The Elkhart Truth 2021 Business & Industry - Elkhart County

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Business Industry

2021 Rebounding with vigor

We’re Building the Future While Restoring the Past.

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A tough year followed by optimism A s economic recoveries go, this one promises to be a whopper, with communities in the area braced to come roaring back from the pandemic.

Among circumstances fueling the rebound has been the nation’s sudden and robust appetite for recJON reational vehicles GARD and boats – reManaging markably good Editor fortune for this area, which has long been known as the world’s RV manufacturing capital, and a trend expected to continue into the foreseeable future.

The challenge now, as it was before the pandemic, is finding enough qualified workers to meet demand.

The county’s economic devel-

LABOR STATISTICS Elkhart Area Employment (in thousands) Manufacturing Durable Goods Transportation Equipment Manufacturing Motor Vehicle Body & Trailer Manufacturing Trade, Transportation and Utilities Educational & Health Services Retail Trade Professional & Business Services Government Leisure & Hospitality Wholesale Trade Local Government Educational Services Work Force Data Local labor force Labor force within 25 mile radius Average wage Source: Indiana Department of Workforce Development, 2020

opment team pitches the county as an “economic magnet for the region,” in part because of its workforce of makers.

So the economic outlook is genuinely positive, but so are more intangible aspects of living.

Adding to the community’s renewed optimism has been the gradual return of normal activities – dining out, baseball games, gatherings with friends.

INDEX 65,900 54,500 34,900 29,700 19,900 12,600 10,000 9,800 8,900 7,400 7,000 6,100 116,133 616,278 $57,853

Retailers have learned to adapt, too, some of them providing their goods and services online for the first time or with greater emphasis during the pandemic. And many of them say those changes are here to stay.

Students and teachers are also rebounding after learning how education can work even with severe restrictions. Plans to merge the two high schools in Elkhart

MANUFACTURING Two companies take advantage of the area’s spirit of craftsmanship, E4 RETAIL With face-to-face contact restricted, many stores learn to adapt, E10 HEALTH & FITNESS Aquatics Center partners with others to serve the community, E12 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Area theaters and event planners eager to raise the curtain again, E14 AGRICULTURE Farmers team up to bring consumers locally grown products, E16 EDUCATION Reorganizing education involves more than merging two high schools, E18

didn’t miss a beat.

Adapting, personally and professionally, has been a hallmark of the past year. But with the pandemic tamed, if not defeated, the feeling for many in the community is “full speed ahead.”

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BUSINESS & INDUSTRY 2021

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INDUSTRY

Great times for local manufacturers shipped in 2017.

Go to Beck Industrial Park off C.R. 17, and you can see the boom with your own eyes. Alhile many industries suffered this past liance RV, founded in 2019 by brothers Coley year, Elkhart County’s top manufactur- and Ryan Brady, is constructing its fourth and ers had one of the best years on record. fifth buildings, a year and five months after A global epidemic meant people with the launching its first RV. means were suddenly looking for ways to vaIn Bristol, another young company is cation that didn’t involve airplanes and hotels, expanding as well. Barletta Boat Co. opened and it just so happens that those ways are built in 2017 and says it is now the sixth largest in Elkhart. pontoon boat manufacturer if measured by So it’s been a boom year for the RV and the number of produced units, and the ambimarine industries. Despite weeks of being tion is to get into the top three. A new plant shut down in 2020, RV shipments grew by 6 opening this year should help the company percent over 2019, representing the industry’s accomplish that. fourth-best year ever, 288 units behind 2016’s Both companies were founded by people 430,700. And, if current trends continue, with experience in the RV industry who saw 2021 could break the record of 504,599 units room in the market for new products of high

By RASMUS S. JORGENSEN rjorgensen@elkharttruth.com

W

quality. Alliance goes against the trend of consolidation that the RV industry has seen for years. The brothers – sons of former RV executive Brian Brady – said consolidations were part of what created room for a new company.

“Ryan and I felt that there was an opportunity in the marketplace for a strong, independent manufacturer that was agile, quick to react, quick to move to customer needs,” Coley Brady said.

Before the company built its first RV, the brothers created a Facebook page that gathered a few thousand experienced RVers and asked them about their frustrations and what things they would like a new company to do differently. The Bradys looked for trends and, they believe, were able to get it right.

Elkhart Truth photo / Rasmus S. Jorgensen

Brothers Coley and Ryan Brady, sons of Brian Brady, founded Alliance RV in 2019 and put its first high-end units on the market in 2020.

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BUSINESS & INDUSTRY 2021

The Elkhart Truth

Alliance RV’s first units, named Paradigm, came on the market in January 2020. A “full profile fifth-wheel,” its market is with experienced RVers who can afford a high-end unit. The price tag is just below $100,000.

“It’s a hyper-competitive segment of the market, and you have to be very tight with your product, your floorplan, your content and your pricing,” Ryan Brady said. “Our view was that if we could achieve some success in that high-end category, it should set us up for continued success as we migrate into other product segments.”

