Rensselaer again has a bakery, sort of. Main Street Bakery opened a branch in the east end of the bowling alley on Friday. Their first day was a huge success; they started the day with about 6000 donuts and sold out. Their hours are 5:00 am until noon and people were waiting for the doors to open. After closing, at 1:00, they had a ceremonial ribbon cutting.
The Indiana Destination Development Corporation (IDDC) began a series of 13 statewide meetings on Wednesday with their first meeting in Rensselaer at eMbers. For some reason I received an invitation. The IDDC is a new organization and replaces the Indiana Office of Tourism Development. It is quasi-governmental, which means it is partly part of the government and partly not. Its board of directors is appointed by the governor.
Like its predecessor, the IDDC still promotes tourism but it has a mission beyond tourism. It wants to use tourism to promote economic development. Its research indicates that people outside of Indiana have neither a positive or negative impression of Indiana they have little or no impression at all. The IDDC sees this as an opportunity: they can help shape a positive impression. They think that if people visit Indiana, they will most likely enjoy their visit. The presentation emphasized quality of life, a theme that I have heard often from the local development office. If people recognize Indiana as having a high quality of life, it will allow the state to attract talented people and that will grow the state economically.
Indiana is in the top five states for attracting college students from outside the state. It has seven state and 30 private colleges. However, it does not do a good job of keeping those students in the state; they learn in Indiana but then leave for a job. It was mentioned that Google and other tech companies recruit heavily from Purdue. The IDDC wants to get students into the communities so they will appreciate more what Indiana has.
Three initiatives currently underway are two passport programs, one for travel and the other for dining, and a video series in cooperation with Indiana Realtors called Hoosiers by Choice. (Click the links for more information.)
On Thursday evening the Airport Authority Board had a special meeting that was open to the public. I attended via Zoom. Earlier this summer the current Airport Manager announced that he was leaving to take a job at an airport in Kansas. The Board appointed a search committee to find a replacement and they reviewed about 20 applications, conducting interviews with five. They had a recommended candidate for the Board to approve along with terms of the contract. After a lengthy discussion of whether the Airport needed an assistant manager and whether they needed more time to review candidates, the Board accepted the recommendations of its subcommittee with one negative vote. The applicant was never named in the meeting and has until Tuesday evening to accept of decline the offer.
On Friday morning the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution presented William Campbell of Campbell Printing with a special Flag Certificate recognizing his appreciation for and display of the American Flag. The flag on his building was painted by Rein Bontreger of Reinforcements Design.
New walls are rising at McDonalds.
I was surprised a while back to see this sign at McDonalds.
On Thursday the first hoop for the basketball court at Brookside Park was installed.
On Thursday an accident a bit north of Rensselaer on US 231 damaged a utility pole and caused a brief power outage for most or all of Renssleaer. There are better pictures on Facebook.
I thought we missed the invasion of the 17 year locusts earlier this year, but the annual locust season is here and it can be pretty loud at times.
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