This and That: A 21st night of September edition
Do you remember? Some quick notes on a busy festival Saturday.
Sponsorship help for this edition comes from Duke Energy, promoting Wonders on the Wabash, Sept. 24-26 and Oct. 1-2. The program was created by the Tippecanoe County Partnership for Water Quality for sixth-grade classrooms, allowing students to experience the Wabash River during a four-mile rafting trip from Davis Ferry Park to Tapawingo Park. Wonders on the Wabash is looking for volunteers to help, including on the raft trips. To sign up or get more details, go to: www.tippecanoe.in.gov/969/Volunteer-Information
This and that for a Saturday …
GREATER LAFAYETTE HOSTS GERMAN DELEGATION: Greater Lafayette officials this week welcomed a delegation from the Düren District in Germany, who were in Tippecanoe County exploring relationships and possible future developments from the rural area in North Rhine-Westphalia.
The visit came about through a past connection with Purdue.
Volker Wittberg, vice president for research and development at the private Fachhochschule des Mittelstands University of Applied Sciences, told those at a reception Wednesday at the Lafayette Country Club that he suggested Greater Lafayette when Düren District leaders suggested exploring transatlantic partnerships with similarly situated communities.
Wittberg had done graduate-level work at Purdue’s Krannert School of Management more than 30 years ago. He said the German district, near the border with Belgium with a population of roughly 280,000, is focusing on a shift in its economy, moving from being a coal mining region to meet the country’s decision to move toward emerging energy technologies including hydrogen development by 2030. He said he suggested Greater Lafayette and Purdue from his personal experience, comparing the similarly sized communities situated between major metropolitan areas – between Indianapolis and Chicago here and near Cologne, Dusseldorf and Aachen in Germany.
“There’s so much which they have in common,” Wittberg said. “I appreciate this as a kind of beginning of much more intensive conversation.”
The two-day visit included tours at Purdue and Greater Lafayette industry. Dennis Carson, Lafayette’s economic development director, said no firm plans or proposed projects. “This is more of a get to know each other thing right now,” Carson said.
“I think everybody in this community knows how we do really like to build relationships and build those relationships around the globe,” Lafayette Mayor Tony Roswarski said. “That's how we're successful, by being able to do that in cultural exchanges of information, not only just business, but on more personal things. … I’m very excited about what this collaboration could mean for us.”
WEST SIDE NAMES ITS WALL OF PRIDE CLASS OF ’25: Six West Lafayette High School graduates and one teacher were named as the 2025 class for the school’s Wall of Pride, the West Lafayette Alumni Association announced this week in time for the school’s Homecoming
The class will join 32 other alumni and seven educators who have been placed on the Wall of Fame for their contributions to their fields. Ceremonies and classroom visits will be in April 2025.
This year’s class includes:
Arnold Chen, class of 1988, associate professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue.
Judith Edstrom, class in 1966, senior manager at World Bank.
Jerrell Jimerson, class of 1983, a technology and media executive.
Jay McDowell, class of 1987, musician, including former bassist with country act BR5-49.
Maura Pierce, class of 1982, senior protocol officer for the Office of the Chief of Protocol, U.S. Department of State.
Brian M. Rosenthal, class of 2007, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter with the New York Times
Kathy Trout, who was a West Lafayette art teacher from 1979 to 2001.
The Wall of Fame is selected from nominations by alumni, parents, current West Lafayette students, faculty, staff and administrators and West Lafayette residents. Nominees are reviewed and selected by a committee comprised of West Lafayette High School administrators, alumni and members of the West Lafayette Schools Education Foundation.
Chad Rodgers, principal at West Lafayette Junior-Senior High School shares, “The Wall of Pride was established for the purpose of celebrating how proud we are of our alumni and the success of our schools.
“It is our hope that the Wall of Pride inductees will be an inspiration for generations of West Lafayette students, community members and alumni,” Chad Rodgers, West Lafayette Jr.-Sr. High School principal, said in a release this week. “We are proud to be able to celebrate alumni who are true leaders and have made an impact in fields such as the arts, sciences, engineering, technology, law, business, music, sports and academia.”
BOILERS’ PROSPECTS AT OREGON STATE: J&C reporter Sam King has the unenviable task to predicting the score of Saturday’s Purdue-Oregon State game in Corvallis. After last week’s 66-7 loss to Notre Dame, King asks …: “Can Boilers rebound?” His answer, ahead of the 8:30 p.m. kickoff: “Breaking down Purdue football's road trip to Oregon State.”
