Broad Ripple Magazine December 2021

MAGAZINE

DECEMBER 2021

THE SULLIVAN EXPRESS PROVIDES ANOTHER SEASON OF HOLIDAY FUN COMMITMENT AND CONNECTION

Flanner Buchanan CEO Talks Service to Community SOCHATTI CHOCOLATE PEPPERMINT DROP CANDIES

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HOME’S WHERE THE HEART IS

Willa Gray Home Finds a Firm Footing in the Village

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ALL ABOARD THE SULLIVAN EXPRESS

The Sullivan Express Provides Another Season of Holiday Fun

COMMITMENT AND CONNECTION

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West Fork Whiskey Continues to Grow

Joy's House

Flanner Buchanan CEO Talks Service to Community

REAL-TIME ANALYTICS

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AGING WELL

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home’s where the heart is W I LL A G RAY H O M E F IN DS A F IRM FOOTING IN TH E VIL L AGE

Writer / Shay McCoy Photographer / Mariah Krafft

With the maker movement on the rise, Indianapolis residents are looking to decorate their homes and spaces with local products. When Mandy Skelton started Willa Gray Home in 2017, it was out of necessity. Skelton had remodeled several houses in the past and was always looking for particular home goods to furnish these flips, but struggled to find worthy items. Her

need for furniture and textiles prompted her to drive out of town to source them.

In order to fill this gap she found in the home-goods market, Skelton began using her expertise to host pop-up shopping experiences.

At Willa Gray Home, Skelton also provides interior decorating assistance, custom design work, and art consulting and sourcing. Her favorite part of a design project is sourcing the pieces and items that

bring the vision to life. She started out on her own, and has since brought on a small team that can help her with projects and orders, especially as the holiday season approaches. Inventory has been bulked up in preparation for the upcoming weeks, and with the upcoming launch of an online shop, Skelton is settling in and finding her footing for the holidays. Establishing balance with running the shop, family life and working on creative projects keeps her busy, but Willa Gray Home has experienced

4 / BROAD RIPPLE MAGAZINE / DECEMBER 2021 / BroadRippleMag.com

great growth in the Broad Ripple area.

Skelton finds sourcing to be the most exciting part of the design process. She is always discovering new artists or pieces for projects, but truly thrives on building new relationships with vendors and partners.

“I’ve always jumped in and assumed anything is possible,” Skelton says.

She has found many new artists to bring to the shop. While the items in the store are sourced from all over, there are also pieces from local potters, and if custom furniture is needed, the skills of local craftsmen are utilized. Willa Gray Home includes an area for artists to showcase their work in a gallery space, and Skelton would

love to further these opportunities in the future.

Being a part of the Broad Ripple community means a lot to Skelton since she lives close by the shop. She sees Willa Gray Home as an important part of the neighborhood and loves adding to the cultural scene by

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being involved in the Broad Ripple Village Association. Surrounded by great neighbors like The Cake Bake Shop and 8FIFTEEN, she is excited to keep the area vibrant and busy. As a mother she loves all the familyfriendly aspects of Broad Ripple, and has found home decor and design to be a powerful creative outlet.

While Skelton has grown Willa Gray Home into a burgeoning home decor shop, she has still found many opportunities to expand the business. By providing custom services, visitors to the shop can find exactly what they are looking for and find inspiration for their design projects. There is a large variety of pieces on the showroom floor to purchase, and several samples to choose from and test out. The items in the shop are sourced with thought and intention as Skelton seeks heirloom quality and handmade pieces.

She always loves the opportunity to showcase pieces in store and be able to

“walk around and tell people the story of the products.” That’s how she personally shops, too.

She encourages people to invest in the quality of the designs, and loves that people’s homes can be filled with items that can’t be found in many other places.

Skelton has paved the way for her business at her own pace and found a lot of organic growth, especially through selling online. Having an online presence has exposed new and out-of-state audiences to Willa Gray Home. While Skelton saw a lot of success with selling products on Instagram, this greater reach has been put into place just in time for the holiday season.

With this perfect timing, Skelton says she “likes having a brick-and-mortar shop in the neighborhood, but also loves the

opportunities that come with selling online.”

The Willa Gray Home online shop will launch soon, complete with gift guides and many more products to furnish homes.

Willa Gray Home is located at 6516 Carrollton Avenue Indianapolis. For more info, call 317-756-9148 or visit willagrayhome.com.

