Lincoln Museum closes it's doors

The Lincoln Museum in downtown Fort Wayne closed it's doors to visitors for the last time at 5 PM Sunday. The museum's collection has been in Fort Wayne for nearly 77 years. Lincoln Financial Group decided to close the museum in early March, citing that they wanted to make the collection "available to a greater number of people, using Lincoln' bicentennial as a cataylst."

The collection has an estimated value of nearly $20 million. Recently, over 40 organizations and museums in Washington D.C. have joined together, forming a coallation to purchase the collection. However, many Indiana organizations have done the same, forming a coallation to purchase the items and keep them here in Indiana. The Indiana coallation is led by former Lincoln Financial Group CEO Ian Rolland. LFG has said they will decide on the final location of the items in January.

As for yesterday, the museum went out with quite a crowd. Visitors were lined up along Clinton all the way to Berry Street, at some points even crossing Berry. Even though a heavy 10-minute rain shower hit downtown around 3 PM, guests braved the weather, umbrella or none. The line was due to the fact that the museum has a specified carrying capacity that they cannot exceed, which happens to be 750 visitors at any given time. The museum operated at carrying capacity for much of the afternoon, and addmission was cut off at 4 PM. Many that were in line at the time were turned away.

Inside the museum, it would be hard for the average person to be able to tell that it was the last day. Besides the museum store, everything was where it should be, every exhibit still working, and everything piece of the museum's astonishing collection was still exactly where it has been for the past several years.

Over the next several months, the collection will be packaged and ready to move to it's new location, wherever it may be. The Renaissance Building, which previously housed the temporary location for the ACPL, will then stand completely vacant, as the museum was the last operating tenant. The building was originally occupied by Lincoln Financial Group, in addition to their offices on Calhoun. The Elektron building, located on Berry directly across from the Renaissance Building, was home to the Lincoln National Corporation in it's early days, before moving to the offices on Calhoun. Lincoln Financial Group is the marketing name for Lincoln National Corporation.

In the end, downtown has lost another great attraction, and a piece of Fort Wayne's history has officially been closed.


For more information on The Lincoln Museum, visit www.thelincolnmuseum.org.

DID Clean-up Crew Notice

The Clean-up Day scheduled for Saturday, July 12th has been cancelled due to the festival activities taking place downtown. If you would like to volunteer with clean-up efforts during the festival season, contact the Beautification Department of the DID.

Click here for updates, notices, and contact information for the Beautification Department of the DID.

What's Going Down(town)

DID creates Cleanup Crew

This summer, head to the streets of downtown with the Downtown Improvement District to tackle beautification projects and create a more attractive downtown for everyone! The Downtown Cleanup Crew is a new volunteer program of the Downtown Improvement District for the summer of 2008, a group of volunteers will head downtown once or twice a month for a few hours to tackle heavy and widespread beautification projects.

To sign up, simply send an email to either cleanupcrew@downtownfortwayne.com or beautification@downtownfortwayne.com.

From the DID (link)-

"The Cleanup Crew is a group of volunteers working together to tackle heavy and
widespread beautification projects downtown. These projects include heavily
weeded areas, areas struggling with abundant litter, or just cleanup of
downtown streets in general. The group will meet once a month on Saturdays
throughout the summer for about a three hours (usually 9 a.m. until noon).
In addition to volunteering outside, members will also meet at various times
to discuss beautification strategies, identify areas in need of immediate
attention, arrange additional volunteer dates, and organize future cleanup
crew dates."

2008 Cleanup Crew Schedule-

-Saturday, May 10th (Cleanup Day)
-Saturday, June 14th (Cleanup Day)
-Wednesday, June 18th (Beautification/Cleanup Crew Meeting)
-Saturday, July 12th (Cleanup Day)
-Saturday, August 9th (Cleanup Day)
-Monday, August 13th (Beautification/Cleanup Crew Meeting)
-Saturday, September 13th (Cleanup Day)
-Saturday, October 11th (Cleanup Day)
-Thursday, October 16th (Final 2008 Cleanup Crew meeting)

For more information on the Downtown Cleanup Crew or the Downtown Improvement District, visit www.downtownfortwayne.com.

Lincoln Museum to close down

One of downtown Fort Wayne's museum's is set to close down this summer. The Lincoln museum on Berry Street will close it's doors for the last time on June 30th of 2008.

Related articles:
-Link (JG)

Winter storm on the way

Another round of winter weather is set to plague the area tonight, bringing mixed precipitation tonight, possibly changing over to all snow by daybreak. Ice accumulations of up to 0.25" is possible, along with 3-5 inches of snow. Some areas may see locally heavier amounts of 6 to 7 inches before the system moves out early Wednesday morning.

Please take the necessary precautions to ensure safety over the next couple of days.

