What's recently happened?
Every summer for the past 11 years, Hobart has hosted a traditional festival, also known as the summer market, every Thursday evening. The festival takes place on the lakefront with a park for children. The summer market also includes vendors, a bar area for adults, a live band playing music, and even a movie for kids.
What is so great about the festival is that it really does bring the community together after the cold winter. People of all ages have something to do and enjoy. Citizens often set up chairs and hang out or walk around with their friends and family and appreciate the warm weather while eating and drinking delicious foods and drinks from all the different food stands.
The food stands are the key to the festival because let’s be honest, food always brings people together, especially good food. The stands contain a variety of foods ranging from cheese fries, pizza, Mexican food, and of course, ice cream. There’s a food choice for every meal course!
Not only are there plenty of food options from the vendors, but there are also many vendors that sell toys, books, jewelry, henna, face painting, etc. for people to shop around.
The festival also gets set up for the Fourth of July when one of the most amazing fireworks shows are displayed.
Even though the market has been active for the past 11 years, it is still a very relevant event in the city, considering it is recognized as a tradition every Thursday for Hobart citizens.
What's coming up?
Along with hosting the summer market, Hobart sometimes takes the initiative to host concerts at the Brickie Bowl, the high school football field before the new high school was built in 2009.
With the new high school also came a new football field, leaving the 'Brickie Bowl' to no use. That is until the community decided to use it for concerts that include food and drink vendors. Again, these new and exciting plans for Hobart create a family-like city bringing everyone closer together.
In addition to these exciting events, Hobart plans to add larger electric systems, ADA ramps, larger parking spaces, and extra rooms for staff and artists to host even larger events.
After all of the new additions being added all over the city, summers in Hobart will soon be some of the most memorable summers for generations to come!
Community member spotlight
Jason Zaideman is the Chief Executive Officer at Operation Combat Bikesaver (OCB) NFP Inc. OCB is a nonprofit organization that is a form of therapy offered to veterans that want a fresh start in life. OCB's mission statement is, “To lower the suicide rate and prevent homelessness by providing therapeutic, hands-on, in-person programs for veterans suffering from PTSD / TBI / and/or depression."
OCB is a program designed as a safe place for veterans, offering a form of therapy that many may not initially realize is quite beneficial: bike building. The company is quite entirely constructed around the building and rebuilding of motorcycles. Not only does the building of these motorcycles give the veterans the help that they were looking for, it even adds a form of transportation for the participants. It also gives real results.
Veterans don't even need to apply for OCB, they can simply show up at one of the locations.
The veterans then come in and begin building their bikes along with many others, which introduces them to new people creating new friendships that sometimes even evolve into a family-like relationship.
Zaideman made it very clear that they are very accepting of everyone at OCB. He even mentioned that they all invite each other to each other's birthday parties and family gatherings because they become that close during the time that it takes to build their bikes.
Zaideman noted he could truly see the progress in the veterans that joined Operation Combat Bikesaver.
"Oh for sure, you begin to see the bags under their eyes go away and light come back to their faces," he said.
Zaideman knew that working on bikes would be so effective for so many people, even if they were unlike him in numerous ways. A couple of examples he mentioned are if they have different backgrounds, different childhoods, and different military experiences.
“It really did work for me, and I could see the changes in myself," he said. "I would stay out in the garage for hours upon hours not knowing it was two in the morning. When I finished my bike I could feel the anger and things I felt before coming back. My wife told me, ‘you need to go build something.’"
Operation Combat Bikesaver has been proven time and time again to be one of the most effective therapy establishment for veterans seen in a long time.
Although the facility of Operation Combat Bikesaver is located in Crown Point, Zaideman and the rest of the people involved in the program have done a tremendous job of incorporating and including people from all over Northwest Indiana.
Operation Combat Bikesaver was also on TLC’s “Returning the Favor” so check that out as well.