Arts / Attractions

Martha’s Midway Tavern, at 810 W 4th Street in Mishawaka, is a Blues institution. If you’re scratching your head at the name, start with the YouTube video below, and visit in person when you can.

South Bend’s Spring Art Walk will be this Saturday, May 5th. Eleven galleries will host displays that include sculptures, paintings, hand-crafted furniture and works in other media. The current forecast for Saturday calls for a high of 70 with a chance of rain. Regardless, the Art Walk promises to be a quick and enjoyable introduction to the South Bend art scene.

It’s April. Flowers are blooming and lawns are getting their first cut of the season. It’s also time to get your peanuts and crackerjacks and catch a ballgame. The South Bend Silverhawks had their season opener this week. Visit here for a schedule. Seats start at $5 and are free for children under five, making this an affordable family activity. With a party deck, beer garden and an animated mascot named Swoop, there’s bound to be fun for everyone.

Nestled behind the expansion of Mishawaka’s Wastewater Treatment Plant in Lincoln Park is a monument of strategically placed rocks and boulders. The largest boulder sports a plaque detailing Princess Mishawaka’s history and her burial somewhere near the monument.

It sounds like a nicely executed tribute to the city’s namesake. The problem is that the monument seems to have been forgotten by the city. Not only is there garbage and knee-high weeds all around it, but the construction crew for the aforementioned expansion is using the space around the monument as a holding ground for piles of metal and other construction materials.

So why is this monument of a grave site being so poorly cared for by the city? The reason can’t be that it’s not seen from other city-maintained property and therefore forgotten. Standing at the monument, you can clearly see the end of the river walk path with manicured landscaping. And the site is also just moments from the Mishawaka Parks Department - a collection of people with landscaping knowledge and the tools to assist.

The park’s website does mention that the expansion of the Wastewater Treatment Plant is temporarily consuming the park, but there has to be a better balance between slacking off during expansion and outright disrespect to its Princess.