Plainfield Magazine January 2025

Good Growth Hays Family Farm Practices Regenerative Ag for the Health of the Land - and Our Lives

TERRIFIC 10

ANDREW KLINGER LOOKS BACK ON A DECADE AS TOWN MANAGER

Resolute for 2025 A New Year’s Resolution Guide

JANUARY 2025

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DEVON DEAN FROSTED DESIGNS PHOTOGRAPHY ASHLEY CALLAN RYAN GABBERT MELISSA GIBSON AMY PAYNE TOWN OF PLAINFIELD

TOWNE POST NETWORK, INC.

6

17

Andrew Klinger Looks Back on a Decade as Town Manager

Dogtona Returns to the Hendricks County 4-H Fairgrounds in Support of the Humane Society

TERRIFIC 10

10 JANUARY 2025

RESOLUTE FOR 2025

A New Year’s Resolution Guide

12

RUFF DAY

20

GOOD GROWTH

Hays Family Farm Practices Regenerative Ag for the Health of the Land - and Our Lives

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

/PLAINFIELDMAGAZINE 4 | January 2025 | TownePost.com

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TERRIFIC 10 ANDREW KLINGER LOOKS BACK ON A DECADE AS TOWN MANAGER Writer / Melissa Gibson Photographers / Amy Payne & Town of Plainfield

Andrew Klinger loves economic development and working within local government entities.

He gets excited about building up the community through infrastructure, amenities and more. As town manager of Cumberland, Indiana, Klinger got to know former Plainfield Town Manager Richard Carlucci.

Klinger made the last-minute decision to apply. He’s now entered his 10th year serving as town manager for the Town of Plainfield.

“My role day-to-day is managing operations,” he said. “We have five elected council members but they need someone to handle the departments like fire, police, public safety, parks and others. We have over 400 full-time employees and we’ve “I got to know him through town manager got great people like the police chief and events and I had always thought Plainfield the fire chief managing their operations. was a nice community,” Klinger said. “In I’m working with them for the future, my mind, when Rich retired, I’d have for our community and how we want to five years of experience under my belt in operate overall.”

Cumberland and I might apply for the position.”

When Klinger came on board, the Town of Plainfield was already a fastgrowing community. They already had It all happened a lot faster than the Richard A. Carlucci Recreation and anticipated.

Aquatic Center, 40 million square feet of Carlucci retired fairly soon after that, and warehouse space, and what is now known 6 | January 2025 | TownePost.com

as the Shops at Perry Crossing.

He immediately connected with the town’s goals and got to work.

“Rich and the town council had the mindset of investing funds for benefits down the road,” Klinger said. “I was able to step right in. They do a great job of planning for the future, which has set the stage for the different projects.”

First on the list for Klinger was developing Plainfield’s downtown.

He said the area wasn’t struggling. In fact, nearly every building was occupied, but he wanted to bring attention and focus to the heart of the community.

In the council’s typical fashion, when a developer proposed a mixed-use building downtown, they took a pause, with the

Andrew & Staff

Touring the MADE warehouse with Senator Todd Young

intention of taking their time and looking at what the town needed and wanted in the area.

This resulted in the Downtown Redevelopment conceptual plan.

Women and Infants Hospital — opening soon

“That’s where the art center, Hendricks Live!, came in,” Klinger said. “The feedback from residents at the time was give us something to do downtown. That’s been a big focus for me - reinvesting back into downtown, and of course other projects came along like The Barlow and our government center.”

With a mix of old and new, the downtown area is still under development.

The Prewitt owners renovated the old movie theater and it includes a restaurant and bar space. Mama Bird Bakery has occupied the lower level of The Barlow.

Tlahcos opened in the new parking structure and, The Green Room is a coffee-to-cocktail concept coming to the Performing Arts Center building.

“We’re continuing to attract unique business to the downtown area and, of course, Hendricks Live! draws people downtown,” Klinger said.

His second area of focus, even 10 years ago, has been Echo Hollow Nature Park, formally known as Sodalis Nature Park on the west side of town.

“We call it our glacier project, he said.

“We’ve already spent 10 years working on it and it’ll be another 10 years before the entire vision is built out. We’re currently developing a master plan and have some

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new amenities and projects coming up.”

they’re not stopping there.

Echo Hollow is currently a 210-acre park with nature trails, picnic areas and a 5.5acre pond. However, the entire property spans 1,800 acres and the long-term goal is to create a park equivalent to other Indiana state parks.

