1234.

Get my shoes in.

Out the door.

Five.

I'm lost.

Six.

Seven.

Eight.

Feels great.

I'm gonna shine.

After I do what I'm gonna do.

I do it again.

Yeah.

Look at the sky with the beautiful color.

But never just for me.

You gotta share it with another.

I got to show, to give.

Let I want singing show.

Take a look and say a beautiful morning that turns into a beautiful evening.

And together make beautiful art.

And if you wanna see that, come along with me.

That's right.

Welcome to Experience Michiana.

Thank you so much for being with us as we get out and explore the Michiana area.

Dave headed down to Warsaw to get some food at the It's All Good food truck and find out about the mission behind it.

That makes it even better.

I had a chance to head over to the South Bend Civic Theater for their latest production, called The Drowsy Chaperon.

But first, Courtney headed over to Elkhart for Co Water and Ice Park, where she cooled off in a hot summer day.

Okay, you guys don't laugh when I fall flat on my behind.

But I'm trying something new today.

We're over in Elkhart at the Nipco Water and Ice Park, and there is no ice around right now.

We are at the temperatures are like in the hundreds, and we're giving roller skating a try here today.

Yep.

It's been a long time since I've been in skates.

Glad you are.

It's like riding a bike with me.

Thank you so much for joining me today.

My pleasure.

You have rollerblades on.

So I'm assuming you kind of know what you're doing here.

At least I do.

And I special ordered roller blades for people like me because I said not everyone's going to want to skate.

Some of us rollerblade it in the 90s, and I'm not switching, you know.

You know, we got to have you got to do what?

You know, I do not know how to stop.

So you'll have to hold my hand if we like, move along.

We have these helpers if you need it.

So it should be amazing to see.

Okay.

That's great.

So tell us about this because you said this part is only two years old.

People have been ice skating here for a lot longer than that.

What went into the decision to make the transition into this as summer activity as well?

Yeah, so it was always designed to be featured as a roller rink as well.

And we had talked about why we hadn't in the past shifted over to the summer facility.

And what it really came down to was logistics and popularity.

We didn't think people would really be about it, and there really started to be a trend over the last five years to ten years around the country of roller skating is just making a comeback.

And we said, let's just try it.

And honestly, last year was really slow, okay?

Because it takes some time for people to understand.

But as you look around in the afternoon on a bunch of random Thursday, it's catching on, right?

So it's been a lot of fun.

It is.

So you guys have a couple different options so people can rent roller skates.

Can they bring their own as well?

Yeah.

The main driver here is not profit, believe it or not, it's health and wellness.

So if people bring their skates they bring their scooters.

We don't have an issue with that if we make some profit, fantastic.

But our goal is to get people out, get them active and have fun.

And so that's exactly what this facility is about.

And it's great because you guys already have the facility behind us where people can rent their ice skates to do so.

It's just a matter of transitioning for the year, which means that these are fairly new skates.

Yes.

Yeah.

Which is great for those people who are like me and haven't been in a long time.

I'm not going to be too wobbly on some older skates.

Everything's tight, you know, fitted for you.

So it's great.

I love no excuses.

Okay, so a couple options for you there.

When do you guys open.

Because this is like when did you open the season.

We opened in May and we plan to keep it open until October at least.

And we're open every day.

Every day.

And anybody I mean, there's not a park so people can come in here at any time to on their own.

Right?

Yeah, yeah.

What we really have seen wasn't me.

Wasn't me.

What we've really seen is the splash pad utilized quite a bit during the summer.

And so you'll have this healthy mix now of people who will come and skate.

You'll have people who come in picnic, you'll have kids who play in the splash pad.

You'll have kids who are riding through.

You see people on date night.

You see kids having fun.

It's a really great time.

And the best part is, is if you rent the skates, you don't have to stay here.

You can skate up and down the Riverwalk, which is a lot of fun.

How far does that Riverwalk go?

Because that's pretty far.

You can go down to Johnson Streets and then all the way up you can be off road and on the Riverwalk all the way up to height.

