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Welcome back, Explorers! This is your regularly scheduled NWI Explored: Thursday Edition. Hope your Indiana December is going as well as it possibly could, weather notwithstanding. We’re gonna have a pretty straightforward collection of stories today for you, so let’s get right into it.
🧭 On Today’s issue of NWI Explored🧭
The Lowdown on the NWI News You Need to Know About
Every Event in NWI This Weekend You’ll Want to Hit Up
The Latest from the NWI Explored Instagram
A Spotlight on One of Our Favorite Restaurants
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Today in NWI
NWI Explorers, let’s remember a few things as we enter the holiday season:
Shop Small and Shop Local
Be Good to One Another
Drive Slow When There’s Snow on the Ground
And finally, Happy Holidays!
Here’s your weather forecast for the weekend of 12/12
Today in NWI History
On the corner of S Main St and Hack Ct, around the historic downtown of Crown Point, there used to be a hotel that stood tall in the heyday the early 20th century. It stood as one of many beautiful, turn of the century style buildings that populated the historic town square, but only a few of those buildings still stand. Below, see how the spot looked in it’s original spot and then in it’s colorized glory: restored to try and bring it to the future. And then, take a look at how that spot has looked in years since. It’s a beautiful reminder of how the towns we all live in have had lives well before we all came along, and especially how they grow and change long after we’re all gone.
The Commercial Hotel in Crown Point, circa 1900
That same corner, circa 2013
The Corner of Main St and Hack Ct, as of 2024
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🏘The Lowdown 🏘
Every issue of NWI Explored comes with The Lowdown: a roundup of the most important news and happenings around the Region.
The St. Joseph Carmelite Home, a historic nonprofit based in East Chicago, has a new owner, a refreshed base of operations, and a newly retuned focus.
Located on 4840 Grasseli Ave in East Chicago, the nonprofit initially started 112 years ago as an orphanage, morphing through different permutations (like an emergency shelter) until it was sold last year by the Carmelite Sisters of the Divine Heart of Jesus. Damar Services, who had worked with the original version of the St. Joseph Home previously, took over in 2024. Based in Indianapolis, the nonprofit organization has invested over $1.5 million into renovations and retooling the organization to renew it’s focus on the community. The renovations have been completed and new owner, Executive Director Janelle Richards, promises to serve children and families in crisis to the same degree and with the same care that the Home has done for over a century. Learn more about what the St. Joseph Carmelite Home does at this link.
As detailed in a previous NWIE issue, Valparaiso City Council has OK’d a zoning change for the re-development of the Banta Senior Center into a condo project.
The ruling came on Monday and will turn the over 14,000 sq. foot senior center into a condominium complex with seven units. Local developers have said that the condos will most likely be restricted to residents over the age of 58 years. The next project on the docket for Valpo City Council is to retool it’s senior programming in the former McGill factory building, totaling 225,000 square feet, for a multi-purpose recreation center aimed for the whole city.
The South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority has plans to enshrine Deniece Williams, Grammy Award winning artist, and aviation innovator Nick Popovich into the South Shore Legends hall of fame.
The honors ceremony will be taking place 5 pm on Thursday, December 11th, at the Indiana Welcome Center in Hammond. The two Region legends join The Jackson 5, Orville Redenbacher, Octave Chanute, and Jean Shepard in this local hall of fame.
Four Hobart residents have filed a suit against the city of Hobart to try and block the development of a giant Amazon data center that would take up an entire square mile of farmland in city limits.
The lawsuit was filed in Lake County Superior County this week in the wake of Hobart City Council pushing through the development of the data center against the wishes of Hobart residents. Hobart has a tentative agreement with Amazon Web Services to build this data center campus, which would house multiple warehouse-sized buildings full of computer servers. The main focus of these data center developments across the country is to help in the further development of AI technology, but locals have cited vast concerns about the environmental impact, lack of economic impact, and damage to local property values as reasons to not go through with these developments. The citizens of Hobart are just one community of many in the US currently fighting against the profound construction of these monolithic data centers.
The Indiana Senate is planning to vote on Thursday on what will be one of the most consequential and controversial proposals in recent years: House Bill 1032, aka the redistricting proposal that will retool all nine Indiana districts to be explicitly in favor of Republican candidates.
