The AroundFortWayne Blog

Visit the AFW Blog Gallery and help select the AFW 2008 Top Photos
 

New Feature - Look in the left column for the ‘Community Events’ heading. This will have the latest posts for selected events in the community. If you would like to have your event featured, please email the details, a paragraph or two about the event and url and I will do my best to post it.

The last Freimann Family Thursday was cancelled on June 26, 2008 due to severe weather in the area.  This also cancelled the Guitar Hero finals scheduled.  Well, good news for all you Guitar Hero players!  They have been rescheduled for July 17, 2008 at 6:00 pm at the McVan’s Location on Maplecrest Road.  Click here for more information including a link to a map to the location.  Good luck to all the contestants!

The June 12, 2008 Photo Set

The schedule and information for the 2008 Three Rivers Festival is now available on their website.  Here’s a list of links, to aid in your quest for information:

The following links are pdf files 

2008 Concert Listings

Alphabetical Listing of Events

Friday - July 11, 2008 Events

Saturday - July 12, 2008 Events

Sunday - July 13, 2008 Events

Monday - July 14, 2008 Events

Tuesday - July 15, 2008 Events

Wednesday - July 16, 2008 Events

Thursday - July 17, 2008 Events

Friday - July 18, 2008 Events

Saturday - July 19, 2008 Events

Sunday - July 20, 2008 Events

Due to the enormous amount of daily events, AFW will not be providing a daily schedule on this blog.  Instead, AFW is planning daily picking the favorite AFW event(s) for the next day and a link to the listing.  In addition, this post will be available during the Festival by clicking on the “2008 TRF” link on the left side of the page under Community Events.  Also, look for daily photos and updates from the Festival.  It should be an exciting and worthy 40th Anniversary celebration!  Congratulations to all the people involved with TRF who work hard to put this event together each year!

AFW Photos: 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007

AFW 2008 Three Rivers Festival page

The City of Fort Wayne now has a YouTube Channel.  From the City’s website:

Mayor’s office launches YouTube channel for City of Fort Wayne
First posting Tom Henry’s address at Harrison Square topping off

Mayor Tom Henry announced today the start of the City of Fort Wayne’s official presence on YouTube.

The first video posted is Mayor Henry addressing the crowd at the Harrison Square topping office ceremony from earlier this week.

“I have no plans to be an Internet celebrity, but I’m looking forward to being able to share information and video directly to Fort Wayne residents and those with ties to Fort Wayne who now live elsewhere,” said Mayor Henry. “This is a new opportunity to communicate information about the City using a different and engaging medium.”

The public information staff plans to upload video from the Mayor’s events, City departments and possibly video from City TV.

The link to the City’s channel, with the user name of FWPublicInformation, is http://www.youtube.com/user/FWPublicInformation.

The City has also posted photos from the Harrison Square topping off ceremony on the City’s website. The pictures are available at http://www.cityoffortwayne.org/index.php/content/view/1676/1690/.

AroundFortWayne Photos

Thanks to Jeff Pruitt, Fort Wayne Politics, for the heads-up.

One of the houses bought by National Oil & Gas out of Bluffton was demolished yesterday.  In fact, the demolition started about the same time as the Topping Out Ceremony for the Ballpark.

Photos from this morning:

Standing in the Ballpark on the Concourse level yesterday, I thought back to what had been there just last year.  There was a strip of commercial entities, residences, a school - but what struck you most about the area was the amount of surface parking lots in the area. 

As with most things, let me best demonstrate my point by using the magic of digital photography to remind us of what the area looked like October 7, 2006 and then on May 21, 2007.  October 7, 2006 is significant only because this was a little over two months before the public announcement of the Harrison Square development.

More AFW Photos:
Lincoln Tower Observation Deck photo sets: October 7, 2006 and May 21, 2007

I’m stealing his title, because I’m too tired to think of any other way to say it.  River City now has Reverse Osmosis filtered water available for $.25 per gallon.  Quite a bit cheaper than the grocery stores and looks like a more neat way to fill up. 

photo courtesy of the Beach Volleyball in Fort Wayne Blog

While you’re there, also read his post titled, The Hostile Human Trash of Fort Wayne.  Hold your ground, Mike!  You’ll survive it!

According to Ben Lanka at the Journal Gazette, the City’s option to purchase the OmniSource property has expired and won’t be renewed.

[...] While the option and the money the city spent are both gone, Urbahns said it wasn’t a waste. Having a purchase option provided the city access to the site and an ability to study its environmental condition. The environmental studies are complete, and Urbahns said nothing surprising was found, but the city has refused to release the reports.

