In 10 minutes, you can go anywhere in our city. It's a great life and you can have an impact.
45 years ago, a Monsonian put together a 70.3 Endurathon. That's so cool.
In several areas of the city, come out and dream and tell me what is it you want?
If you could sit down with people all across the country and say, hey, let me pitch you on Muncie, what would you say to them?
From South Bend to Evansville and everywhere in between. This is Get IN, the show focused on the Hoosier State and the incredible stories happening here today. I'm Nate Spanel, founder of Get Indiana, and I will be your host for today's conversation. This is our special Mayor's Megaphone series that we're doing in partnership with Make My Move, the platform where communities attract new residents with cash incentives, networking, and local perks.
We're sitting down with mayors across the state to get their pitch about what makes their community a great place to live and why you should think about moving next.
My guest today is Mayor Dan Ridenour. He's the current mayor of Muncie, Indiana. Now, he took office back in 2020 and then was reelected to a second term in 2023.
During his time as mayor, he and his team have emphasized housing and quality of life. Which has led to population increases in each of the last three years. This is after 50 years of declines. Now, mayor Ridenour has been a resident of Muncie for the last 25 years. Today we're gonna dive into Muncie's storied past and promising Future, learn about how they're generating so much momentum here in Delaware County and Muncie specifically, and talk about why Muncie Indiana is a great place to call home.
Mayor Ridenour, welcome to the show.
Well, thank you. It's my pleasure to be here.
Now, people that are watching might realize we're in a little bit of a different location today. This is our first Mayor's Megaphone, uh, episode where we are up in Muncie. We're in the mayor's office and we're gonna dive into all things Muncie.
Shout out to our friends that make my move. We're helping make the connections here and get this together. I'm really excited to dive into, so a lot of people, the first place they might have heard about Muncie, Indiana. Could have been from a Toby Keith song, if anyone knows back in the early two thousands, he talks about, talk about your aunt up in Muncie, Indiana.
You know what I'm talking about? I do. I do. Yes. Yes. And so Muncie is a lot more than just some lyrics in a Toby Keith song. And I really like to start with the history of Muncie. If anyone knows about ball jars, Ball State, the Ball Memorial Hospital, like this family is ingrained into the DNA that is Muncie.
Uh, where did this. Early connection with the ball family and the city of Muncie and Ball State start to come to prominence.
Well, and I will admit that this was, uh, long before I was involved, uh, but from history, I know that, uh, back in the late 18 hundreds, um, 1880 or so, uh, the, there was. Plentiful Natural Gas.
A group of individuals, uh, from the Muncie area went up and talked to the ball brothers who had a canning plant, a glass manufacturer up in the Buffalo, New York area, and encouraged them with, um, incentives on, uh, low. Fuel costs, gas, uh, natural gas. Yeah. Uh, and they ended up put moving their manufacturing here.
That grew to where they not only got involved in, in those areas, but in the end, the ball brothers through foundations and through their gifts, uh, created Ball Memorial Hospital. Which is now part of the IU Health Network and a large regional hospital and Ball State Teachers College, which ultimately became Ball State University and Ball Brothers Foundation and the George and Frances Ball Foundation.
Both are, are operated here and are very philanthropic. Help a lot of our nonprofits and other, uh. Items that we're trying to do, maybe with parks and schools and and so forth. So the ball family, we are very appreciative to everything that they've put into the Muncie area. And that's, that's why there's the Ball State.
Yeah. That's why there's a Ball Memorial Hospital. And, and they started it with a manufacturing plant.
Well, this is like, this is the late 18 hundreds, early 19 hundreds. This is kind of like one of Indiana's probably first forays into economic development. It sure was. And like recruiting, uh, attracting, you know.
Industry and commerce to come to the state of Indiana. That's pretty cool. And then you think about like the ball family in Muncie, it's synonymous. You think of Lilly in Indianapolis, you think of Wrights down in Evansville. Studebaker up in South Bend. Like this is, it's a staple of, um, of the area here.
And it's, it's pretty cool. I didn't know the original story. Obviously people know about ball jars. Yes. And you know how that became such a huge industry. I, I'd love to dive into what got you excited. About the idea of, of becoming the mayor of Muncie. Like where along this journey did you say, you know what, I think I wanna run for mayor.
Uh, I think there's some opportunity there and, and I'm fired up and excited about that.
Well, uh, it certainly wasn't something that I was looking at doing, you know, as a, as a young kid, I didn't see I want to be mayor of a city. No, that's, that's not where I was always wanted to be in business. Ended up in banking and spent a number of decades in the banking industry, was working here in Muncie.
