1234.

Get my shoes in.

Out the door.

Five.

I'm lost.

Six.

Seven.

Eight.

Feels great.

I'm gonna shine.

After I do what I'm gonna do.

I do it again.

Yeah.

Look at the sky with the beautiful color.

But never just for me.

You gotta share it with another.

I got to show, to give.

Let I want singing show.

Take a look and say a beautiful morning that turns into a beautiful evening.

And together make beautiful art.

And if you wanna see that, come along with me.

That's right.

Hey it's Irish Dave and welcome to Experience Michiana.

I'm inside of a building right now that if you drive on the bypass east, you've probably seen it.

It's the Jim Town Historic Museum, which is actually now the acres of Jamestown.

We're going to tell you all about that on next week's show.

On this week's show, we're continuing to team up with the Elkhart County Convention Visitor Bureau, and we're going to highlight the Elkhart County Symphony this week, who are just phenomenal.

So I can't wait to show you that there's also something happening that's going to be going away in a few weeks called Real Rides at the Studebaker Museum.

So we're going to remind you about that.

But first, we're heading to downtown South Bend to find out what's going on inside momentum.

I'm here in downtown South Bend now, recently on Experience Michiana.

I was here to talk about Idea Week because one of the residents here is in charge of putting that on, but I thought we should really get to know what's happening here at momentum.

So I'm here with Chris, who's the founder and CEO.

Chris, tell me what momentum actually is.

So momentum is a spot for people who are founders, entrepreneurs, remote workers to have a space of community, awesome co-working space, awesome amenities, and really just a place in South Bend for to to work and collaborate together.

What was here in this building before.

So since it was built in the.

I think was the 1950s.

The Salvation Army was the occupant.

They moved out in 2018 and it was vacant since 2018.

Oh, wow.

So it was just part of like kind of rejuvenating downtown South Bend as well.

Absolutely.

And so in this space with founders and smaller businesses, it's pretty tough.

Like a lot of people over the last six years since Covid start working from home.

So is it hard to get people back out into a place like this?

So we actually started the project around 2020 when everyone was like, oh, like everyone's closing their coworking spaces.

But we thought there was if you have the right amenities and the right mix of people and the right culture, people want to drive.

And I think that was really important when we started to see, like, what would make someone drive 25 minutes to come down here when they could just work at home, like most of the people here do not need to come into work.

And so the mix of, again, the people and the amenities and the nice things that we created was so that we always had that in mind of like, what would make you pay for an extra office space and drive 20 minutes?

It's the lack of children in the background screaming at you.

I think that's what it is.

Are the wife asking you, can you just do this one now?

I'm just kidding.

But let's go inside and have a look.

Yeah, absolutely.

Thanks.

So with this space, I mean, what does it look like before and what have you done with it now?

I mean, it must have taken a lot of work.

Yeah.

So this was essentially like warehouse space.

So it had concrete ceilings and floors.

We actually cut out this atrium ourselves.

There were a lot of old offices, old like dorm rooms, but a lot of it was just like, you had to have a vision when you came in here because it was it was not in good shape.

How do you take on something like that?

And did you ever consider a slide because or at least a fireman pole.

So so we had a we actually took from one of the old firehouses some stairs that they were getting rid of.

We put it outside in our loading dock and someone stole it, but we wanted to have a spiral staircase from the first floor to lower level.

So we did think of that.

My question was a slide, but okay.

I mean, you know, if you want to go along with the stairs, that seems like a normal way, you know?

But no, I get it.

And again, it's such a welcoming environment when you come in here.

And I know even with snacks and coffee, like, that's all included when people decide to be tenants.

Yeah.

And what we tried to do was we both not only visited the other locations in South Bend, the people could have office space but also visit other cities, just like what were they doing in their spots, like so not only like the best co-working spaces, but also like, what's a club feel like that?

Hey, I can go there.

I don't have to worry about all the other things.

It's all taken care of for me.

All right.

I want to see, because I know you've got a couple of levels here.

So up here you've got some bigger offices.

And we were here for Idea Week, which they're obviously one of your big clients, the organization that puts that on.