I've park.

Okay, so for people like me, how many seats hills are there?

That's one way.

And you don't have to.

You don't have to go down the hill.

You could walk up the stairs and go across the street, or you can go down, but that's underneath the Jackson Street Bridge.

It's a little steep there.

Okay.

But you guys do have some.

What are those called?

They're helpers.

Yeah.

Skate helpers.

Skate helpers.

That's what they're called.

Yeah.

Technical.

Right.

All right, let's move a little bit.

You're gonna call my family.

I got you, all right, all right, you ready?

So I think what you'll find is it is really like riding a bike where you start to get in the rhythm and you're like, oh, this isn't as hard as I thought it would be.

Again, I never learned how to stop.

Ever heard how to stop?

So we'll just stop with stop.

Skates are hard, though.

That's what I like about you.

Just have to curve.

So.

Yeah.

So rollerblades because you can suck.

You can stop on the back, on the front.

It feels so foreign to me, you know, like that doesn't feel safe.

Cause a brother, your break is in the back on one side, right?

Right.

There's why you're asking for a big help here.

Thank you.

I'm going to end up running Kelsey over.

I got you.

So the Riverwalk is right here, too?

Yeah.

So you can you can come over to Central Park.

You can park there.

You can park on the other side here.

You can access each area.

We just instituted a Dora Outdoor district, allowing you to grab a beer from a company.

We've got a great brewery right next to us, Brass Elk.

And so you can have a beer, you can walk off along the Riverwalk.

You can go all throughout on town, maybe take your roller skates off first.

Yeah, yeah.

You know, I mean, it's there's a lot of fun opportunity to explore and enjoy the Riverwalk on a number of fronts.

Now, when is the renting available during the day because that's a set our right.

Yeah.

11 to 11 to nine most days.

Weekends are till ten okay.

But you also have events happening here too right.

Because you want to come.

You want them to come experience this and they can experience it in many different ways.

So let's talk a little bit about those.

What have you done in the past.

So historically Summertime Events is always our third Friday Summer chill concert series okay.

And so we'll have a band out here and they overtake the rink and it's a lot of fun.

We'll have brass Elk serve burgers and beer out of here.

We've got people who some of our farmers market people will come and sell things.

So we do that every every third Friday of the season, okay, between May and September.

And then on occasion we'll do skate nights, we'll do DJ skate nights, we'll have youth programs, we have a teen take over night.

We have a date night.

Wait, what is the teen age for that one?

I think it's 14 up, 14 and up.

Okay.

All right.

So we have an option for them to because again like you said, it's becoming more popular to get back and roller skate.

And I think that's kind of important.

You know looking back into the wellness aspect and finding other an alternative ways for kids to get outside and enjoy the outdoors.

Really.

Yeah.

Yeah, there's I mean, if you look at the research, it's becoming worse and worse for getting kids off of iPads and even adults ourselves.

We're so touched with the screens, whether it's the tablet of cell phone or a TV, it is exacerbated a lot of issues for folks.

And so our biggest focus right now is how do we get people out and how do we get them active.

But it also allows them to connect with their neighbors and meet the community members.

And so it just builds a more vibrant community.

Yeah.

And this has been around I mean, this entire space has been around almost 20 years now, right?

Yeah.

2007, you know, how have you found people received that over this time because they have continued to use it more and more over the years with that?

People love it.

I mean, this is I think this saves a lot of people for winter because you get into such a slump of the winter season.

It's so long.

So having something like this in the downtown area that brings in economic, you know, strings to the downtown region, but also getting people outside to enjoy themselves when it's all gray is is neat.

I love that and I, I'm already sweating out here.

Yeah.

It's a splash pad is here too right.

Yep yep.

Yeah.

We have the splash pad in 2007 when this was designed by JPR, pushed in for the splash pad, a lot of kids have been using that.

It's free, it's open to the public, and it was kind of a hidden gem for a while.

People didn't really know it was here.

You had to kind of be in the know.

And so we pushed really hard to say no.

Now you see that letting people know to get out and experience it, I love that.

