It's not about survival. It's about thrival. Life is about more than just surviving. It's not everything for everyone, but we have something for everyone. There's just something special about not just choosing a small town with where you live, but choosing the small town with your dollar. We have people coming from 19 counties to participate in the Arts for All program.
19 counties. I was as amazed as you are. How can you make sustainable all of these different entertainment entities from South Bend to Evansville and everywhere in between? This is Get In, the show focused on the Hooser State and the incredible stories happening here today. I'm Nate Spangle, founder of Get Indiana, and I will be your host for today's conversation. This episode of Get In is sponsored by Greeks Pizzeria, Indiana's original scratchmade pizza since 1969.
They've stayed focused on what matters. hand tossed dough, house-made sauce, and a menu that works for any occasion. Family dinner, a group night out, or the nights when nobody wants to cook and everybody just wants something good. And with locations all across Indiana, Greeks is probably closer than you think. It's one of those names that Hoosiers just know. And there's a reason for that.
Next time you're doing pizza night, make it Greeks. Order online at greeks pizzeria. com. Now, let's get into the episode. My guest today is Todd Minnik and he is the president and CEO of Honeywell Arts and Entertainment right here in Waw Bash, Indiana. Honeywell Arts and Entertainment is a nonprofit arts organization that has helped turn a city of around 10,000 people into one of the most remarkable cultural destinations in the entire Midwest.
I'm really excited to dive into the background of of Honeywell, how this small town in uh in northern Indiana ends up attracting insane axe and has become a uh a hub of arts and culture right here in Wabash County. Super excited. Todd, welcome to the show. Hey, thanks. Great to be here, Nate. Yeah, I am uh I'm pumped.
So, we are right now coming to everyone from the Cloud Club, I believe is what it's called, at the top of the Charlie Creek Inn in downtown Wabash. I can see I mean on one side over here, we see the old courthouse, not the old the current courthouse. And we can look down kind of towards where the river flows through the Bradley building over there. Like, this is a really really cool spot that gives you a peek into a lot of Wabash. Yeah, it is. And if you go the other direction, we're a block from the Honeywell Center.
We're a block and a half from the Clarkson House. We're a mile from the Honeywell House. We're a couple miles from the 1324 drive-in. Just some of the other Honeywell properties here in town. It is a brand that is very prominent here in Wabash when you talk about Honeywell. And many listeners have more than likely seen that name and they're probably trying to think like, where have I seen that before?
Where would the average American have seen the name Honeywell before? Yeah, you you see it all over the world and primarily on a thermostat. Uh but you also see it in lots of other air purification and other industries, but started right here in Wabbash with a thermostat. So the thermostat was invented here in W is Mark, right? Mark Honeywell. And he was like an inventor.
He did. I mean there's a few different things, right? like from the thermostat to something to do with like hot water inside houses and what I mean there's like a whole history of his him being an inventor. Right. Right. Yeah.
Well, you know, I mean, he had a failed business of trying to farm oranges and he had a failed bicycle business, but his hot water heating really took off. So, the thermostat in the early days was a way to control that temperature um from just always on or always off um that he really perfected those controls. Wow. and then ends up I think selling that company along the journey somewhere there or merging together with another one and basically ends up building like an incredible business that started here in Waw Bash. And then where along the journey did this philanthropic the nonprofit arts organization spin up alongside of his you know inventing and business that he had going there. Yeah.
So he became a global businessman back when global business wasn't as What kind of time period are we talking here? You know, so this was in the early half of the 1900s. Oh yeah. Okay. And and so later in his career, uh he was at a point where he'd merged the company and wasn't involved in the day-to-day operations uh and wanted to give back to his community. And the way that he decided to do that was to build a community center.
And so in 1941 um shortly after Pearl Harbor uh he officially incorporated. He'd had this vision before. So the construction of the Honeywell Center happened slowly through the war due to material shortages and opened uh the first part in 1949 and the rest of the building um in 5051. Uh it had a typical gym uh where everything from high school basketball sectionals to in our case the New York Philarmonic played on that stage. Uh we had a skating rink which is still active. We still have a roller skating rink that can be rented out for private parties.
There's still today a roller skating rink still today. Um cuz I mean that was probably like the heyday like you talk about the 50s and 60s. People loved roller skating. Loved roller skating. There was a teen canteen. So typical 50s.
soda shop. Um, must have been great to be a teen here in the 50s and 60s. All the activities, the teen canteen. I've never heard that term. That was the official name. I love that.
And so these are all these all these amenities are within at the time was it called the did was it called the Honeywell Center? It was called the Honey Well Center. And there were other activities. There was a wood shop and uh there were sports facilities. Uh the sporting part of what we do has been spun out to the local YMCA. It's a separate organization now.
Gotcha. And then there were dining. So a lounge, a library, typical kind of social scene, a gathering point for the community. Wow. Okay. And this is like 1950, 1951 that opens, he ends up passing away, I believe in ' 64, correct?
And so after his passing, like one thing I think entrepreneurs and anyone that wants to make a change thinks about is building something that's durable and leaving a legacy. And so he, you know, a decade or so, a little over a decade after he passes away, there's this community center like what kind of happens like is because is it officially a nonprofit? Is it an entity, an organization? Like where does the Honeywell Center go and who's becomes the new steward of it? Right. Yeah.
So it was always uh nonprofit. It was this private operating foundation for years. Um we now have public charity status um with broad base of support. Um, it was well stewarded and well-run and world-class acts came and like I said the New York Philarmonic but lots of other classical pop country acts played here for many years and that was really the inspiration in the early '9s to build a new facility. You know, the gym wasn't really the current technology for touring acts any longer. And so the community got together and raised money to build a 1500 seat performing arts center that had world-class acoustics, world-class amenities and was added on to the facility.