So tell me about the kind of people, as you mentioned, that are here.

Is that mostly non-profits or for profits?

I would say it's a mix.

We not only have a lot of like nonprofits and not a lot of founders.

We have a lot of engineers.

We have a number of remote workers.

But I would say that's when we started.

We knew it couldn't be just for startup founders because we don't enough density in South Bend, Elkhart to do that.

And so but all these other people wanted the same thing.

They wanted it nice, they wanted offices, they wanted a nice coffee bar.

So I think that also like as we just had lunch today, there's a nice eclectic group of people that you wouldn't ordinarily run into.

And if they were all engineers or they're all founders, like, it would actually be pretty boring conversation.

Hey, now you're right.

But you mentioned that today.

Like, I mean, you had a lunch here where you put on food for people.

Why does that matter?

When to the culture.

Yeah.

So like one of the things that from the beginning.

So we used to hold happy hours before we opened the building just in like some of the like in the warehouse space, sometimes in other buildings because we wanted there to be people to get together that, that a lot of our people work by themselves.

And so what would make you a little bit less lonely?

A little bit like going out to be more folks.

And people really liked going to those.

And we think, you know, this is the point is not just make this an office space.

It is like the culture that people are really interested in as well.

I mean, being a former radio guy, one of my favorite things is that you have a podcast studio, so I want to check that out.

Yeah.

So absolutely.

Now I'm here with Chris.

Chris, what's it like being South?

Ben's most eligible bachelor.

It's it's a lot of pressure.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, you know, I get it.

I used to hold it and then I got married, so.

No, but this is cool.

I mean, this is available to your members, right?

Like, because obviously we've got video equipment here too.

So having this kind of space, why was it important to have this for for a lot of the people.

Yeah.

Like, again, we wanted to do what other people either weren't spending time on or what they thought was just like a waste of money as an amenity.

And we're like, well, you know, my friends and I wanted to podcast.

We actually never had done it before.

And some of our friends are podcast producers.

So we thought, oh, it would be great to have that space in here.

And we've actually had like in the last couple of weeks, some awesome people come through.

So we had an Olympian recorded a podcast in here.

Ray and Wilson was here a couple weeks ago from the office.

So it's become like it's a tight little space, but like, people really like it.

Like, we spent a lot of thought and time on making sure that it was something that it wasn't just a hobby.

Like if people were doing as professionally, like this could be a spot for them to.

Absolutely.

And it's a great way for people to reach their audience.

Right, right now.

I know that some of the offices upstairs are bigger.

Many people can be in any of these offices.

Are they from 1 to 5 or how does that work?

Yeah.

So most of the offices right now we have between one and like four people.

So when we originally did our research it was kind of we had to guess of like based on what already existed in the market.

So there's a lot of office space where you can fit ten, 15, 20 people.

There wasn't anything that we saw where you could fit like a one person office where you'd have to pay for all those extra expenses yourself.

So like when you have an office here, you're just paying the office rent.

You're not paying your own electricity, you're not paying your own internet.

You're not paying for all those, like the trash and recycling.

Like we take care of all that.

And I don't think there's another spot in South Bend that does that for you.

And so when we when we went to other cities and they had all these and were like, well, let's lean towards the side of smaller offices with again, we might expand to have bigger ones on the second floor.

But for right now it's like we've had a good mix.

I think we're down to mostly one person offices, and I know that even outside of that, there's an option where you don't actually have an office, but you can come in and work from this space.

Yeah.

So there's actually a lot of folks who are coworking members, so they can just come in every day, either 24 over seven or 8 to 5, and then they have an opportunity to just find a little nook, find a table, and they can just work for the day.

And they don't have a dedicated office space.

But again, it's still like amazing, especially price wise.

And finally, I won't be allowed to go to this because I have an eight week old and an almost three year old, but there is a bar in here that opens at 4:00.

So I think we should go have a look at that.

Absolutely.

So tell me a little bit about this space and this bar.

How long has momentum actually been here and then how long is this bar actually yeah.

So we had our soft soft opening in June of last year, June of 2025, where we let our early adopters in construction was still going on.

There's a lot of noise.