“We talk about Plainfield being a community of places, developing different places people want to go like downtown, the mall and Echo Hollow,” Klinger said. “We also have the hospitality district off of I-70 with hotels and restaurants. In my next 10 years we would like to do more with that space.

We want to send a clear message that you’re in Plainfield.”

“It’s one of the benefits of having consistent leadership,” Klinger said.

“We’re not in a hurry. We have a vision and a plan, and we want to do it the right way and deliver that plan.”

Though Klinger is a big proponent of developing the downtown area, he and other leaders haven’t forgotten other areas across the community. Hobbs Station offers 1,000 new housing units near the Shops at Perry Crossing, and

Hendricks Live Ribbon Cutting 8 | January 2025 | TownePost.com

Over the years Klinger has worked on more than infrastructure and development projects. He’s worked on putting the right people in the right positions, so the Town of Plainfield operates smoothly and with a passion like no other.

Klinger was at one time managing more than a dozen direct reports, but that number is now closer to six, with additions like Assistant Town Manager of Community Services Alan Geans, Assistant Town Manager of Administrative Services Nate Thorne, Executive Director of Public Safety Jared McKee, and others.

“This year, with a change in legislation, we have an elected clerk and we’ve brought on a controller who handles our finances,” Klinger said. “The experience and education of this staff is amazing.

We have folks with two master’s degrees, professional engineers, and many with more than 20 years of experience in their field.”

Klinger has focused on diversity among

team members and believes the town has found the perfect mix.

“Everyone has diverse views and personalities, and that leads to a better result,” Klinger said. “I think getting the structure right so we can deliver quality services to our residents is important.”

“We love it here,” Klinger added regarding his family. “We were in one of the best school systems in the state and then learned that Plainfield was even better. We can go anywhere from our house using the trail system and we’ve already been to five or 10 shows at Hendricks Live!.

Plainfield has been so welcoming, and these events and amenities we’re planning are the same ones I’m taking my kids to. I want them to be the best.”

Andrew meeting with Kevin Whaley, Dir of Planning & Zoning TownePost.com | January 2025 | 9

A NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION GUIDE Writer / Devon Dean “I am gonna make it through this year if it kills me.”

-The Mountain Goats, “This Year” 2024 is in the history books, and we’re now collectively bundled up and ready to tackle 2025. Each time the ball drops in Times Square and people uncork the Korbel, it’s a chance to reset the balance and state some good intentions for the next 365 days.

A recent study by the American Psychiatric Association showed some 76% of adults in the U.S. will make resolutions this year, and more than a quarter of these (28%) are focused on mental health, with many of us setting our sights on improving wellness through both mental and physical/ habit changes: Dr. Anne Mary Montero is a licensed clinical psychologist and director of behavioral health at IU Health North. She says change can be elusive, particularly when it comes to lifestyle.

“Certainly, there are excellent mental health benefits to setting and achieving goals for change toward wellness, but it is helpful to anchor goals in a few ways to maximize both the psychological benefits, and to minimize risk, including if we don’t achieve everything we set out to do,” she says. “Psychological risks to goals that are unrealistic or too harsh can be demoralizing and even lead to anxiety or depression, but envisioning change, and being motivated to try, is the first step toward mental health support for yourself, helping you see the change you want to create with your resolution.”

10 | January 2025 | TownePost.com

GOAL-SETTING STRATEGIES Keep goals anchored in values. What is most important to you will help you stay motivated when initial enthusiasm may wane, and the impact of achieving your goal will mean the most to you when you reach it.

Stay positive with a healthy balance of discipline and self-compassion; even the most driven people benefit from grace, and you can support yourself best if you stay in a positive frame of mind. In fact, studies of happiness show that we are not only in a better mood, but we are actually more productive and effective when we keep a positive outlook. Also, keep in mind that self-care is critical, particularly with winter in full swing.

Consider counting steps. A large goal can be less overwhelming if broken into components or sequential steps, even micro steps, toward change. While it’s healthy to dream, we want to set our sights on a balance of vision and achievability to keep positive success realistic and within our reach.

Write goals and progress down. You will not only keep yourself accountable, which usually serves to help with motivation, but you can count steps toward progress that support and reinforce the excellent impact your efforts can have.

“Another critical strategy can be to ask for help,” Montero says. “Telling your plans to someone who cares about you and asking for a regular check-in about this can serve both as an accountability check and a built-in reminder.”