Well, that's what we're doing here and experience Michiana.

We're experiencing things.

That's right.

And experiencing something I haven't done in many years.

I know you guys can come out here to enjoy some of this roller skating time.

Rollerblading, rollerblading, most of you do.

Where can people get pricing and all the other details about the events that you guys have going on?

Anything that we do, we post on our website, City of Elkhart Parks and Rec page.

We also do have heavily promote on Facebook, which is a very easy way.

We also make it really easy for folks to message us and interact with us so that they can get the information.

Awesome.

All right.

Are you ready to go again?

Let's go.

All right, here we go.

Just like riding a bike does.

Like you said, he's riding a bike.

That would be easier.

Yeah, riding it in and out of the splash pad.

I'm here in downtown Warsaw and I'm here with Mechelle, not Michelle.

Mechelle.

Mechelle.

I like it, I will get that right.

And tell me a little bit about.

It's all good, this food truck and fellowship mission.

What's it all about?

So the It’s All Good food truck supports fellowship missions and social enterprise.

So we created it to offer employment opportunities, community engagement opportunities and soft skill learning opportunities for our residents.

Nice.

And then it's also, I guess a fundraiser as well if there's anything.

And so does it.

Just run like a regular food truck.

Just, you know, going to different events like another food truck would or or how like, what's the regular schedule of it is just like any other food truck, with the exception that we don't have a spot, say, on the corner of Buffalo and Center that we set every day.

Yeah, we are 95% privately booked.

Yeah.

People have us come to their events and service their their parties and such.

We do we do hit like Third Fridays and festivals also.

And so do you find like it's enticing to people to want to book you over maybe another food truck because they know ultimately it's going towards a mission rather than just like a business making a profit.

Not that there's anything wrong with that, but there's obviously a feel good factor for that too.

Yeah, I think that it absolutely plays into it.

But also we have great food and we have a great staff.

There you go.

So we're the whole package.

I mean, when you book us you get you're helping a good cause out.

You're supporting the people on the truck and you're getting a great event.

And so we talk about supporting the people on the truck.

So are they just regular employees or like as you talk about on the job skills and things like that.

How do you choose those people?

Like what makes them qualify to work on here?

So people in food service, their niche all their own.

Not everybody's made for food service.

Usually the people that see the food truck and want to be a part of it have that passion in them.

So there's that part of it.

Also, you have to be within good standing of fellowship and our beliefs and our programs.

And as long as you're working through those steps, then you can work your way onto the truck.

Okay.

And so tell me a little bit about fellowship mission and, and what you do as a, as a whole.

So we are a homeless shelter and a recovery hub.

We are Christ based.

So we believe in loving people the way we were loved first, and that's our highest priority.

You know, I work with some homeless shelters and substance abuse organizations myself.

And obviously, like there's a barrier sometimes when people getting back into the workforce or even getting back onto a routine, you know, it's difficult, it's overwhelming.

So in a way, this might be able to help people that at least their manager understands some of the challenges that a regular employer may not understand.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

We're like a lot of times we can be the first step for that person getting some money back in their pocket.

Yeah.

Also, people are allowed to come and serve their community service on our truck.

Yeah.

Sometimes they have the ankle bracelet where they they can't go to many different places and they can get permission from their probation officer.

And we work with them and they're allowed to go out on, on trips with us.

I've personally always wondered, like, I don't really I mean, obviously sometimes there's people that you have to be careful of if there's a, you know, danger.

Yeah, there's a real size like to some people are not good actors necessarily.

But I've always wondered why if people are pretty honest, but they've just made mistakes.

I don't know why there isn't more forgiveness.

It feels like there's more barriers for people just to get back on their feet.

Yeah, I've never really understood that mentality, not just as a Christian, but just as a human being.

I don't yeah, I don't understand why we wouldn't take a chance on people.

Absolutely.

So I like that you're doing that.

And I think more people should do it.

You know, like the idea if you can't get a job, if you have a felony or something.

I'm like, well, obviously it depends on what where the person is now.