6 / BROAD RIPPLE MAGAZINE / DECEMBER 2021 / BroadRippleMag.com

COMMITMENT AND CONNECTION FLANNER BUCHANAN CEO TALKS SERVICE TO COMMUNITY Writer / Amanda Gibson Photographer / Michael Durr

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uilding community is something Bruce Buchanan, chief executive officer of Flanner Buchanan, knows quite a lot about. He’s familiar with investing time into Indianapolis - so much so that the Indianapolis Historical Society Press recently published a book titled “Building Community,” written by Julie Young, about his family’s history and how much they’ve contributed to our city through the last 200 years. Buchanan is a sixth-generation Hoosier and a fourth-generation owner of Flanner Buchanan, which has multiple funeral home locations.

What is it about community and building relationships that is so important to Buchanan? To him it’s about what kind of story he’s writing with his life. He shares what his father would consistently say: “Know thyself, understand yourself.”

“My father understood the impact of his emotions and his thoughts, and how that would change his actions,” Buchanan says.

Funeral homes often become the epicenter of community because of the amount of families they build relationships with on a personal level. When you have great team members like Flanner Buchanan does, you can use those relationships to listen intently to family members’ stories and hear about a loved one’s legacy. You are also able to use the heartache and triumphs from those stories to do more for your community.

Buchanan makes a point to attend funerals of those he did not know personally at all of his locations, as often as he can.

Outside of Buchanan’s day job, he’s an avid art collector and photographer. His daily passion is to go on adventures with a walk,

8 / BROAD RIPPLE MAGAZINE / DECEMBER 2021 / BroadRippleMag.com

“We’ve become so spread out and so disconnected because we drive everywhere,” Buchanan says. “That’s part of the issue we have with social and economic problems.

We need to rethink connectivity and it’s happening.”

His family has served many other families, but the unique factor about Buchanan and his family is that they find a way to help people help themselves. He encourages Buchanan graduated from Broad Ripple High others to make a difference with where they are.

School in 1973. Recently he was one of the alumni that helped the school document “Find an interest you enjoy and find a way more than 1,000 artifacts left inside the to contribute to it,” he says. “It’s really that building, which is now permanently closed. simple. If you want to do something good, Buchanan recalls a significant experience you can do it for anybody, anywhere and in his high school career where segregation any time.” was no more. He notes the impact this had on him, and how it played a role in Broad Ripple is his home. his appointment to the board of Martin Tree Removal, • Garage/Basement/ University, which is the only• predominantly “When I drive to Broad Ripple, I’m not black university in Indianapolis.

Topping & Trimming Attic Cleanout just driving to Broad Ripple,” he says. “I’m Buchanan’s grandfather founded Goodwill • Shrub Trimming going by my great-grandparents’ • Gutter Cleaninghouse, grandparents’ house, and the house my dad and was company president for 25 years. & Removal grew up in. When I go to Patachou at 49th • Mini Barn / Shed / • Tree Removal, • Garage/Basement/ and Penn, I’m reminded of the old drugstore “I’ll never be able to top that, but the thing Light Hauling Fence / Deck & Trimming Attic Cleanout around the corner.

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In 2017 he was one of the business leaders on the task force to bring to life the 30-year dream of having a beautiful RiverWalk pedestrian walkway that connects to the

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camera in hand, sometimes just his phone, to explore, see how light is treating the world and find beauty in the mundane. He has an art exhibition called “10,000 Steps,” and every photograph sold benefits select charities. He’s been a part of donating one and one half acres of land in the Riverside area to the Flanner House for the years to come. The Flanner House staff will be building greenhouses on this land, which is considered to be a food desert.

Buchanan is on the committee of Rethink 65/70, which focuses on the reconstruction of interstates 65 and 70. He hopes to see the design of the city geared toward living instead of mere accessibility.

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Aging Well West Fork Whiskey Continues to Grow

10 / BROAD RIPPLE MAGAZINE / DECEMBER 2021 / BroadRippleMag.com

Writer / Alesha McCarty Photographer / Robby Berry

Did whiskey make them do it? For Blake Jones, West Fork Whiskey Company co-founder, the short answer is yes.

“We wanted to create an approachable Indiana-based whiskey,” Jones says.

Indiana was built for producing whiskey, he adds.

“Indiana has great corn and limestone water, and a great climate for aging whiskey,” Jones says. “We loved the spirit.

We had a passion for it.”

The co-founders, including Jones, who serves as president, as well as Julian Jones, head distiller, and David McIntyre, chief executive officer, had no previous experience in creating spirits aside from Julian’s background in microbiology. Their whiskey is a product of pure passion, hard work, and trial and error.

They rented a warehouse on the northwest side of Indy and some small equipment.

“We focused on what we could do differently as we

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developed our company, and honed our craft,” Jones says.