The outcome of this vote, as of writing, is incredibly uncertain. Despite outcries from the general public against this proposal, the Indiana Republicans have pushed through the redistricting plan in order to give themselves a leg up in future elections and take over the remaining Democratic Senate seats — currently occupied by Congressman Frank J. Mrvan, D-Highland, and U.S. Rep André Carson, D-Indianapolis. Even though Republican representatives have said they simply don’t have the votes in the Senate to pass such a proposal, pressure from Governor Mike Braun and, especially, President Trump has forced the hand of the party in making this proposal happen, hell or high water. If it’s approved, it will go to the Governor’s desk to be signed into law, effectively changing the entire Congressional structure of the state for years to come. See below how the changes to our districts will affect NWI locals.
Left, the current district map of Indiana. Right, the proposed changes by Indiana Republicans
The City of LaPorte and River Forest Community School Corp. have been approved for federal funds to improve public safety in their communities.
LaPorte will be receiving $500,000 from the federal COPS Hiring Program in order to aid in hiring more police force, while River Forest is receiving $343,068 from School Violence Prevention Program to fund school security programs and technology across it’s four schools.
Duneland School Corp Board has approved raises for the district’s admin and employees, coming just a month after raises were approved for the teachers within the district.
Under the new provision, administrators and classified employees will be receiving a raise of $3500 for principals and vice principals and a raise of 3% for classified employees who are full time. Part-time employees will be eligible for a $0.50 cent, or 2.8% raise, next year as well.
In other data center related news, the St, Joseph County Council has rejected a proposal to build a $12 billion data center project near the town of New Carlisle.
The proposed construction was meant to take place near the site of an $11 billion AWS data center currently being built by the LaPorte County line, with other tech bigwigs looking to develop in the surrounding areas as well. The council voted 7-2, denying the rezoning petition that would be necessary for development to take place on the 1,000 acres outside of New Carlisle initially spotted for the data center. More than 10 hours of testimony was recorded, with concerned citizens clamoring for the county council to reject the proposal outright.
What’s Going On in NWI?
Every Thursday, we give you the best events and spots to check out during the weekend.
Burn ‘Em Brewing in Michigan City (1215 E. 2nd St) will be holding a Holiday Workshop Hop on December 11th, from 6-8pm. Participants will make three different holiday themed items and be able to take them home with them.
Rosati’s Pizza in Crown Point is holding their weekly Trivia Night on Thursday at 7pm.
Jim St. James will be at Zorn Brew Works in Michigan City (605 E. 9th St) on Thursday at 7:30pm. He plays there weekly and it’s always a show worth showing up for.
Aaron Lewis and the Stateliners will be performing at the Hard Rock Casino in Gary (5400 W. 29th Ave) on Friday, Dec 12th, 7pm showtime Lewis is the former frontman of post-grunge band Staind, but has retooled his career as a country star.
Barker Mansion in Michigan City will be having a variety of Christmas events this weekend. See each of them below
Christmas Candlelight Tour: Dec 12th, 6-8pm
Breakfast with Mrs. Claus and the Elves: Dec 13th, 10-11am
Visit with Santa: Dec 14th, 10am
Below, you can find all of the events happening at the Hobart Art Theater this weekend
Creedence Clearwater Revival Tribute Concert: Dec 12th, 7:30pm Showtime
Trans-Siberian Orchestra Tribute: Christmas Wizards!: Dec 14th, 5:30pm showtime
Fair Oaks Farms is holding a special experience for families. Go out to the farm to take a ride in the sleigh, meet Santa’s brother Farmer John Kringle, and listen to Christmas Stories from Farmer Kringle. Dairy Tales with Farmer Kringle is a special Holiday experience courtesy of Fair Oaks Farms
Dec 12th, 5-6pm: 856 N. 600 E, Fair Oaks
Deep River Waterpark, alongside it’s nightly ice skating experience, will be hosting two different trivia nights this weekend. Find more information below.
Hollywood Pop Culture Trivia Night: Dec 12th, 5-7pm
Adam Sandler Trivia Night: Dec 14th, 5-7pm
Manic Meadery in Crown Point (1003 E Summit St Suite 3) will be holding a Paint & Drink night on Dec. 12th at 6pm.
The City of St. John will be holding it’s annual Christmas parade on the evening of December 12th. The parade will go from the west end of US 41, near Lake Central High School and end at The Shrine of Christ’s Passion, with kickoff happening at 7pm.
Tavern on the Lake (200 Main St, Hobart) is holding a Christmas Pajama Party on December 12th, starting at 8pm.
Chicago Street Theatre in Valpo (154 W. Chicago St) is still putting on weekly weekend performances of A Charlie Brown Christmas. It’s fun for the whole family and there are a ton of performances, so you have more than enough chances to make your way out.
The Memorial Opera House in Valpo is putting on weekly weekend performances of Charlie and The Chocolate Factory. Featuring an original score and all of the songs from the movie that you love, this show is sure to be fun for the whole family.
