>> Production support for "Journey Indiana" is provided by Columbus Visitors Center, celebrate everywhere art and unexpected architecture in Columbus, Indiana.

Tickets for guided tours and trip planning information at Columbus.in.us.

And by WTIU members.

Thank you!

>> BRANDON: Coming up, head to Hillsboro for dinner and a show.

Visit Ripley County to learn all about the Milan Miracle of 1954.

Travel to Twelve Mile to see America's oldest lawn mower race.

And grab a pint with the sisters at St. Benedict's Brew Works in Ferdinand.

That's all on this episode of "Journey Indiana."

♪ Welcome to "Journey Indiana."

I'm Brandon Wentz, and we're coming to you from the WTIU Studios in Bloomington.

On this episode, we're featuring some of our favorite small town stories from around the state.

And we're starting things off in the tiny town of Hillsboro, with something near and dear to my heart, musical theater.

Producer John Timm has the story behind the Myers Dinner Theatre.

♪ >> Myers Dinner Theatre is as mom and pop a company as you could possibly imagine.

That's of the one things that drew me to it.

[ Playing kazoo ] >> This is my fourth season.

So I have done three full seasons, and I'm midway through my fourth.

All right.

Straight ahead, folks.

This is our 25th anniversary, actually, this season.

So it's a pretty big year for us.

We have a lot of different things planned throughout the season to celebrate that 25 years.

>> The queen of your dreams.

>> That's the prom queen.

>> When you pulled up here, it's like driving up to a sound stage, Hillsboro.

It's literally like stepping on to a Hollywood lot, you know, with the little storefronts and the way the Town Hall is right across the street from the dinner theater, and the hardware store is right next to it.

>> To be honest, I was really shocked the first time I came here, because I just drove into town, you know, from New York City.

I had no idea what to expect.

And so just seeing that it was this sweet, small town with a lot of history, I was excited to have some time to just live the country life, I guess.

♪ >> I get to just drive around and see the beautiful corn growing, fireflies.

I had never seen those before.

It was just a really fun experience.

>> A typical visit to Myers Dinner Theatre, when you walk through the door, you walk right into our general store.

It has a bunch of different products for sale, kind of a miscellaneous bag of jewelry and antiques.

And then you will come right through, and I'm the one standing at the podium.

I'm the one that seats people when they come here.

Real intimate 145-seat house.

We try to adhere the menus as much as possible to the style of show that it is.

♪ Mr. Lee, Mr. Lee, Mr. Lee ♪ >> The initial part of the meal, the salad portion of the meal, is family style.

So they bring that out to the table, and we have broccoli salad that is a dish that we are known for.

And then once you've had a couple of minutes to eat that, you know, they get those plates out of your way, and then you come through the buffet.

They dismiss you table by table.

And then at the intermission, we have gourmet desserts that we offer.

>> What are you doing?

>> We do six musicals and three plays in a year.

♪ We wanna be hugged and cuddled ♪ >> Our clientele loves golden age of Broadway.

So you are going to see a lot of Rodgers and Hammerstein on our stage or things of that nature.

I have some local auditions here in January, because I like to incorporate people from the community as well.

I want it to be a mixed bag of people that do this for their career, and also people from the community that, you know, want to do it and have that talent, but they just can't give up that paycheck.

>> Go chipmunks!

>> Here at Myers Dinner Theatre, I have been in three shows.

I was Amalia in "She Loves Me," and then I was Ariel in "The Little Mermaid" and now I'm playing Missy in "The Marvelous Wonderettes."

♪ ♪ Bom, bom, bom, bom ♪ ♪ Bom, bom, bom, bom ♪ ♪ Bom, bom, bom, bom ♪ ♪ Mr. Sandman ♪ >> She's kind of the class president, head of the prom committee, a little bit uptight in the first act.

You know, she wants everything to go her way, all according to plan.

She keeps the other girls in line.

So she's a lot of fun.

[ Laughing ] >> This is the second time I have worked on this show.

It's a four-person ensemble.

It's four women.

It is all of the classic '50s and '60s hits.

So like "Leader of the Pack," "Mr. Sandman," "Lollipop," sung with tight four-part harmony.

So it's a ton of music.

It's all very exciting, and these ladies are absolutely phenomenal.

♪ Stupid Cupid stuck a pin on me ♪ >> I love getting to come back here where we're a family.

The other actors are always really kind as well.

