Amish Country Blog

I was at First Friday’s in Goshen last Friday and we ate at Durangueneze -113 West Washington Street.  What a wonderful casual restaurant.  I loved the industrial look of this building.  It felt much more contemporary than the other restaurants in Goshen.

The food was delicious.  First, the chips and salsa were great.  I loved their salsa, not spicy but just lot of great favor.  I had tacos and my husband had the chimichangas.  The tacos did not come with anything other than the meat in them, but the plate had lettuce, tomatoes and rice and beans that could be put in the taco.  They were smaller than the big tacos I’m use to, but 3 came on my plate, and it was enough to make me fill full.  I loved them.  My husband’s chimichangas were very lightly fried and tasted great.

I can’t wait to go back and try the Cuban sandwich, and the burritos.  It was a great experience, and we’ll have to go back again.
So if you’re in need of a great Mexican meal in Amish Country, try Durangueneze.

June is National Dairy Month.  I love this month, a reason to eat ice cream and cheese.  Here are a few places in Amish Country to help you celebrate this month.

Guggisberg Deutsch Kase Haus in Middlebury has award winning cheese.

Yoder’s Meat and Cheese in Shipshewana has over 100 different cheese selections.

Olympia Candy Kitchen in Goshen is family friendly soda shop that will be great for malts and milkshakes.

South Side Soda Shop in Goshen has lots of different ice cream treats that will make any ice cream lover happy.

Ramer’s Bed and Breakfast in Goshen is a dairy farm.  Enjoy talking with the Ramer’s about their farm as you stay the night in Amish Country.

Hope you enjoy this month, and let us know where you go for your favorite dairy treats.

Art For The Heart – Haiti – is Goshen’s first, free community-wide benefit event featuring stellar performances of live local music, dance, and a silent auction of original, local and Haitian art. The event is being held at The Goshen Theater April 2nd First Friday – Good Friday – from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Outside the historic downtown theater, hear soulful rhythms as drums beckon you to enjoy a steaming bowl of organic rice and beans for $5. Inside, the silent art auction will be in the lobby of the theater. Bid on a vast array of local and Haitian art and craft items, including: original paintings, fashion and accessories for adults and children, music CDs, fine art and other home decor items, knitwear, and gift certificates for creative services offered within our community. Inside the auditorium, choose your seat and experience Goshen and Elkhart entertainers light up the stage with energetic sounds and powerful images from Haiti. There will be something for people of all ages and musical tastes, including individual folk/rock/alternative singers/songwriters, soul and gospel groups, and live dance performances.

For more info, please call 574-533-3933. All silent auction items will be promoted on Facebook and displayed artfully at the event. Complete information is on Facebook, at Art For The Heart – Haiti.

Please show your support, spread the word, preview the collection of art auction items, and check out the live entertainment lineup on Facebook. 100% of proceeds from this event are committed to relief and aid efforts in Haiti, and to New Life Children’s Home, which serves orphans and is providing wound recovery and physical therapy for child amputees in desperate need of prosthetic services and physical therapy in Haiti.

Let’s come together this April 2nd First Friday (Good Friday) at Art For The Heart – Haiti.

Members of the Maple Leaf Quilt Guild, Heartland Quilters, Artful Quilters, New Paris Puzzler Quilt Guild, Happy Hoosier Homemakers, Zion Extension Club, and Pie Gabba Sew are organized to welcome over 1,000 quilters into Elkhart County on National Quilting Day, Saturday, March 20, 2010 at the Elkhart County 4-H Fairgrounds in Goshen.  Purdue Extension Services Educator, Mary Ann Lienhart-Cross remarks, “The rich heritage of quilting and hospitality make Elkhart County an ideal location to host this 20th anniversary event”.

“The Gathering of Quilters” features a quilt block exchange, a quilt exhibit and show, local demonstrations with product sales, and vendors offering quilt supplies, products, fabrics, notions and kits. Guest speaker, Brenda Papadakis, an expert in applique and Civil War era quilts and designs and the author of the 1996 “Dear Jane” book is the keynote speaker. In her famous book which started the “Dear Jane” quilt craze, Papadakis has lovingly recreated the two hundred twenty-five patterns from the celebrated Jane A. Blakely Stickle 1863 quilt. Brenda will lead a keynote session drawing attendees into the historical context of Jane’s achievement and connecting her to quilting
lives today.

Contact Diana Bennett at 574.642.4194 for information.