So it's all operates as one Honeywell Center now with the original 1950s building and the 1994 expansion. Okay. 1994 they expand and put on this new venue. Is that we kind of call it? Yes. What I'm curious is what were they doing in the 90s to attract these like because it's it's not like low not it's not regional acts.
It's not like your local cover artist here. There's a spot in a place and I love all sorts of live music, but some of the acts you see come through Wabash are, you know, like people either on the rise like on the way up or coming down the hill that are very wellknown names and people travel for hours away to come to Wabash to see these acts. What What were they doing to attract these acts? Everybody thinks build a theater and we'll have acts come through and and it doesn't quite work that way for us. You we've been bringing through major talent since the 50s and that was a part of the reasoning for building the larger theater was having the production capabilities to continue to do that. Um Mrs.
Honeywell. You know, we were fortunate we had not only Mark Honeywell, we had Eugenia Honeywell who was equally passionate uh concert musician as played the piano. Um very passionate about bringing world-class talent. Um in fact, you know, she used those the finest talent available. And so that was always the goal. And so they sought out that talent.
Um they paid the artist fees and they were able to sell tickets. Oh. And so she lived until 74, correct? Uh 1974. So another decade after that. So I mean that's super cool to I don't know to have such an interest and a passion and you know it starts with thermostats and it starts with like what you're doing on the science and inventing side and then to just pour into all things arts and culture and so the new venue opened in '94 you said and then you ended up coming and joining coming to Wabash in 2003 right?
What attracted you about the opportunity to come to Wabash, Indiana to work within Honeywell? Yeah, that's a great question. Uh, really it's family brought me back to Indiana. Um, I had not heard of Wabash, so it was a part of that secret. Uh, yeah. What part of Indiana were you from?
Uh, I grew up in Portland, Indiana and moved back to Burn, Indiana, so about an hour. Uh, but for me, an hour around our venue is part of the service area. Um uh in fact right now 79% of the audience that comes to concerts comes from outside of Wabash County and and that would be true if we were in a major metropolitan area. People commute an hour to go to the local arts center. Um I know when I lived in Nashville, Tennessee on a good day traffic was an hour to get downtown. So you were from Portland and then you end up going to Middle Tennessee State.
I did. And get was your goal always get into the music biz? I loved music and for me it was uh trying to find a way to make a living in my passion. Yeah. And I feel like, you know, there's a lot of different ways uh to do that. And when you start to learn the business of like, you know, putting on shows and promoting shows and bringing acts in and selling tickets, at the end of the day, that's the big one, right?
It's like if you figure out a place and a strategy on how to get butts in seats to see acts and at the end of the day there's a profit left over, like you're you're doing something right. So, what was your first role when you came in 2003? I hired in as the executive director in the current role I'm in, but we were a much smaller organization. What was the focus then in 2003? Was it just the theater? Yeah, we just had that one property, the Honeywell Center.
And unfortunately, the expansion uh of the center and the current economic conditions, we weren't in great shape. And so, it was really a focus on how to kind of stabilize the the organization. We were doing 12 concerts a year, which was what we'd been doing for decades. and we're we're struggling with the budget to make ends meet. So, it was really to focus on how do we how do we stabilize, how do we create and protect this legacy. Yeah.
Well, because the other piece is though you have a relatively new venue, you also probably have the upkeep and the maintenance of this the historic part of the venue, which you know is I'm I don't know what maintenance and upkeep on historic buildings are, but I'm sure it's not like uh it's not that cost-effective, you know. So, you're doing one concert a month basically. Basically, yeah. Okay. So from there 2003 where does the strategy start to change and you become more not just a concert venue but a whole arts and entertainment nonprofit? Like where does is there like a strategic plan where everyone goes off site and sits in a room and says we got to figure something out.
Like how did that work? You know it was already path towards some broader things. We'd already started doing arts and education in the schools. Uh but but organizationally we just didn't have a handle on what to do with the the larger expanded facility. And so in 2004 it was the 10th anniversary and we went from doing 12 concerts a year to celebrate the 10th anniversary. We said we're going to do 10 concerts in 2 weeks which sounded crazy but I was the new guy so I got to be crazy and uh we pulled it off.
We did uh 10 concerts in two weeks and that was really the start of growth. You know for us the plan was well we we can't shrink. we being smaller isn't how you successful. Um and so we figured out we we just had to figure out how to serve more people and create more value. So from those 10 concerts in two weeks, we moved up to doing you know 25 shows a year to 35 shows a year to 45 shows a year to before the pandemic we were doing, you know, roughly 50 concerts a year. So that's almost every week.
Like almost you're just about there. So before the pandemic 50 concerts like how were you diversify? Like were they all in the main the main 1500 cap venue? At that point they were all in that theater. That was the only theater we had. Oh, so even up until the pandemic you had one.
It was it was that was one property that you guys had. We did. Well, we had Eagles across the street from us in the background. Uh but it was just serving as a local movie theater. We would do a few small concerts um local concerts but there wasn't enough stage space. Okay.
So take me cuz today you guys have several properties within Waw Bash. Take me through the how you ended up getting more and more of these entertainment venues like what was the timeline there? Yeah, so over the years uh you know we had kind of balanced the budget and became successful at presenting programming and really had a hospitality focus. It was all about the guest experience knowing that people have a choice to drive here um or drive somewhere else. We wanted to make sure we gave people a great experience. Uh but out of that, you know, town was still struggling.
Um we were not the community we are today as many small communities were struggling. And so the town's only movie theater was up for sale. Um the owner wanted to get rid of it. Uh he actually made a partial contribution to the foundation. We took over the facility, did some minor improvements just to keep the town's only movie theater open. And so that was the first facility that we had.