We actually might make t shirts that say part of the noise, because we've had so much disruption for the people who moved in.

And the bar actually then opened about mid September.

So, right, we did a ribbon cutting for that momentum, September I think 15th, and we opened the bar a couple days later.

And so is this separately run by an outside company?

Yeah.

So so there's a couple of us owners that own the bar.

Then Navarre Hospitality Group actually runs the bar, and it's open to the public at 4:00 Monday through Saturday.

Would you consider opening it around 11 for people with a young family or.

No.

Or lunchtime?

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Hey, lunchtime.

Happy hour.

There you go.

But again, there's this space.

Why is this important to have this here?

So when we thought about, again, what do people want.

How do we create those productive collisions?

Or how if you were meeting with an investor or potential client, where would you want to go at 4:00?

And we're like, oh, this was a sunken in.

It was originally a loading dock.

We thought, oh, we could put a bar there.

And then once someone said that it never strayed from that idea.

And it is true, like people will come here.

It's a nice quiet bar to, like, have a meeting at 4:00.

At 5:00?

It's a different vibe from like 4 to 7 than it is from like 8 to 11.

But it's also it's also a bar that's open to the public.

You don't have to be.

Absolutely.

Yeah, absolutely.

So anyone from the public can come in at 4:00 every day.

So with this space, as we were walking through, I noticed.

And when we did the interview for Idea Week, that was in one of the conference, the meeting rooms.

But you do have a variety of meeting rooms, two including this one.

Yeah.

So this was actually where we had the idea week launch party.

So it looks very different than it did about two weeks ago.

But back here we do co-working space, but also we've done dinners, we've done cocktail hours, we've had panel discussions, we've had workshops.

So the point back here is we didn't want anything like so specific that we couldn't make it like like movable.

So we call it the collaboration space because there's so many different reasons that people might use the space back here.

But the primary is co-working.

But then we also do a lot of other events as well.

And again, there are meeting rooms for ten people for six weeks.

I mean, there's small and we did that intentionally.

So we actually have one person phone booth.

So like if you want to take a call by yourself.

But then we also have meeting rooms for four people all the way up to 14, because as we saw in other cities, if they were all the same and they were all standard, like there's a lot of wasted space.

And so, you know, there's a boardroom that can fit 14 to 16 people.

But then we also have these chips for people hop in the huddle room, and then it's a lot quieter and a lot less space being used.

maybe the next time we meet, you won't be an eligible bachelor.

And I'm just kidding.

I'm sorry that I made that even a thing in this video, but thank you so much for showing me around.

Thank you for taking the leap along with the other people and just doing it and creating a space for people.

I think that matters in life, you know?

So a good job.

Yeah.

Thank you.

And I would say this was definitely a partnership with like the city of South Bend, the South Bend, Elkhart Regional Partnership, the DEA, they were all helped participate to make this thing happen.

And we're really appreciative of all of them.

And is it momentum?

SB is that the is the website.

That's where people can find information about coworking memberships, offices.

You can even, I think, find some information about renting the space for an event or going to the events that we host as well.

Sweet.

Thanks.

Yeah, absolutely.

Once again, I'm here at the Elkhart County Visitor Bureau in Elkhart, and I'm here with Terry, who's the director of communications.

And Terry, this month on Experience Michiana, we're going to focus on the symphony because you really have a wonderful symphony here in Elkhart.

Absolutely.

They are wonderful musicians.

They really believe in their craft.

They believe in bringing music to the masses to make it accessible to the entire community.

And they're full of talent, and it's really wonderful to just sit back and listen to the music that they can create.

And this video that you're sharing with us, this is part of your well crafted video series.

And so this really showcases just the absolute talent and the beauty.

It is well crafted.

I mean, they're great example of what well-crafted means when you see them working together.

Exactly.

You know, when you watch them on stage, you don't necessarily realize how much work and effort goes into a 50, 60, 70 piece orchestra all coming together to play something beautiful together.

And so you get to see a little bit of that and hear a little bit about why they believe strong so strongly in what they do.

My name is Suhan, the music director of the Elkhart County Symphony Orchestra, and we make important music.