Driving in from Carmel and, and, uh, we ended up moving because we loved the size of the community. We loved the fact that there was a university which provided all types of opportunities for entertainment, um, employment, uh, recreation, uh, and, uh, sports division one sports. So, uh, we, we moved here that it was, uh, everything that you need.
It is within 10 minutes, and I didn't have to deal with I-465 every day. I was gonna
say, so you were, you were commuting in from Carmel. This would've been what, early two thousands? Yeah. Or late, late nineties or two. Okay. What was the moment where it clicked for you and your family that, Hey, I, I should move to Muncie?
Yeah. Actually it was getting to know the people here.
Yeah.
And you, I, I, on, I felt like I could make a difference here. Um, I could make a difference. I always was philanthropic. My dad was a pastor and so, uh, we moved around to a lot of different communities as I was growing up. Um, in high school I was a Frankfort Hot Dog.
Oh. So we were Frankfurt, uh, but we moved around a lot. So I saw a lot of different communities and I loved the trail system that they have here, uh, which we can talk to. Um. About later if you want. Just enjoyed the people here. Very philanthropic. In fact, there's been studies done and, and I know that the people of Muncie give more per capita than any other community in the state.
Um, and you can feel that when you're talking to people. You can feel that when you're relating with them. And, um, I, we were having good success on the business side of things in the, in the banking world. And, um, we just decided to, to make this our home. Yeah, and I love it.
Right. I mean, and then after, oh my gosh, I'm gonna do some public math almost 20 years.
At some point, the idea to run for mayor starts to get circulated, and you end up doing that. What were, what were the final dominoes that got you excited to want to run for Mayor of Muncie, Indiana?
Well, you know, it, it was a combination of things. Number one, I talked to my wife first and she gave permission.
Here's the, here's the thing. It being mayor, uh, is a lot of responsibility and, uh, provides you the ability to have a major impact and leave a legacy, but it doesn't pay well. So I was a regional VP with a, a local bank, but our kids were already graduated, two graduated from Ball State, so all four of 'em were out of college.
Uh, three of 'em were married, and my wife and I were positioned to where we could give back to the community. And so I thought that. Let me see what we can do. We'll try and, uh, put Muncie on a positive direction. She gave permission, the bank gave permission that if I won, they knew I'd resign and I did win.
Yeah. Uh, if I lost, they weren't gonna take my job.
Yeah.
Uh, so we put, put that all in place and, but it was never something that was on my radar as something I wanted to do. I just wanted to get back to the community. They've given it so much to me.
Yeah. And, you know, there are certain individuals who, you know.
Donating their treasure, like donating money is a way to give back and other people you can make a larger impact with your time. And you think about like, you know, dedicating, I'm sure 40 plus hours a week, 52 weeks, a like, like the job mayor. Never, you can't clock out of being the mayor of Muncie, right?
No, it's. It's, no, it's a 24 hour, uh, 365.
What did campaigning look like? Like how do you go out and start to one, build a platform of like, Hey, this is what I think would be a good, a good vision for the future of Muncie, and how do you start to distill that out? To the citizens of Muncie,
one of the things that I noticed is that it wasn't easy for the public to get documents and know what was going on in the city.
So one of the things that I campaigned for, and we achieved uh, early on in 2020, was to make all the documents of every city council meeting public. Uh, and so it was made available to the public online. Uh, if they go to the city's website, muncie.in.gov, if you go to that website, you can get the documents for the council meeting.
At the same time that the council members get it, the public is able to then review what's going on, what proposals are out there, what streets are being changed, or, um, alleys are vacated, all the little. Things, but also what developments are going on. So I wanted to make sure that happened, um, and we were able to do that.
But my main thing was I, you know, in banking I would, I would often come in and build up a territory, uh, sometimes from scratch. So one of the banks I opened up offices in, in eight or nine different cities and created a region. Um, so I was always growth oriented. So, yeah. Um. My focus was how do we get Muncie on a positive growth phase?
And you guys have achieved that. You know, the last, what was it, the last three years you guys have showed population growth.
Yeah. The Muncie, MSA we're our own MSA. Yeah. So we're separate from Indianapolis. Uh, we're next to the mun, the Indianapolis metropolitan area.
It's, yeah, the Indianapolis Metro Stretches all isn't like Indianapolis-Anderson all the way
to Anderson
though, which is so.