This is something you can see history start to repeat itself across small towns, not only in Indiana, but all across. It's like, you know, couple local restaurants go under and no one ever starts them back up. The movie theater goes out, the bowling alley goes out, and all of a sudden, the biggest resounding thing you hear is there's nothing to do here. There's nothing to do in wherever you are in in your slice of the world. And so having that ability of knowing, hey, we need to keep this movie theater going. Like this is it's it's entertainment.
People need things to do at the seat of Wabbash County. Yeah. For us, and you'd ask earlier about strategic plan. You know, we had talked about we really need to serve all people. And uh at the time, a $3 movie ticket for a matinea was very different than a $50 concert ticket at the time. And so serving the local community with affordable everyday entertainment um was part of the impetus to save the facility.
And then as you said, just not to have one more thing close in town to keep life. Here's a question. So, you guys end up taking that that was the next property was the Eagles Theater. Those are very different businesses. $50 tickets. You think about per caps like people coming in having drinks, having food, whatever at a uh at a concert versus a $3 mat.
Like, how do you learn the business that is a movie theater? And how do you make that? You don't want to sacrifice one for the other. You don't want to take all the, you know, okay, we just figured out how to do this whole concert thing. now let's get this movie theater and you don't want that to tank what you're doing over here. How did you balance those?
Thankfully for us, we looked at it. They're they're really the same type of business. You're engaging an audience, you're selling a ticket, you're delivering an experience, uh maybe there's some food and beverage that goes with it. Um so same kind of marketing channels, same kind of staffing structure. Uh so for us it was really a natural the the biggest variable was uh well where do we book films versus where do we book entertainment? And that actually became a pretty easy hurdle to overcome were.
And now is it like legacy movies or is it like uh the latest releases come through Eagles? Yeah, it was firstr run films and then we also did throwbacks, some classics. We did free movie Mondays in the summer. So it was a mix of first run and and classic films. That's awesome. Okay, so that comes next.
The Eagle Seas was there like did you have to renovate that? Did you have to stabilize the building? Anything like that? uh you know for us just coming out of some financial hard times it was a big question about whether we take on what could potentially be uh just a big expense and so our commitment was uh that we would put uh I think we put a little over $100,000 into uh just a upgrades and improvements. Um we fixed some lighting, we uh fixed the heating. Um nothing major uh but just cleaned it up um and gave it a good cleaning and kept it open.
And that was the goal was can we stabilize it? Can we save the town's only movie theater? I never thought we'd see the renovation that we saw because it was such a huge project. Wow. Okay. Uh well, let's talk about the renovation then and we'll then we'll keep we'll go back to our timeline.
So today I believe there's an award uh what is the is it called the something cup? The cook cup. The cook cup for is this for historic preservation? It is. Yes. Indiana Landmarks presents these um not not even once a year.
Sometimes there's one a year, sometimes there's two, sometimes there's none. Just based on merit. Based on merit. And so that that Eagles renovation received a Cook Cup award. When was that? Shortly after it reopened, so it's been, you know, close to a decade ago.
Okay. So talk to me about what goes into renovating and preserve. Again, you are at your core a music and entertainment guy, not necessarily historic preservation and what goes into that. How were how were you doing that? like what was the thought process? How did you manage a project to end up winning a cook cup for historic preservation?
Yeah, that well that's a great question and probably a big answer. Uh you know for us Honeywell I view us uh because our founder was an entrepreneur um gives us a little leeway to be entrepreneurs in what we do. Uh his building dedication he dedicated it to Wabash Wabash County in the state of Indiana which I think is a really regional vision for for the the 1940s. Yeah. Uh the only other thing he added to the building and the only direction he left us, there's nothing else in the bequest. There's nothing in the will was may it ever be useful to them.
And to me those became our guiding principles. Is this useful to the community? Does this provide value? So uh saving eagles was certainly useful to the community. Uh renovating eagles came out of stellar communities which a state program to really expedite rural communities strategic plan and growth and that became a cornerstone project. So, um, we had $3.
2 million of of public money into the the renovation. That's through the stellar communities. Through stellar communities. Okay. Five floors of crumbling building. 3.
2 million would have been enough to kind of tuck point the exterior, um, stabilize the structure, maybe do a little work inside, and you'd still have four floors of empty space above above the theater. And so this community got together and we put together a vision of of Blue Sky. What could we do with this building? And we dreamed big and talked with all the other local arts organizations and came up with a renovation plan that was $16 million. Um, and went out and raised the other $13 million in less than a year. And I think that's a testament to the project, to this community's generosity, this vision.
Uh we talked to people that had their first date that had been married, you know, for 40 or 50 years now. Um as a part of of this discussion, it was amazing the backdrop of of just people's moments in time that that Eagles Theater represented. So it went from, hey, let's save the building to five floors of vibrant activity. Yeah. What What does the Eagles Theater look like today? What are what's all going on on all five floors?
Yeah. So back to that Cookup Award for historic preservation. This was an adaptive reuse. So, uh, the building really parts of it just couldn't be restored to their original uh, status, but we tried to keep that integrity where we could. So, it's a nice mix of of contemporary styling uh, mixed with the historic architecture. So, we still have a lot of the original features and in the theater, it is pretty much as it was when it was built.
We were able to keep that integrity in the theater and the same thing on the fourth floor in the ballroom. Um, okay. So it's a theater, a ballroom, and then what are what's on the other floors? Yeah. So in between, uh we have some flexible meet space. We have um our arts for all program, which is a program to participate in the arts.