For more information on weather forcasts, watches, and warnings, visit www.nws.noaa.gov/iwx.

DID Releases 2008 Events Schedule

The Downtown Improvement District (DID) has released their events schedule for 2008. Visit www.downtownfortwayne.com for more information on the DID and DID events.

2008 DID Events-

Art Crawl
Friday, May 30th

Freimann Family Thursdays
Thursdays June 5-26th

Island Fest (Formerly Beach Blast)
Saturday, July 26th

Downtown Mardi Gras
Saturday, August 9th

Dowtown Fright Night
Saturday, October 25th

Holidayfest '08
Kicks off Wednesday, November 26th

Flood Repeat Possible

As Fort Wayne and surrounding areas continue to clean up from last week's floods, we could see another round of heavy rain and mixed precipitation moving in this weekend. While some areas are still flooded, and some low-lying fields and streets are still water (or ice) covered, not all flooding problems have come to an end. Current forcasts show rain moving in late Saturday night, and continuing throughout the day Sunday, possibly chaning to mixed precipitation or snow Sunday night with colder air moving in, with a couple inches of accumulation possible before the system moves out of our area. However, the snow isn't the primary concern, the rain is.

Current predictions make a point that heavy rain is highly likely Sunday, and possible into Sunday night, and before the system moves out we could see over one inch of rain, some areas could see up to two inches. One to two inches of rain, combined with snowmelt and a possible one to three inches of snow, flooding problems could make a comeback early next week- and flooding problems could reach severe levels before receeding, possibly exceeding levels we saw last week.
All in all, I'd say it's safe to say you might want to stay clear of parts of State Street next week, and parts of Clinton heading into downtown. Also, many low-lying areas will see plenty of flooding problems. We will continue to post lists of sandbagging locations next week, as well as continued coverage of flooding across the area.

The following is from the National Weather Service (NWS) of northeastern Indiana:

FLOOD WATCH
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTHERN INDIANA
453 PM EST FRI FEB 15 2008

...HEAVY RAINFALL POSSIBLE LATE SATURDAY NIGHT INTO SUNDAY....A POTENT LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL DEVELOP OVER EASTERN TEXAS ANDRAPIDLY SHIFT NORTHEAST INTO THE GREAT LAKES REGION SUNDAY. THECOMBINATION OF STRONG LIFT ASSOCIATED WITH THIS SYSTEM...INCONJUNCTION WITH AMPLE GULF MOISTURE...WILL SUPPORT THEDEVELOPMENT OF WIDESPREAD RAINFALL. THE PRECIPITATION IS EXPECTEDTO BEGIN AS A PERIOD OF FREEZING RAIN LATE SATURDAYNIGHT AND TRANSITION TO ALL RAIN BY SUNDAY MORNING. RAINFALL ISEXPECTED TO BE HEAVY AT TIMES...ESPECIALLY WEST OF A PERU INDIANATO HILLSDALE MICHIGAN LINE. ANOTHER ROUND OF HEAVY RAINFALLIS POSSIBLE LATE SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING AS A COLD FRONTPUSHES EAST ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA...SUPPORTING THE DEVELOPMENTOF A LINE OF HEAVY SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. TOTAL RAINFALLAMOUNTS ARE EXPECTED TO RANGE BETWEEN THREE QUARTERS OF ANINCH...TO POSSIBLY TWO INCHES. FROZEN SOIL CONDITIONS...MELTINGSNOW PACK...AND RAINFALL WILL LIKELY LEAD TO CONTINUED OR RENEWEDFLOODING ALONG CREEKS...RIVERS...LAKES AND LOW LYING AREAS.

Flood Update

Believe it or not, the picture you see to the left isn't a riverfront boardwalk in Chicago, or the canal that goes through downtown Indianapolis. The picture to the left is Headwater's Park in downtown Fort Wayne- or at least whats still above water, that is.



Due to heavy rain and snowmelt over the past couple of days, rivers in northern Indiana and Ohio have been on the rise, and flood warnings cover nearly every county in northeastern Indiana. The St. Joseph in Fort Wayne was at 17.4 feet Thursday afternoon, while the flood stage is 12 feet. The river is forcasted to crest Friday morning, and go below flood stage by early Tuesday morning. However, that may not be the case, as more rain and snow will enter the area tomorrow afternoon, starting as rain, then changing over to snow. 1 to 2 inches of snow is possible Friday evening, and although the precipitation will be frozen- highs could reach above 40 degrees early next week, meaning more snowmelt.



To look at the brightside of the situation, just imagine how things would look right now if we had recieved the forcasted 12-14 inches of snow last week, instead of the 3.8 inches (Fort Wayne) we got. Things could be much worse than they are at the moment, and this flood could have been a moderate to major flood in severity, although the flood already is exceeding levels reached in recent years.