The story of Elkhart County Symphony Orchestra begins 75 years ago, when members of the community set out to establish a symphony orchestra here because they believed in the power of music and the good that it could do for the people of Elkhart, and the good that it could do to help to make our world a better place.

And today, our mission is pretty much the same to me.

A community symphony is one that is made up of the people from the community, and also that reflects back to youth, in particular what they could be when they're older.

So I think our symphony does a fantastic job of being that example, and that place where local musicians can play and make music, and then young people can step up and see themselves filling those roles someday.

My favorite part of this entire thing that we do is the people that I get to work with and the journey that we go on, every single concert that we put on, it's still rehearsals.

It's the conversations.

It's the exploration of why was this music that we're performing written?

Why does it exist?

Because music, unlike any other expression, form of expression that we have, can do things that words can't.

That, that that sometimes even paintings can't.

It touches us and it expresses things of our humanity that is not possible in any other forms.

I think it's really special that our musicians are local, because I show up to rehearsal and I see my friends.

I see musicians that I know from other gigs, I see fellow teachers, and it's just a great way to maintain those connections and build those relationships within our local Elkhart County community.

Maestro Suhan is one of the most dynamic and engaging conductors that I've ever worked with.

He is so personable.

He always addresses us as colleagues.

He inspires us.

He brings out the best in all of us as players, and he really goes above and beyond to create a musical community.

The diverse elements of all the things that come together to make an orchestra, of course, include all the different instruments.

One of the main reasons that the tradition of orchestral music is so strong here in Elkhart is, of course, because of all the incredible instrument makers that exist here and all the world artists that come to here, to Elkhart to find their instruments that are playing in orchestra.

A lot of people don't know that Elkhart County has this incredibly rich history of music making, whether actually making the instruments themselves, but also playing, performing music and educating our young people in music.

And I think that tradition is really special and unique to our community and is something to be celebrated.

The greatest goal and the greatest hope that we have is that our audiences feel something that evokes a memory, evokes a feeling, and just for the moment that they're with us, that they feel a little bit more alive than they would have otherwise.

Not every community has this.

We are lucky.

We have so many incredible musicians and music educators, and we are able to create music at this level, this caliber of music, because of the artistry and the hard work of all the musicians that live in our community.

And that's something really special.

I think for a community to have a symphony is to have a source of creative expression, to have something that brings people together for the sole purpose of hearing beauty and experiencing.

Just being able to sit for two hours and totally immerse yourself in something beautiful and something creative.

I mean, the musicians, we can feel it when it really works and the audience can feel it too.

The Elkhart County Symphony Orchestra is a musical representation and expression of who we are as community members of Elkhart County Symphony Orchestra.

The symphony is really important to our community because it creates this well crafted space of beauty and creativity that enriches the community.

I'm here at the Studebaker Museum, and this is probably one of the coolest exhibits I've ever had here.

It's reel rides.

It's cars of TV and film, and I'm here with Kyle, who's curator.

Kyle.

I'm super impressed walking in here.

You know, when I heard about this and heard we were coming, I didn't realize that you'd have such an amazing collection.

I mean, you've done a really good job with this.

Well, thank you.

I can't take all the credit, but thank you.

Thank you very much.

Yeah, but even as we look at the first one here, like the Gt40 replica because.

But we say replica.

But that's what they used in the filming for Ford v Ferrari.

Right, right.

And that's an interesting example of movie cars are kind of special in that, you know, they, they, they all have stories to tell.

Right.

So this is a replica Gt40 used in Ford v Ferrari.

So in the film it was wrapped in like a dark blue wrap.

Right.

And you see Christian Bale working under the car and that scene in the hangar.

He plays Ken Miles in the film.

And then obviously the owner much later took that wrap off.

We think that the current sort of, scheme on the car looks like it would have been.

Yeah.

Lemon in the late 60s, but, this probably was added, like as a promotional paint job, you know, after the film.

So, again, interesting car, interesting history.

You know, one of the vehicles in Ford was Ferrari, so which again, because I know that the real Gt40 would probably be worth a couple hundred thousand dollars.

Yeah, a little bit.