Uh we have three music lessons rooms and then we added a second screening room. So we have a 49 seat uh theater. So we have actually two movie theaters and then the main theater is a mix of now movie programming on the weekends and then live programming. The stage has been fully restored to do live productions. Oh, that's amazing. Okay.
And that was about 10 years ago. It was. And it was a $16 million project. Yeah. It was actually uh the construction uh ran over 10 million and we raised some money uh to be put aside for uh a programming endowment and a maintenance endowment so that that building would never again fall into the state of decay that it is. Wow.
That's incredible. Like so cool for a community to come together. you obviously use some of your state resources, but then to like locally fund raise a ton to not just stabilize this thing, but to really set it up for generations of success. That's incredible. Okay, so we have Eagle Theater. Then time continues going on and you again, you guys bring on other properties within the Honeywell umbrella, right?
Well, the next property was the original Honeywell House. Mrs. Honeywell was a musician. and she donated the house to IU to their school of music. Uh but she donated it with conditions where Mr. Honeywell gave one broad directive.
Mrs. Honeywell gave a very detailed uh bequest. Wait, so she's up here and donates it to the IU School of Music from like Bloomington. Yes. Yeah. She was very connected to the school because of her passion for music.
Cuz I was kind of like, you know, if you're on the receiving end of that at IU Bloomington, you're like, "Thank you so much for your generosity. Now we own a house in Wabash, Indiana. Like what do we do with that?" Yeah. Well, they were using it as a retreat for their musicians, but as the years passed, I mean, it's far and um and IU just changed standards uh that they would no longer own property. So, I think it was the last of two properties they had to to divest.
Yeah. Well, I mean, it would be interesting having it as a place where if you had musicians from the IU School of Music and they wanted, you know, to come play a show up here, you have a place to put them or they have a place to hang out or whatever that might be, right? And that that's still true. We we welcome them and occasionally they do still come up. Um are glad to have them. But Mrs.
Honeywell uh had very specific parameters for what would happen to her house if IU never wanted it again. And there were four different steps and and Honeywell Foundation was first on the list. Okay. Wait. So she she lays out a structure. She's like I am giving this house to the IU School of Music and if they don't want it then there's like a pecking order there is and Honeywell Foundation you guys or Honey was it the foundation?
Yeah, the Honeywell Foundation's the the foundation that operates all of these properties under the Honeywell Arts and Entertainment name. Okay. So, that was second. Uh, and so did IU say, did I reach out and say, "Hey, uh, we're divesting from this." Yeah. Well, we kept in touch with them when they were in town and they did reach out to us to say, "Hey, would you be interested?"
And then were were there specific rules or a direction from Mrs. Honeywell about like what she wanted to happen at the house? Her main directive was that she did not want it to be a house museum. She didn't want furniture you couldn't sit on. She didn't want uh people to feel like they couldn't go there. She was very welcoming and wanted the doors to be open.
And so that's what that's what we worked on when we first took over the operation is how can we get more people in? And then we are actually in the middle of $3 million of construction to the house right now to make some major upgrades and improvements. We'd like to think Mrs. Honeywell probably would have remodeled a long time ago. Um uh but as a part of that remodeling um looking at modern amenities to to make the house more comfortable. There are five bedrooms um and those are being upgraded so I think high-end hotel quality.
Yeah. What is it today? Like what you you have the house but like how do people experience it or use it? Sure. Yeah. So there's a concert series that happens in the living room.
Um that space is being expanded. Is it kind of like tiny desk? Uh, it's a little like tiny desk for sure. I mean, it has to be a pretty intimate. I don't know how big. I mean, even the biggest living room is still a living room.
It's still a living room. Yeah. So, we're taking out one of the walls to expand, so we'll be able to seat 75 comfortably in there, but still very much a living room concert series. Yeah. Um, we expanded the kitchen. Uh, she had a just a home kitchen for what we need to do there.
We're uh adding commercial kitchen, so we'll be able to seat 75 on the terrace outside, the most beautiful setting in northern Indiana. um that's not on the water. It's just a beautiful setting outdoors. Um we're adding uh some terrace or stage space, so we'll be able to do concerts on the lawn or host large weddings on the lawn. Uh the overnight rooms have been upgraded. Uh parking has been expanded.
So, just everything you would need uh you know, for the next 50 years of operation of this home, but to really meet her goal of having people in and using the house. Yeah. Incredible. Okay. So now when when did you guys take over operations? Uh that happened I think in 11.
Okay. So you now have the main Honeywell Center. You have the Eagle Cater. You have the Honeywell House. And then I believe there's one or two more. There's a handful more.
The next one that came was the 1324 drive-in movie theater. Yes. Which for us, you'd say, "Hey, what do you know about operating a drive-in theater?" But it paired nicely with the Eagles Theater and uh expanded the movie operation here. Yeah. And like I feel like there's a a resurgence of the American drive-in.
Like they went down like I mean economics like changed, you know, people stop having trucks and whatnot and like you know, but now I feel like people want to do stuff so much that a drive-in is just such a move. Like it is a no-brainer. And you doesn't matter what you show. Doesn't have to be brand new screenings. It can be legacy movies. You could do like a seven-part series showing all the Harry Potters.
Like literally could be anything and and just going to the drive-in is such a vibe. Yeah, it's great. There aren't many of them left in the country. And this was a again, you know, nothing happens without donors. This was actually a partnership uh with the Bechum family who wanted to save the town's only drive-in. Honeywell wasn't really in position to buy the drive-in.
So, they bought the drive-in. We operated it. Um a few years after that, they they donated it over to the foundation. No way. So that's that Wash County generation or uh generosity. Yeah.
Yeah. Wow. So you you know the movie movies are fun. The movie industry isn't what it was. And so for us, we do a lot of throwbacks. We also do the first run films.