Mayor Tom Henry said both sides moved as quickly as they could to reach a deal, but things happened during negotiations that caused delays – one being the transition from former Mayor Graham Richard to Henry. [...]

Dave MacDonald (the North Fort Wayne River Development Blog) asks why we taxpayers still have not been given access to the environmental testing results from the site.

From the City of Fort Wayne:

Mayor, Council join private-sector partners to top off Harrison Square ballpark
Public signs final steel beam for structure

Mayor Tom Henry joined current and former members of the City Council, the Redevelopment Commission, Hardball Capital, Barry Real Estate, the Fort Wayne Wizards and the public to top off Harrison Square’s ballpark structure today.

The final 20-foot steel beam, with signatures from City leaders, the project’s private-sector partners and the general public, was lifted into place with the traditional ceremony of an American flag and an evergreen tree.

“Today is an achievement in the revitalization of the heart of our city,” said Mayor Henry. “The topping off marks an important point in the construction of the Harrison Square ballpark, just like Harrison Square marks an important point in making downtown Fort Wayne a great place to live, work and play.”

The key private-sector partners, Barry Real Estate and Hardball Capital, also joined in today’s celebration.

“We’re thrilled about the progress of the ballpark,” said Chris Schoen, chief executive officer of Barry Real Estate. “The construction has gone very smoothly, which speaks to the skill and safety of Fort Wayne’s workforce. We are looking forward to being here in Fort Wayne to throw out the first pitch next spring.”

The construction of the ballpark, condominiums and retail space, hotel and parking garage is expected to create nearly 1,000 construction-related jobs.

In the heart of downtown Fort Wayne, Harrison Square is a mixed-use development with private and public funding, comprised of a cutting-edge minor-league ballpark, retail space, condominiums, a full-service Courtyard by Marriott hotel and parking garage. The ballpark is on schedule to be ready for the first pitch for the 2009 season.

The final I-beam was placed on the ballpark structure in the Harrison Square development.  Many local officials as well as a citizens gathered to celebrate this milestone in the Ballpark’s construction.

[Read more →]

Click the above image for the photo set

All that remains to be completed on the exterior is the landscaping at the new Steininger Center on East Berry Street.

According to the website, it will be fully functional in August
Click here for the website.

From the June 28th Journal Gazette:

[...] The Dekko Foundation of Kendallville on Friday announced it was giving $750,000 to the museum, which is trying to raise $7.5 million to expand its facility by 10,000 square feet and add to its collection of American art.

[...]

With the Dekko grant, the museum has garnered nearly $6 million toward its $7.5 million fundraising goal, Shepard [Charles Shepard III, FWMoA Executive Director] said.

The Dekko grant is one of three grants of $750,000 or more the museum has received toward its expansion, Shepard said. The museum received $800,000 from the Clinton Newman Foundation and $775,000 from the English Bonter Mitchell Foundation, he said.

Shepard said the museum’s building committee has reviewed bids for the project and should be ready soon to determine the contractor. He said the bids were mostly at a cost the museum staff expected.

Of the money raised, $5.5 million will be applied to the building expansion and to interior improvements. The remaining $2 million will be used to acquire artwork to augment the museum’s permanent collection. This capital campaign is the museum’s largest since the one that created the building at Main and Lafayette streets in the early ’80s. The building initially cost $4.1 million.

Shepard previously said the $2 million raised for artwork will be used like an endowment, although it will not technically be an endowment. The museum hopes to use this money to give it one of the nation’s premier collections of American art.

More photos from the 2007 July 4th Fireworks

The annual July 4th celebration starts at noon on the IPFW campus.  Local bands will be performing as well as Nashville Country Recording Artists Bomshel & Crossin Dixon.  At 9 PM, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic will take the stage to provide the musical background for the fireworks. 

The above flyer is from the WANE-TV website.
Click here to download a copy

Map only of the event
Click here to download a copy

From the IPFW website:

July 4 — Centennial Wireless Fourth of July Fireworks Spectacular; food and kids’ games at noon; local bands 1 p.m.; Nashville recording artists 5 p.m.; Fort Wayne Philharmonic 9 p.m.; fireworks 10:15 p.m.

July 4 — Alumni Relations Fireworks Spectacular Rooftop Party, parking garage number one, 5 p.m., $5 per carload. For information, call Alumni Relations at 260-481-6807.

KPC News article

Latino Food & Music Festival

July 3rd to July 5th

Location: The Lincoln Financial Pavilion in Headwaters Park

From the 2008 Summer Fun Guide:

Come take part in a celebration of Hispanic culture!  The festival will feature ethnic food, dancing, kids activities, and more!

This is all the information I currently have.  As soon as I am able to find more, I’ll post it here.