Hey, I'm here at the Elkhart County Visitor Bureau because we're doing a partnership with our well crafted video series, and we're going to be showing you one of their great videos coming up here in a couple of minutes.

But I'm here with Terry at Terry.

Celebration Under the Stars is coming up.

Can you tell me a little bit about that?

I know you've got some some good music lined up and ready to go for that.

Yeah, we're all really excited about celebration of their stars.

So August 29th Saturday evening, second free concert in downtown Elkhart.

This year we're going to feature Boys to Men and the Jacksons.

So it's going to be a great event.

How many of us still think fondly of cooling the gang and the Commodores from last year?

And I think we're upping the game this year with boys to men.

Melissa, I could name like at least five boys boys to man songs, so I actually think they're great.

You know, end of the road, I'll Make Love to you.

Motown, Philly, they've got they've got a lot of good songs, so I'm excited for that.

And what about the Jacksons then as well?

I mean, there's still a couple of the original members, right?

Yeah.

So I think it's going to be a great nostalgia of the staging event for people who remember the music of the Jackson five and the their Motown sound from the 70s.

And so it's going to be a great evening of music.

Absolutely.

And so why is it important to the visitor bureau in Elkhart in general to have, like, free concerts like this?

Like, why not charge like what's what's the payoff for the city to do that?

Well, so events like these really drawing people from all over the region, many of them might choose to stay overnight, which helps many of our small businesses, obviously hotels and motels, but then also people will eat out or they'll do some other activities during the day, visit a park or do some shopping.

So being able to draw people in for a day or more really benefits Elkhart County business.

Now with this well crafted series last year, you also had videos that you did, and one of them was with a potter that was in Goshen.

Can you tell me a little bit about him and what he does?

And then also some exciting news about that industry in general?

Yeah.

So Mark Goertzen has a wonderful shop in a in Goshen at the Bag factory.

And so he not only features his own work, which includes like practical pieces like platters and coffee mugs and vases and pictures, but he also features other artists because Goshen has a really deep history of clay art, a lot of talented artists who are practicing, and so that one is a great place to visit and just admire the, the, the talent that we have in Elkhart County.

But there's also recently that they received a grant to be able to build something in Goshen for, for this industry, which is really great.

Yes.

So Mark Guertin with many others, are member of an organization called the Northern Indiana Clay Alliance.

So really just an organization of clay artists.

And they recently won the state grant to renovate a space in downtown Goshen for a clay center.

So it's going to be studio space for artists.

It's going to be retail space for these artists to display their works, and they'll probably end up being the the central location for the Michiana Pottery Tour, which is an extremely popular event coming next month that takes over a weekend.

There are 30 some artists who are at locations all over Michiana South Bend, Mishawaka, Goshen.

So it's a fun weekend.

And last year in your maker series, you got to well crafted series.

You got to sit down with Mark Gertz and talk to him and find out a little bit more about his craft.

So let's check that out right now here on Experience Michiana.

In 1989, the former owner of the studio, Dick Lehmann, was looking for somebody.

I was at the same pottery conference.

He was with my professor and and he asked my professor when he knew anyone who wanted to work here.

And my professor pointed at me even though I hadn't said anything about my future.

And so I happened to come up here just to to work for a year.

And I've been here ever since.

The pottery that I sell here in store is 90% high fired, stoneware glazed work in a gas kiln.

And then I have two kilns at my home that I use, and we call that atmospheric firing.

And then there would fueled.

So the wood ash goes through the kiln and deposits on pot.

Each pot is really individual, and most of the time it's like Christmas opening that kiln.

And big advocate of buying handmade stuff because of the person who made it.

Their spirit is in the work.

In essence, there's there will be never the same one twice.

Even if you look at my pots, even the same form, they're related, but they're never perfectly the same.

Also, you get a lot more esthetic choice from people who make handmade work.

I like not being static like I sometimes you can get a line and that's all you do.

People that have been here know that my work constantly evolves.

I guess it's the best way to say that my process of work here is, kind of collaborative with customers.

There's some things I make because I know they're popular and there's some things I make more one of a kind things, and to sort of feed my soul a little bit.

And then often I can blend the two into things that I know will sell that also I can make my own way.

And that's that's a fun, creative process.

The whole sense of making gives me a sense of fulfillment that I'm really, really enjoy and really appreciate that it's been that I can do that and be supported by the community.

And, and we get a fair amount of travelers through as well.

And I also like that the studio is right to the showroom.

And so people can come in and see what we're doing that day.

It's an opportunity to, to to educate that it's that you can't just make it and fire it.

It takes about three weeks to get from start to finish.

My showroom consists of about 50 or so different products, meaning mugs to serving bowls to baking dishes of various sizes, casseroles, vases along those lines of production and with varying colors.

So there's a lot of choice out there.

And then I have some sections of wood fired work that are more one of a kind and some sort of fired work, which is also an atmospheric firing.

That is more one of a kind work.

Goshen is is a good community for artists.

It the community around really supports the work of artists, and there's a fair amount of lovely little shop.

And Elkhart County in general has a lot of good crafts and things to see that I think is pretty incredible for the for the community, its size, it's got a high rate of makers in this area.

Very grateful for the community support of keep buying handmade stuff for for gifts and their own homes.