Montero’s final piece of advice is to use positive self-talk. She says reminding yourself of your power and emphasizing your progress can be especially powerful. “You are the

plan to exercise more.

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ultimate authority on what you are feeling and how you expect to move forward,” she says. “You are aware of your efforts against all the forces that challenge you, and you can uniquely and authoritatively acknowledge the good you have done.”

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CALENDAR OF EVENTS

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EITELJORG MUSEUM, 500 W. WASHINGTON ST. 1 - 3 PM Celebrate the joy and tradition of Día de los Reyes (Three Kings Day) at the Eiteljorg Museum! eiteljorg.org

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WRITE TURN

CHRISTY HEITGER-EWING TALKS LOVE OF WRITING AND CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL CONTRIBUTIONS Writer / Ashley Callan

Ever since Christy Heitger-Ewing was a little girl, she loved to write. But it wasn’t until her story “Diary of an Anorexic”, detailing her battle with anorexia, was published in a national magazine that she knew she wanted a career in writing. She often shares firsthand experiences in her writings. Through her vulnerability of sharing embarrassing, real and hard moments in her life, her words can serve as inspiration and strength to the reader.

“Life is hard,” she says. “I like writing stories that give people hope, make them smile and inspire them to spread joy to others.”

With a writing portfolio that spans over 2,600 articles for various magazine publications including the Towne Post, and 17 contributions to the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, Heitger-Ewing is certainly sharing a little piece of her soul with the world.

Her first story for the Chicken Soup for the Soul Series was published in 2013. Chicken Soup for the Soul books each have a specific theme, with a series of stories that retell true firsthand experiences that can evoke emotional responses from the reader. “It’s fun writing first-person stories about memories that matter to me but resonate with others,” says Heitger-Ewing.

Being consumed by guilt and grief after her mother’s suicide, she found healing in her writing. “At least half of my Chicken Soup stories are about my relationship with my mom - what I learned from her and admired about her, funny memories that involve her, and the anguish of losing her,” she says.

14 | January 2025 | TownePost.com

Using her experience navigating through grief to help to others heal, Heitger-Ewing says the most powerful story she has written for the franchise is “No Fault”, published in the book “Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Forgiveness Fix”, which details her journey to forgive herself following her mother’s suicide. Just recently, she had three publications inside three of the latest Chicken Soup for the Soul books: “Just Say Yes”,

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experience,” she says.

“Miracles, Angels & Messages from Heaven” details personal accounts of divine intervention and of the presence of angels with stories of hope. It was released September 17. “Searching for Mom” details Heitger-Ewing’s experience after her mom died by suicide and how she longed for her mother. “After my mom died by suicide, I ached to feel her presence but couldn’t,” she says. The story describes an encounter at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s Out of the Darkness overnight walk with a mother who had lost her daughter to suicide. “I shared how I longed to feel a connection to my mom, and this woman told me how after her daughter died, she began finding dimes,” says HeitgerEwing. After completing the 16-mile trek, she was walking back to her hotel room at 3 a.m. when she found a dime in the middle of the street. Since then, she says she has found several hundred dimes, and each time she picks it up, smiles and tells her mom she loves her.

16 | January 2025 | TownePost.com

Released on October 15 just in time for the holidays, “Chicken Soup for the Soul: Tales of Christmas: 101 Stories of Holiday Joy, Love and Gratitude” features holiday tales of disarray and chaos, thankfulness and gratitude, togetherness and more. “An Icy, Dicey Adventure” describes a holiday vacation when Heitger-Ewing was a teenager at her family’s Northern Michigan cabin, and of the chaos that ensued with her family.

“Now it’s hysterical to look back on it as it reads like a Chevy Chase movie, but at the time we didn’t see the humor,” she says.

Chicken Soup for the Soul books are available to purchase via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and bookshop.org. You can also find Heitger-Ewing’s writing throughout the Towne Post magazine publications.

RUFF DAY

DOGTONA RETURNS TO THE HENDRICKS COUNTY 4-H FAIRGROUNDS IN SUPPORT OF THE HUMANE SOCIETY Writer / Melissa Gibson Photographer / Frosted Designs Photography

When Cameron Johnson visited a dog park in Indianapolis more than two decades ago, it sparked a passion that she never would have guessed would result in the popular Hendricks County event aimed at all things dogs - Dogtona.

Today it’s the Hendricks County Humane Society’s largest fundraiser, but back then it was simply a mission to bring a dog park to area.