It's available for private rentals. Um and and just if the weather's nice, it's a beautiful night. Yeah. And I'm saying even like I mean in the future I would not be surprised if you just like screened five YouTube videos in a like Mr. Beast, you know, you have Mr. Beast night and you could just play five of his YouTube videos in a row or whatever it would be like people would come out and do that kind of thing because it's so popular.
Is it like radio transmitter or like how do you get the sound? Yeah, it is. Yeah, we have radio transmitters so you can listen in your car or if for some reason you forgot or you don't want to run your battery down, you can, you know, rent an old style radio from us. But, uh, it it and that we have some speakers by the the concession stand. So, if you want to just sit outside on a picnic table, you can do that, too. Now, talk to me, though.
This is my question. In theory, these are awesome. you know, to have a concert venue, multiple concert venues, movie theater, like how does a little bit of like the economics, like if if there are other leaders out here listening that are like, "Man, we have a drive-in that's like on its last leg." Like, how can you stabilize and make sustainable all of these different entertainment entities? Yeah, it's a great question. Here's the honest answer.
These are horrible businesses to run. Um, economically, even in the best of markets, these are tough businesses. Um, the movie business, if you look, I mean, theaters are closing everywhere. Uh, the concert business has more competition than ever. Ticket prices are through the roof. And that's not because venues are raising the prices.
That's because artist fees have gone up um, all over the country, all over the world. So, uh, these are tough businesses, but so vital for communities, for us. Um, this is a very authentic current version of who we are, of who we've been since the 1940s. Um, and so trying to hang on to that, um, execution of our mission and look for ways that we can be ever useful and do it, uh, successfully is a challenge. So, I I guess I would say for others, you know, look at what makes your community unique. um and and really look at how you can lean into that.
Um but yeah, these are these are tough businesses and without uh philanthropic support uh they just don't work. You know, it's like table stakes to get some to like skin in the game on on philanthropic donation or corporate donation. Corp and I don't want to say donation, but corporate support. Let's say this, you know, you're pitching your local business, whatever it might be. Let's just say accounting firm. Make it easy.
XYZ's accounting firm is in town and it's like well they're going to have a harder time attracting and retaining people to work at their company if the town doesn't have anything in it. If the town is like you know you're not going to move to a town where they have nothing to do. And so if you can start to get some of these corporate stakeholders involved of like hey it's good for us to have live music in our town. It's good for us to have a main street that's vibrant. Like stop. Not saying like that Walmarts aren't good for what they are good for, but like if you can buy something on Main Street, like you should do that because there's just a vibe.
Like we went over across the street to Modoc, got coffee there this morning. Everyone's in a chipper mood. And it's like, oh, I would love I Yes, you there's no drive-thru. Yes, you have to get out of your car and go into a local coffee shop. But like there's just something special about, you know, like not just choosing a small town with where you live, but choosing the small town with your dollar. You know, we view ourselves primarily as a quality of life organization.
That's that's what we provide to the community. That's the value we provide. It's it's not about selling a movie ticket and making revenue or selling a concert ticket and making revenue. It's about having that experience available in this community so that people don't have to make a choice about where to live. you back to the Eagles renovation when we were talking about what to have, we said, "What does our community need? What what do other communities have that we don't have?"
Um, we don't want people to have to make a choice to live elsewhere because their kids can't take uh, you know, a certain instrument of music lesson. We don't want people to feel like I want to live somewhere where there's more opportunity. And so that was a big part of of why we do what we do at this point in our history. Is there another model community across the country that you guys kind of looked at what that organization was doing to like garner ideas for what you guys wanted to do with Honeywell Arts and Events or Arts and Entertainment? There are a lot of great communities. I think for us it's it's hard to find a pier our size.
Um it's hard to find a a town of 10,000 that has a 1500 seat performing arts theater collection. Yeah. Yeah, there's the math doesn't matter. There's no chance that over 10% of the town's population are coming to shows like you have to be a regional like attraction there. Yeah. So, as we look we look at at maybe larger communities to see what they're doing that have quality of life and and try to bring those elements here.
Yeah. Okay. So, you get the drive in then what's the what are the next properties that come under the umbrella? Yeah. So, those were the big acquisitions. the driving came and then uh the Eagles renovation happened and that was completed right before the pandemic.
So, you talk about the excitement of opening this venue and two weeks later having to close it. Oh gosh, that's nightmare fuel. Yeah, it it was it was brutal because we had a whole month and then a whole year of celebration planned. Wow. Okay, so then that gives you the full scope of all the entities at that point coming out of the pandemic. Um during the pandemic we really put a lot of focus on what we could do post pandemic.
Um so the next properties to come were uh Richard Ford who was a local philanthropist. Actually this site we're sitting in the cloud club was a part of the renovation that he funded for the Charlie Creek in but he also had other assets. He had the Charlie Creek Gardens. Who was is Charlie Creek a creek around here? It is. Yes.
Okay. So Charlie Creek wasn't a person. It was not a person. Very confusing. One more name in the umbrella of Honeywell Properties at this point. Okay.
So now the So this was a historic hotel back in the day in the 1920s. In the 1920s, has it been in operation continuously? Uh it was apartments for a number of years and this building like Eagles across the street was in decay. Um I mean I will tell you now here in 2026, Charlie Creek in is not in decay. Holy smokes. This is a nice place.
Yeah, this was a a top to bottom down down to the concrete um renovation. This also won a cook cup. I think we're the only place other than Indianapolis, Indiana to have two cookups and maybe the only place that has them across the street from each other. Literally across the street you have Eagles Theater. You guys spent I mean the whole the whole project was you had to raise$16 million. What what did the renovation for Charlie Creek in look like?