This year, Alliance launched its toy hauler, Valor, which sells for about $125,000. The Bradys said one new product per year is what they are shooting for.

“You really want to take your time with each new brand so it’s well thought out. We didn’t want to rush to market with products that weren’t best in class. That’s why we told our dealers, ‘We’re going to be growing, but it’s going to take some time before we have new brands, so it’s going to be one brand per year,’” Coley said.

The kind of success that has allowed the Bradys and other owners – all of whom work at Alliance – to grow that fast was not given.

“Ryan and I both left really good jobs, and we’re putting it on the line. We’re putting our hard-earned savings to work in this business,” Coley said. “There is tremendous risk. We were sitting here a year ago, shut down because of COVID. Those were scary days.”

g n i t a r Celeb A

It turned out well, though, for Alliance and the rest of the industry. While many industries suffered as the pandemic forced the economy to a sudden halt, the RV industry is as strong as ever and, despite local leaders saying for years that they want to be less dependent on RVs, Elkhart County’s economy did not exactly become much more diverse in the past year.

That is not a problem, though, according to the City of Elkhart’s director of development services, Dayna Bennett. Or, at least, it’s not a problem that the RV industry is growing. There are risks involved in being too dependent on one industry, but the high demand for RVs is a great silver lining in an otherwise tough time. And, when leaders talk about diversifying the economy, no one is talking about having less RV manufacturing.

What they want is to add other industries.

If anyone doubted that local leaders will take all the RV manufacturing they can get, they would not need to look further than the city’s tax abatements. As Alliance RV invests more than $33 million in its two new buildings, 120,000 square feet each, and expect to add 650 jobs, City Council members happily granted tax phase-ins, praising the company for its growth and for its high salaries; current manufacturing employees receive an average hourly pay of $30 per hour, and the new manufacturing jobs will have an average hourly pay of $25, according to the company’s tax phase-in application.

“It’s a skilled job. These are

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skilled employees, and they’re craftsmen at the end of the day,” Coley said. “If you want to deliver the best quality, you’re going to need to pay for those best-in-class team members.”

But there is more to it than paying well, Ryan said. Alliance RV wants a culture of high standards, both for its products and how it treats people.

“Coley and I, we’re on the production floors just about daily.

We try to get to know our fellow team members and put them in a position to be successful,” he said.

“We rolled out a 401(k) match program on the first of the year, which is pretty unique to the industry, but we thought it was important. These people, yes, they make good wages, but we also want them to plan for the next phase of their lives.”

In addition, the owners made conscious decisions to build pleasant facilities that, for example, have natural light and nice bathrooms. They hope that making an effort on those things will help employees come to work

happy.

The Bradys said they could have located their new company elsewhere, but Elkhart is where they wanted to be, both for personal reasons and because it is a good place to start an RV company.

Being located on 110 acres just east of C.R. 17 means easy access to talent, suppliers and highways.

“There are so many synergies here in town,” Coley said. “We wanted to be a really good community partner, and we want to attract great talent to this company, with great wages, and we felt Elkhart gave us the best opportunity to do all those things.”

‘Nimble, fast, focused’

In the northeastern corner of Elkhart County, on C.R. 133, Barletta Boat is experiencing something similar to Alliance RV, grabbing an increasingly large piece of a market that is growing. The pandemic has driven long-time and new boaters to the water in a significant way, said Jeff See MANUFACTURERS, page 6

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PAGE 5

While more automation may be the future for some manufacturers in Elkhart County, some tasks won’t soon be done by robots.

Barletta Boat Co., for instance, takes pride in its welds looking just right, and that requires skilled workers, the company says.

Photo provided

MANUFACTURERS From page 5

Haradine, vice president of sales.

“The country was coming out of lockdown last spring, right in the heart of the boating season, and we happened to be one of those activities that, families could social distance, families could be by themselves but get out of the house, recreate and spend quality time together, and that simple fact caused the boom of the boat business,” he said. “We went from being very concerned because nobody really knew what the future and the economy was going to do in the throes of the shutdown, to demand skyrocketing very quickly.”

Haradine thinks there is a case to be made for the high demand continuing, even as the PAGE 6

pandemic wears off. At least some of the new boaters will stay, and some of the old boaters may have been reminded of how much they enjoy getting on the water. For the time being, the demand is still there, and companies, including Barletta, are struggling to catch up because they cannot get supplies fast enough.

Barletta was founded in 2017 by Bill Fenech, one of the founders of Keystone RV and Grand Design RV. His vision was to create a high-end brand of pontoon boats, which would be particularly successful at attracting people who had owned other, often luxurious, types of boats.

“We felt like, at Barletta, there was a niche in the market to be that high-end brand, to take quality to a new level,” Haradine said.

Barletta is also taking customer orientation to a new level, he said.