“I thought we should have one in the county, and I wrote a letter to the editor at our local paper and asked people if they’d like to have a dog park, let’s meet up,” Johnson said. “About 15 people showed up to the first meeting and we decided we were going to do it.”

They put signs on their cars, sent mailings to Hendricks County residents and hosted a dog parade, to bring attention to the mission.

They also came up with the idea of Spring Break at Dogtona, originally held in March

at the National Guard Armory. They tied advertisements to dog biscuits and local banks would hand them out as dog owners passed through the drive through.

“We had about 75 people and their dogs show up,” Johnson said. “Dick Wolfsie came and autographed his book about [his dog] Barney.

The first event went really well.”

They only charge $5 per dog - it’s free for the dog’s human - and they’ve never raised their admission price in all these years.

“We wanted to create an inexpensive day for families to have with their dog and we’re hoping to break even,” Johnson said. “We never made thousands and thousands, but it was enough to work with officials to create the first dog park in the county at Washington Township Park.”

It took seven years, and Johnson was there when it officially opened.

“I saw people playing with their dogs,” she said. “For all the petitions and the research and the events and the work, it was worth it.

After Avon, others slowly began to come on board.”

At the time, she was on the board at the Humane Society and the event fit perfectly into part of their mission: “Strengthening the bond between humans and their pets.”

They were willing to lend their name to the event and the nonprofit was immediately on board to help, financially and otherwise.

“Each year it just kept growing,” Johnson said.

“We quickly outgrew the armory and moved the event to the fairgrounds. Even during the pandemic, we never missed a year.”

They dropped the “Spring Break” portion of the event title and moved it to January.

They’ve weathered ice storms and below-zero temps, but continue to bring in hundreds of TownePost.com | January 2025 | 17

dogs each year. It’s an event like no other.

Imagine a variety of breeds playing together, competing and having a ton of fun in a day focused on them and time with their owners.

A volunteer made an A-frame dog ramp, and they added games like Search and Re-shoe, hiding treats inside shoes for the dogs to find.

They created the Great Lick-Off, a contest to see which dog can lick peanut butter off of a spoon the fastest.

Dogs and their owners can get a free family photo, and perhaps most popular is the dog show, with competitions like curliest tail, best kisser and more.

There’s even a Canine Café, offering food for human attendees.

Surrounding the dog play area and events are vendor booths, ranging from rescue centers to therapy dog groups. There are K9 demonstrations, CPR demonstrations, and during some years they’ve had a caricature artist on hand.

Over the years they’ve invited dancing dogs, pet massage therapists and an animal communicator to join them. It’s a different experience each time, but guaranteed fun for the dogs and the people too.

“One year I walked past a father, son and his dog,” Johnson said. “They had a rolled-up piece of paper from the caricature artist and the dad said, ‘We have a memory here.’ I know of two sisters that live in different towns. They schedule their visit together around Dogtona so they can all get together. To hear the stories and the excited kids throughout the day, it’s just a fun way to give people more places to have fun with their pet.”

It’s also a place of connection. Johnson said dog organizations and nonprofits have been able to meet each other and work together toward their missions.

“I’ve worked with the Central Indiana K9 Association and the Transportation Safety Authority, and they do demonstrations and educate people on what they are doing for the community,” Johnson said. “To me, the event just means people love their animals and want 18 | January 2025 | TownePost.com

to spend time with them, so it’s a joy.”

Johnson said these days, many in the community have heard about the special event, but she still works with local veterinarians and pet food stores to spread the word.

“In the beginning we did a take on David Letterman’s Top 10 and made a list of reasons we needed a dog park,” she said.

“The number-one reason was that a tired dog is a happy owner. We needed a place for people to get together that might not meet on the sports field or the kids’ event.

It’s a community gathering spot and it makes me happy to see the dogs running and playing.”

There are dog parks in Plainfield, Avon and Brownsburg now. The Humane Society continues to earmark a portion of their budget for future dog parks, to support towns in other areas across the county.

Johnson is still serving as chairman of the Dogtona committee, and has seen volunteers come and go over the past two decades. She loves the creativity

newcomers bring to the event, and hopes that one day someone will be willing to take the reins.

“It’s fun to work with the committee and come up with new ideas and new games,” she said. “We’ve tried things that didn’t work so well, but we learn year after year how to make it better.”

So much has happened as a result of a community joining together for a special cause.

“I just had this idea in my head,” Johnson said. “If you want a change, you need to do something. It just takes one person with an idea to get things happening for so many reasons. The support we’ve received from so many businesses and the Hendricks County Fairgrounds that continues to make the event affordable is unmatched.”

