IDO's May Newsletter

MARKET ON THE PENNSY

Looking for a great summer-time stroll? Seeking chic vintage? Then load up the family and head out to Market on the Pennsy in collaboration with East Side Marketspace on Saturday, May 18^th from 10am-4pm. Event will take place along the Pennsy Trail in Irvington in front of Coal Yard Coffee.

This open air market will feature dozens of curated vintage, handmade, and unique local vendor booths full of treasures waiting to find their next home. While you’re there, shop Indy’s Food Co Op (East Side Marketspace) farmers market vendors! Enjoy a kids activity area, adult beverages from Black Acre Brewing, food trucks, and more!

EXPLORE EAST IRVINGTON

Before or after you visit Market on the Pennsy, stroll up the street to Explore East Irvington: Saturday, May 18th from 12pm-4pm. The event is being hosted at new and existing businesses located at 6117 E. Washington Street. Enjoy live music, vendors and a chance to discover all East Irvington has to offer! Home furnishings, a garden center, a bakery, an ice cream shop, a CBD shop and more all in one block! The first 50 adults through the door will receive a gift bag with coupons for free products and coupons to be redeemed during the event.

FREQUENCIES ART & FASHION: SPRING & SUMMER EDITION

Come celebrate Frequencies: Art & Fashion Exhibit curated by Rae Parker Art & Design at Hampton Designs Studio on Friday, May 17th from 7pm-11pm. This event is a celebration for artists, fashion designers and poets from Indianapolis and abroad. There will be tarot card readings, music and more! Check out all the exciting details on the event page at Frequencies: Art & Fashion Exhibit

IRVING CIRCLE SUMMER CONCERT SERIES

Friends of Irving Circle, made up of a group of concerned citizens, works to maintain and enhance a cornerstone of our neighborhood: Irving Circle Park. This concert series empowers Irvington to be a better place to live by collecting donations; fueling beautification projects; and providing enjoyable, cultural initiatives. Join family, friends and community for one of the most beloved events of the year! Bring a picnic, some chairs and blankets and enjoy the live music.

2019 IRVINGTON FARMERS MARKET

WANT TO HELP US AT THE NEXT FARMERS MARKET? WE NEED SOME HELP STAFFING OUR BOOTH – CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE!

Thanks to the imaginative, ambitious spirit of their founding members, the Irvington Garden Club's summer farmers markets have been going strong since 2000. Over the years, they've gone from having a handful of vendors along Washington street to being named the #1 Farmers Market by 2016 Indy A-List voters.

Today, 70-plus vendors take over the middle north section of Ellenberger Park, 5301 East St Clair, for each of their June – October markets (and many have been with them since the beginning).

You’ll delight at the mouth-watering displays of vine-ripened red tomatoes, green peppers, fresh corn, new potatoes, and other colorful vegetables. You will also discover in-season fruits including fresh peaches, apples, and tasty watermelons. Available too are fresh bouquets of newly cut flowers, tasty bakery goods, and both herbs and perennial plants.

As you explore the offerings, you’ll also find meats and cheeses, hickory maple syrup, salsa, and ever-so-sweet honey. You might see a tasteful display of hand-crafted jewelry, difficult to carve gourds or hand-thrown pottery. By then you’d like a pulled barbecue pork sandwich and a cold, thirst quenching drink to eat picnic-style on a nearby table.

You’ll also want to visit the booths of local non-profits, as well as Irvington’s pre-schools, staff members of Ellenberger Park, Irvington Development Organization (IDO), the Garden Club's booth, and other civic and professional groups.

Markets are held the second Sunday of the month from June through October at Ellenberger Park, 5301 East St. Clair Street. The market runs from 12–3 pm. Dates for 2019 are:

June 9
July 14
August 11
September 8
October 13

MILITARY TATTOOS EXHIBIT AT THE BONA THOMPSON: MAY 4th – AUGUST 28th, 2019

The Irvington Historical Society has a mission to preserve the history of our community and relate to the current residents of Irvington. We hope that this unique exhibit will be of interest to all of our veterans and current service members and carry the history of military tattoos to all our guests.

The history of military tattoos is artistically depicted through a series of photographs created in 2017 as a collaboration between IUPUI’s Office for Veterans and Military Personnel and John Herron photography students, Shelby Flora, and Zach Carrico. Each portrait features tattoos of past and present U.S. service members at IUPUI, which has the largest military related student population of any college campus or university in Indiana. Tattoos in the military are slightly taboo. Any ink that visible in places such as the face, neck, wrists, hands, or fingers is against regulation. But that hasn’t prevented veterans and active service members from creating permanent self-expression to symbolize their service and love of country.

The Bona Thompson is the home of the Irvington Historical Society. It is located at 5350 University Avenue. Their hours are Wednesday 1-3 and Saturday/ Sunday 1-4.

GET INVOLVED WITH THE IRVINGTON EID

The Irvington Community-Led Improvement Coalition (I-CLIC) has been working to identify sustainable sources of financial support to improve our neighborhood. I-CLIC is currently engaging property owners to discuss the feasibility of an Economic Improvement District (EID) as a long term funding option for Irvington.