It kind of filters in from the top here.

>> Everything we do around here, whether it's the general store, whether it's the food that we make, whether it's the box office, our devotion is to the customer, and making sure that they have a fantastic time.

That catch phrase that Donna came up with for the place, "Come as a guest and leave as family," we mean that.

♪ >> BRANDON: And if you have a chance to go to the Myers Dinner Theatre, or really any small theater near your town, I highly recommend it.

I have worked at a number of places like that all around Indiana, and you really do feel like part of the family.

You can get more info, along with a look at their 2022 lineup at Myersdt.com.

Up next, we are headed east to learn all about the Milan Miracle of 1954, and visit the museum that celebrates it.

♪ >> Typical small town.

>> A lot like it is right now, except it is slightly larger.

High school, 12 grades were in one building.

Our class, for example, was 30 people.

In 1953, we had a new coach, and several players were back from the year before, but we were kind of a typical dangerous Milan team, which means we probably won the county tournament, and that was a big thing to do in those days.

>> A three-point lead for Muncie here with seven minutes left in the ball game.

The center goes down.

Leaves out there White.

White, Hall, and he feeds off to Craft.

Craft out.

>> We had a huddle with 13 or 15 seconds, or something like that.

And Mr. Wood says, we'll all move over and let -- get the ball to Bob and let him take him one on one.

And I said, why don't we just go over and stand on the opposite side of the floor?

He said, good idea, and that's what we did.

And that's what we did.

And he hit the shot, and that was the game.

>> Dribbling.

6 seconds.

Circle, scores!

Milan wins!

Milan wins 32-30!

♪ >> At the end of the 20th century, our basketball game was considered the number one athletic story for the century.

So it struck home with a lot of people in Indiana, because basketball is pretty much the sport -- at one time, it was the sport.

>> For these guys to go in '53 to the state finals was just miraculous, but then to go back in '54, we certainly were very, very proud.

But to say let's collect memorabilia, and let's bring outside people into the community, that just never -- as far as I know, no one ever stepped forward to say, let's -- let's do something about this.

♪ We had a lady move in to Milan.

She married a Milan fellah.

Moved here from Iowa.

And she always asked did -- does the town do anything about that game from '54?

And the answer was, no.

It was just, you know, the basketball.

We won the state, but it was a basketball game.

She said, well, I think we need to do something.

So she started collecting items, and asked each of the players if they wouldn't donate some of their personal items from the '54 era.

>> We received jackets after our junior year.

That was never done.

And I know why it was done.

After going to the state finals, I'm sure the powers that be figured we'd never have that happen again.

So we'll give those guys jackets.

Well, we got jackets next year also.

♪ >> We got a grant to buy the old bank in town, which is where we are presently.

There's just so many Milan things, pictures of teams in the past.

>> We passed cars parked six or seven miles out of town.

Parked, and people were walking into town.

>> Tickets.

Oh, golly!

And pamphlets and pictures.

>> The crowd was here, and we didn't know, but that's the way they did every state champion.

>> We have an array of newspaper articles at that time that you could spend all day just reading those.

>> All right, listen up!

Listen up.

>> Richard Hospital in Indianapolis called us and said, we're cleaning out our upstairs.

We have several things from the movie.

Do you guys want that stuff?

And we said, we certainly do!

We have the hospital bed where Shooter is jumping on, and all the apparatus that goes along with that particular scene.

They brought that to us.

We have a script from the movie.

♪ One thing that I always thought the team gave back to the town was the fact that they all got scholarships.

>> And then when we won, there were opportunities offered to us to go to colleges, and at a lower price.

And so almost all of us went to college.

>> But that thought of going to college trickled down through the community, and that was suddenly another option for young people.

It's just great when people come here and they -- they are usually amazed that we have so many things.

And I have to say, it's -- it's a good thing for our community, and it brings people in to the community, and they are very pleased when they leave.

♪ >> BRANDON: As we travel around Indiana, it's always exciting to see some of the places that celebrate some of our favorite movies like "League of Their Own" and "Hoosiers."

Want to plan your own visit?

You can get all the info at Milan54.org.

>>> Up next, we are headed to a tiny town in Cass County for a look at some mowers that can move.

Producer Jason Pear has the story of the Twelve Mile 500.

>> Good afternoon, and welcome to Twelve Mile, Indiana, for the 59th running of the Twelve Mile 500.