BUSINESS & INDUSTRY 2021

“We listen so closely to our customers, Bill literally still calls a lot of our owners and buyers, ‘How was your experience? What do you think about our product?’ You don’t see that from typical CEOs,” Haradine said.

The approach seems to be working. Barletta announced last summer that it was building a $7 million, 144,600-square-foot plant next to its existing 110,000-square-foot facility, doubling its production and its workforce, creating 250 new positions. The new plant opened this spring.

Like Alliance RV, Barletta Boat is taking advantage of Elkhart County’s workforce, which is well-trained in building boats and RVs. The company’s executive team largely consists of people with years of experience from strong See MANUFACTURERS, page 8

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The past year has been challenging for many. It has caused people to rethink their views in a number of areas. To name just a few…

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local and regional companies.

Haradine said Elkhart County companies tend to be more ready to adjust than companies, especially large ones, in other parts of the country, and that was an attractive trait for Barletta as well.

“They’re nimble, they’re fast, they’re focused. They’re paying attention to the core basics, and as I travel around the country, it’s a unique mentality here,” he said.

“All the mom and pop supplier businesses are awesome. You can come up with an idea, take it to a local small business and, literally within days, have a prototype of something that’s never been done before, and shortly thereafter you’re putting it into your product.”

Though Barletta has a goal of becoming a top-three pontoon boat manufacturer by volume soon, Haradine said it’s not about numbers for numbers’ sake. Most important, he said, is to build the best pontoon boats.

“We’re very bullish,” he said.

“People have been boating since the beginning of time, and I don’t think that’s going to change in my lifetime, and it’s really because of that simple point that there’s a good long-term market to participate in.”

Elkhart Truth photo / Rasmus S. Jorgensen

Alliance RV started in a small facility on Beck Drive but quickly expanded to two large plants on Benchmark Drive. The company is now building two more facilities on its campus near C.R. 17.

see an autonomous car driving around here. But let me tell you, the technology is coming,” said Chris Stager, CEO and president of the Economic Development Corporation of Elkhart County.

But why should those vehicles be built in Elkhart, of all plac‘The technology es? To Stager, it’s about the RV is coming’ industry.

The newcomers at Barletta and “If you have a car and you get Alliance are not alone in being it and you say to it ‘Take me confident about the future. Local to Nashville,’ and you leave at leaders have some big, big plans. 9 p.m., does it become an RV?” Some of it we’ve heard before: Stager asked rhetorically, sugElkhart County should be less gesting that people will want a dependent on the ups and downs comfortable and spacious interior of the RV industry, so we have to where they can do more than just diversify the economy. Industry sit buckled in.

4.0 is coming, and we are at risk At Elkhart City Hall, Stager’s of losing jobs to robots unless ambition is shared. Bennett, the local residents receive more city’s director of development training that lets us take advanservices, said Elkhart has most of tage of the changes. what it takes to attract the autonAs if that’s not futuristic omous vehicle industry, and what enough, several leaders believe it doesn’t have yet, it will create.

Elkhart County should become “We are right in the middle of a hub for building self-driving the country and can get to each vehicles. coast with relative ease. We have “The landscape is changing, and a highway that runs right through it might be seven years until you Elkhart that goes from east to PAGE 8

west. We have the railyard with major rail that runs right through Elkhart, so you can easily switch from an autonomous vehicle to a rail line for longer hauls. We have a strong manufacturing base right here in Elkhart and the surrounding county,” Bennett said.

“So we have the pieces that would make the expansion of autonomous transportation viable and, frankly, competitive. We’re in an enviable position for the infrastructure that already exists, and so it’s not a big leap to expand that into autonomous vehicles.”

If the city and county use those advantages right, the area could become a center for autonomous transportation, for people and materials, Bennett said.

Whether or not Elkhart County becomes the capital of self-driving vehicles, there is broad agreement that residents need to be prepared for the changes that automation creating. Advanced manufacturing is already here; Elkhart-Goshen was the U.S. metropolitan area with the most industrial robots per 1,000

BUSINESS & INDUSTRY 2021

workers in 2015, at 35.9, according to the Brookings Institution.

The same organization found, in 2019, that 54.6 percent of tasks in the Elkhart-Goshen area could be automated using current technologies. According to the report, 36 percent of jobs in the area were at high risk of being automated.

For both figures, Elkhart-Goshen ranked third-highest among all U.S. metropolitan areas.

That may sound bad, but it also means there’s a chance to take big steps.

“We want to ensure, as manufacturing evolves, that several things happen: That we have the industry that’s taking advantage of that evolution here in Elkhart, that we have the labor market that’s prepared for the jobs that are on the horizon,” Bennett said.

For that to happen, she said, there are three things the city must do: It must create partnerships with existing industries to help them evolve and embrace automation. It must ensure that residents have access to training for advanced manufacturing.