Mindy, Amish Country Northern Indiana Contributor and Visitor Center Specialist

Eyedart studio gallery invites art lovers and art haters to see an unorthodox exhibit in downtown Goshen. Regardless of ones interest or indifference to art, the exhibit is worth the visit. “Contemporary American and Italian Artists on Paper”, featuring forty-two works by twenty-one artists from Italy and the United States, offers a rare chance to view art created by internationally-renowned, master-status artists. After an eight-week pause in Goshen, the traveling exhibit will voyage to galleries in Milan and Rome, Italy.

The exhibit is the brainchild of Scott L. Hatt, artist and curator from the Spurious Fugitive in South Bend, Indiana, and David Lester Learn. David spent over fifteen years living and traveling in Italy, cultivating relationships with some of the most respectable artists and galleries in the country. Upon returning to South Bend in 2009, Hatt and Learn began collaborating to bring their American and Italian artist-associates together.

While it may seem that Midwestern and Italian artists could not be more disparate, Hatt and Learn saw more connections than divisions between the two groups. “In the twenty-first century, artists around the world are dealing with the impact of globalization on media, art, and technology,” says Hatt. “The exhibit exploits these similarities.”

As a reflection of common issues with which contemporary artists grapple, Hatt established a few basic rules of symmetry: all of the pieces had to be created on paper, trimmed to the same size, matted and framed uniformly. Not shockingly, each artist’s piece stretches the boundaries of their same-sized frames. Stitches, string, photography, paint, pencil, ink, crayons, cardboard, and wax found their way into the works.

Another commonality within this group is a willingness to collaborate without reservation. “The Italian gallery owners with whom we worked were very generous; choosing artists with major art careers in Europe and the U.S.,” said Hatt. “For example, they invited Nini’ Santoro, who generously created two pieces for the show.” Santoro, whose name is less familiar in Northern Indiana, is well known in art history books and in major art hubs throughout the world. Many museums around the world house his work including the Museum of Modern Art in New York.  “Two other Italian artists with advanced careers are Aldo Bertolini and Marisa Facchinetti, both of whom have a concurrent show at the Italian Cultural Institute of San Francisco, California.”

“On the American side,” continued Hatt, “The show features some heavy-hitters including Fred Stonehouse, Adam Benjamin Fung, and Timothy Vermeulen. Stonehouse, a Milwaukee native, has shown his work all over the globe. The Zolla/Liberman Gallery, in Chicago, represents Fung. With both the Americans and Italians, we’re achieving the Spurious Fugitive’s goal of bringing art to our community that wouldn’t otherwise be shown in Northern Indiana.”

So go to Eyedart and enjoy this great show.  Let us know what you thought of it, and leave us a comment.

Mindy, Amish Country Northern Indiana Contributor and Visitor Center Specialist

Goshen’s 3rd Annual Ice Carving and Chili Competition kicks off the New Year, on January 1 and 2. The popular First Fridays event, Fire and Ice Festival, will give revelers one last holiday fling!

Members of the Michiana Ice Carvers Association (MICA) will carve 700-pound blocks of ice in front of downtown stores on Friday from 5 – 9 p.m. Watch these sculptures take form while you shop downtown businesses offering holiday specials.

The Friday ice sculpture carving is sponsored by area businesses

Then the celebration continues on Saturday, January 2, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.

To keep everyone warm and fed, the Chili Fire Competition will also be going on Saturday. Free tastings are available, but tickets required – only 500 will be available. Pick tickets up at the Fire & Ice Festival Headquarters located in the lobby of the Goshen Theater, 216 South Main Street. Tasters can vote for their favorite soup at the Headquarters. The winner will be announced on West Washington Street on Saturday at 2 p.m.

Chili competition coordinator, Darin Short said competitors in this annual tradition invite everyone to taste their special brand of chili. Participating restaurants:

Constant Spring (219 South Main Street)
El Duranguenze (113 West Washington Street)
Electric Brew (136 South Main Street)
Kelly Jae’s Cafe (133 South Main Street)
Maple City Market (314 South Main Street)
Mattern’s Butcher Shop & Corner Deli (201 South Main Street)
Olympia Candy Kitchen (136 North Main Street)
The Window (233 South Main Street)
Tony’s Famous Grill (103 North Fifth Street)

Ice Sculpture Competition on Washington and Main Streets

Contestants test their skills with elaborate competition pieces. With more time to sculpt, and larger blocks of ice, the artists have time to make truly amazing sculptures. Judges will review award cash prizes to the top three contestants.

