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Welcome back to your regularly scheduled NWI Explored, for Monday, January 5th, 2026. After a brief holiday break, we’re back to full form and running on all cylinders, so you can expect everything that you’ve come to know and love from NWIE.
As we move through the new year, we’re going to be trying some new things out as well. New formats for the newsletter, new styles of posts, new content on the Instagram: just trying to see where we can take this project that we’ve grown to really love doing. We appreciate everyone who’s stuck around and continued to check us out each and every Monday and Thursday. Let’s get on with the show.
🧭 On Today’s issue of NWI Explored🧭
The Events you Need to Know About in NWI This Midweek
The Lowdown on NWI News You’ll Want to Hear
What’s In, What’s Out?
A Look at NWI in New Years' Past
Today in NWI
We wanted to start by reflecting on some of the changes that have come to NWI in the past year. 2025 was a year of a lot of shifts and developments in general, but the ways in which our hometowns changed this past year is notable as well. Here’s just a brief list of the restaurants and businesses that we lost in 2025:
Sanfratello’s Pizza in Dyer closed in February. It had been at that location for more than 25 years and was a staple of the area.
Ricochet Tacos, the upscale taco joint that closed it’s Valpo location the year previous, closed their Crown Point location in February 2025. Editors note: the Valpo location was one of my favorite restaurants in NWI. I celebrated my high school graduation there and it had always held a special place in my heart. I miss their crack potatoes like nothing else.
Benchwarmer’s Grille, previous home to some of the best wings in NWI, shuttered it’s doors in June of 2025. It was traditional pub fare, but really had a stranglehold on bar-style wings and burgers.
Steak ‘n’ Shake closed it’s Portage location again! Something about this specific food chain and Portage does not mix, because this was the second location of theirs to close in the town in the past six years.
Northwoods Falls in Schererville, a landmark location and venue in the Region, closed and reopened this year. The new ownership took over in August of 2025 and have since redone the restaurant to more accurately capture the Great North vibe of the spot.
Burgerhaus’ Schererville location shuttered it’s doors suddenly in October. The Valpo location remains open and thriving, but this Schererville spot has since been replaced by Lincoln & Wicker.
Otherwise, NWI looks a lot like it did at the start of 2025. We’ve seen massive developments in certain areas — whether it be surrounding downtown Michigan City, downtown Valpo’s new retail development, or Crown Point’s 109th Ave expansion— but the heart of NWI is still well intact.
The Linc development in Downtown Valpo, as conceived in 2024.
Your Weather Forecast for the week of 1/5/26
After a blustering holiday season —with tons of sleet and harsh winds—we seem to be moving on from that weather for a moment. Looking at the weather for the week, it seems we’re entering a milder section of NWI winter. Find the week’s forecast below.
As it stands, this week is above the average high temperature for this time of year. On average, NWI sees temperatures in the mid to low 30s around the first full week of January, although we’ve had much less snow in years previous up to this point.
Last season to date, NWI had received only 5.4” of snow up to January 3rd, 2024. So far this season, we have seen 19.9” of snow — almost 4x the amount of snow this year compared to last.
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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.
Amid continued discussion about the possibility of the Chicago Bears building a new stadium in NWI, there have been growing concerns and stories surrounding the development.
Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. commented on the Bears building a stadium in NWI on the podcast that he hosts with local attorney Kevin Smith. He was quoted as saying;
“I think the Bears are going to come to Indiana. And if they do come…I hope they pick my city. And I’m going to do everything I can as the mayor of Hammond to make sure that becomes a reality.”
The Bears organization has also proposed a move to Arlington Heights, which would require a huge investment in infrastructure to accommodate visitors to the site. This move would also cost the team quite a bit in property taxes.
A move to Northwest Indiana would mean lower property taxes, proposed tax caps to ensure tax certainty, and bolstered support from the state and local governments of Indiana that the team and it’s organization feel has been lacking in Illinois and Chicago government respectively.
Propositions have been made to build a new Bears stadium over near Wolf Lake - sandwiched between Chicago’s west side and Hammond. The interesting hiccup to this development is that it has renewed popular storytelling about the area surrounding Wolf Lake.
Wolf Lake was, in the era of Prohibition and, later, the golden age of serial killers, a popular body dumping site. It’s remote location lends itself to being a prospect for would-be criminals and thrill-killers of Chicagoland’s past like Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb.
The site was commonly referred to by NWI police as the “Gangland Graveyard” due to all of the dead gangsters that would turn up there. Al Capone famously dumped the bodies of hitmen who were plotting to kill him in a remote section of Wolf Lake.
On a lighter note, Wolf Lake used to be a popular spot for ice harvesting to service the meat packing districts of NWI and Chicagoland. It was also the home to a short-lived amusement park concept called Athey-Hydro Amusement Park, right around 1914.
A one-sheet advertisement for Athey-Hydro Amusement Park, as it appeared in the Lake County Times: May 27, 1914
An archival iimage from the discovery of three bodies along the shore of Wolf Lake, May 9, 1929. This investigation into the murder of three long-time Capone affiliate gangsters would eventually coin the term “Gangland Graveyard” for the area surrounding Wolf Lake. cite
Chesterton Police Officer Ryan Miller has been charged with felony counts of domestic battery and strangulation, shown by filed charging documents and records.