We are excited that you are here.

>> It's a lawn mower race that originally started in '63.

It started uptown around the old high school.

It was pretty slow the first year, as they were just lawn mowers.

But the second year, the speeds increased dramatically.

They doubled in speed to 14 miles an hour.

And then, obviously, we have gotten to where we are today, where they're fairly sophisticated machines.

Some of them.

Most of these mowers are handmade.

Guys like myself, we look at 'em, usually after we go to the 500 in Indy, you get that bug and you get 'em out and you start messing around with 'em.

>> A lot of hillbilly engineering went into these machines.

A lot of nights with the welder, the torch, making things just right.

Even if not just right, good enough for Twelve Mile.

>> Originally, they had the decks still on them, and then they decided to drop the decks a very long time ago.

The Briggs class is more of your standard, looks like a lawn mower-type of thing.

And the modified class, they are running three-wheeler engines.

They are running motorcycle engines.

They are running whatever they can find to get in there to set between their legs.

♪ Our group is mostly local guys.

>> A lot of my brothers got in it before me, and friends of the family, like Cannonball Robins and Dean Owens.

Several guys, they let us play around with their mowers when we was kids, ride 'em before the race and stuff, out at the farm.

So that's pretty much how we got in it.

>> At one point, I think there were six or seven of us, that were all running together at once.

Me and my cousin, Booth, who is over there, we started when we were, like, 12.

We've had cousins, uncles, dads, everybody, doing it at once.

So, yeah, it is a lot about competing with family.

That probably takes over more.

But, yeah, there are a lot of other good guys that we race with, and pretty much every single one of them is a good guy to race with.

Yeah, it's a fun time.

[ Engine starts ] >> 59th running of the Twelve Mile 500 just a few minutes away.

It's going to start things off with the Briggs class, then move into the modified class.

It should be a whole bunch of fun throughout the rest of the day.

>> It's 60 laps.

This is more of an endurance race.

Most of the dirt track events are short and fast.

This race is more of an endurance race.

You have to make three pit stops.

You have to come to a complete stop.

And then there's the added bonus of a speed limit that we have because, as you can see, there's concrete walls around here, and it's a very tight racing surface.

>> So you can come up on guys and worry them a little, and push 'em a little faster, push 'em a little faster, a little faster.

Next thing you know, they're going through the penalty box, but they can do that to you too.

So you can't be rattled.

>> The speed limit is more just to keep everybody so that they can go to work on Monday.

Because when we qualify, some of these mowers, they average 30 miles an hour for the whole lap.

The little league field is an added feature to it.

So, you know, there's not many racetracks that go around -- literally around a baseball field.

We run right down the third base foul line and the first base foul line, and then make the curve around home plate and back out.

>> A lot of people have problems at home plate.

There's usually a couple spills there every year.

But other than that, it's a really fun track to run on.

It's nice and fast.

♪ >> For those that don't understand racing, it probably is not going to teach you anything about racing, because it's not just put your foot down and go fast.

It's a little bit more of a game.

♪ >> It's just -- a lot of it is luck.

Somebody else's bad luck, your good luck, having a good mower that will last the race that you can count on, and know it's not going to go down on you.

No matter what you do to it, it will take it.

>> You got to play the game.

You can't stand out.

You just want to kind of keep it underneath the radar.

Run a clean race, and usually if you run a clean race, you are in the top.

>> You have to kind of know where you are at, where they are at, in the whole scheme of things.

Not worry about anything until about the last ten laps, then start figuring who is in the lead and where you are at.

And then start figuring out who you've got to run down or if you have got to run from them.

♪ >> I don't know, it's just different.

The whole thing.

Everything about it is different.

I bring new people here every year, and it's always the same, every time they show up and they see it, they were not expecting anything like it.

It's just completely what they wouldn't expect from a mower.

>> This is one of our biggest days we look forward to all year.

It's just fun and coming up and talking to a lot of the drivers we don't maybe see until today.

>> It's just a fun day, that doesn't involve going to a big town.

>> BRANDON: You know, having just bought a house myself, I've hired someone to do my lawn, and they charge by the hour.

I think I need to get ahold of one of these guys.

You can learn more at Facebook.com/twelvemile500.

And finally, a one-of-a-kind brewery in Ferdinand, Indiana.

Producer Reuben Browning has the story of St. Benedict's Brew Works.