Dogtona will return to the Hendricks County 4-H Fairgrounds and Conference Complex on January 19. For more information, visit hendrickshumane.org/ events.html.

TownePost.com | January 2025 | 19

GOOD GROWTH

HAYS FAMILY FARM PRACTICES REGENERATIVE AG FOR THE HEALTH OF THE LAND - AND OUR LIVES Writer & Photographer / Ryan Gabbert

20 | January 2025 | TownePost.com

I

f you asked average Americans where their food comes from, the majority would likely just say the grocery store. Meat comes neatly packaged in cellophane, and vegetables are frozen and ready to be microwaved. The world today is far removed from the means of food production, where the customer at the end of the chain knows nothing of the process or consequences of what they consume.

Most people have turned a blind eye to this, unwilling or unable to comprehend their diet’s impact on the rest of the world.

Even those who want to consume their food responsibly find it’s not always easy to break free of the cycle.

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Hays Family Farm in Bainbridge, Indiana, serves as a ray of hope in a world overrun with monoculture farming and industrial meat production.

They practice regenerative farming, a method dedicated to improving soil health, biodiversity and sustainable land use. The farm is a family effort, run by John Hays, his wife, Jenny, and their children and grandchildren.

“Conventional farming has become a sea of monoculture crops and killing anything standing in the way of maximum production,” John Hays says. “Regenerative agriculture is about fostering life in every way you can imagine, both in the soil and above the soil. That changes the way you see things. Now we can see so many exciting opportunities for the future of agriculture and life overall on this planet. People have such an amazing opportunity to positively affect society and the ecosystem, which is very motivating.”

Hays did not start out in regenerative farming, however. He began in commercial agriculture, seeing firsthand the damage it can do to the land and the animals that feed us.

“I have been farming for 40 years and have been involved in many different types of operations from extensive home

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Hays’ experiences in the commercial agriculture industry gave him a wealth of knowledge to draw upon, but he knew there had to be a better way to do it.

gardening, commercial pig production, row crop farming and commercial hay production, to now regenerative farming, raising grass-fed/grass-finished beef, pastured pork, pastured chicken and pastured eggs,” he says.

“At a very young age, my first influences were my mother, grandpa and uncle,” he says. “Although regenerative agriculture was not even a term back then, they instilled the importance of taking care of the soil, and that has always been a concern for me. Much later in life I read “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” and became aware of the regenerative movement, and began looking deeply into what was going on there. I also quickly became aware of what Gabe Brown was doing, and since then Understanding Ag has been a huge influence on me. My biggest influence of all to starting managing in a regenerative way was my observations over the years that what I was doing was in fact not helping the soil. It was taking it backward. I began searching for answers and they began exposing themselves the more I searched.”

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The mission of Hays Family Farm has always been health: health for the soil, health for the crops and animals that nourish us, and health for the consumer.

“Hays Family Farm’s vision is to regenerate health from the ground up, and our

mission is to help you eat healthy,” Hays says. “We started Hays Family Farm to offer our community a local source of healthy foods while having a positive effect on the ecosystem we are part of and responsible for stewarding.”

Hays Family Farm proudly offers a wide variety of all-natural, 100% grass-fed/ grass-finished beef for sale. They also sell pasture-raised pork, chicken, eggs, and even all-natural honey. If that isn’t enough, they even deliver their products around the greater Indianapolis area.

With the farm’s competitive prices, there’s never been a better time to consume responsibly. While the savings are great for any budget, the real benefactor is the customer’s health.

“There is lots of exciting data becoming available about the nutrient density of foods raised under regenerative practices,” Hays says. “We are seeing research data being put together under the leadership of Dr. Stephan Van Vliet at Utah State University that shows meats raised under truly regenerative systems are much more nutrient dense, and contain many times more phytonutrients than conventionally raised meats. Eating these healthier foods will have a very positive effect on our personal health. Regenerative farming can improve not only the health of our soils, but the health of our lives.”

With the coming of the new year, the Hays family will take over management of an additional 150 acres of land and continue to expand their regenerative operations. In addition to the actual farm work, the Hays family also seeks to educate the community on the benefits and methods of regenerative farming.

They offer various classes and seminars throughout the year for anyone who wants to learn more.

If you would like more information about Hays Family Farm, visit their website at haysfamilyfarm.net, follow them on social media, or stop by the farm for some fresh meat.

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