As for traffic, don't head down Clinton into downtown for a while. Water is flooding from one park to the other, meaning there's some water flooding over Clinton street, and traffic is down to one lane. Also, areas to the west of Clinton and north of downtown are a mess, and plenty of streets are closed down due to flooding. Headwater's Park, Lawtown Park, as well as the skate park are under water as of Thursday afternoon.

The image to the right is a shot looking at Clinton Street from the upper level of Headwater's Park. While it's only a matter of inches over Clinton, it is plenty enough to slow traffic and reduce the street to one lane. Clinton isn't nearly as bad as some other streets in the area, however, as plenty of areas to the north and west of Headwater's Park are under water.

In addition to the area to the northwest, plenty of areas along the river to the southwest of Headwater's Park, particularly areas on Superior street, are flooding through as well. While this isn't a major flood for Fort Wayne, it is creating plenty of problems for the area, and probably has worked it's way from a minor flood to a moderate flood.

Sandbagging is going on at plenty of locations around the city, the following list is from the City of Fort Wayne's website:

Portage Middle School – 3521 Taylor Street
Broadview Florist – 5409 Winchester Road
Taylor University – 1025 W. Rudisill Blvd. (parking lot on the south side of Rudisill)
Southwest Conservation Club – 5701 Bluffton Road

Other sources have said that sandbagging is going on at various other locations, including Fellowship Missionary Church at 2536 Tillman Road, however I can't confirm that at this time. An update from the National Weather Service (NWS) suggests many rivers may crest as late as Saturday afternoon, or as early as Friday morning. With more precipitation on the way, we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

Shorts: Week of 2/4/08

News shorts for the week of February 4, 2008:

-The DID plans to host a downtown beach party once again this summer, calling it "island-fest" for now. Visit www.downtownfortwayne.com for more information on the DID and upcoming DID events.

-As a possible solution to the controversary over placing a new telecommunications tower downtown, two "pyramids" could go up in/near Headwaters park, disguised with decorations, each standing about 100 feet tall, and costing about $500,000 each.

-Excitement over Harrison Square is building, Mayor Henry has recieved phone calls from developers reguarding building condominiums near the complex in addition to those already being built.

-DFWB (Downtown Fort Wayne Baseball) uncovered information reguarding a recent land purchase by National Oil & Gas Co. near the Harrison Square site. For more information visit DFWB, or view the original post.

-A new downtown restuarant is set to open soon, called "Bourbon Street Hideaway", in the basement of Columbia Street West. For more information, click here, or view DFWB's "sneak peak".

Next up on Downtown DIG

Coming up in the next edition of Downtown DIG, we'll take a walk over to HomeGrown Bead and Candle Shoppe on Wayne Street to talk with owner Corene Painter, and feature an interview with the DID's newest employee.

Oh, and if you want a little sneak peak of some other stories that we might pack in too, go to youtube.com/downtowndig and watch the "WLDE Tour". Don't worry, we won't put the whole 7 minutes in our next edition.

Winter Storm Coverage Part Three

Well, as you may have noticed, we didn't pick up that foot of snow like what was forcasted. But the four or five inches we did get was enough to create some messy roads and school closings. Overall, it was just your typical January snowstorm for Fort Wayne. Other areas around the state, however, picked up quite a bit more than us, some places seeing up to 10+ inches.

There was an interesting sight downtown last night, however- a snow tornado on Calhoun. The video below was shot around midnight or so looking north on Calhoun from Washington, by John and Nick Arnett.





So while we didn't get a foot of snow, it was nice to have a little break from the cold rainy weather, and see a blanket of white over the city. Oh, and we definitely got our answer to the question "Will the snow shut down downtown?". Well, considering thats where I am at the moment, and the only problem I had getting here was slipping on a little patch of slush, I think its pretty safe to say that it didn't. Now had we gotten the 12-15 inches forcasted, that may have been a different story.

Winter Storm Coverage Part Two

As the wicked winter weather continues tonight, snow is expected to increase in coverage and intensity through Friday morning, with many parts of the area seeing moderate to heavy snow, and double digit totals.

I know there were some people claiming the storm would miss us, or we wouldn't see much in the way of snow, but these radar images pretty much prove the point that there's no getting out of this one for northeastern Indiana-

Winter Storm Coverage Part One

Below is video taken by the Downtown DIG crew around 10PM tonight. Moderate snow was reported, and a wind gust of about 25-30mph blew towards the end of the video, and after the footage. Up to a foot of snow or more is likely for the Fort Wayne area overnight and into Friday afternoon.





Downtown DIG will keep you updated as this nasty winter storm moves through our area. And tomorrow, we'll find out- will the snow shut down downtown?


Go ahead and send us your own footage from the winter storm! Just attach the video to an email to info@digfortwayne.com.