Sponsors for the competition piece are:

Best Western Hotel
Bill’s Heating, Inc.
Goshen City Republican Committee
Goshen College
Judd Family Dentistry
Mennonite Mutual Aid
Middlebury Electric, Inc.
Salon J
Spohn Ballroom
Troyer Foods

Whether you go on Friday or Saturday, or you enjoy both days, Goshen’s 3rd Annual Fire and Ice Festival will be a crowd pleasing event.

Mindy, Amish Country Northern Indiana Contributor and Visitor Center Specialist

The ECCVB has long recognized the importance of cultural and heritage travel and developed the Heritage Trail to increase visitor volume, diversity, spending and economic impact for the entire destination. It’s the cornerstone for many programs. The nationally recognized route, along with a self-guiding audio tour, takes visitors into the downtowns of our cities and towns and along country roads introducing them to the area’s history, heritage, and people while directing them to must-see attractions. It’s dynamic; it’s popular; and it’s free. In 2009 alone, we’ve distributed over 3,200 Heritage Trail CDs. Add to that over 3,000 audio downloads from our website. When you consider our average visitor spends $52 per day and stays 2.8 days, then multiply that by an average 2.5 persons per vehicle, the economic impact of heritage travel is significant

-Diana Lawson, FCDME, ECCVB Executive Director

Have you driven the Heritage Trail Audio Driving Tour? Leave a comment and tell us about your experience.

Kercher’s Harvest Festival is coming up on October 10th and 11th.  I’m sure if you go, you’ll have fun.

When I was little, Kercher’s Market use to be on SR 15, and it was one of my first experiences with farm fresh vegetable and fruits.  I can still remember how the place smelled like apples.  They changed a little bit over the years, but it’s still a fun experience.

At the Harvest Fest, you can pick pumpkins and apples.  I love going out to the pumpkin patch and seeing what kinds of pumpkins other people are getting.  Some people wanted the biggest pumpkin they can get, but remember you’re carrying that 15lb pumpkin to the car—without dropping it! It does make decorating for fall enjoyable.

Kercher’s has great food at the Harvest Festival, along with plenty of apple cider. Of course, there are apples, lots and lots of apples.

So go to Kercher’s Harvest Festival and enjoy your day outside, enjoying fall.  If you have any memories of Kercher’s you’d like to share, let me know.  I’d love to hear from you.

-Mindy, Amish Country Northern Indiana Contributor and Visitor Center Specialist

It’s not so surprising to see travel research ranking visiting small towns tops the list of desired vacation activities. Elkhart County is especially blessed with terrific cities and towns with vibrant main streets.

The ECCVB is showing them off in exciting new ways to motivate travelers and keep them interested by launching a series of video clips promoting our cities and towns on our  new YouTube Channel.

Take a look. This is just the beginning!

Let us know what you think of these videos, leave your comment here.

I was at the Elkhart County 4-H Fair this Sunday with my husband Mike, and my two year old Mina. It was wonderful. The first Sunday of the fair is free admission. Sunday after church the grounds are usually packed. My first advice for those going to the fair on this day is come early. We show up around 9am. Of course rides and the commercial buildings don’t open till Noon, but it’s better than waiting 30 minutes to an hour trying to get into the fair after church lets out—and the traffic stays that way for the rest of the day.

First, we ate breakfast at the Elkhart County Noon Exchange building. We ate pancakes and sausage. The pancakes are all you can eat, and with drink it was $5.50, a great deal for breakfast. Then we go and see all the animals. With my two year old, certain animals are easier than other. She loved the ducks and geese, but they were in the same building as the roosters, and the roosters were too loud. Cows were too big, and pigs were too noisy. The bunnies, goats and llamas were OK.

We then went to Young McDonald’s Farm. Here is a donkey, miniature horses, chicks, a huge sow, and turtles. It’s a great area for little ones. By this time it was 11:45am and the rides and commercial buildings were almost open.

We choose instead of doing the commercial buildings to eat an elephant ear. The best elephant ears are at the small red barn by the grandstand. My two year old had cinnamon in her hair and shirt, but her smile was while eating it was worth the mess.

We left at noon. It was great way to spend a morning. As we were leaving the fair, the line into the fair was already a mile and a half backed up on SR 4, and we were very glad we went early.

The Elkhart County 4-H Fair runs this week until Saturday.

I love our fair. Let me know what you like about the Elkhart County 4-H fair, or if you love another 4-H fair, I’d like to hear about it.

-Mindy, Amish Country Northern Indiana Contributor and Visitor Center Travel Specialist