Local libraries

I've always found the idea of public libraries truly amazing. I can walk into a building packed to the rafters with book, cds and dvds, and take any I like home me, essentially for as long as I like, to read, listen, watch and otherwise enjoy. And when I'm done, I don't have them cluttering my house --- I just bring them back to the same building (and look for more more things that I might enjoy!). It really is a wonderful, civilized idea.

There are two vibrant public library systems around Notre Dame. The larger, St. Joseph County Public Library, has ten branch around South Bend, and the other, Mishawaka-Penn-Harris Public Library, has three branches around Mishawaka and Granger.  The two main branches --- 304 South Main St. in downtown South Bend (SJCPL) and 209 Lincolnway East in downtown Mishawaka (MPHPL) are the most active.

Later this year, both library systems will get involved in the "One book, one Michiana" project, a month-long series of events built around the theme of a particular book (a different one each year; the one for this coming spring will be announced soon). Notre Dame tends to get involved in this project as well, with numerous events on campus.

To avail of the facilities of the local public library, you don't even need to leave campus to visit a branch, though. You can have an SJCPL library card made up for you at the circulation desk of the Hesburgh Library. You can then order materials online, and pick them and return them at Hesburgh. See here for details.

The South Bend Symphony

South Bend is very fortunate to have an extremely strong local orchestra, the South Bend Symphony. Each season (roughly paralleling the academic year) the symphony performs about half a dozen classical concerts and a few ``pops'' events at the 1920's Morris Performing Arts Center in downtown, some chamber music concerts at the DeBartolo, and some holiday performances (Christmas, Martin Luther King Day, 4th of July).

The strength of the orchestra is partly due to the influence of Tsung Yeh, who served as the music director for 25 years and during his tenure was passionately committed to building a first-class professional ensemble. This year is an exciting one, as Tsung Yeh has just retired and the Symphony has decided to turn the 2016-2017 season into a year-long interview for a replacement. Each of the six classical concerts is being taken on by a different candidate for the music director position.

The third of these six ``interview concerts'' happens this Saturday night at 8pm. The program includes Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade. Tickets for full time students are just $8! (Combined with a visit to a restaurant week eating spot, that's a great night out for not much).

South Bend Restaurant Week

When I arrived in South Bend ten years ago, there weren't too many nice restaurants in town, but that has changed dramatically --- the area is filled with lovely places to eat out, some fairly low-key, some that would stand up alongside high-end places in the bigger cities, and some in the middle. In various posts I'll be highlight some of these individually, but today I want to point out an opportunity to have a nice meal at some of the higher-end places,  without crashing the budget.

Restaurant Week happens twice a year, usually for about two weeks each time (!), and entails a dozen or so of the better places in South Bend offering a reduced-price special menu (usually a subset of the regular menu; portions aren't smaller!).

For example, you can have three courses at Cafe Navarre, housed in an historic downtown bank, or at the classic steakhouse La Salle Grill for just $33; or for $22 you can sample a variety of tapas at Tapasterie, a recent and much-welcomed addition to the downtown dining scene.

This year's Winter Restaurant week is going on now until February 5. It's a great opportunity to explore the South Bend dining scene, especially at the upper end ('though lots of casual places participate too). You can see menus here.

How to you get to downtown South Bend? Transpo, the local public transit system, will bring you there *for free* from campus!!! See here for details.

Hunter Ice Festival, Niles MI

Cold winters are a fact of life here; rather than being grumpy about it, many towns around here hold festivals to celebrate the cold!

This weekend in Niles, Michigan --- about 10 miles north of campus --- there will be the Hunter Ice Festival. Throughout Friday night and Saturday, the town will be dotted with intricate ice carvings, large and small. (The dragon below is from 2014, taken from the festival's facebook page). Although the weather is promised (quite) warm, the festival will certainly still go ahead.

There are always some ice carvers working on their creations throughout the weekend, so most likely you'll see the creative process in real time.

Niles is a lovely small town on the bank of the St. Joseph river (the same river that runs though South Bend and alongside St. Mary's College). It has a nice riverfront park (more on that in a later post), and one of the best pizzerias in the region, Pizza Transit (more on that, too, in a later post!).

South Bend Farmer's Market, and Purple Porch co-op

It's usually quite cold at the start of the spring semester, so I spend a good deal of time thinking about keeping myself warm and well-fed. There are no shortage of grocery stores in the area, but what if you want to sample local produce?

A great place to start is the South Bend Farmer's Market, a covered market open Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays throughout the year, featuring local farmers, craftspeople, bakers, coffee-roasters, and much more. Saturday morning is the best time to go, especially from early February on. There's a great cafe on-site, serving seriously good breakfast food. The farmer's market is on Northside Blvd about 2 miles south of campus.

Another great option for locally produced food is the Purple Porch co-op, open every day. Anyone can shop there (not just co-op members), and a visit there will give you a great sense of the fecundity of the Northern Indiana/Southern Michigan soil. Like the farmer's market, Purple Porch has a nice cafe, serving excellent local coffee and freshly made local pastries as well as some more substantial food options. The co-op is located on Hill St about a mile and a half south of campus.