Thing to me that they include Anderson and our MSA. So your guys are the
Muncie? We we're our own. Yeah. And so we were a a little over 111,000 when I took office. And we're over 112,000 now. Yeah. Uh, so, uh, a thousand, uh, additional. People have moved here. We've added 922 new households, and the important thing for me is when you look at that 922 households means 922 households.
Who are students in your public schools? 922 households that are all gonna need to have their haircut. Um, they're gonna need to go to get their food, restaurants, they're gonna do all those things. Yeah. So it grows that economy. So that was the purpose all along. 922 households is incredible, especially after 50 years of no growth.
That's right. And, and, you know, and not that it was the fault of the, uh, the leaders at that particular time, but the automobile industry fell apart. And Muncie and Anderson in particular, those two communities, uh, lost tens of thousands of jobs. In the automotive industry.
Okay. So if you think back to 50 years prior, the big industry around Muncie was Automo Automotive.
It was
what? Like what were the big, you know, stable employers?
Well, we had, there was a big Chevy plant, which is on a 53 acre site here in Muncie. And there was 78 acre site was a BorgWarner plant. Yeah. There was also a Westinghouse plant now that's been converted to something else now. But, uh, uh, so industry was, was big and the number one employer at that particular time.
Yeah.
So generating momentum again, after 50 years of population decline, you, you stack three years back to back to back of positive population growth. What's the secret? Like, what was the first thing you get? Did the celebration ends. You wake up the next day and you're like, all right, now we get to work.
How do you start to build some positive momentum?
You have to take a chance, so to speak. Uh, but one of the things that we did is we did an inventory and there were a lot of houses that might've been torn down over the, over the past decades, and we took a lot of those individual lots and sold them to developers who then put houses in that.
We did that multiple times in those first few years. And, uh, we encourage, there's an apartment building just across the, from our office here. It was not easy to encourage them to invest here, uh, because of the decline. Uh, but they've been a hundred percent full. It's market priced right on the river right downtown, and they've been a hundred percent occupied since they opened.
I, as I talk to more people, whether they're in government or they're mayors. A big problem seems to be housing and it's kind of like a chicken or an egg, uh, debate, I feel like, where it's, you wanna bring industry, you wanna bring growth, more jobs, but employers are hesitant to invest in places unless there's housing for their workers.
How do you guys think about that? I know housing was a huge part of your platform coming in.
It has been. Uh, you know, so we are in a situation where we have 8,867 people. Who drive in from out of county into Muncie every day to work.
That's a lot.
That's a lot. Yes. And none of those people are paying income taxes in Delaware County, and yet we're providing the services when they're here driving and they're using our public safety and so forth, uh, while they're at work.
Um. We're not receiving revenues for that. So our purpose was to get some of those people to move here. That's what we've been doing by building housing. One of the things that we did, we took an old school that had been torn down, um, and it was on a large site, maybe 20 acres of a site. We built our own subdivision.
Uh, the city did, it was only 34 apart, 40, 34 lots, but it was four single family homes. We added walking trails 'cause I'm a big athlete, uh, fan. Um, and, uh, we also put in a park, we encouraged a national developer. Uh, we built the subdivision, so we put in the streets, the infrastructure and sold them all of the lots.
And they said, based on the history. Because they were looking at the population decline. They said, we'll take a chance. 'cause it's small, only 34 lots. Uh, but we think it'll take three years to sell all those lots. Uh, maybe seven a year. So three to four years, they sold out all of those lots in five months.
Holy.
And so that helped. Prove to us that of those 8,864 people who drive in every day more would live here if we had ample housing and we had the right opportunities for them to buy and, uh, buy or rent housing. So that's where we really pushed forward at that point. And, uh, we now have several, uh, subdivisions under the way.
We've got apartment buildings going up. We've got, um, apartments going up on our greenway, our trail system. Um, so we just have a number of things and we've partnered with Ball State University for a number of housing opportunities that are not for students, therefore faculty and staff. And that's what's important,
which I'm sure a lot of those, you said over 8,000 people drive in, you know, they live outside of Delaware County, drive in for, uh, employment.
I'm sure the university has a chunk of those jobs where people live. Yes. All around and then come in to work at the university.
They do. And where it's also important for us as a community and for Ball State in recruiting staffing, we want those people. And Ball State wants them to live here because they will invest and give back.
Mm-hmm.
Where they live.
Yeah.
And so it's important.
Yeah. That is so fascinating. One of the things I'm curious about, so. The total MSA of Muncie is what?
112,907.
A hundred. 12,907.
Yeah.