But I've never understood why we create more walls.

It's not where you Christ like, in my opinion.

I think that you're right from a manager's point of view, though, I can kind of see it like they're afraid of bringing that person on.

They don't know where they're at in their recovery.

They don't know if they're going to be there one week, two weeks before the bottom falls out.

Yeah.

So this this truck is actually also another step for them.

So they're working through that.

They've got business experience and they've got a great reference.

Like I will be your biggest cheerleader in getting you to that next step.

But again sometimes just getting back into a routine that's just being responsible again after being through so much.

So one of the other really big things I love about what we do is so we also run food service at fellowship every day, three meals a day, anywhere from 100 to 150 meals every single day.

And so that's always going on in the background while we're running this food truck.

But one of the things I love about food is that you can sometimes people come to us and they don't have the best background, and there might be in a really dark state of mind because they're used to hearing about their mistakes and what people think of them.

So when you come into our kitchen or you get on our food truck, we make great food and it's beautiful.

So they're creating art in my mind, and I kind of try to help them see the beauty that they're making.

And then they get a servant to somebody that immediately their eyes light up and they say, thank you.

Great job.

This is wonderful.

And so getting that food back that that feedback is like an instant food back feedback I like that.

Yeah I it's new.

It's new now but I like it.

Food feedback.

There you go.

But it's like it's healing.

Yeah really quick.

It's like you're it's.

Yeah.

No I totally get oh I'm not at rock bottom.

Oh I do have worth.

Yeah, yeah it's cool.

I mean you're just kind of helping out the people that, you know, if Jesus was there.

He'd go to first.

Exactly.

So, you know right where I want to be, I like it.

I know I like it, I believe in that.

So we can't be here and talk about food and not like, you know, what are the staple items that you have?

You talk about it being really good.

Like, what is it that you have that like people really come for?

So I made my menu when we when we built this food truck, I had it in mind that I wanted everybody to be included.

Okay.

Sometimes when I go to a food truck event, I know I'm getting fried food or or barbecue or maybe a taco, but if you want something healthy, you really don't have the option.

No.

Or you have to be really creative on how you order.

So we had taco without the taco?

Yes.

Taco.

No shell, no cheese, no sour cream.

Yeah.

So play to meet these.

Exactly.

So we have something called the Gathering Bowl, which includes everybody.

So that's it's it's kind of a play on a Buddha bowl.

So it's noodles or quinoa and then seasonal vegetables that are all either seasoned or marinated.

So it's not just straightforward but they're raw.

Yeah.

But you wouldn't necessarily know you're eating raw vegetable.

Yeah.

Then you pick your source in your protein.

Yeah.

Those are one of our more popular options than we have the bad side.

So that's our chicken bacon ranch melt.

But hands down people love that.

And it's a big grilled cheese sandwich basically on sour dough bread with chicken and bacon and ranch on a big grilled cheese sandwich.

That's what I'm getting to go.

Yeah.

There you go.

Our seafood is really good, too.

We've got great shrimp and hand breaded fish.

That's what Warsaw is known for.

Its seafood.

Well, really, if we go to Winona Lake, that's true.

As I was coming in here today, I'm like, there are people out fishing.

Yes.

And so if people are interested in booking you, I mean, do you just stay here more so, or would you kind of go anywhere for the right price?

For the right price?

I'll go anywhere.

Right.

But most of the time we stay in Warsaw.

I'll travel up to a half an hour, 40 minutes away.

Past that, it's got to be a really big event for us to be traveling that far.

And so how can people book you if they if they're interested.

So they can go to our website which is fellowship missions net.

They'll be a little link there to get to our catering.

It's all good catering page.

That's great.

And from there all the information is there.

I love what you're doing because in a way, food is supposed to bring us together.

Like there's so much around that.

And so I appreciate that you're doing that.

I appreciate that you're not just, you know, throwing people to the side just because of some decisions or some things that happen to them.

Often it's not just their decisions, it's decisions that were made on them.

So thank you for caring enough about people to do it.

So thank you.

Well thank you.