In 2015 the team officially started making whiskey and began growing the company. Then in 2017 they moved to the KennedyKing neighborhood in Indianapolis, at their current location at 17th and Bellefontaine streets. Locals took to the delicious drinks and atmosphere.

Jones loves whiskey straight up and will usually reach for 80-proof Old Hamer.

On grilling days he enjoys something with a higher proof.

Old Hamer is West Fork’s tribute to Indiana’s rich distilling heritage. The Hamer family happens to be from the same county as the co-founders in southern Indiana. Spring Mill State Park, formerly a village in the 1800s, was purchased by the Hamer family when they migrated from New

York. The Hamer family took grain as a form of payment from local farmers and turned it into whiskey. Currently, Old Hamer is the only product they distribute and can be found in 10 surrounding states and many retail spaces in Indiana.

The line features an 80-proof bourbon, 100-proof single-barrel bourbon, cask-strength bourbon, 90-proof rye and cask-strength rye. The Hugh Hamer, selected from their finest stock of whiskey, focuses on secondary aging such as a port barrel or second barrel.

When the community demanded canned cocktails, the West Fork team stepped up to the challenge with their Cold Hamer.

For a whiskey experience, stop by their tasting room and grab a cocktail from Jacob Cantu, the tasting room manager. The team develops cocktails based on flavors crafted from house-made syrups, fresh juices and house spirits. Cantu says the current menu is referenced as a “trick menu.”

“We’ve redefined how you perceive whiskey, discovering what whiskey can do and not just what you’ve previously known it as,” Cantu says.

West Fork has a collection of classics that remain on the menu, like their Barrel-Aged Old Fashioned, which starts with The Colonel bourbon, cherry demerara syrup, Angostura bitters, chipotle cacao

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bitters, an orange peel and a Luxardo cherry. The seasonal drinks change every quarter, with 15 to 20 carefully crafted cocktails. The P.S.L. starts with 2-Hour Delay corn whiskey, pumpkin puree, house marshmallow syrup, house oat milk, brown sugar and spices, and is topped with a toasted marshmallow. House favorites also include the Peanut Butter Whiskey, a thick and creamy concoction. They offer several mocktails, which are delicious thanks to house-made fresh syrups and fresh-pressed juices.

The trio recently announced plans for their next great adventure, a $10 million-plus, 35,000-square-foot agritourism facility in Westfield. This new space will offer fun for the whole family including a large event center, retail space, a restaurant featuring ingredients from local farms and Midwest flavors, a cocktail lounge, a speakeasy space, education space and production space. The outdoor space includes a large concert venue and a pond, as well as 150-plus outdoor seating that will be available for events and weddings. The team is hoping for a spring or summer opening in 2022. The new space is located on the northeast corner of 191 Street and Horton Road, across from Grand Park.

The current West Fork Whiskey team consists of 11 employees including the co-founders. With the new restaurant, bar and speakeasy, they expect to hire around 50 additional employees. If you’re looking for a chance to be part of the growth, stay tuned. For more info, visit westforkwhiskey.com.

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1. JUST POP IN! Just Pop In! is an award-winning gourmet popcorn company. We celebrate the best in hospitality and have been popping socks off since 2003! Our café in Broad Ripple Village offers gourmet popcorn, wine, beer and small plates. The upper level includes a beautiful space where we host private parties and events.

6406 Cornell Ave ( 317) 257-9338 justpopinpopcorn.com @justpopin

2. WILLA GRAY HOME Willa Gray Home is a studio gallery and home shop that sources one-of-a-kind furnishings and artwork from all over the globe. We also provide design services for customers interested in creating their own version of our aesthetic at home.

6516 Carrollton Ave (317) 756-9148 willagrayhome.com @willagrayhome

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Daily continental breakfast and a coffee bar to get and keep you going, executive boardroom with all the tech gadgets to wow your guests, and a 24-hour fitness center. Month-to-month leases available for desk space or private office space.

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841 East 64th St (317) 449-2300 gbloc.site @gblocbroadripple

5. LOLA BLU BOUTIQUE Lola Blu Boutique is a little hidden gem located in the heart of Broad Ripple Village along the Monon Trail. We offer a wide variety of affordable women's clothing, shoes, jewelry, accessories, and gifts.

Shop our handpicked selection of women's bohemian inspired clothing and find everything from must-have denim, beautiful dresses, soft comfy basics, unique jewelry, to aromatic candles and so much more!

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Date: 5.20

Dimensions: 36”x 76”

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4. G BLOC Located just off the Monon Trail in the heart of Broad Ripple, Gbloc has all your coworking needs in the location you want!