So there's a hundred and over 112,000 individuals in Muncie that all have, oh, I don't, I won't say that. All have a vision or they have ideas of what they'd like in their community.
One of the hardest things I feel about being a mayor of a place like Muncie would be listening and hearing all of your constituents, all the citizens here, intaking all that information. And making decisions. How are you and your staff able to hear about what the locals want and then execute that and, and build this positive momentum?
Well, one of the ways that we can do it, and I don't know if they can see this board behind us, but it's a map of all the neighborhoods that are established neighborhoods here in Muncie. So we went out, when I was campaigning in 2019, before I won the election for mayor, I did something, uh. In several areas of the city where I, I called it Dream with Dan, and I asked the public to come out and dream and tell me what is it you want.
Yeah.
And I'll just give you an example. One of the things that we got over 300 ideas, but one of them that came out is several of the neighborhoods said We want. Upgraded parks and we'd like to have a nice splash pad. So we put in splash pads. Uh, we did two the first year and won the second year and won the third year in four different sections of our city in neighborhood parks.
Not in our big parks, but in our neighborhood parks. Yeah. And that was very successful. That came directly from those dream with. Dan meetings with the public. So we try and ask the public, what are you looking to do? Um, and because we have so many established neighborhoods, and a lot of that was helped and started through the Ball State University through students, uh, because we have so many established neighborhoods, we're able to get good feedback.
Yeah. So over 300 ideas. What was like the wildest one where if you were like, if I had a magic wand and I could just like tap it and make it happen, like that would be a great idea, but maybe it takes a longer term to execute than, you know, you can just, than, than putting in a splash pad
financially. What w what everybody wanted was all the roads fixed.
Yeah. Um, and that is just not something that's within the financial means of really, of any city, but we've made good progress on that. Yeah. But that, that's, that was a, a crazy idea. But, um, they want. Entertainment places. Yeah. Uh, but parks are something that are free to the public, uh, that we want. We've felt like if we could upgrade
our parks and we've, we've added two new parks.
Yeah. And, uh, we've upgraded 14 of our parks. Now we have 32,
which is in, yeah. When you talk about roads, it's like, it's literally like a treadmill, you know? It's like as soon as you're like. Fixing one spot, then the next spot needs to be fixed. And then by the time you get all those done, then you're back to the original spot that you fixed and it just never stops there.
Yeah, no, it's a, it's an ongoing process that's very expensive, but, uh, is necessary. And we, uh, and just like other cities, we, we work to help solve those issues.
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I
love that our state is thinking about direct talent attraction like this. It's just another example of Hoosier hospitality and action. Now let's get back to the episode.
Now, one piece that you guys are really focused on as well. So housing, obviously there it is just that quality of place, quality of life in Muncie, uh, and, and you've been working on attracting people, not only the people who work in Muncie and travel in, but people from all across the state, all across the country to, you know, think about building a life in Muncie and you guys have really become even more en entangled with Ball State and becoming.
The identity of a college town. Talk to me about going through that and really leaning into that and building this, this message to the nation that Muncie is a place to come and raise a family and, and build a great life.
Along those lines, there's been a number of studies done and Muncie is viewed and called.
You can look it up, and Muncie is called Middletown, USA.
That was one of the original nicknames,
right? Yes, that's, that's right. So we are viewed as the average size, uh, community across the country at 65,000 people, um, inside the city limits and 112,000 in the metro area. We know that it's, uh, it's less expensive and less crowded than the large metropolitan areas, and a lot of people want that.
The more people who are able to work remote. They are choosing not the super large communities that are very congested, but they're choosing other places. We play off Ball State University for the Make My Move program in particular. We play off the Ball State University 'cause it provides so many opportunities for a family to move here.
The one may work remote. The other spouse could easily get employment along with thousands of others here at Ball State University.
Yeah.
So we, we play off that. We have a great trail system.
Yeah. Is this a Cardinal Greenway?
The Cardinal Greenway and the White River Greenway.
Totally underrated. You know, like, I think I was looking into it and I kept seeing stuff pop up about this.
It's a phenomenal trail system.
It is, it's the, it's the longest, uh, in the state. It's 62 miles long. You can actually go from Marion all the way to Richmond, 4: no way
on the trail system, and it goes right by our reservoir. A lot of people don't understand or remember that we have a reservoir and Iron Man does events out there and other triathlons are out there.
Yeah. We have the open water swimming championships for the state every year, uh, or at least the last few years. Yeah. And, um.
Well, and, and one thing, it's, it's one thing to say we have great trails. You know, lots of, you know, mayors have that on their list. You are avidly familiar with the trail system here.