♪ >> As Benedictine women, our call is to seek God together in community, in prayer, and in work.

>> The Benedictine order, their motto is ora et labora, which in Latin is pray and work.

We added pray, work and brew.

♪ >> The monastery, we were founded here in 1867.

Now number about 130 sisters.

>> In Europe, because they wanted the monasteries to be sort of self-sufficient, breweries at the monastery were just an everyday fact of life.

The sisters operated a girls preparatory school for decades.

It closed around 2000, 2001.

I thought it would sort of be kind of a long shot, but we approached the sisters and kind of presented a proposal.

>> We had a building that was available, that was no longer being used.

And after some consideration by the whole community, we decided to go ahead and lease the building to him for the purposes of establishing that small craft brewery.

>> The rest kind of fell into place, and we opened in October of 2015.

>> It's really been a wonderful partnership.

Hospitality is a major charism of Benedictine life.

In fact, pilgrims and travelers would find refuge in monasteries when they were traveling throughout Europe, and they were safe places to come.

And Benedict would tell his followers that we should receive every guest who comes to the monastery as if we were receiving Christ himself.

>> We're in the hospitality business here, presenting our beers to folks local, as well as visitors from outside the area.

And it really gives the sisters an opportunity to come into contact with folks who otherwise would not visit here.

>> The hospitality that is offered, the brewery, fits right in with our whole call.

>> We get lots of people who come here.

They know more about beer than they do monasteries.

>> They then usually ask questions.

What about the sisters?

What about the monastery?

What is it all about?

And so sometimes they end up coming up here for a tour after initially going to the brewery.

Brewing beer has been often associated with monasteries in Europe, particularly Cistercians, which are a branch of Benedictines, but mainly at this point in time at men's monasteries.

As far as we are aware, this is the only monastery of women that has a brewery located on its grounds here in the United States.

>> The number one question that people ask is if the nuns do any brewing here.

They don't.

>> The sisters do not make the beer.

>> They help us taste.

Sometimes when we're busy, we'll get a sister who will just, you know, step up behind the sink and start washing glassware.

Their prayers are very important to us too.

So we don't undervalue those or anything.

We try to be a little playful or whimsical, but always respectful.

>> Our blonde ale that we have is called Sister Betty Blonde.

>> There's a Sister Betty here who is confident we named that beer right after her.

>> I think one of my favorite names that we have got for a beer is our hazy IPA that we do.

We call it The Good Habit.

>> There's Sanctimonious Stout.

There's Pyrus Porter.

>> One of our IPAs, Raising Lazarus.

And I think that was -- refers to John's gospel of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead.

And I think we picked that just because it was -- that was the gospel reading of the weekend when we kicked off the beer.

So we don't proselytize.

We are not handing out small little Bibles, but, you know, we are happy to explain, you know, kind of the connections to our beers.

>> The primary focus for our brewing has been Belgian abbey styles, so Belgian doubles, Belgian triples, Belgian quads.

>> We probably brew well over 50 or 60 beers.

Some of them are kind of year round staples, some are seasonals.

>> We usually have a pretty good rotating selection of beers on draft, the blonde ale, the blueberry.

We usually and Irish red.

We usually have a stout.

We've got pizza.

We have pretzels, fried chicken.

♪ >> The grounds of the monastery are always open for people to come to walk around, to enjoy beautiful scenes every time of the year.

>> The architecture here at the sisters is -- it's really -- I mean, it's stunning.

We are certainly in love with our area.

Ferdinand is such a unique community, and the people are just extremely friendly and very welcoming and supporting of us.

To know you kind of walk a little bit in the footsteps or in the tradition or the shadow maybe of those famous monasteries and their breweries, it's inspiring.

>> BRANDON: If that last small town story left you thirsty, you can get all the info at saintbenedictsbrewworks.com.

And as always, we invite you to stay connected with us.

Just head over to JourneyIndiana.org.

There you can see full episodes, connect with us on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, and suggest stories from your neck of the woods.

We also have a map feature that allows you to see where we've been, and to plan your own Indiana adventures.

And before we say good-bye, let's spend a little time looking at Indiana's small towns from the air.

♪ >> Production support for "Journey Indiana" is provided by Columbus Visitors Center, celebrating everywhere art and unexpected architecture in Columbus, Indiana.

Tickets for guided tours and trip planning information at Columbus.in.us.

And by WTIU members.

Thank you!