Yeah. And I don't know the exact number. The number that gets floated around is a $15 million renovation of this property. And it is it is as you said, it is gorgeous. I I hate to say this and I I want the people of Wabash to know that I have very much enjoyed my time in Wabash. It's it's not what I expected, you know, like again like I've been to a lot of small towns across Indiana and I have stayed in the best, you know, Hamptonins or whatever that that whatever town has to offer.
This is like a legitimate boutique hotel. It is almost like a a bed and breakfast kind of style. Like it's very well decorated. It feels it feels like there's a story and a history. Like in the front of the book there's like a fivepage history of the Charlie Creek in and it it's just super cool, you know? And again, I'm a sucker for a story.
Like I like to put my dollars, put my just my time behind places that have meant something for a long period of time. You talk about 1920s was when this thing opened. That's incredible. Yeah. Well, for Honeywell, this property was after Richard passed away was held in his charitable foundation, the Charlie Creek Foundation. And at the end of last year on the uh 29th of December, we merged with Honeywell and Charlie Creek Foundations together.
So now Honeywell operates this property. And for us, it's great to have this sitting right between our two theaters. So, did the Charlie Creek Foundation just run like have this hotel? This was the final piece. Uh when Richard passed away, um I think back in 2014, he uh was making plans to donate the Wabase Camp, which uh maybe we can talk about in a minute, and the Charlie Creek Gardens and the Dr. James Ford home.
So, those were the next properties to come to Honeywell. Um and Richard made those plans. Who was Richard? So, Richard uh is part of uh the Ford meterbox company here in town, water meter company, not the auto company as we sometimes get confused with here. And uh Richard had a vision for this community and and did a lot of of work to help us create that quality of life. So, not only was he a supporter of Honeywell and what we did, but he did many other things in this community on his own.
I mean, we would be it would be a shame if we didn't talk about Ford meter box just for a sl a sliver here because again, this is another name. Everyone I think everyone in America more than likely has seen this, but probably not known they've seen this. You look, you're walking through a major metropolitan anywhere, big city, and you look down at like a they're like covers, right? like the big steel. I don't know what the material is, but like you'll see Ford meter box, you'll see uh Wabash Indiana like they it's on like all these things. I was walking down the street in Charleston and I just like again over the years I've become more observant and I'm looking around and I like see Indiana and like instantly my like Indiana meter like radar starts going off like I'm like wait what is this?
And I even took a picture there cuz I was like, how is Wabash, Indiana in Charleston, South Carolina? And but like this is like a a really big employer in Wabash County. They, you know, ship there. Is it I don't even know what the whole thing is. I just know that the those covers are a big piece of it. Yeah.
And you will see those covers literally all over the world. Um if you if you look Yes. lots of cities. So there's your challenge, right? the next time you're walking around, whether it be Indianapolis or Chicago or wherever it is, look at like on the ground on the sidewalk, like they're not like manholes. They're like smaller, right?
But like you'll start to see them everywhere and you'll never you'll never miss them again. That's Ford meter box. So those are water meter covers. So you take that cover off and down however far you have to go to get below the frost line is where the water meter would be. So they're and they make the stuff underneath that, too. Yeah.
They they make all the things that are down in the ground to get water from the main to the building. I got you. Yeah, that would make sense. Ford water. Yeah. Meter box.
That that checks out. Um the one thing I also think that is cool, large company, huge impact like you know their product goes all over the world and you don't see Ford around Wabash. Like you don't see the name a ton. It's not like every building is named after them and that kind of like I think speaks to their philanthropic like this is you talk about Richard or whoever it might be. It's like they are definitely making an impact but they are um kind of like working behind the scenes I feel like and not necessarily about them which is cool, right? I think it's about a quality of life.
This is their headquarters. They they have a major expansion going on, building a new foundry and and those are long-term commitments to a community and and they could have put that anywhere in the country or frankly anywhere in the world and they chose to reinvest in in their hometown and that I think you'd ask how things happen in communities. You know, they are very community-minded and understand this is where their employees work and live and and so they also want to see uh those quality of life amenities. Wow. So that catches us up to today, right? like that is the total suite of all of the different entities and properties under the Honeywell umbrella.
Just one last property, um the Clarkson House, which is a five- bedroomedroom Airbnb house that's about two blocks from where we're sitting right now. And that came uh to Honeywell from another donor shortly after the pandemic. Um, one of our pandemic projects was to launch Honeywell Arts Academy, which brings emerging artists uh to Wabash uh for a fully scholarshipped uh summer program. And that was the site of housing after we rented it from her the first year. Uh Lisa Gilman, who's also a local developer, has developed, redeveloped um over half dozen buildings in downtown Wabash, but she donated this property to Honeywell as a housing for not only the arts academy, but it's available pre-con, uh it's available for weddings, available for any reason you want to rent it. Um and it's walkable to all of downtown.
That is a lot of different entities, properties, different businesses, but they are all in the like hospitality space. I would say at the end of the day it's like you're serving visitors of Wabash or local residents too. Yeah, that that is the connection is it's all about Wabash is a destination. Wawash is a place to visit. Um Wabash is a place to live. Uh and for us the the commonality between all of those is it wasn't that Honeywell Foundation had a lot of money and we went and bought all these properties.
Um these all came to us through different paths with um philanthropic intention. Um, Mrs. Honeywell left the Honeywell House endowed, so we're able to operate that house. Um, that that I think was the common factor, um, is that people see Honeywell as an organization that can steward these properties well and see the synergy between all of these different properties. That is so cool. Okay, the final piece I want to talk about is before we get we have some Indiana stuff to wrap up with at the end.