You are an endurance athlete all on your own. You've done, uh, was it the 73.3 here in Muncie?
I did.
And you've done several marathons. So you're out there using these trails. I don't know. Frequently,
every day. Well, I, I run four days a week.
Yeah.
And I do, I exercise seven days a week, but I run four days a week.
Yeah. And I always prefer to do it outside.
Oh my
gosh. My cardiologist, our cardiologist won't let me do it outside if it's under 30 degrees. But the rest of the time I'm on this trail system, this trail system, I don't live too far from here.
Yeah.
And um. We, we moved from a more suburban location, uh, into the city and we bought an 1892 house that we're refurbishing.
And I like to tell people that now I'm 27 steps. From the trail system
27
out my front door onto the trail system. That's incredible. So we're right. Incredible. That's incredible. I love it. So, um, and you know, and, and it, we see a lot of dog walkers and, and, uh, runners and, and on bikes and Yeah, the, the trail system here is pretty remarkable.
Um, most of it, a lot of it is on both sides of the White River. All of it is on the north side of the White River, but we've, we've put in additional. Parking park areas that connect, um, both sides of the river so that there's nice loops for those who like for walking or riding their bikes or running, uh, those loop systems.
So you can do a five mile or a six mile or whatever you wanna do.
One of the things I thought was really interesting, so back in either 21 or 22, you guys hosted a full Iron Man in 2221.
In 21. Yeah. We were the one of only eight cities in the world. That had a full and a seven. It had a 140.6 Yeah. And a 70.3 on the same day at the same time.
Wow.
So it was, it was wild.
Yeah.
And that's the one that I did.
Yeah.
Um, I was not a triathlete. I do a lot of running, but I, I had to work on my swimming and, and biking and get used to doing that type of distance. But, uh, the Ironman has told me I'm the only sitting mayor. So far the only sitting mayor who has ever done their Iron Man event in their own city.
That's pretty cool. Yeah. And you think about how many they host a year. They're in tons of big cities. I mean, you're talking even about like Kona, like Hawaii. That's crazy. Yeah. That none of the other mayors. Have taken the example of Mayor Ridenour and done their own competition. Yeah. That, that puts you, that's special.
It Well, I, I view it as very special.
Yeah.
I'm very proud of that.
The other interesting thing though was that was not Muncie first foray into endurance events. So the 70.3. It is currently under the Iron Man brand. Yes. But you guys have been hosting a 70.3 endurance event for. A ton of years.
Yeah. This, this past year was our 45th year of having a consecutive 70.3 event.
My Iron Man bought out what was called Muncie Endurathon.
Yeah.
Um, they bought that out, I don't know, 10 or 15 years ago and it's, it's now an Iron Man event every year and the only one held in Indiana. But yeah, we've had it for 45 years. We're looking forward to the 50th.
Yeah. Coming up in a few more years.
I mean, that's super cool that. Is there a nickname? Like what is someone from Muncie? What is that nickname? Like a, A Muncie. I like, what would you say that that name is?
Monsonian.
A Monsonian. That's crazy. That 45 years ago, a Monsonian said, you know what? Let's put together a 70.3 Enduro on I. That's so cool.
Uh, I love that.
Well, because of the reservoir, it makes it, uh, very attractive for people. Mm. Uh, it's good swimming and then we work with, work with the state and we close down the state highway. Um, so that it's a closed bike course.
Yeah.
Which helps the bikers feel safer.
Oh, absolutely. That is the one part.
So I, I live in Indianapolis and I love running, um, and I just haven't been able to get into biking 'cause I'm always a little bit on edge. Like, I just feel like biking on the side of roads is just a little bit out there for me and I'm always a little bit nervous. So yeah, having that, like the safe, secure, like road shut down just helps you breathe a little bit easier as you're hoofing a, um, an endurance event.
That's right.
The one thing I'm curious about, obviously, you know, you can't sit down and talk to everyone all across the country and say, these are all the great reasons that, you know, Muncie is a great place to build a life. But if you could, if you could sit down with. People all across the country and for an hour, for however long and say, Hey, let me pitch you on Muncie.
What would you say to them?
You know, I recently talked with somebody who moved here from Seattle and we were chatting and I said, you know, you can have an impact in other people's lives in a community this size. We have lower cost of living. We have a lot less traffic. We've got, uh, great restaurants.
