Indianapolis Takes America's Boldest Step

Breaking Travel News (BTN) is the leading online resource center for travel industry executives. From market intelligence and trend analysis to breaking news and exclusive video interviews, it ranks as one of the leading travel sites, attracting over 20,000 industry executives daily.

On May 20, BTN featured the Indianapolis Cultural Trail. The article reiterated the statement made by Project for Public Spaces in New York that the Indianapolis Cultural Trail is one of the biggest and boldest steps made by an American city. 

Check out the BTN article here. 

Amelia's & Bluebeard

We are thrilled to welcome a new bakery and restaurant to the Cultural Trail in the Holy Rosary neighborhood at 653 Virginia Avenue. With a soft opening in mid-June, Amelia's Bakery will create fresh hearth-style bread and Bluebeard will feature lighter Italian fare with a menu that changes regularly and incorporates seasonal ingredients that are locally sourced.

The Cultural Trail team corresponded with John Adams, the former executive chef at H2O Restaurant & Sushi Bar and now the co-chef and co-owner of Bluebeard, to find how he feels about opening his business "trail adjacent:"

"Having the trail adjacent will be a huge benefit to our business. It will add so much to the landscape of the street, will bring even more cyclists our way, connect us to more local businesses and will add to the urban feel of the neighborhood by bringing more foot traffic."

The restaurant takes its name from the novel Bluebeard by Kurt Vonnegut. The book is a fictional autobiography of an American abstract-expressionist artist of Armenian desent named Rabo Karabekian. The restaurant will have stocked bookshelves and pre-World War II typewriters. There will be a typewriter at the bar with stamped postcards. If you finish your note while you are at the restaurant, they will mail it for you!

To learn more about Bluebeard and what this locally owned independant restaurant will have to offer, check out their website here. 

(Pictured are husband and wife co-chefs, John Adams and Abbi Adams, and Nick Hammond, their front-of-the-house manager. They were taking a break from construction to conduct a wine tasting.)

Support Fletcher Place Businesses!

And while we're on the subject of great downtown businesses, please support the businesses in the Fletcher Place and Holy Rosary neighborhoods on Virginia Avenue while we are in construction. Pedestrian access to all the businesses is being maintained. Parking can be found on side streets. Thanks for patronizing these venues. They need your support!

If the sandwich to the right looks tasty, it is a Cubana from Tortas Guicho Dominguez Y El Cubanito on Virginia Avenue.

Fitness Now
435 Virginia Avenue
www.fitnessnowindy.com
Tel: 264-1000

Donatos Pizza
435 Virginia Ave
www.donatos.com
Tel: 664-5575

Impact Group, Inc.
501 Virginia Ave
http://www.impactgroupinc.com/

Calvin Fletcher's Coffee Company
647 Virginia Avenue
www.cfcoffeecompany.com
Tel: 423-9697

South of Chicago Pizza
619 Virginia Avenue
tel: 203-7110

Dugout Bar
621 Virginia Avenue
Tel: 916-1514

Tortas Guicho Dominguez Y El Cubanito
641 Virginia Avenue
www.tortasguicho.com
Tel: 658-0735

Chickens on the Trail?

We continue to feature stories on how people and businesses are engaging the Cultural Trail. When it was discovered a few months ago that there were now chickens adjacent to the trail near the intersection of Walnut and New Jersey streets, we reached out to Maura Sullivan, a Kindergarten teacher at the Center for Inquiry (CFI)-IPS School 2, to find out why.

Here is what we discovered:
“We received our chicken coop through Nap Town Chicken's Project Poultry. Our sponsor is Silver in the City, who paid for our coop construction. We've been able to make many connections with work that we were already doing, and have plans for projects in the future—everything from food production to life cycles, and economic lessons. Our 3rd grade classes just hatched chicks as part of their science inquiry unit and donated some to the project for other schools. We're currently collecting eggs to auction off as part of our Spring Fling fundraiser. Two of our hens are currently on loan for the day for an Indy 500 commercial that ESPN is filming, in which they re-enact the training scene from Rocky. The middle school students are responsible for their daily care, which is surprisingly minimal.”

While the list of ways that CFI engages the trail went on and on… We were also happy to receive Mrs. Sullivan’s personal story about how she has embraced the Cultural Trail.

“On a personal level, my day begins and ends on the Cultural Trail. We live on St. Clair Street and I'm able to take my son to his daycare at Robert's Park on the back of my bike. Then, I ride to CFI, also directly on the trail. After school, I pick up my son and we ride over to the National Institute of Fitness and Sport (NIFS). After NIFS, we often visit my parents at their house--also right on the trail. Finally, we're able to ride home, right through downtown, safely on the trail almost the entire time.”

Tell us your story. Send it in an email to MTRoss@IndyCulturalTrail.org.

Construction Update

We're making progress! Check out the latest construction update on our website by clicking here.