around the Arwood Family Treehouse at Wesselman Woods. Look closely — Helena, the daughter of Senior Account Executive Jessica Hoffman, and Adele and Eva, daughters of photographers Zach and Audra Straw, make cameos in this City View cover image!
Family Abode
The annual Most Beautiful Homes feature usually spotlights 10 residences — but why stop there? In 2025, we featured 11, including this Traditional-style home on Newburgh Road that was, at the time, owned by Bruce and Katrina Stallings. Soon after the May/June issue was published, their son, Connor, and his wife moved from Houston, Texas, and into his childhood home.
Retro-spective
Visiting Bob Hartman’s home feels like opening a time capsule. This photo shoot captured the retired Whirlpool engineer (who turned 100 in September!) among the vintage appliances and pale pink Morton metal cabinets in the kitchen of his East Side home.
Renaissance Woman
Whatever you think you know about Erin Lewis, trust us — more surprises await. Public service, civics advocacy, and ballroom dance all have spots on her calendar, and she shimmied in one of her competition outfits at this spring shoot at SWIRCA & More’s dance studio.
Baked in Nostalgia
We were starry eyed visiting Amanda Benson’s Pyrex-filled kitchen. This image shot by summer photography fellow Brodie Curtsinger shows Benson’s clear love of vintage decor, but she also savors the dash of happiness it brings. “How can you not be happy in a home where you’re surrounded by smiles?” she says.
The Farm Life
“Learn as you go,” Nikki Reed told us during this summer shoot at her West Side homestead. Not content to just dream about a slower-paced life, she and husband Bob moved their family outside of town, began gardening, and surrounded themselves with five rescue dogs, one rescue cat, a dozen-plus chickens, three donkeys, six goats, and a one-eyed calf named Juney.
One-on-One with Vulcan
Kaman Hillenburg demonstrates how she uses a paintbrush to carefully clean a 9-foot, 6-inch figure of the Roman god Vulcan at the Evansville Museum of Arts, History & Science. The museum’s collections manager says she likes ribbing visiting children: “I’m the one who gets to touch everything that we say they can’t!” she laughs.
Wisteria Lane
Sisters Lauren and Emma Comer starred in this September/October cover shoot at Wild Summer Lights, an interactive exhibit at Mesker Park Zoo & Botanic Garden. Zoo officials say 50,000 tickets were sold for the one-mile display of glowing Chinese lanterns, which editors named Best Family Attraction in 2025’s Best of Evansville awards.
Dining In Style
Fans of riverfront dining in Newburgh, Indiana, have marveled over the exterior renovations — including additional tiered seating, floral accents, and expanded views — at Marida Mediterranean Restaurant. Visitors can fill up on its wide menu of Turkish and Kurdish cuisine while enjoying sunsets over the Ohio River.
Bowl of Goodness
We were more than ready to embrace cozy season when chef Donnie Mays served pots of classic and white chicken chili in October. The best part? He shared his recipes so readers can whip up their own batch!
Concert Master
We ended the year with a tip of the baton at Evansville Philharmonic Music Director Roger Kalia, photographed in his concert best at the Victory Theatre ahead of EP’s annual Peppermint Pops holiday spectacular.