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And it must put in place the right infrastructure to move information, materials and people.

The city is still exploring how exactly all of that will happen.

One thing that could launch by the end of this year is neighborhood opportunity hubs, where residents can get help finding paths to new careers or higher levels in their current career, Bennett said. To help residents do that, the city is developing alliances with organizations such as the South Bend-Elkhart Regional Partnership, which is launching an apprenticeship program to provide certifications for high-demand and well-paying jobs.

But if people with the right training can’t get to where their skills are needed, that won’t help much. So new solutions must be found to quickly bring people from their neighborhoods to the industry clusters. Bennett said that could be done via more collaboration with the Interurban Trolley or, in the future, by providing autonomous transportation options.

“It is about ensuring that we have a good match between industry and the labor market,” Bennett said.

and calls for the development of 1,000 new homes within the city over the next few years, in addition to the redevelopment of 9,200 acres (which is about half the city’s acreage, though annexations are expected) and public and private investment of more than $500 million over the next several years.

The city will target several industries that it believes it can attract and would benefit from. Targeted industries, other than autonomous vehicles, include plastics, distribution and e-commerce, IT, business services, and transportation and logistics. Elkhart 2040 points to several locations that could be developed further and suggests specific uses for them.

For example, land immediately south of the Elkhart Municipal Airport could be suitable for biopharmaceuticals or IT, and possible enhancements to the area include connecting it to a terminal at the airport, according to a list of possible projects.

There is a lot to do if the city is to accomplish its goals, but there seems to be an appetite for growth at the moment. The $300 million River District revitalization is still ongoing and has brought hundreds of new homes Ambitious plans to the neighborhood, along with The City of Elkhart, along with a new Martin’s Super Market and hired consultants, is working on the Beacon Health and Aquatics building the structure to impleCenter. Currently, a retail and ofment the Elkhart 2040 Plan, the fice building is being constructed city’s first economic development on Jackson Boulevard, and the plan, which was formed under plan is to add more mixed-use former Mayor Tim Neese and when that is completed. What has since been adopted by Mayor comes after that has yet to be Rod Roberson. The plan is wast decided, but the city intends to

see other parts of the district redeveloped as well.

In other parts of town, and around the county, businesses are investing as well. In 2020, Elkhart-Goshen had the second-most major capital investments in corporate facilities per capita among U.S. metropolitan areas with between 200,000 and 1 million residents, according to Site Selection Magazine. And that’s despite Site Selection Magazine overlooking several projects, according to Stager.

Elkhart County had about $150 million worth of business investment in real estate and equipment completed in 2020, Stager said. Three months into 2021, the number was $70 million, so the EDC leader feels confident this year’s figure will be well above the $150 million.

“I’ve just never seen anything like this from a reinvestment standpoint,” he said. “There are 60-year-old companies that are reinventing themselves.”

He noted that an increasing percentage of investment is

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in equipment, not buildings, suggesting that companies are embracing automation.

But it’s not for everybody, Stager said. The Brady brothers at Alliance RV and Haradine at Barletta Boat Company agree.

Most of the automation is taking place at the supplier level, they said, but when it comes to actually putting together high-end RVs and boats, it’s still better to have a set of human hands. Barletta, for instance, prides itself on how neat its welding is, thanks to its skilled employees. For them, it’s better to spend some more time and money to do it right than to be able to quickly produce more boats at a lower cost.

Yet, for the county as a whole, embracing new technologies is a must, according to Stager.

“If we wait five years to change the direction we’re going in, it will be too late,” he said. “So we’re constantly trying to make sure that, as quickly as we can, we get these guys to adopt technology.”

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PAGE 9

RETAIL

Necessary in pandemic, move to online here to stay

By JORDAN FOUTS

jfouts@elkharttruth.com

L

ike many shop owners, Jeremy Bontrager found that keeping business going through the pandemic has meant a lot of adaptations.

The co-owner of Electric Brew coffee shop locations in Elkhart and Goshen said they had to adopt new practices pretty quickly, like online ordering and curbside pickup. They’re likely to continue even after COVID-19 no longer dominates daily life.

When the pandemic came down in early 2020, and with it the lockdowns and fears of spreading the virus through normal interactions, it meant a lot of changes for business owners. There were the obvious ones: face masks, hand sanitizer and requiring either a respectful distance or physical barriers between customers and staff or customers and each other.

Some places limited customer capacity or set special hours for more at-risk people to shop separately.

Maple City Market in Goshen adopted many of those practices.

Among a slew of other changes, the grocery store closed its dining area, made all debit and credit card transactions touchless and repackaged the bulk items from the scoop bins while providing rubber gloves for customers.

It also allowed members to arrange curbside pickup of their order online.

“Once the pandemic hit, Maple City Market was fairly quick to create a curbside program for members who were unable to or uncomfortable coming into the store,” said Bekah Schrag, produce manager. “However, the curbside program has never been more than 1-2 percent of our overall sales, so while there were more online sales, it was never an abundant amount.”