So we are back on stage at the South Bend Civic Theater, and this time the production is a very energetic and exciting production.

And here to tell us all about it is Natalie, Libby and Bill.

And guys, from what I understand.

This is really kind of a way to reflect back, but at the same time have a lot of fun.

So tell us what The Drowsy Chaperon is.

The Drowsy Chaperon is a musical within a musical.

It's a man sitting in a chair telling the audience about his favorite show, and the show then comes to life around him as he tells the story.

So the way you said that, I've got to ask a question.

Does he ever get out of the chair?

Or does he get to sit in the chair the whole time?

You know, he sits in the chair a lot, but we do allow him to get out of the chair every once in a while.

It looks spoiler alert.

Yeah, yeah, that's that's the role I could do.

You know, Its literally called man in chair the character title Right.

So but from what I understand, it's very energetic and it's a lot of fun.

So tell me about what it's like to get ready for this in your role.

And what what is your role.

Yeah.

So it has been really fun because it's my first time in a musical in two and a half years.

So it's been really exciting to get to sing and dance, but it's a whole lot of prep work.

We've been doing this for what, ten weeks about.

Yeah.

And so we've to learn the music and the choreography and there's some really big dance numbers which are fun.

And the one that closes the first act is kind of our big number.

I'm gangster number one, and because it is a show within a show, I am playing a vaudeville actor, part of a duo of twins, of dancing twins, the tall siblings.

And in The Drowsy Chaperon, we are playing gangsters who are disguised as pastry chefs.

So I'm a vaudeville actor playing a gangster disguised as a pastry chef.

There's nothing confusing about nothing at all.

No, no.

So, Natalie, tell us about what your role is like.

I played Janet van der Graaf.

She is a star of Broadway who's giving it all up for love.

Who?

Because who doesn't want to marry a millionaire and and.

Yeah.

So that's just kind of.

And a producer is very upset about that and hilarity ensues.

He's going to be in trouble.

So we're going to let you know that Bill was a major factor in creating the set.

And we'll get to that in just a little bit.

Bill, thank you for being patient.

I want to talk about this show as a family.

Right.

And so you guys become a family as you work through.

What has it been like working with your castmates and your directors and and going through all of the lines and choreography?

What's that process been like?

It's a blast.

So that's one of my favorite things about theater.

That's what drew me to theater.

And actually, Natalie was in the first show I ever did at the civic about 12 years ago.

Yeah, and I'm not from here.

So it's how I met my family in South Bend.

Just really great.

But you bond very quickly because you were spending 3 to 4 hours a night, 4 to 5 days a week, learning this stuff together.

You have to harmonize.

So you have to get along.

Otherwise it doesn't go well.

You have to trust each other in the dances.

Otherwise you're going to run into each other.

And then it's a matter of how does the production team work together?

Because you have the directors doing the blocking and the character work.

You have the choreographer doing all of that.

You have the music director.

And it's been really fun for me because the music director is Roy and he I've done so many shows with him.

He was actually the music director in the first show that I ever did here.

Right?

Yeah.

And then the directors, it's Marty and Wendy, and I've worked with them before and they're really fun.

So.

And I have never gotten to work with Kelsey or choreographer, but that's been a blast.

I've seen her on stage, but this is the first time I was able to work with her.

Yeah.

And it just really, truly brings so many people together.

You know, we talked she just talked about our directors.

They're from Michigan.

We have people from South Bend, from all rounds of the area.

So it's truly a Michiana experience.

Yeah.

We finally snagged somebody from Elkhart, which was exciting too.

Nice.

So yeah.

Yeah, but it is.

It brings the community together in a lot of different ways.

So one of the things that I love and this show opens on the 10th, which we're recording on Wednesday.

And so that's just a couple days away.

But one of the things that I love that South Bend Civic does is you guys, your last dress rehearsal is pay what you can and the opportunity for people who might not be able to afford a ticket to come and and see the show and be a part of it.

And that's so cool.

What do you guys think about that?

It's one of my favorite things that they do because theater can feel so out of touch for some people.