The final piece I want to talk though is the importance of arts, culture, entertainment in community revitalization. I think that a lot of times what you'll see on the powerpoints and the spreadsheets and on LinkedIn is economic development. You got to get more businesses here. You got to get which you do. I'm not saying like like jobs are probably like a leading indic like jobs have to happen. You got to have people employed.
You have to have companies being built. Absolutely. But there is a piece that like with Honeywell and what you guys are doing that it's a little bit of like the soul of a place. It's the soul of Wabash. It's not necessarily like the arms and the legs that are out there like making, you know, the the meter boxes or making the things, making the thermostat, but it's the part that like when someone gets off work at 5 that they're going to enjoy their place and they're going to go to work tomorrow morning a little bit happier. Maybe they'll stay up a little late cuz they went to a concert, but they're going to their soul is going to be taken care of.
How would you rationalize the value of arts and culture in small town revitalization? Yeah, I think it's vital. You know, work is is important. You have to have jobs, but life should be life is about more than just surviving. Uh, you know, we talk about being a quality of life organization, but we also talk about um thriving. you know, that that's not about survival, it's about thrival.
I'm going to coin that word, but but it really is, you know, people people want to live at a place that they enjoy and they have quality of life. And, you know, we always say it's it's it's not everything for everyone, but we have something for everyone. Yeah. You know, everybody's not going to enjoy every aspect of what we do, but we want to do something that that they can take some joy that is beyond just surviving and making it from one day to the next, but really connecting those with with some sort of of of smile, some sort of satisfaction, some sort of quality of life, and whether that's watching it or whether that's participating in the arts, wanting to have have a way for people to get engaged in their community. Yeah. Okay.
talk about some of the programming that you guys are doing because I think this is an important piece of it too is it's not just butts and seats at shows, but you're also helping develop and and pour into artists. Talk about those those two different aspects. Yeah, and I think for us, you know, it's about serving the amateur to the professional and from young to old. Um, we really look at having programs for everybody and and of all skill levels. So uh we have music lessons and we have people of all ages taking those lessons. Um we've just uh coming out of the pandemic launched as a part of the Eagles renovation a program we call arts for all and that's various um different ways to participate in the arts beyond just a music lesson.
Maybe it's a painting lesson um or some other art form. And we were kind of blown away by just the level of engagement. And I think people wanting to get off the small screen and and get engaged. We have uh we have people coming from 19 counties to participate in the Arts for All program. 19 counties. I was as amazed as you are.
Yes. Um and so we've really worked to expand those programs. You know, if you said nine, I'd be like, "Okay, I'm like looking at like a This is like double donuts." Like if you have like the immediate surrounding and then people are crossing through a complete county. Have to be crossing through a complete county to get here for that. That's awesome.
It's kind of interesting to me that northeast Indiana, you know, like I I would say this is like where northeast Indiana kind of starts for me. Like when I gauge uh the state of Indiana, I'm like, okay, yeah, maybe here it kind of fits that. It could also kind of fit towards like north central Indiana. You're kind of like on the bubble there. But it's wild to me that through Honeywell up to Sweetwater. like that little corridor has just like worldclass musicians, worldclass like just uh commitment to music and arts like for a small rural part of the state.
It's incredible. I I think that that is a truly unique part of this region. I don't know does that seem like I mean you obviously you've been around the music industry. You have been in Wabash since 2003, I believe. But, you know, you went to Nashville, Tennessee, and like now you're coming back here and you see what happens in Fort Wayne, what happens along the road down here all the way to Waw Bash. Just I think that's pretty crazy.
Yeah, I I agree. You especially with Sweetwater, there are just a huge gathering of musicians in this part of the state that you just don't see outside of kind of New York, LA, Nashville. Um, which I think helps shape part of the whole region. But you mentioned Wabash is kind of we could go over here, we could go over there. We're kind of out in the middle of of nowhere in Indiana. And so kind of carving our own path.
Yeah. Really important. And and I mean everyone I've had Chuck Surak on the podcast and you know he's like an all-time philanthropy guy and he plays he his band, right? Haven't they played here in town like a lot? They've been playing here for years. Yes.
Back back when he had Island Vibe and played on our our Plaza series. Sweetwater Allstars have played at Eagles a few times. Isn't that so funny? It's like probably, you know, before he sold the company and like really kind of got into the limelight. I bet like he was up there and he was just like that guy in the back with the mustache and now you're like, "Wait a second, is that Chuck?" Like that's amazing.
Well, I think it was Chuck's band. I don't know if he ever had to stand in the back. I think, you know, those horns have always been pretty featured right out front. That that checks out. Um, oh man, this has been so much fun. I think that the work you're doing is incredible.
Uh, as we shift from Honeywell to just a little bit of rapid fire Indiana, I do want to ask if you had to give a pitch to anyone out there that they may have heard of Wabash, the city, not the college. If they have heard of Waw Bash, but maybe they haven't actually given it a chance, they haven't come up, they haven't walked on the trail to Lro or I mean there is a lot of cool stuff to do in the town of Wabash. What would your pitch be? 23 years ago, uh, you know, you could come for a show and that was my pitch. Um, but now come for the weekend or at least come for a night. Um, stay at the Charlie Creek Inn.
You won't have any trouble filling your time. And that's whether you love outdoor recreation. There are two reservoirs close by, a riverwalk uh that you can get to uh and go all the way to the canoe canoe rental, right? Like there's a ton of stuff to do. Yeah. Or plenty of arts and culture.
We have people come and bring their kids for opening of of movies because they love to come and stay here and go see it across the street or drive-ins run late in Indiana summer hours. So, um they'll go to the drive-in and come back and stay at the hotel. Yeah, I love it. I think it's so cool and it's definitely it's more than you expect. U and that's like again not a dig on Wabash. I'm just saying like I've been to a lot of small towns across Indiana.