Vintage Meadows Farms, another Goshen market that works on a PAGE 10

membership basis, also set up online ordering and curbside pickup.

Katrina Schrock, who runs it with husband Ryan, said in addition to local pickup they use drop sites in the Chicago suburbs which are on a weekly delivery route.

She said those account for about 70 percent of their sales. Overall, the farm’s sales doubled in 2020 as people sought alternatives to grocery stores at the start of the pandemic and then stocked up on food in the summer, Schrock said.

Some stores, like Secret Door Games in Elkhart, had to set up an online storefront in a matter of days in order to reach customers.

It may have been a quick move but Grant Mielke, owner of Vala Marketing in Goshen, said it’s not going away any time soon.

“People didn’t just get cornered into ordering online, booking online, going to the website before visiting and using tools like PayPal and Venmo: They’re now used to it and prefer it,” he said.

He said businesses either tripled down on digital experiences and advertising or they slowed their operations down to bare bones. The exceptions were business-to-business companies, where the changes were internal, like holding meetings virtually, or those industries that didn’t need any help exploding during the pandemic, like the outdoor market.

“There’s a whole 34-plus age demographic who has been introduced to interacting with a company digitally and consumer behavior has shifted towards accessibility and convenience in a huge way,” Mielke said.

What customers want

In Bontrager’s case, he said it helped that they had already decided to add online ordering when they switched their entire register system at both Electric Brew locations in 2019. It seemed unwieldy at first, because of the daily rotation of baked goods and

Elkhart Truth photo / Jordan Fouts

Jeremy Bontrager stands outside the Electric Brew in Goshen.

all the different options there are when ordering drinks.

It also seemed unlikely to replace face-to-face ordering any time soon.

“At the time we thought it would be amazing if customers could use this online ordering option to place an order and then just run in and grab their order, skipping the line and making it faster than using a drive-thru,” he said.

“We simply had breakfast/lunch available to be ordered online, and honestly got just a couple orders per month from online orders. We also realized that our customers loved the experience of coming inside, waiting in line and chatting with people they would run into.”

When dine-in was not allowed in restaurants in mid-March 2020, he said they decided that all of their drinks needed to be available one way or another online. That would give people the option to just run in and out while keeping as few people as possible in line.

BUSINESS & INDUSTRY 2021

“When Gov. Holcomb announced no dine-in starting that next Monday, I sat down on Saturday morning and re-did our entire register set up, because it was intended to make our life in the store quicker to take an order,” Bontrager said. “This new set-up would allow every possible option for drinks, for baked goods, breakfast, lunch, bulk coffee and merchandise.”

The new system wasn’t perfect on day one – Bontrager admits there were some things he forgot or had to figure out later – but it did give customers a way to place their order online the same way they would in person.

“I still remember getting the emails from each of those first orders and getting excited to see people using this online option,” he recalled. “I know many people have mentioned how quick we had it up and running, yet it felt like so much work and like I was fixing it several times a day.”

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PAGE 11

HEALTH & FITNESS

Aquatics Center continues to make a splash The center’s reach not only includes Elkhart County, but surrounding counties in northern Indiana and southwest Michigan and larger swim meets draw regionally from neighboring states, according to he COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on daily traf- Sharbaugh. fic at Beacon’s Elkhart Health & Aquatics Center, but organizers Across all three locations, including Elkhart, Sharbaugh said, there say they expect it will pick up throughout the year. are hundreds of classes or programs happening each week.

“After reopening last spring, we were focused on two goals – creating “One of the growth areas we’re emphasizing this spring is outdoor an environment that was safe for our members, guests and associates, programming to encourage people to exercise, even if they’re not quite and providing as much flexibility as we possibly could to our members ready to return to the club just yet,” he said. “From our Hiking Club and their unique needs during this unprecedented event,” said Paul to what we call ‘Destination Fitness’ where we visit local spots like Sharbaugh, director of health and fitness. “Many folks opted to freeze Wellfield Botanic Gardens and run an exercise class there, we just want their accounts and we’re beginning to see a number of these individu- to give people options to keep moving.” als returning.”

Monthly membership fees are $49 for individuals, $79 for couples The 171,000-square-foot facility, which opened nearly two years ago, and $99 for families. Monthly swimming memberships are $20 to $79. is located on the riverfront site of the former Elkhart YMCA on East As a community partner, the center hosts a wide range of activities Jackson Boulevard. and programs available to non-members as well. In addition to open It houses an Olympic-sized swimming and diving pool, two smallswim ties and monthly movie- night-in-the-pool events, the center er pools, a lifestyle fitness center, a weight-loss clinic, locker rooms, also has pickleball, yoga, badminton, basketball, youth conditioning, multipurpose rooms and a gymnasium. It’s Beacon’s third health senior fitness classes and walking on the indoor track. and fitness facility in the area, with others located in South Bend and With local partners, the center hosts blood drives, tobacco Granger. The Elkhart location is the only facility with a competitive cessation programming, a breast cancer support group, Narcan pool. administration training, and a question-persuade-and-refer suicide

By BLAIR YANKEY

byankey@elkharttruth.com

T

PAGE 12

BUSINESS & INDUSTRY 2021

The Elkhart Truth

p

a c

u

c

LISTEN TO YOUR DOCTOR...