Hunt & Gather Market will be taking place this weekend (Dec 12 & 13) at the Lake County Fairgrounds in Crown Point (889 S. Court St), from 4-10pm Friday, 10am-4pm Saturday. This is a quarterly pop-up market featuring over 150 vendors, live music, full bar, and a whole bunch of food.
Arts Alive Pop Up Market will be taking place on Saturday, Dec 13th from 9am to 3pm. The Market is located at Studio 659 in Whiting, 1413 119th St.
Bombers BBQ in Crown Point (35 W. 112th Ave) will be hosting a Christmas Trivia Night and Ugly Sweater Contest, December 13th from 6pm. Great barbeque, great drinks, and fun abound to be had are all guaranteed here.
Tavern on the Lake (200 Main St., Hobart) will be hosting a Christmas Breakfast with Santa on December 13th, from 9:30am to 11:30am. There will be a festive buffet, a letter to Santa writing party, and plenty of pictures with the big man in red.
The Lake County Courthouse in Crown Point will be holding Breakfast with Santa Saturday, December 13th, from 10am to Noon. Pictures, a festive Christmas buffet, and plenty of Holiday fun will be had in the Maki Ballroom on the 2nd Floor.
The Fireside Frostival will be taking place this Saturday, December 13th in Main Square Park (3333 Ridge Rd.) in Highland. There will be more than enough festive family fun to go around - with fire pits, holiday lights displays, food and drinks, face painting, photo ops, games, and tons more.
Center for Visual and Performing Arts in Munster (1040 Ridge Rd.) will be holding a Holiday Air Clay Ornament Workshop on Saturday, December 13th, from 10am to 1pm. Participants of all ages are encouraged.
Kris Dabu & The Troublemakers, a powerhouse 4-piece band with grooves, high-energy, and powerful musicianship, will be taking over Zorn Brew Works (605 E 9th St, Michigan City) on December 13th at 7:30pm. This show is sure to be a fun, feel-good time, so grab a brew and get your groove on.
Burn ‘Em Brewing in Michigan City (1215 E. 2nd St) will be holding their second annual Merry and Morbid Dark Holiday Market this Saturday, Dec 13th from 2-8pm. 30 unique artists and vendors will be at the event, hosted by Rogue Syndicate, and it is sure to be a uniquely spooky Holiday excursion.
Sharing Meadows in LaPorte (6357 North 300 E) will be holding their third annual Christmas Bazaar this Saturday, December 13th, from 9am to 2pm. Handcrafted items, specialty desserts, and one-of-a-kind gifts will make this event one you don’t want to miss.
Tiny’s Coffee Bar in Gary (555 S Lake St) is hosting a Holiday themed edition of their special Verses & Vibes poetry and storytelling night. Share, listen, and experience stories, poems and dramatic readings from local artists, all with holiday drinks and themes.
The Santa Trains at Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum (507 Mulberry St, North Judson) are still chugging along, weekly on Saturdays. Take a leisurely journey through the wintery landscape, visit with Santa, and receive a special holiday gift from the man in red himself. Fun for the whole family is guaranteed aboard the Santa Train.
Lighthouse Restaurant (7501 Constitution Ave, Cedar Lake) is hosting a Holiday lunch with Santa this Sunday, Dec 14th from Noon to 3pm. Hot cocoa, holiday vibes, and a special visit from Santa is sure to make this a special family experience.
Bon Vie in Hobart (54 Main St.) is holding a Holiday Brunch on Sunday, December 14th, from 11am to 3pm. The brunch will be attending by two special guests from the North Pole as well.
Bedarra Bar in Crown Point (419 N. Grant St.) is hosting an Ugly Christmas Sweater Brunch on Sunday, December 14th, from 10:30am to 3:30pm. Wear your best ugly Christmas sweater, grab some food, and the first 50 entries will get a free Holiday themed Bedarra T-shirt.
Shop local produce, artisanal baked good, and handmade goods at the Miller Beach Winter Farmers Market (540 South Lake St., Gary). The market will run from Noon to 2pm at the Marshall J Gardner Center for the Arts.
That’s all for us from the NWIE team for this Thursday issue of the newsletter. We hope you all have a fantastic weekend and celebrate the beautiful NWI holiday season in all the multitude of ways we know you can. Be good to one another and we will catch you on Monday for your regularly scheduled Explorer’s Guide.
Happy Exploring,
Eric & Luke
The NWI Explored Team
I used to dream about escaping my ordinary life, but my life was never ordinary. I had simply failed to notice how extraordinary it was. Likewise, I never imagined that home might be something I would miss.
-Ransom Riggs