I knew that the Honeywell Center was here and I mean there are big names that are coming through Wabash Indiana by the time this comes out like you're gonna have seen Skillet that's coming through Mitchell Tenpenney Tracy Lawrence a lot of a lot of country which I enjoy. I'm a country music guy. Plus there's a ton of other like Elmo's Got Moves and Clifford the musical. Like there is literally something for everyone. I'm just like picking the ones that I think are interesting, but like #mom so I mom so hard, you know? Come on.
That doesn't seem like your cup of tea. Yeah, it might not be for but Hotel California. Come on. This is pretty cool. But big names coming through. Again, we said Tracy Lawrence, Mitchell, Ten Penney, we're talking Skillet.
Like those are like I mean a good show to come and check out here in Waw Bash. Yeah. Again, something for everybody. That's the goal. Yeah. I love it.
Okay, we've come to the final part of the show where we get to talk all things Indiana. This next 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 at homejcart. com. My question for you, why do you call Indiana home?
Anybody can live anywhere. So for me it is all of the things that that I get to do here as a part of my job are things that I enjoy doing as recreation. And I just love that the organization has given us the ability and the freedom to create all of these other ways to be ever useful to people to be ever useful. I love that. That what a great mantra to be ever useful. I saw on the there's like a Lincoln statue like monument up there and there's another really great I I'm actually it's escaping me now but I read it this morning and I was like oh my gosh there's there's a lot of good sayings around Waw Bash.
Now we have some rapid fire questions for you. What's the best show you've ever seen on a Honeywell stage? Man, there are so many. Uh, but I'm going to have to say coming out of the pandemic when we didn't get to do all those great grand opening things because of the pandemic when we reopened Eagles, um, we had Sammy Hagar play on the stage. And as a guy that grew up in that era and was a big Van Halen fan, um, to see Sammy Hagar in a 600 seat theater was amazing. That is that is impressive.
Holy cow. Okay. Now, outside of a Honeywell entertainment venue, what is an Indiana venue that more people should know about? Like, is there a spot where you go do market research and you're like, "Hey, this is a pretty cool venue." Oh gosh, there are so many, but one of my favorite places is the Club Room at the Clyde because you can go see live entertainment 7 days a week. Wait, where is this?
This is in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The Club Room? Well, it's adjacent to the Clyde Theater, which was another great renovation. But the club room operates as a coffee shop during the day and a restaurant at night. But they have uh really great live entertainment seven days a week. That's amazing.
The club room. Amazing. Okay. Outside of music and arts, what's your favorite thing to do in Wash? You know, for me, it's it's those outdoor activities. It's that riverfront trail and being out on a bike or out for a walk.
Yeah, we did uh I went and ran like a portion of that this morning. Phenomenal. Like it is such a cool riverfront development trail. Like again very very cool. Now we have the same three questions that we ask every guest that comes on the show. This first one gives you an 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? You know, Columbus, Indiana has worldass architecture. And I I think more people should should really know how cool that is in Indiana. I I we talked about it on an episode not too long ago, but it was like, you know, let's say 10 years ago or 20 years ago, they made a list of like the top 10 architecture cities in the world and Columbus, Indiana was like number eight. Yeah. Like what in the world?
That is insane to me. So like totally agree. It is like an architectural hotb. Um okay, this next question is where we source new guest ideas or learn about other people that are making a big impact in Indiana. Who's a Hooser we need to keep on our radar? Someone who's doing big things.
Talking off off the air about u about Intersect Technologies and uh the Wi-Fi here in the building. And I think you know Steve Forester to me is is doing great things as a Hooer to keep his business headquartered here and operating. Absolutely. I love it. Okay, this is a final one. Last question of the day.
thinking about, you know, growing up in Portland, obviously going away and spending some time down in in Tennessee, but then coming back in 2003 from all the shows, the venues, everything, the riverfront trail, all the jazz. What is your favorite Indiana memory? You know, for me growing up in a very small town in Indiana, when I think of Indiana, uh you know, there are a lot of those small town memories, but I I think for me, probably that moment is being at the 500 track on on the weekend. Uh there there's just nothing more Indiana than race day. The fly over happens. It's just like the hair on the back of your neck stands up, they play taps, and you're just like, it is a dang good day to be a Hooer and a dang good day to be an American.
Uh where do you sit out for the race? Uh, I like being near the start finish line as far back as I can get those tickets moved to try to catch some shade. Uh, oh yeah, right. You got to watch out for the sunburn. Hey, Todd, it has been a pleasure to get to hang out to hear all about the the great work that's being done here with uh Honeywell Arts and Entertainment right here in Waw Bash. Again, I I just keep going back to this analogy that the work you are doing is the soul of the community.
You know, there are the arms, the legs, there's the pocketbook, the wallet, the whole nine yards there. But what you guys do, bringing this live entertainment, the getting people involved in the arts truly fuels the soul of a place. And again, from a guy that's traveled to a ton of different small towns all across the state, the Wabash is very lucky to have an organization like Honeywell. Keep it up. If people want to one go check out the show lineup, if they want to learn more about what y'all are doing, if they want to connect with you guys, how can they do that? Everything's at honeywellarts.
org. Heck yeah. Appreciate it. Now, we get to go have a tour of the space and check out some of these venues. This show is made possible by our friends up at Sweetwater. Whether you're looking to start a podcast or take your content to the next level, click the link in the description to see all my gear recommendations at Sweetwater.
If you want a behind-the-scenes look at everything we're doing across the state, make sure you follow me on Instagram and Tik Tok, Nate Spangle. Thank you so much for listening and being a part of what makes the Hooer State great. We'll see you next time here on Get