We've got a, a great downtown and unbelievable, we've got a river running through it. Uh, we've got trails, uh, we've got great employment, good stable employment when with ball hospitals. Our largest employer and medical is the second largest employer. Um, and then we've got a lot of manufacturing. We've had some tech companies move their headquarters here, so we've got a lot of things going on.
Um, and yet you don't have to live in and around. Um, that major mega traffic and congestion that, that some people have to do in 10 minutes, you can go anywhere in our city. Yeah. And that's wonderful. It's a great life and you can have an impact.
I think that is a big key factor where it's not. Necessarily like a small town, you know, you think of no, like I'm from a town of 1500 people.
So like that's a small town and you think about there's not always the same opportunities, but it's not a big city where you can get lost. Like if you are driven and you wanna make an impact, you can come to a place, you can come to Muncie and you get plugged in. And I do like what you're saying about stable employ.
When you have the name ball on several of your major employers, like that's synonymous with Muncie. It's synonymous to Delaware County and it's not going, like, not going anywhere. That's right. Which is, which is pretty cool, I would say. What gets you the most excited as you look forward to, you know, your future as mayor and just the future of Muncie as as a whole?
What are you the most excited about?
Well, the, the, the fact that we're bringing in more people to enjoy. The life that the citizens of Muncie showed to me when I moved here in two, 2000, in the early two thousands. The fact that more people are choosing this as a location, that's just great trajectory in in my mind, and I'm thrilled for my, kids and my grandkids. Mm-hmm. Um, and I think Muncie has got a great future. Yeah. Because of that.
Well, a lot of people that listen to the show or watch us online, they're always looking for, you know, whether it's a weekend trip or a day trip to go explore the state. They're just like, you know what? I feel like there's just been this whole movement around, you know, being a better Hoosier, like exploring your state, whether it's Evansville or South Bend, or Fort Wayne or Northwest Indiana or Muncie.
So if you were planning the perfect weekend getaway in Muncie for a visitor to come in and see what it's all about, how would you, what, what kind of things would you put on the itinerary for a weekend getaway in Muncie, Indiana?
Probably narrow it down to three or four things. Yeah. If, if you like running, there's nothing better than our trail system.
It, it's just, that's just it. If you like sailing, uh, the Muncie Sailing Club, there's all kinds of sailboats and, and it's a great opportunity.
Yeah.
If you like art. The David Owsley Museum at Ball State University is probably one of the, one of the top 20 in the country with the exhibits that they have.
Yeah. Uh, so that, that's one. Minnetrista Cultural Center is another place that I think people could spend hours and hours and hours. It is the location to where many of the ball mansions were. Uh, and they're, so they're still there, but that's also where Bob Ross did his. Exhibits. And so we have regular people who come in all across the C world.
Uh, we've had international, many international visitors have come in to go to that Bob Ross experience.
Yeah. Was Bob Ross from Muncie. Or did he do art? Like what
is No, he, he did his shows from here, and so that's in the location where he actually did his shows and it's, it's almost visible right from here.
Yeah. I mean, just right here on the White River.
How did Bob Ross end up doing his shows in Muncie?
I would say that had to be because of Ball State University and the media department.
Yeah. Which is such like a cool, uh, yeah. Our, our editor, uh, producer Robert, I know I look, that's right. He's a, he's a media grad.
From from Ball State. So he's Exci, this is his Super Bowl. Like we're up here on a Friday. He's so excited to be one, getting to learn more about Muncie and then obviously we're gonna go check out Ball State after this. I just think it's so cool if there were any final spots for people to visit. Well,
there are, and I, and I will tell you next year is the anniversary of Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Now, not everybody has seen that, but it starts in M Indiana. Um, and so that's where Richard Dreyfuss and his family live. Um, and, uh, cornbread Road, it starts at the McDonald's on Tillotson. That is the start of that movie. So, uh, we're, uh, we've got a big celebration that one of the things that we have planned next year for, uh, trying, trying to tie into that.
So we have a number of things that'll be going on. So come to Muncie, uh, next year and you'll see some of the, um. Some from, from that movie. That's one. And then of course, you know, some people might think this is, it's fun to watch Parks and Rec. That's, uh, also something else that I think is similar to uh, Muncie.
I think
I've been going back and rewatching that 'cause they did a lot of research about Indiana to put that show together, Uhhuh. And, you know, it is, some of it's like satire and funny and other parts of it though are like, there's a lot of history and. Just Indiana knowledge that went into putting that all together, which is fine.
Oh,
absolutely. And
I
think that's the Ball State media department once again, um, going out into the world and, and having that influence. And, and I have been told I'm not a hundred percent correct, you can confirm this, um, but that the map that shows the town is an upside down map of Muncie.
