After 2 years in Ripple & Co., Greyhouse eyes its own spot downtown

Plus, national attention for a student-led climate change movement started at West Lafayette High School.

Thanks this morning to sponsor Stuart & Branigin for support to help make this edition of the Based in Lafayette reporting project possible.

This and that on a Saturday/holiday weekend morning …

(Photo: Dave Bangert)

GREYHOUSE AND DOWNTOWN LAFAYETTE: The great experiment of planting a Greyhouse Coffee & Supply Co. counter in upper Main Street’s Ripple & Co. in March 2020 will come to an end at the close of Saturday.

Greyhouse, opened 14 years ago and anchored a few blocks from campus in downtown West Lafayette, will stick around downtown Lafayette, though. Ali Wisthuff, Greyhouse’s managing director, confirmed that the coffeehouse will go with a standalone spot at 524 Main St., as soon as fall 2022.

Signs went up on the windows this week.

“We could not be more excited about this opportunity,” Wisthuff said.

She said called the new space “a full-concept restaurant,” featuring counter service for coffee, espresso and doughnuts, along with a larger menu than other Greyhouse locations for breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner.

Wisthuff said Greyhouse considered several options with space in new developments in downtown Lafayette. The nonprofit coffeehouse run by Campus House settled on a store front – in the same block with McCord Candies, Bistro 501 and Yatagarasu – that was home until recently to Folie, a high-end restaurant preparing to move a few blocks away on North Fourth Street.

“Being inside Ripple introduced us to the variety of guests that frequent downtown restaurants, including city and county employees, local business owners, out-of-town travelers, families, graduate students, work-from-home professionals and so many more,” Wisthuff said. “We loved watching people come in to Ripple at all different hours of the day for meals together, to grab coffee on their way somewhere, to socialize over a lattes in the afternoon, and sometimes multiple reasons in the same day. We intend to provide another excellent option and space for people to gather.  We believe that the more great options Main Street has, the more downtown will become a frequent destination and place we all want to spend our time.”

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Students with Confront the Climate Crisis march across the John T. Myers Bridge in August 2021. (Photo: Dave Bangert)

CONGRATS TO WEST SIDE-BORN CONFRONT THE CLIMATE CRISIS: Annabel Prokopy and Ethan Bledsoe, 2022 West Lafayette High School graduates, this week were named regional winners of the President’s Environmental Youth Award for their work with Confront the Climate Crisis. The award comes from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the White House Council on Environmental Quality. It was one of 10 for student-led projects that “promote awareness of natural resources and encourages positive community involvement.” Confront the Climate Crisis took the award for a region that includes Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

The project started in 2019 with a group of West Lafayette students, motivated by the Fridays for Future movement, organized what they called the West Lafayette Global Climate Strike. The students pressed the city and Tippecanoe County to set goals to reduce their carbon footprint and other environmental moves. Since then, the group has expanded statewide, taking its lobbying efforts to the Statehouse.

“Looking back, it is stunning to see how our movement has grown from a small group of West Lafayette freshmen who wanted to see local action on a global issue,” Prokopy said. “Receiving this award is a huge step for Confront, and not only validates our initiatives but will motivate the team as we prepare for our next legislative push at the Statehouse. Especially with the recent Supreme Court ruling regarding the EPA, it is clear that state-led efforts for climate action are critical.”

Prokopy, who will head to IU in the fall, said Confront the Climate Crisis will remain a high school-led group, with leaders coming from West Lafayette and Carmel high schools.

“Ethan and I hope that by receiving this award, the success of Confront the Climate Crisis will motivate others across the country to step up and work for climate action in their own communities and states,” Prokopy said.

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CASA CYCLING CHALLENGE: The Subaru CASA Cycling Challenge – 24-hour team event on the Subaru plant’s two-mile test track – is set for Aug. 6-7. (Yes, Bangert Brothers will field a team, as always.) The event is the major fundraiser for the CASAs for Kids Fund and the Tippecanoe County CASA program. CASA stands for court-appointed special advocates, volunteers assigned to advocate for abused and neglected kids as they and their families deal with the court system. In 2021, the CASAs and staff advocated for 407 children, making 27,727 contacts with youth and people involved in their cases, according to the program. The CASAs for Kids Fund – which provides money for extras the court doesn’t offer, such as sports equipment, summer camp fees, band instrument rentals and more – provided $87,000 to the cause.

The ride starts at 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 6. Entry: $160 for individual riders, $80 for team riders. Teams may have up to 12 riders, who take shifts on the track. To register or for more details, go to www.casachallenge.org.

Thanks, again, to sponsor Stuart & Branigin for helping make this edition of the Based in Lafayette reporting project happen.

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Tips or story ideas? I’m at davebangert1@gmail.com. Also on Twitter and Instagram.