An EID is a funding mechanism designed to enable a community to fulfill its commercial revitalization goals and plans; and is established as an assessment to property owners for use in promoting and improving the defined district.

EIDs provide a unique and straightforward economic and community development tool for property owners because they allow community control, financing, and development of projects.

Want to volunteer or learn more? Click the button below to contact the I-CLIC EID team today!

WHAT'S WITH ALL THAT JAZZ IN IRVINGTON?

Neighborhood Spotlight: Sweet Thursday Jazz at the Coal Yard
By Katie Hughes

Maybe you know him, or maybe you have seen his name around Irvington, but can’t quite place it. Was it a too-good-to-be-true Facebook post about some strange neighborhood myth? Could it have been an old IDO newsletter spotlight or flier for a folk music festival? Maybe it was on the cover of a Many Bright Things record album that you stumbled across while flipping through a stack of records in Irvington Vinyl & Books. Suffice it to say that Stan Denski is the man to see if you want to know something about about good music, especially jazz and blues. And he is set on helping to bring more of that to Irvington. Enter Sweet Thursday Jazz Nights at our very own Coal Yard Coffee.

The painting shown in the picture above by Rita Spalding was a gift. Rita shows up at jazz and does live paintings of the bands as they play, creating truly beautiful work.

What is your background and interest in music?
I love instrumental music. Words often ruin music for me, with some exceptions. Irvington has some good singer/ songwriters -- Jeff Kelly, Donn Smith -- they are really gifted. I used to play guitar and was in a band called Many Bright Things back in the 1990s. We recorded three albums with a group of local musicians (check out In the Summer of the Mushroom Honey). I like getting musicians together in a studio with no fixed plan and just seeing what happens.

Tell us more about the inspiration behind jazz nights at Coal Yard.
The idea and the talent were here. About four years ago, I was introduced by Rita Spalding (Irvington resident and fine artist) to bass player Nick Tucker, who had just moved to Irvington. We gathered some other local musicians -- Nick, his brother Joel, Bloomington tenor sax player Sophie Faught, Charlie Ballantine on guitar -- and they started playing Thursday nights. We mostly advertised through social media or work of mouth. Over time this evolved, and Irvington continues to host local musicians most Thursdays. There is no cover, but donations are encouraged. Sweet Thursday is led now by Michelle Roberts, the owner of Coal Yard Coffee.

What are you listening to right now?
I’m listening to a wide variety – I do a thing called “spinning” through Facebook where I will post a photo of album cover and write about it. I listen to a lot of jazz, world, classical, avant garde, pretty much anything. There is a terrific Japanese koto player (string musical instrument) with jazz musicians covering Thelonious Monk. And actually, the first Eagles record, which I like because they annoy so many people.

What are some great spots around town to catch live music?
Of course there is the Chatterbox, the Jazz Kitchen, and of course at Coal Yard, you can hear quality musicians who are good enough to play anywhere.

You organized the Irvington Folk Music Festival too, which IDO wrote about a few years ago. What is a bit of the history there, and what can we expect in 2019?
Right - that was a nine day celebration to mark the 100th birthday of Woody Guthrie in July 2012 in Ellenberger Park. It was really successful and exceeded all expectations - we had about 3,000 people show up! We tried doing that annually for a few years, but this was difficult to sustain financially.

Then in 2015, there was a large Juneteenth event to commemorate June 19, 1865, which was announcement of the abolition of slavery in Texas (and the emancipation of enslaved African Americans). That year it fell on the 150th anniversary, which was also a week after the Charleston Church shootings, and so the Irvington First Baptist Church choir held a performance at the Downey Avenue Church. It was just a phenomenal, beautiful event that brought people together, and was beyond our expectations again.

The festival itself ended in 2016 and became the Irvington summer music series, which has been going on for the last two years. That includes two concerts a month from May through September and takes place around the neighborhood. Right now this is led by some Irvington leaders who are in touch with the current local music scene. There may be another series of circle concerts (run by Sue Beecher), which is a free event hosted over the summer too.

I would like a summer music series but think about it less as a series, and maybe even see more music and shows year around in Irvington. I would like to do an electric blues festival in November. It would be great to bring more world music too - last year we had sitar and singing bowls at Bona Thompson. Some other new ideas led by Black Acre and Irvington Vinyl & Books could be hosting series of concerts with multiple acts or hosting turntable nights.

This is all community driven! Funding can be a challenge too. We’ve been grateful to the community groups and businesses who have helped with this. But in order to pay musicians to play, and especially if people want to see bigger names, you have to charge for tickets or fundraise (Stan often uses Go Fund Me), and people have to show up. I became a pest reminding people every day, bothering them to show up or donate. And I’ve learned that if I post something fake on Facebook, people will show up to correct me - that’s a good way to get responses! Fabricated Irvington will be my next Go Fund Me [Stan laughs].

Want to check out more great music in Irvington? Check out Coal Yard Coffee for music and other events throughout the week (there is often jazz on Thursday nights) - Facebook updates are posted here.