CARATS CARROTS REALLY ARE BETTER FOR YOUR HEALTH* *Side effects may include increased heart rate.

Elkhart Truth photo / Russ Draper

TOP: Beacon Health’s third health and fitness facility in the area, which opened in Elkhart two years ago, is the only facility with a competitive pool. ABOVE: Cardio equipment fills one section of the Elkhart Health & Aquatics Center.

prevention training program.

“We encourage people to swing by and register to get their key tag and begin taking advantage of the full list of activities on our monthly calendar,” Sharbaugh said.

But Sharbaugh said he’s excited about the future of the center, particularly as the pandemic continues to recede.

“We’re always looking for community partners to connect with to continue adding programs we offer to the community,” he said.

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Artists, entertainers eager to raise the curtain again

By DANI MESSICK The Elkhart Truth

L

ike the rest of the country, Elkhart County’s entertainment industry took a hit last year, but the local arts scene found ways of adapting.

“Last year was survival mode and this year we’re all hopeful that events will return,” said Terry Mark, director of communications and public relations for Elkhart County Convention & Visitors Bureau. “It was a year of basically riding things out, for the arts industry, at least. Museums, too, hunkered down. Some were able to open in a limited way over the summer.”

Some found ways to keep patrons enjoying art. The Barns at Nappanee, formerly known as Amish Acres, opened with limited seating capacity, but many chose to remain closed for much of 2020.

Renovations were already under way at Goshen Theater when the pandemic hit.

The massive multistep renovation project hadn’t prevented organizers from hosting public and private events though, so the shutdown became a struggle on a personal level.

“The cancellation of public and private events was difficult, not just because they represent a revenue stream but because of the hours of preparation and dedication from our staff that go into every potential event even before those events occur,” said Amber Burgess, managing director for Goshen Theater. “For us, it’s not just about selling tickets. The way that we work is mission-first, so we are trying to provide these services to the community; not being able to do that has been tough.”

In the fall, locations were allowed to begin opening again with safety regulations in place, as seen fit by local guidance. For the Goshen Theater, it was around the time they’d finished the first step of their renovation project.

Their online box office allows patrons to choose their seating and automatically accounts for social distancing for live events, PAGE 14

while they continue to offer virtual events.

“We’ve really felt the support of the community in the last year and I think that support is something that’s not going away and is even something that can grow in 2021 and 2022,” Burgess said. “I think the thing I have learned this year is that my staff and my board and this community are adaptable and facile and able to really continue to be supportive no matter what the circumstances have been.”

Goshen Theater is one location that is uniquely designed for community engagement, whereas many arts and entertainment venues are designed to attract area and national attention. This caused a variety of impact to the arts throughout the county over 2020.

BUSINESS & INDUSTRY 2021

“Our area was really hit no differently than the rest of the county, maybe not as hit-hit, but travel was decreased,” Mark said.

Elkhart County and much of Northern Indiana, tends to function as a thoroughfare for business. Many arts locations are created with the purpose of engaging those businessmen or vacationing families while they pass through the area, hoping to encourage them to stay in the area a little longer or even overnight.

Bus tours, quilt gardens, heritage trails, orchards and artistic and cultural exhibitions have been preserved or are designed not only to entertain nearby residents, but to offer a taste of a unique lifestyle to people from other parts of the country who may never otherwise experience it.

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“People want to travel and they want to go places they feel safe and I think as optimism increases with the vaccine, we’re hopeful for summer and winter of this year, but as we learned last year, things can change quickly as well.”

Keeping the arts successful in Elkhart County requires public support as most or all arts exhibitions are volunteer or nonprofit-based.

“Just like last year, this is a year to support local businesses and local arts in any way you can,” Mark said. “The local arts scene is really what makes life in this community special and I would encourage anyone – whether it’s theater, or a concert venue or museums – to support them wherever possible.”

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Goshen Theater hosted a livestreamed battle of the bands in April called “Beatles vs. Stones.”

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AGRICULTURE

Co-op marks a decade of local

growing

there was significantly more demand from those buyers in 2020.