A GLOBAL FEST SATURDAY: Here’s a reminder that West Lafayette’s annual Global Fest runs from 3-10 p.m. Saturday in the Chauncey Village area. Here are details, links and more, via what Based in Lafayette’s Tim Brouk had to say about it from Thursday’s “Tim’s Picks:” West Lafayette’s annual free celebration of international culture will once again take over Chauncey Village for an afternoon and evening of nonstop eats, beats via Purdue Convocations and cultural treats. It’s the 29th edition of the festival, which started at the Morton Center but has found a new home out on Northwestern Avenue. Exotic aromas from food from around the world will fill the air while Purdue performance groups Black Voices of Inspiration, Purdue Chinese Performing Arts Troupe, Okinawa Yuyukai and Purdue AAARCC Lion Dance Team will put on shows throughout. Music headliners this year will be Brazilian singer Bia Ferreira (5:30 p.m.), Yemen Blues (7:30 p.m.) and Balkan Paradise Orchestra (9 p.m.), an all-female brass, woodwinds and drums band from Barcelona, Spain. Admission is free.
For a taste, this is “Amchoor,” from Balkan Paradise Orchestra.
And “Allenby” by Yemen Blues:
PLAYING SATURDAY: WABOO MUSIC FESTIVAL 2024: WABOO stands for “We Are Because of Others.” From 2-9 p.m. Saturday, WABOO stands for a ton of music in a fundraiser for the mental health services by nonprofits NAMI-West Central Indiana and Willowstone Family Services. The music will be at the Howarth Center, 615 N. 18th St. The local music lineup: 2:15 p.m., Lauren Grace; 3:15 p.m., Velvet; 4:15 p.m., Amanda Fletcher; 5:20 p.m., Fur Coat Jesus; 6:20 p.m., Ben Shapell; 7:20 p.m., Mugshot Murphys. Tickets: $20 for general admission, $10 for students, free for those under 10. For tickets and more information, here’s a link.
‘A MORE PERFECT UNION’ PERFORMANCE SATURDAY: The Daughters of the American Revolution and Of Thee I Sing will partner for a concert 6 p.m. Saturday as a fundraiser for a historic marker to commemorate when Frederick Douglass gave a speech in Lafayette in 1867. The concert, “A More Perfect Union: Songs and Stories of Early American History,” will feature Audrey Johnson – Of Thee I Sing’s founder – and Claire Tchoula, who leads the Lafayette band Sheeza. Admission is free. Free-will donations collected at the show will go toward a marker commemorating Douglass’ April 19, 1867, visit to help raise funds to purchase Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church at 820 Ferry St. The concert starts at 6 p.m. at River City Community Center, 2842 Old U.S. 231 South in Lafayette. The program is free, but reservations are required. To request tickets, email: gdldar.programs@gmail.com.
HUNGER HIKE SUNDAY: This year marks the 30th anniversary for the Hunger Hike, a Greater Lafayette fundraising event that benefits Lafayette Urban Ministry, Food Finders Food Bank and St. Thomas Aquinas’s Haiti Ministry. The walk starts at 1 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 18, at Riehle Plaza, Second and Main streets in downtown Lafayette. For more information and to register yourself or a group, go to hungerhike.org.
PLEASE, STOP: Via the South Bend Tribune, “Police want to know who keeps urinating in the candles at South Bend Avenue Dollar Tree.”
AND FINALLY …: It is the 21st night of September, after all.
Thanks again for sponsorship help for this edition comes from Duke Energy, promoting Wonders on the Wabash, Sept. 24-26 and Oct. 1-2. For details on volunteer opportunities, go to: www.tippecanoe.in.gov/969/Volunteer-Information
Thank you for supporting Based in Lafayette, an independent, local reporting project. Free and full-ride subscription options are ready for you here.
Tips, story ideas? I’m at davebangert1@gmail.com.
Reservations are no longer required for the performance tonight: “For a More Perfect Union.” Little-known songs and stories about the constitution. Free! Just show up for this wonderful performance with costume changes and even “George Washington” strolling the audience beforehand. Starts at 6. Doors open at 5.
Now my day is about wondering if candle pissing is super low-key anarchy, misguided fire safety, or target practice.