Yeah.

They tend not to use them in movies when they're kind of a mess, you know.

And these are props right there in the background.

And so they did want to have some authentic cars.

You know, meaning you know they're still movie cars you don't want always the real thing.

So yeah.

Now I know that behind me here, this yellow vehicle is a regular feature here at the museum.

It's been here before.

So can you tell me a little bit about who owns it?

And it's from The Color Purple, right?

Right.

Yeah.

So this is the Color Purple movie from the mid 1980s with will be Goldberg and Oprah Danny Glover.

This car was here for a while back.

Yeah, I think in the early 20 tens.

Right.

Okay.

This is Doctor George Vassos.

He's a friend of the museum.

He lives out in Massachusetts.

So he's been the owner of this car for several years.

It's a wonderful film.

It's a beautiful car.

It's just, it's a Studebaker model.

One of my favorite eras, kind of mid 1930s here.

And that yellow just really pops, so it really makes me want to lean into.

They don't make them like that anymore.

Friends, you know, that's when you know you're starting to get older when you start looking at it.

But I mean, it's just I mean, I don't know if everyone says that about every generation, but it's just magnificent.

It really is.

No.

This one, it's a really special time.

And I love the rumble seat.

And that's obviously pretty prominent in the movie too.

So yeah.

And I know here this, you know, we talk about the first car that we looked at was a replica.

But this Ferrari here, the Ferrari 308, this is a it's a real Ferrari.

There's no replica here.

This.

No, this is, this is one of my favorite cars we were able to bring in for the exhibit.

So we have three cars on loan to us from the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.

They have a wonderful collection.

And they're in their vault, especially of movie cars.

And so obviously, many of us grew up or at least have seen Magnum Pi.

So this is one of the Ferraris used in filming season three.

My favorite bit of trivia for this car is they actually had to lower the frame a bit to fit Tom Selleck, so that's pretty fun.

Pretty tall guy, pretty small car.

So, and I know that the Ian Fleming Foundation is based up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, right?

Or I believe so.

And you have some vehicles here that were in bond movies, which.

Yeah, yes, we have a couple of vehicles here that were in bond films.

They were very generous in letting us, borrow some of these, many of their vehicles do kind of go to different museums for exhibits and other Museum of Science or one of the Chicago museums just had a James Bond exhibit.

Yeah.

But any case, we have, yeah, this Honda motorcycle here.

This was used in Skyfall.

One of my favorite, I think Daniel Craig, led bond films.

If you remember, toward the beginning of the film, there's this great motorcycle chase there.

Istanbul, I think, bond commandeers, just kind of a street bike.

And then the bad guy, commandeers this police bike here.

So this is one of those police bikes used in the film.

You know what?

I want to cause a ruckus with our audience.

But I think Daniel Craig is one of the best bond.

He's great, you know?

And I know he doesn't fit the the mold of what?

Bond.

You know, for some people, they all have their own special attributes.

Yeah.

So yeah, we got Thelma and Louise over here, which I mean, this is a really iconic vehicle right here.

I like to joke with folks like this is not the one that flew off the cliff at the end of this film.

Yeah.

This is again another vehicle on loan to us from the Petersen Museum.

Just a really neat vehicle.

If you've seen the film, really emotionally charged ending.

Yeah.

And something that's kind of neat about movie cars.

They obviously use multiple different, mostly identical cars for the film.

So this was used for a lot of the driving scenes with Geena Davis.

And oh, who's the other actors I'm forgetting?

Don't ask me.

Is it on here?

It's probably Susan Sarandon.

Thank you.

Oh, yeah.

Of course.

Yeah.

So, just a wonderful car.

I mean, who doesn't love a mid 60s Thunderbird?

It's just a cool car.

I mean, convertible again, they don't make them like this anymore.

It's just so beautiful.

Can you imagine?

They're driving around South Bend on a summer evening on this.

It's beautiful.

Absolutely beautiful.

So as we kind of get into the museum here.

Yes.

There's one question that I'm curious about.

How do you get all the cars up here?

We're on, like the one second or third floor, right?

No, it's not magic.