No way.
Well, that's what I've been told.
I've not
p I've not,
yeah, Pawnee.
Okay. We need to check Is the, is the, the map of Pawnee in Parks and Rec, an upside down map of Muncie, Indiana? Yes.
I would love to know if that's true
or
not. Thats what I've told. We'll confirm that and we'll put it in the show notes. The other piece of media that is kind of a battle, I feel like between either Madison or Grant County and Muncie is Garfield, right?
Like Jim Davis was. From, I believe Grant County,
he moved to an area here and um, yeah. And did Hi. His studio is a Muncie address, like, but it's actually not in the city of Muncie, but it's it's a Muncie address. Yeah. And, uh,
which is pretty cool of the, oh, it's the media and entertainment impact that comes out of Ball State's media school.
That's like some of the most creative individuals, uh, that are spectacular at their craft come out of, uh, the media school at, at Ball State. And I'm really excited to dive into that later this afternoon. We are wrapping up. Mm-hmm. If you could just shout. It from the rooftops and talk about the city of Muncie and what it means to the state of Indiana and why people should stop overlooking Muncie.
What would you say to them?
There's a reason we're off the interstate, so we're eight miles off of the interstate, and that is so that we do not have that traffic. So Muncie is it, in my mind, is the absolutely perfect place to live and raise a family because everything you need is here. And if you want something that's not here, it's only an hour to Indianapolis, but you don't have to live in that congestion all the time.
Okay. We've come to the end of the show where we have some rapid fire questions and we get to talk all things Indiana. So this question is brought to you by our friends at JC Hart. They're a leader in creating enjoyable living experiences at apartment communities all across Indiana and beyond. Check them out@homeisjchart.com.
My question for you, mayor, why do you call Indiana home?
I call Indiana home because it's where I was born. Yeah, I I was born in Indianapolis and we've lived in several cities when I was growing up and throughout my career I've lived in several cities, all in central Indiana. Yeah. I've never left. Uh, central Indiana and I have no intention of, of leaving Central Indiana or Muncie
when making the change from finance and banking over to mayor.
What was the, the biggest lesson that you learned from making that transition?
How slowly. Government has to operate in order to follow the statutes. In business, you could say, you know what, we're gonna do this, got one corporate approval and you were moving forward. But in government there are several steps that have to be followed before you can actually put something into into play.
And so it just moves so much slower than my pace.
Yeah. Oh, I, I totally feel that. It's like, oh, man. Um, okay.
But we're working at it Absolutely. And, and we're making good progress.
Yeah. It's, I think if you come from, especially the startup, like the smaller the business and you can, you get into even bigger companies or government, it's like, I'm like a think it today, execute it this afternoon, and it's like there's processes.
Yeah. And there's a reason for all the process. Like there's a reason for all that. It's just Yeah. Always, you know, keep the ball moving forward.
That's
right. Okay. It's getting close to lunchtime here on a Friday. What's the go-to lunch spot in downtown? Muncie
Savage's Ale House.
Yeah. Which
is right around the corner here.
Yeah.
Or 1925 PubHouse is real good. So, uh,
absolutely
both of those would be two of my favorites. There we go. Downtown there, there's a number of opportunities. So I don't like, I don't like to leave people out, but I know
I always, I don't wanna make your favorite. It's like picking a favorite child, right?
It's like, ah, you can't, you can't pick one, you know? Um, okay. What's your. Favorite ball, state memory,
our daughter's graduation.
How proud are you about that? Like if your, your kids could have gone out and done, you know, been anywhere, and to have kids that come back to Muncie to be a part of this, that has to feel pretty special.
They're very active. She's on some nonprofit boards and her husband owns a, a business here locally and they have rental property and, and, um. Actually, or, uh, live over near, uh, President Mearns.
Heck yeah. Alright. What's one misconception about Muncie
that we're little Chicago.
I was gonna say, that was the other, when you Google, like, what is, uh, Muncie, he's nickname, right?
Stop
Googling that.
Yeah. Middletown, USA and Little Chicago, and I'm like, I do not see that at all
when it comes to we're, we're shifting from that
through the past. You're starting year seven.
Mm-hmm.
If you had to summ it into one project that you're the most proud of. What, what would that be?
The splash pads?
Yeah.
Putting the, 'cause those were, those were ideas from the public. And we put them in not our major parks, but in some neighborhood parks. And it had a positive impact on all four quadrants of our city.