It is something that feels very expensive and it is something that brings people together.

So any way we can share that with the community is amazing.

Yeah.

So we got to bring Bill in here.

But I'm going to ask you guys first.

Okay.

This is Art back here in a way that people don't understand because they don't know how that it moves and all the different things that has to go into a set.

Tell us what it's been like, you know, getting to know the set and your movements within something and how that it moves.

Oh my God.

So talk about choreography.

Right.

And that's one of the things our director said because this was their brainchild.

They came in day one with 3D models of all the different configurations of this.

And they just said, trust us, it's going to work.

And it does.

They have a crew to work around it.

But in the beginning, Bill is planning this at he's making it.

He's, you know, constructing it as the word I was going for.

And you don't have it.

So you have to imagine that it's there.

So we're running up fake stairs or we're moving around fake columns that don't exist yet.

And then once they actually get it on stage, then we get to use it.

And it's that's one of my favorite things about the theater is actually seeing it come alive, because when they first came out, they were stairs.

And then the next day they had some paint on them and then they had railings.

So it's really fun to see it start to finish.

And it's a whole maze within.

So there's such a choreography to the set movement as well.

So and I have a lot of choreography that goes up and down the entire time and in and out of all these doors, and you're just making appearances wherever you can make appearances.

And so it kind of pops out at you in every way that you can, including a bed.

Yeah, yeah, we have we have a secret Murphy bed.

Yeah.

So.

So, Bill, last time we were here, there were like four stairways, a whole bunch of different doors, including trap doors.

And now, from what I understand, these giant stairways move.

Yes.

Tell us about the process of bringing an idea to life.

Well, everything here moves.

There's three main pieces.

And then, as Libby talked about the columns, those are tucked away in the back right now.

But everything is on wheels, everything moves.

And the stage is really another character in this show.

It really becomes another character because it morphs into different shapes depending on the scene.

So yeah, all of these pieces, this sort of diamond shaped piece in the center, you can't see on the back, but these two curved staircases are all on a lot of very fancy casters that allow them to move very smoothly and quietly and with surprisingly little effort, given how heavy they really are.

All of these pieces are probably 2000 plus pounds apiece, and and so pushing them around is no small feat.

But we have an excellent crew that has been practicing right along with the actors learning all this movement to get these pieces in and out.

And the pieces also have some little surprises to them.

The stairways look like just stairways, but there are hidden doors in them.

There is a hidden Murphy bed that you'll.

If you see the show, you'll see that pop out.

So there's all kinds of neat stuff that it can do, but it's all all planned together with between the director and choreographer and the actors and the crew and everybody working together to make all that happen.

So the show is coming up real soon.

Is starting on the 10th.

Give me your two sentence pitch of why somebody should come see this show.

If you love musicals that make fun of musicals, but still love musicals and want to laugh.

This is the show for you.

Yeah.

So if you.

Oh, you stole my thing.

But anyway, if you want something you can bring your whole family to.

Because there's humor for every level, which I think is really fun.

It's also if you want to be on your feet, if you want to clap, if you want to smile.

There are some numbers in here where I have sat in the audience every single night, even though I'm not supposed to.

Just because I want to watch them.

Because the talent is incredible on this stage.

And Bill.

Do you ever sit and watch for people's reactions to that surprise door or surprise whatever.

Oh, I love that stuff.

Yeah.

We don't as set builders, there's not a lot of opportunities for that, but this is one of those where I think hopefully the audience will be impressed with what we've put together.

A lot of times the idea is for the set to sort of blend into the background.

This is not one of those.

Right.

Very good.

Well, well, Natalie, Libby and Bill, thank you so much for your time and best of luck on the show.

We hope it's a packed house every single night and we can't can't wait to see it.

Thank you.

Thanks.

Come out and see us.

Yeah.

Please do.

Well, that's it for this week's Experience Michiana.

Thank you so much for being with us.

Remember, if you have ideas of things that we should get out and experience and share with our audience, let us know about it on Facebook.

Have a great weekend everybody.

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