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7. HOTEL BROAD RIPPLE Conveniently located in the scenic corner of Broad Ripple Village, Hotel Broad Ripple doubles as a boutique hotel and small event venue. Each of our 19 rooms captures a unique style and is equipped to fulfill your lodging needs. In addition, our newly named Corduroy Commons is an intimate venue that is best suited for small-scale weddings, birthdays, meetings, and events. With 7 years of serving the local community, HBR has perfected the one-of-a-kind hospitality experience all guests deserve. Book today and experience the “’inn” place to stay!

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THE SULLIVAN EXPRESS PROVIDES ANOTHER SEASON OF HOLIDAY FUN Writer / Seth Johnson Photographer / Michael Durr

17 / BROAD RIPPLE MAGAZINE / DECEMBER 2021 / BroadRippleMag.com

t’s not every day that you can ride a train to see Santa at his workshop, leading up to the most wonderful time of the year.

Thanks to the magic of the Sullivan Express, however, this opportunity is made possible to Indianapolis residents in search of a special holiday excursion.

In service from November 26 to December 23 this year, the Sullivan Express runs out of the Sullivan Hardware & Garden on Keystone Avenue, where families can make a reservation to ride aboard one of the train’s cars as a group. Having become a tradition for many in the Indianapolis area, a trip on the Sullivan Express consists of a narrated train ride to the North Pole, where kids get a chance to play in Santa’s workshop and enjoy a one-on-one visit with Kris Kringle himself.

A lifelong Indianapolis native, Pat Sullivan, owner of the three Sullivan Hardware & Garden stores in central Indiana, remembers going to L.S. Ayres and riding their Christmasthemed train as a kid.

“We all as kids went to L.S. Ayres for their train Claus with less waiting in line. and Santa experience in the 1960s and ‘70s,” “Instead of standing in line, we’d do something he says. simple like give you a number so you could The father of five children, Sullivan says it was run and play,” he says. “Then we’d call the always “a bit of a nightmare” taking his kids to number.” visit Santa every year as they were growing up.

Drawing from his own unpleasant experiences, The staff became victims of their own success, he started holding free events at the hardware however, as the store’s Santa experience quickly grew to be too popular to maintain. store where families could come visit Mr.

18 / BROAD RIPPLE MAGAZINE / DECEMBER 2021 / BroadRippleMag.com

In brainstorming solutions, Sullivan harkened back to his days of riding the L.S. Ayres Christmas train. Hence, the Sullivan Express was born.

“I always had the train thing in the back of my mind, and at the time we had acquired some more property on Keystone,” he says. “In 2015 that’s what we did. We developed that piece of property with the train in mind. When we poured the concrete, it was at the right radiuses for the trains and all of that.”

Get ready for the holidays!

In its initial year, Sullivan and company sold 89 tickets to the Sullivan Express in their first hour of sales.

“We were beyond thrilled,” he remembers.

“The success we had really propelled us to then make some changes and add on.”

After only having one train in the first year, the Sullivan Express now has six rotating trains that run through the course of a day.

In comparing ticket sales from 2015 to now, Sullivan also points out that he and his team sold 4,500 tickets in the first hour this year, as opposed to 89 in year one.

Since seeing a boost in popularity, the staff has been able to make some much-needed improvements to the Sullivan Express. Early on, for example, Sullivan says he and his team were responsible for constructing many of the animatronics seen throughout the ride.

“We had schlocky animatronics back in the very first year,” he says. “We took stuffed bears, put air pistons on them, and made them jump up and down or move an arm. As we moved on and the success continued, we finally found a company in Denmark where we buy animation. They can do custom animation for you. It’s that animation type that you see in department-store windows - just an updated version of it.”

As improvements have been made to the Sullivan Express, the ride has extended from a round-trip time of about six minutes to about 17 minutes. Through the course of this journey, riders are treated to a narrated tale that’s full of twists and turns.

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“As the story goes, the train gets diverted 19 / BROAD RIPPLE MAGAZINE / DECEMBER 2021 / BroadRippleMag.com

because of an overturned railroad car full of candy canes,” Sullivan says. “The train has to go through a service tunnel to get to the North Pole, and it ends up going past the reindeer workout room, where reindeer are on treadmills and pumping iron.”

When riders arrive at the North Pole, they are granted a unique opportunity to interact with Santa. While some youngsters may be shyer than others, Sullivan explains that the workshop environment gives every parent the chance for a photo opportunity.

picture.”