“We’ve taken on three or four orn of Plenty co-op celebrat- more growers (and) our sales doued 10 years in 2020 – in what bled last year because of COVID,” may have been its most eventful he said. “We did not necessarily year so far. see an increase in sales for our The co-op started after David retail market, it was mostly just Yoder and a neighboring farmthe wholesale buyers who were er decided to consolidate their retailing it direct online.” markets, reasoning that they could ‘Whatever each focus on growing just a few they’re growing’ things for their customers at higher quality. It relied on fewer than a Their longtime customers dozen growers at the start. include the Moringa Tree organic “It was probably right around kitchen and wellness studio in 10 people who were trying to get Elkhart. Owner Jenny Weaver said things off the ground in the first they’ve bought from the co-op year,” Yoder recalled. from the beginning.

It now operates out of an “April 1 was our eight-year an8,000-square-foot warehouse in niversary, so we have been buying Middlebury, which gathers and from them for eight years,” she distributes products from more said. than 40 growers. As a point of The restaurant orders 50 to 100 pounds of meat from Horn of pride, all the producers are local.

Plenty a week. But she said their “For all of our things we grow, sales took a hit because of the we do not accept any producers pandemic. outside of Elkhart and LaGrange “Our sales drastically decreased,” counties, so we can say it’s truly local,” he said. “What we’re trying to Weaver said. “We didn’t purchase do is have a local, healthy product.” more from them but our demand was still there’s since I stayed open The growers hope to open their own retail store at the facility soon. all year also.”

Another longtime buyer is Maple In the meantime, to sell directly to customers with a regular stall at City Market, which sells a huge selection of Horn of Plenty’s fruits the Goshen Farmers Market.

Offerings recently have included and veggies in its Goshen store.

An A-Z list would run from beans, goat milk, arugula, artichokes, carrots and eggplants to pumpkins, maple syrup and bread. rhubarb and watermelon.

But their main customers are “The amounts change year to wholesalers, a set of around 20 restaurants and grocery stores year and season to season dependspread out from Ann Arbor to ing on what is available and what our sales are in the store,” said ProChicago.

“We’re focusing on local buyers, duce Manager Bekah Schrag. “Our top sellers from Horn of Plenty but if somebody’s coming from a long distance, we don’t turn them are cantaloupe, onions, potatoes, winter squashes and tomatoes.” down,” Yoder said.

She calculated that their 2020 Some of the wholesalers buy from the co-op year-round, some purchases from the co-op increased by 65 percent over 2019. only buy seasonally, but overall

By JORDAN FOUTS

jfouts@elkharttruth.com

H

PAGE 16

Elkhart Truth photo / J. Tyler Klassen

Elizabeth Gingerich (left), Goshen, collects her purchase from Kate Lind at the Lind Farms booth in the Goshen Farmers Market. The Lind family is a charter member of the Goshen Farmers Market.

She said the sales mostly amounted to greater quantities of the staple products like onions, potatoes and squashes.

“We did purchase some new things that we hadn’t consistently ordered before,” she said. “With produce selling faster, it was worth it to try new items.”

The increased purchases were part of overall growth at the grocery store of close to 14 percent, with the produce department alone growing by 21 percent. She cites the pandemic as the reason for the increase.

“With more people cooking at home since the restaurants were limited or closed, customers were buying more,” Schrag said. “These bumps in sales growth meant we were moving more products, and Horn of Plenty was able to provide.”

Vintage Meadows, a family farm in Goshen that sells to registered members, has been a Horn of Plenty wholesaler for three or four

BUSINESS & INDUSTRY 2021

years. Katrina Schrock, who runs it with husband Ryan, said they buy a variety of in-season produce and singled out tomatoes and sweet corn among the favorites.

“Whatever they’re growing and whatever’s in season,” she said. “Of course, everything that they do is organically raised – not certified organic, but using organic methods, and that’s a big deal for us.”

Schrock said 2020 was a huge year for their farm, as fears over shortages at grocery stores early on in the pandemic had people seeking out other options. A second wave hit when people bought additional food to store in their freezers.

“We had a very, very busy year,” she said. “I would say on average our sales doubled from this time last March.”

She said the rise in sales stabilized around July and has been steady, at twice the numbers from the previous year, ever since.

Schrock believes that people will The Elkhart Truth

continue to seek out local options for their dinner table even after life returns to normal, and she said they look forward to continuing to work with Horn of Plenty.

“Definitely. We were seeing growth before this,” she said. “But what happened was, the sort of growth that would take place over two or three years’ time happened in a week’s time for us.”

last as long because the co-op has plenty of producers.

“As far as finding growers to produce them, there’s enough people who want to grow broilers that, if the demand was there, 100,000 would not be a scary number for me,” he said. “As far as vegetables, we were just sold out quicker.

That’s just the way that ran. So this year we just need to up our production.”

‘Whatever you can can’ The co-op sometimes makes Vintage Meadows grows and sells products available at special retheir own meat, but that’s also an quest, such as goat milk or ginger area that Horn of Plenty has been at the farmer’s market. It may not expanding on. The co-op’s growers be something their growers reguoffer beef, pork, lamb, turkey, larly produce but they could check chicken and quail, among other with neighboring farms to source things. it, Yoder said.