Yeah, I totally agree. I think that, and you can see the life cycle, the life cycle of an idea, and it empowers your residents to have their voice.
Like I think a lot of times people just get upset because they feel like they are shouting into a void and no one. Hears them, acknowledges them or does anything and an office does something about it. And to be able to say, Hey, like it would be, how crazy would it be if you still had like the little pamphlet that said, like the little like, uh, note card that said Splash pads.
I would like, and if you had the full cycle of someone wrote Splash pads on a note card, we took that idea and we brought it to life. Like that's so cool. And shows that you are listening and that you do make stuff happen. I think that's awesome. As we're rounding out, we have three questions that we ask everyone who comes on the show.
Okay?
So the first one. Uh, you obviously you spent a lot of time in central Indiana, a ton of time in Muncie, but if you could travel the world and shout it from the rooftops, what's one thing the world needs to know about Indiana?
We are a very friendly, open area.
Yeah, absolutely. And it's, it's genuine. I feel like sometimes it's, it's
genuine.
People move, uh, to the state of Indiana and they're kind of like, okay, what's going on here? Like, why is everyone talking to me or what? It's genuine. It's just like that. Hoosier nature? Absolutely. Okay. This is your opportunity to shed some light on a part of the state that more people need to be talking about.
What is a hidden gem in Indiana?
I think our state parks,
yeah. I mean they, they do, they have
a lot of regular visitors, but I think more citizens should participate.
Okay. Is there a hidden gem in Muncie? Is there something specific here that, that you'd have to be a local to really? Have the inside scoop on that, like more people need to know about?
Well, a again, I, I know we've said this multiple times and people probably think I'm crazy for mentioning it again, but I, I think our trail system, um, is, uh, is incredible.
Yeah. The Muncie, the Cardinal Greenway,
the White River, the Cardinal Greenway and the White River Greenway.
Yeah. I love both of those. That's, and it's interesting.
And ultimately that White River Greenway will go all the way to Noblesville.
That's so
cool. So it's working its way down. Yeah. It's it's past, it's past New Castle. Yeah. Or um, Yorktown now. Yeah. And, and so
this is interesting too because I feel like most trail systems are now doing the rail trail way, and a greenway is different than the rail trail and you're following the river, which is cool.
Correct? Yeah. I think that's, 'cause people talk about the Monon. The Monon keeps going north and the monon keeps going south. Mm-hmm. And then you have the nickel plate trail, which follows another rail trail, but then having the greenway that follows the river, I think, I don't know, I, I hope one day, you know, when I'm, I dunno, 70 years old, I could like bike strictly on a trail all across the state of Indiana.
That'd be pretty fun.
I think it will happen.
Okay.
Maybe not by the time you're 70, but it will happen.
Alright, final question for you. Okay. This is where we source new guests or learn about other people across the state of Indiana that are doing inspiring things. Who's a Hoosier? We need to keep on our radar.
Someone who's doing big things.
You know, there's a, a new mayor in, um, he's in his first term, uh, in Marion, Indiana. Ronald Morrell Jr..
Yeah.
And I, I think he's somebody to watch. He's much younger than me. I'm, I'm at that age, you know, I'm, I'm toward the end. Uh, but he, uh, I think he's doing some really good things for Marion, Indiana.
Yeah. And they would be like a smaller. Like, uh, a place in Indiana that's probably been largely overlooked, that had that big, you know, we talk about industry exiting and, you know, you're tasked with a pretty big job at hand. Yep. And to bring some life and some energy into that. Uh, who, so what was his name again?
Ronald Morrell Jr..
Mayor Ridenour, it's been a pleasure to sit down and get to chat a little bit about all the cool things going on here in Muncie. I think the biggest thing, if you were to take one thing away, listeners. After 50 years of population decline, you, the team here and the whole Muncie community, were able to reverse that and stack some population growth.
I think that that is just speaks were like volumes to what's going on in Muncie, like whether it be the trails, the industry, the partnership with Ball State, being in College Town, all of these great. Things like to stop anything after 50 years and to reverse that. Like you gotta be doing something right.
I would say so keep up all the great work. It's been a pleasure sharing the microphone with you. Uh, I'm excited to go out. We're, after this, we're going to tour Muncie and then we're going to head over to Ball State. So it's gonna be a fun afternoon here in uh. In Muncie,
we love it. Thank you so much for coming by.
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Make sure you follow me on Instagram and TikTok at Nate S. Spanel. Thank you so much for listening and being a part of what makes the Hoosier State. Great. We'll see you next time here on Get In.