It's, So in the corner of the gallery, this building is, we're lucky to have an elevator that goes all three floors.

We can fit pretty much every vehicle in the collection, okay?

And we can move them around, so.

And, do you ever get nervous?

Like.

I mean, just thinking about, like, making sure you just have to take such good care of them.

I mean, just parking them all.

I feel like I'd freak out a little bit.

That's what we do, right?

I know, I know, I know, yeah.

So you.

And so our team here, obviously we do this quite a bit.

And so we have a pretty good handle on moving moving cars around.

Sometimes we're threading the needle a little bit, but but we always make it work.

And so when you talk about this reel rides and it's happening, how long are all these vehicles going to be here on time.

Yeah.

So this just opened on Friday October was a 25th, 2424.

Thank you.

And so they'll be here all the way through Memorial Day next year.

Oh, wow.

Yeah.

So it's about an eight, 7 or 8 month exhibit.

So you have some time, you know, come, come, you know, this winter free weekend, you know, check it out.

And there's a lot of other great stuff to see here at the Studebaker Museum.

And I do like it that you know, there's there's vehicles that represent nearly like every era or every age group of people like, I see, you know, Little Miss Sunshine vehicle over here, which is so cool.

But, you know, it seems like it hits kind of every generation, even with the Ford versus Ferrari, obviously.

And that was one of my our goals here I was for going to do a movie car exhibit.

But let's do something that appeals to to many different people.

Yeah.

And so the Little Miss Sunshine, van was one of my favorites.

We have, the Hornet from the man with the Golden Gun, another bond vehicle.

So, yeah, I mean, just hitting a lot of those different audiences.

Is there any.

I noticed the fire vehicle over here with South Bend Fire Department.

So is that just kind of an extra added in, or is that from an actual movie or.

Oh, so yeah, the real rides exhibit is kind of in the center part of our are here.

All the other vehicles you're going to see on the on the upper level of the museum are part of our collection.

Okay.

And so we, you know, Studebaker built, service vehicles, vehicles.

And so that's a great example of a late 1920s fire truck.

So.

Okay.

And so is there any vehicle here that is part of reel rides, like if you had to pick one that we haven't looked at yet that you think is just super iconic, which one would you go with?

Well, there is a, there is a pretty special car here.

That that kind of, prompted us to do this whole exhibit and that is, the return of the 1951 commander from The Muppet Movie.

Yeah.

Which is also on display downstairs in our in our atrium.

So and so I know that was a big project because that vehicle I know was kind of just sitting out.

I mean, nobody was a lot of these vehicles are almost better kept than some, like they're like people's babies, right?

And they're so well kept.

Right.

But with that vehicle, it was kind of just out in the parking lot.

Right?

Well, we've had that car for about 20 years now.

We got it just before we moved into this, into this building.

But what happens?

Is it kind of going back to your earlier point about movie cars?

A lot of times they're when they're done filming, they're kind of left in a warehouse or left out on the studio backlot for a while, and then, you know, the elements will get to it.

And that car went through a couple different owners and it was outside some more.

And so a lot of that paint scheme, if you've seen the movie, you know, it's got that wonderful psychedelic rainbow paint scheme from Doctor Teeth.

And so but it was all pretty much faded, washed away.

The car didn't run, you know.

And so we had it on display.

And did you guys put all that effort into making it back to work?

Well, we worked with a lot of people.

We were fundraising for it to really make the restoration possible.

And we finally kind of hit our goal 3 or 4 years ago now.

And, ended up working with, a shop down in North Carolina, Razor Fly Studios, they did the restoration work.

Wonderful job.

I mean, the car looks like it just drove right off off the movie, so.

All right, well, you got plenty of time, but don't wait.

Just come and see it.

Real ride's the exhibition.

Congratulations on all the work.

I think this is really cool.

And I hope it's one of the biggest exhibits that you have here at the Studebaker.

I hope so too.

Yeah.

Come see it.

Yeah.

Thank you.

So don't forget to join us on next week's Experience Michiana when you can find out what this building and this property here is going to become out in Jim Town.

It's a really cool development, so make sure and tune in next week to Experience Michiana.

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