“Then we started with the chickHe said the co-op is also looking en eggs a couple years ago and we into offering more preserved items added duck eggs last year,” Yoder based on customer demand.

“Getting into canned stuff – jams added. “Right now, we don’t have any quails in the laying stage at the and jellies and pickles, whatever you can can. That’s something we moment, but we’re hoping to do also would like to pursue down that again this summer.”

Demand in 2020 meant that beef the road,” he said. “I’m not sure if and pork were sold out from time it’s this summer or five years from now when it will happen.” to time. Chicken shortages didn’t

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PAGE 17

EDUCATION

New high school aims to enhance learning

By BLAIR YANKEY

byankey@elkharttruth.com

E

lkhart High School will make another bold transition next year.

The 2019-20 school year was the final year Elkhart Central and Elkhart Memorial operated as separate high schools. This school year, schools are operating as one high school, but still have Central and Memorial operating as four-year high schools like previous years.

The next school year will be the initial year of the school’s full merger plan. Students in grades 10 through 12 will be at the former Memorial campus, now known as Elkhart High School West, and those in grade nine will be in the freshman division on what is now the Elkhart High School East campus, formerly Central.

Elkhart had just one high school until 1972 when the school board decided to open Memorial and operate two high schools. The $33 million plan to consolidate the two high schools was approved by the school board in 2016, a proposal that was spearheaded by then-Superintendent Robert Haworth.

Elkhart Memorial Principal Cary Anderson, who will serve as the new high school’s executive principal, said the vision behind the unified Elkhart High School is to ensure that students are college- and career-ready after they graduate.

“We want to change the way our kids learn at Elkhart Community Schools,” Anderson said.

“And we’re going to do that by seeing what kids are interested in and then we are going to tailor the education around that, rather than the other way around.”

The new Elkhart High School is comprised of six schools of study within one high school: Arts and Communication; Business and International Relations; Engineering, Technology and Industry; Health and Public Safety; Human Services; and Natural Resources.

Multiple college and career pathways exist within each school of study. Students will attend the freshman division then select a pathway as they enter their sophomore year.

Each school of study has its own physical location on the high school campus as well as its own administrative and instructional team.

Buildings are being customized to meet the needs of each school, officials said.

Dual credit opportunities are available to students in all schools of study.

The district’s plan aligns with new state standards which require the class of 2023 to earn

PAGE 18

Elkhart Community Schools

Construction projects continue at the unified Elkhart High School. Renovations should be completed in time for the 2021-22 school year, officials say.

a high school diploma, demonstrate employability skills and demonstrate competencies showing readiness for college, internships or apprenticeships.

Superintendent Steve Thalheimer said the program will keep students engaged and focused on their futures.

“For example, instead of kids’ reading about things that they have no interest in, at least tangentially or directionally there will be things that connect to their interest and broaden their perspectives within that discipline, so they will know what they truly want to do after they leave high school,” he said.

Anderson said the COVID-19 pandemic has not slowed construction projects at the school.

Renovations should be completed in time for the 2021-22 school year, he said.

“Construction projects are moving forward; they’re successful and everything looks good,” he said. “I’d say that we’re hitting our stride with the planning for the academic pieces which is so important. We’re getting ready to have teachers expressed interest in what we call our school of study lead positions, which are vital to the success of our schools of study, and that’s one of the next steps we’re working on with staffing.”

Anderson said he believes operating as one high school this year will be beneficial as the school prepares to make the full transition in the fall.

“We have a lot of programs that are already working together; we’ve combined music programs and our athletics have combines so we already started the One Elkhart approach,” he said.

Now, Anderson said, teachers are on the same teams by collaborating and working for the acBUSINESS & INDUSTRY 2021

ademic programs for next year. Student groups are also working and planning projects, he said.

“So, we really feel like along with our community leaders, which we have at all of our schools of study, that the planning going on will greatly benefit the students as we try to change our teaching and learning to try to impact our kids’ future education.”

Anderson said local business partners will have a large voice within the schools of study.

“We want our business partners to be embedded within our schools of study,” Anderson said. “They’re going to help design curriculum and help with project-based learning activities and help inform our schools which classes we should be offering because that’s what students need to have as they move on to college and career fields out of high school.”

The high school is expected to have about 2,500 students with about 400 to 500 in each school of study.

“The students will be embedded within classes and with teachers that are interested in what the kids want to learn, and I think that’s so important for me,” Anderson said. “They’re going to work with the same teachers, principals, counselors and secretaries; so our intent is for the school to feel huge, but small and welcoming for students.”

The high school’s mascot is the Lion and the school colors are royal blue and gold.

Kellen Hartman, a freshman at Elkhart High School West, said he’s looking forward to his sophomore year at the unified high school.

“I’ll get to know more people than I wouldn’t have otherwise if there were two high schools and I’ll have more connections for later in life,” he said.

The Elkhart Truth