Downtown DIG Is Moving Forward

Over the course of the winter, DIG has expanded Downtown DIG into much more than the original daily one minute clip of random updates. We've gone as far as to bring it up to a 15 minute clip, jam-packed with interviews, highlights, and the stories of places and people you may have never heard of.


Well, we want to take it a step further.


Now, we want you to get more involved with Downtown DIG, and we're going to tell you of a couple of different ways how you can.



#1- Become a Downtown DIG Reporter
Believe it or not, sometimes we have problems assigning reporters to stories. Whats the problem? We don't have enough people to report on the stories we want to cover. So if you want to see your face in the next edition of Downtown DIG, go ahead and sign up to be a reporter! You can sign up to be a reporter by heading over to http://www.digfortwayne.com/, and filling out the Downtown DIG reporter form. Spots are limited, however.


#2- Send in your own report
You may have seen something like this on media giants such as CNN or MSNBC, or maybe even on local media sites such as Indiana's Newscenter. Well, now Downtown DIG is joining the media trend by allowing you to send in content that you created. For example- maybe there's a story you want us to cover, but you just can't wait until the next edition of Downtown DIG to see it- go ahead and tape it, and send it in to us! We'll feature it on our site, and if we like what we see- we'll try to find a way to fit in our next edition.

Right now, things are in the process of changing, so we don't have any flashy upload forms for you to use to upload your videos. However, if you send the video in an attachment to an email, or post the video on a blip.tv page, we'll be able to get it and upload it to our site.


#3- Work behind the scenes
We're always looking for new stories to cover, new places to film from, and new people to talk to. So if you've got any ideas for us, let us know! We're always open to suggestions, and strongly encourage public input. We'd like most of our content to feature stuff downtown (hence the name, Downtown DIG), but we don't have a problem featuring something from around the area every once and a while.

Oh, and a little side note- not all of our content needs to feature things in Fort Wayne. If you live in New Haven, and you'd like to show us around your downtown, go ahead an invite us! The same goes for all the other surrounding cities and towns. We're nice people, I promise.


#4- Help us spread the word
We're always in need of people to help us get the word out about Downtown DIG, since we're just getting started with the new series and all. If you'd like to hand out fliers, we've got plenty! Just drop us and email and we'll drop them off (kinda catchy, eh?). Or if you'd like a poster or flier for your workplace/store/etc, just contact us and we'll get some to you asap.

Also, if you see us out filming somewhere, don't be camera shy! Go ahead and talk in front of the camera. Who knows, you could end up seeing yourself in our next edition! A little heads up-we'll be at all of the Downtown Improvement District's events this summer.


#5- Get involved downtown!
We love to see people get involved in downtown, and there's plenty of opportunities too! Volunteer at the community center, or buy something from WLDE's Weenie Wagon. Whatever your cup of tea is, its ours too!


So that gives you just a few ideas of different ways to get involved with Downtown DIG. We're always open to new ideas, even if you're giving us ideas about giving ideas! Whatever it is that you want to see, go ahead and tell us. Now there's one thing that we've left out so far, and that happens to be contact, so here it is-


DIG
Email: info@digfortwayne.com


Downtown DIG
Email:
nick@digfortwayne.com
nick@downtownfortwayne.com
or, email the DID


Yeah we know, those were all email addresses. But like we said, we're in the process of changing things a bit, so an email address is pretty much all we can provide you with at the moment. However, if you contact someone with DIG, Downtown DIG, or the DID, they can give you a number of someone with Downtown DIG to call if needed.

But we like emails. =)



One Last Thing. A little bit about Downtown DIG-
In the event that you catch us out on the streets, or you'd like us to do a story on something/someone, or whatever the connection may be between us and you, its always nice to know a little bit about someone before you talk to them. So we'll go ahead and give you a little summary of who we are and what we do.


Downtown DIG was started in September of 2007 by DIG (Downtown Improvement Group), a grass-roots organization focused on helping people of all ages get involved in downtown. In December of 2007, Downtown DIG went through a transformation, so to speak. Downtown DIG was picked up by the Downtown Improvement District, and became a collaborative effort between the DID and DIG. Also in December, the new edition of Downtown DIG was released, the first in the DIG-DID series. The new edition was roughly 14 minutes long, and featured a variety of different types of stories. The crew of Downtown DIG was, and still is, as follows:


Nick Arnett- Host, Camera, Editing
Meagan Ford- Lead reporter, part time co-host
Hannah Alexander- Reporter
Rachel Davenport-Reporter, Downtown DIG organizer
Mona Del Priore- Reporter, Reporter Assistant


So that pretty much sums most of it up. To give you another little heads up, we've got a lot of big things coming up in the next several months, and some big announcments to be made in the next couple of weeks. So keep checking back!