HANCOCK COUNTY — While perusing the 52 weeks of Just 4 Fun pages from 2019, one can’t help but be amazed by the scope and variety of culture and entertainment options that Hancock County offered over the past year. The Thursday Just 4 Fun page typically heralds the leisure time options — with one event centerpieced — for the upcoming weekend. But in 2019, there were often weekends so packed with fairs, fundraisers and fun that the only recourse was to create one composite article to cover them all. All-in-all, because Hancock County has so many creative and energetic people, this community was a great place to be in 2019.
Hancock County has artists
In 2019, Main Street Arts and Music transformed the old Carnegie Library in Fortville into Main Street Arts and Music at the Carnegie. Since opening in late January, the facility has featured an exhibit of kinetic art, the work of local watercolor artists and a display of NASA artifacts.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]
Main Street Arts and Music is also the motivator behind the cutting edge Art Battles in April and September. The art battles take place under the umbrella of a national organization with the winners going on to compete regionally in Chicago. Lauren Daugherty won in April, and Ariel Eitel took the honors in September.
Greenfield’s own Twenty North Gallery, managed by Hancock County Arts, featured several wonderful exhibits throughout the year including a display of fiber arts and an all-Santa Claus art show in December.
Hancock County has musicians
The music scene in Hancock County extends from open mic nights at Snappers Bar & Grill to a proliferation of concert opportunities, particularly during the summer. In its 33rd year, Greenfield Banking Company’s Entertainment on the Plaza brought free weekly Friday night concerts to the Courthouse Plaza from perennial favorites the Wright Brothers to the New Barleycorn out of the Cleveland, Ohio area. Additionally, the surrounding communities of Fortville, Cumberland and Shirley offered regularly-scheduled free outdoor music concerts from the blues to country and western.
The Brandywine Wind, the Greenfield Community Orchestra and the Greenfield Community Choir perform concerts regularly.
Hancock County has dancers
Although we said good-bye to Dance East and its original Christmas ballet “Little Things” in 2019, other dance studios, such as Wilkerson Dance, are still going strong. The Wilkerson Dancers, led by Debbie Wilkerson, perform “The Nutcracker and More” each Christmas; a spring extravaganza; and as part of the Riley Festival entertainment each fall. Hearts Ablaze took a year off from performing at the Circle of Lights, but continues to perform throughout the county for festivals and events, and you can catch the Ricochet Cloggers each year during the Riley Festival.
Hancock County has actors
You’d be hard-pressed to find a community of this size that offers as much in the way of theater as Greenfield and Hancock County. With four strong high school theater programs, theater aficionados enjoyed “High School Musical” (Greenfield-Central, Mt. Vernon), “Beauty and the Beast” (Eastern Hancock), “Newsies” (New Palestine) and “42nd Street” (Mt. Vernon High School). On the high school horizon, we can look forward to “The Little Mermaid” (Eastern Hancock), “Footloose” (Greenfield-Central) and “Aida” (Mt. Vernon).
The local community theater groups entertained us with musicals and plays. The Ricks-Weil Theatre Company presented Andrew Lloyd Weber’s “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” while the CrazyLake Acting Company dazzled audiences with “Mamma Mia.” CrazyLake followed up its summer musical with a Christmas farce called “Sorry! Wrong Chimney!”
Hancock County has big hearts
Without a doubt, some of the most entertaining events held in Hancock County this year were fundraisers — emphasis on fun. The Forty and Eight veterans group hosted its second annual bed race to raise funds for nursing scholarships; Dancin’ with the Hancock County Stars helped raise money for the Women’s Resource Center; and Psi Iota Xi raised money for its philanthropic programs with its second annual Lip Sync War. If you missed these events, you missed some great belly laughs.
Looking ahead
Many of these tireless and energetic groups and individuals are already laying plans for 2020. So crack open your 2020 calendars, and we’ll be back next week with a sneak preview of what’s on the entertainment horizon for the coming year.