The altercation in question happened on New Year’s Eve, around 9:30pm, with the victim being a pregnant woman whom Miller was affiliated with. Miller was on administrative leave at the time of his arrest, remaining so as these allegations are investigated and addressed by the Metropolitan Board of Police Commissioners.
Gov. Mike Braun signed an executive order on Monday, Dec 30th reestablishing the Indiana Workforce Development Board.
The board was a central coordinating body to align facets of employment —employers, worker education, training, state agencies — around common goals and measurable development outcomes. The new version of this board will feature an unspecified number of local entrepreneurs and business owners across Indiana in order to represent the interests of Indiana’s various communities. The board has been repealed by the state legislature earlier this year and transferred it’s duties to the Department of Workforce Development.
The NWI Times highlighted some of the biggest business stories of 2025 across the Region.
Highlights of the story include:
The various data centers projects we’ve highlighted here previous
The closing of the legendary Hoosier Theater
Massive developments in Michigan City to make it more like it’s sister city, New Buffalo in Michigan.
NIPSCO’s plans to develop a massive natural gas power plant in order to power all of the proposed data centers across NWI.
Huge mansions that have gone up for sale across NWI, including the former home of footwear brand founder Dr. William Scholl (a $3.65 million estate).
Check out more from this story here.
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What’s Going On in NWI?
Every issue of NWI Explored comes with a rundown of the events and happenings that we think you all should know about. As we enter the new year, events might be few and far between, but we will do our best to update you as these events become available. If there’s anything we’ve missed, please send an email to [email protected] to let us know what we should be spotlighting.
Tuesday is Trivia day at White Rhino in Dyer. Find out more about this weekly event at the link here. Wednesday at White Rhino is Bingo night, starting at 6:30pm.
18th Street Brewery has it’s weekly Music Trivia and Karaoke night every Wednesday. Doors open at 4pm, with trivia starting at 6pm. Find out more here. On Thursday nights, they also host a weekly Line Dancing night with host Mizz Coco. Find out more here.
Chesterton Art Center is hosting a drypoint intaglio printmaking workshop on January 9th. Printmaker Lucas Cordes will be hosting the class, which will serve as a hands-on introduction to the style of printmaking. Newcomers are encouraged to attend. They are also hosting a ceramics hands-on workshop with ceramicist Kirsten Serrano on January 10th. The class will guide participants through the process of bringing clay pieces to life through layering, texturizing, slips, and carving. Participants are expected to be advanced beginners or above in terms of skill level, but all levels of familiarity are welcome to attend. Find out more info about the classes and everything the Art Center has going on here.
Carpenter Creek Cellars in Remington will be hosting a Trivia Night on January 14th. Tickets are $10, teams must be at least 4 people, but no more than 6, and the theme of the night is 90s Sitcom Trivia. Find out more here. The winery also hosts wine tastings and tours routinely. These tours feature a 60-minute tour, a charcuterie snack box, and a guided tasting of their handcrafted wine selection. Find out more info here.
January 16th will see the legendary R&B group Jodeci playing the Horseshoe Casino stage. The concert is a part of their tour celebrating the 30th-anniversary of their seminal album “The Show, The After Party, The Hotel”. Tickets can be found here, as well as further info about the show.
A Family Shadow Box Class will be hosted at the Dean & Barbara White Community Center in Merrillville on January 10th. $30 a family will allow you to design a beautiful, family-oriented keepsake with paint and wooden pegs. This is a perfect family activity for these middling, latent winter days.
Hard Rock Casino in Gary will be hosting a Elvis Tribute Spectacular on January 18th. This is an era-by-era tribute concert celebrating the wide-spanning career of the King himself, from the rockabilly days to the Vegas residency twilight. Multiple tribute artists will be in attendance and performing, which will make this the perfect night out for any Elvis diehard.
Hobart Art Theater is hosting Austin, Texas native and country rising star George Birge on January 22nd. Birge began his career in the country duo Waterloo Revival before launching his solo career in 2021. He has collaborated with artists like Nelly, Luke Bryan, Sam Hunt, and even toured with them. Doors are at 6pm and tickets can be found here.
Horseshoe Casino in Hammond will be hosting an iconic slate of 90s artists as they welcome the I Love the 90s Tour to their stage on January 23rd. Artists like Vanilla Ice, Rob Base, Tone Loc, and Young MC will grace the Venue stage to bring the audience back to the days of Coogi sweaters and MTV. Find out more info and grab tickets here.
Martin Lawrence, comedy legend and acting superstar, will be gracing the Hard Rock stage on January 24th on his “Y’all Know What It Is!” tour. This is an all-new stand up set that Lawrence is performing: his first national tour since 2016. Find out more info and grab tickets here.
Porter County Card Expo will be taking place on January 25th, from 9am to 3pm. Over 150 tables of sports, Pokemon, Memorabilia, and Collectibles will be available across the halls of the Porter County Fairgrounds this day. This is a family friendly event and is completely free to attend. Find out more here.
Get Exploring!
That will be all for today’s issue of NWI Explored. Thank you again for everyone who has been sticking with us through the months as we figure out the look and feel of this project. We’re hoping to make 2026 a huge year for NWIE, so we’re very glad there are so many of you here to help us along the way. We will be back in your inbox on Thursday with even more news, events, and NWI history. Be good to one another and Happy New Year!
Happy Exploring,
Eric & Luke
The NWI Explored Team
“My hometown... was always there, at all times, unchanging. What I think... is not that we go back to our hometowns, but that someday our hometowns come back into each of our hearts.”