“You’re there for 15 minutes, which in lap time, as we call it in the Santa world, is a long time,” Sullivan says. “Some kids will run right up to Santa. Other kids hang back. If they don’t want to come up to Santa, Santa will generally come out and do what we call a peekaboo shot, where he gets behind the kid while they’re playing. Then at least the parents get a

ui Your g

In reflecting on the Sullivan Express and its impact on the central Indiana community, Sullivan says he’s seen the train bring joy to countless families throughout the years as they come together to celebrate the holidays.

“When you think about it, you’re seeing families at their happiest time of the year,” he says.

Ultimately, putting together the Sullivan

Express is something that brings Sullivan and his staff at Sullivan Hardware & Garden some joy every year too.

“Just to be able to provide them an experience is gratifying, and it allows for a lot of creativity in the planning and with our staff,” Sullivan says. “It’s just a fun thing to do.”

For more info, visit sullivanhardware.com/ pages/sullivan-express.

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CHOCOLATE PEPPERMINT DROP CANDIES Wow your friends and family this holiday season with a fancy treat that’s secretly simple to make. It only takes a few steps to create beautiful drop candies using local, artisanal SoChatti chocolate.

SoChatti is a vegan, responsibly sourced chocolate company that found a way to preserve the complex flavor of chocolate using just three simple ingredients and no preservatives.

• Warm SoChatti pouch in a bowl of warm water, or using a SoChatti Warmer. Alternatively, warm SoChatti To Go in a mug of warm water.

• Dot parchment paper with SoChatti.

• Sprinkle chocolate with crushed peppermint.

• Cool in refrigerator for five minutes.

Visit the SoChatti tasting room at 1125 East Brookside Avenue, Suite G10 in Indianapolis. For more info, visit sochatti.com.

Visit our chocolate tasting room!

Storefront with chocolate classes, walk-in tastings and events. www.sochatti.com

21 / BROAD RIPPLE MAGAZINE / DECEMBER 2021 / BroadRippleMag.com

NONPROFIT SPOTLIGHT

2028 Broad Ripple Avenue, Indianapolis, IN 46220

317-254-0828

MISSION STATEMENT Joy’s House serves adults living with life-altering diagnoses and their families by providing exceptional adult day and caregiver services.

Writer / Joy’s House Photography Provided

Joy’s House has been serving our community for over two decades. As we look back, we celebrate the thousands of Guests (clients) who have come to spend time with us on a daily basis: the ones who are able to keep living in their own homes for as long as possible, often until they take their last breath; the ones who know that they are safe and included at Joy’s House; and we celebrate the ones who we help regain their self-worth and individuality. We honor the thousands of family caregivers who have trusted us to care for their loved ones and leaned on us for

support, education and community at a time when they were feeling overwhelmed, underappreciated, exhausted and often overlooked.

Family caregivers come from all walks of life; representing a wide range of ages, races and socioeconomic levels.

We also look to the future. If you know someone who would benefit from our adult day or caregiver support services, please let us know. If you would like to partner in some way or volunteer with us, we would love to have you. Simply put, we look forward to hearing from you and invite you to become a part of the Joy’s House family.

www.joyshouse.org

WISH LIST • Disposable Face Masks • Hand Sanitizer • Disinfectant Wipes • Toilet Paper • Printer Paper Donate online at www.joyshouse.org/give/

UPCOMING EVENTS WE’RE HIRING!

Email Maggie@joyshouse.org for details

WE’LL BE AT WINTERFEST! February 12, 2022 Indiana State Fairgrounds www.indianawinterfest.com

CONNECT

GREAT GIFTS BY LOCAL ARTISTS Circl e of Light s Orna men t (Wo od)

By Skye Lee Smit h $20

Paw G l a s ss , F u s e d (Gla Earrin

By Ke ss, Ster gs lly Je ling) nkins , $55

On e of Ma ny fr om Co ns ign ed Pr iva te Co lle ct ion , Ha llm ar Or na me nt s fr om k 80 ’s & 90 ’s (P ric es Va ry )

Paws, N e c k la F u s e d G la s s S t e r li c e ( G la s s , B y K e lln g ) y Jenk in s $ 6 0

B

Eg g Or na m en

t Pa

By N an cy M ill per) er $ 2 0 (E gg , Ja pa ne se

F u s e d G la ss ( G la s s , S B r a c e le t il v e r p la S e t t in g ) t e B y K e ll y J e n k in s $ 6 0

FINE ART & FUN STUFF 6202 N College Ave Indianapolis, IN 46220 OPEN: Thur-Sat 1-7 | Sun 1-5 www.gallery6202.com | (317) 602-2185

in t e d Hand-Pa nt Orname (Wood) d $15 Crawfor y Laura