AUGUST • SEPTEMBER 2022
www.hamiltoncountybusiness.com
What’s John Wechsler up to
NOW?
How about a video sticky note?
PLUS…
• Small Businesses are the True Innovators • Finding Your Path to Self-Contentment • The Infamous Squirrel Stampede —200 Years On
Fishers Entrepreneur John Wechsler
August / September 2022
www.hamiltoncountybusiness.com
John Wechsler promotes his latest internet of things idea
Published six times per year by the Hamilton County Media Group PO Box 502, Noblesville, IN 46061 317-774-7747
Features
8 10
EDITOR/PUBLISHER
Mike Corbett mcorbett@hamiltoncountybusiness.com CREATIVE DIRECTOR
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Spokenote
Chamber Pages
Columns 6
Note: This is a hyperlinked digital magazine. Please click on bolded names, company names or linked boxes.
Management Judith Wright
8
Ethics Cari Sheehan
14
History David Heighway
CORRESPONDENTS Chris Bavender crbavender@gmail.com Ann Craig-Cinnamon jandacinnamon@aol.com John Cinnamon jlcinnamon@aol.com Samantha Hyde samantharhyde@gmail.com Patricia Pickett pickettwrites@gmail.com CONTRIBUTORS
David Heighway heighwayd@earthlink.net Cari Sheehan cari.sheehan@btlaw.com Judith Wright jw3@iupui.edu Please send news items and photos to news@hamiltoncountybusiness.com Submission does not guarantee publication
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Cover photo by Amy Unger 2
August • September 2022 • Hamilton County Business Magazine
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3
Management
Judith Wright
Giving Credit Where it is Due Small businesses are the quiet but true innovators When the topic of business innovation arises, most people initially think of big companies such as Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, or Walmart. It is certainly true that large companies often drive change in new products and business methods. But this mindset overlooks the tremendous amount of innovation that occurs in small businesses throughout this country. Let’s give credit where it is due —to the everyday innovators who run the small businesses in America. Many small businesses are the products of the entrepreneurial spirit, a muchadmired aspect of American ingenuity. Entrepreneurship is based in a foundation of creativity, determination, and a willingness to take risks. Most entrepreneurs are motivated by a conviction that they have a great idea, and they are passionately driven to develop and sell it to others. The classic entrepreneur can identify an opportunity and exploit it by fashioning a product or service that appeals to target consumers. The entrepreneur is comfortable making quick decisions in the face of the unknown. Moreover, the entrepreneur sets goals and then works diligently to achieve them.
day basis. In addition to the big picture, entrepreneurs see small problems they can address quickly. They see better ways of doing things. They cannot resist leveraging even small opportunities.
Pandemic Challenges The emerging COVID crisis forced almost every company to reassess how business gets done. Small business owners were among the first and fastest to adjust by leveraging change that initially seemed negative: Where work is done. The pandemic caused almost every employer to rethink the concept of employees working from home. A recent study by the National Council on Compensation Insur-
day, 40-hour week, on-site supervision model of ‘work.’ This was an easy adaptation for small business owners who were already in tune with the circumstances of individual employees. Small businesses were among the first to allow for individual treatment of workers, without concern about the equities of a sweeping policy that applies to a large pool of employees. Adjusting for at-home work setups was simple and quick to implement without a detailed corporate policy requiring several levels of review and management oversight. The current job market has presented a substantial pool of part-time workers. Nearly 25 million Americans (about 17% of the workforce, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) are working part time, and this number is trending up. A vast majority of these workers are women, many citing childcare needs as the primary reason for foregoing full-time work. Availability of part-time and seasonal workers allows small businesses to hire according to their needs rather than incurring the greater costs of full-time workers. This presents a win-win relationship in which the employee has control over their work hours while the employer secures output in affordable increments.
Traditional businesses models will be
continually reevaluated,
or perhaps abandoned, to reach customers in new
and more efficient ways.
Small businesses are perhaps in the best position of all to respond to economic stresses and other changes in the marketplace. Owners deftly deploy their entrepreneurial skills to identify shifts in the economy, customer preference, costs, technology and social trends. Their natural reaction is to adapt quickly and take advantage of opportunities presented by change. Smaller businesses are more nimble and less steeped in bureaucracy, allowing for swifter and more targeted responses to such shifts. Successful small businesses have a history of survival based on an innate habit and practice of innovating on an every4
ance found that prior to the pandemic, only 6% of employees regularly worked from home. About 75% of employees had never worked from home. Today, most companies have accepted the concept of hybrid work schedules, allowing workers with duties suitable to working from home to do so, at least part time. Through necessity, employers found that a lot of employees can successfully perform their job functions from home. New tools and new ways of thinking about how and when tasks are done have allowed employers to innovate away from the traditional 9-to-5 work-
How work is done. Small employers have embraced technology to tap the pulse of customers and streamline processes while keeping the workforce in close communication. As the price of recent technology falls, speed and accessibility have fueled efficiencies for small businesses. When the pandemic interrupted faceto-face customer interaction, small businesses looked to technology for
August • September 2022 • Hamilton County Business Magazine
solutions to stay in communication with their employees and customers. Adding live chat to their websites allowed small businesses to provide real-time, oneon-one, online support. Zoom, Microsoft Teams and similar platforms allowed small businesses to set up affordable and compatible communications using existing equipment. This provided a single platform for internal meetings, customer interaction, training, and general communication needs. Consumers have adapted to the teleservice environment, resulting in a comfort in conducting business without driving to a physical location.
Faced with a severe shortage of labor, many restaurants have leveraged technology to streamline service. Some independent food-service businesses have pivoted to using self-service kiosks or QR codes to offer menus and allow diners to order directly from the kitchen. These savvy entrepreneurs saw an opportunity to adapt the service model quickly and cost-effectively. Many also see advantages in using QR codes to manage waitlists, process payment and capture diner feedback. Money previously allocated to pay for servers has been reallocated to drive efficiency and capture valuable data.
Entrepreneurial businesses have leveraged social media tools to enhance aspects of traditional marketing. By wisely integrating Instagram and Twitter to share knowledge with customers and expand their networks in the community, small businesses can manage their images and communicate with customers daily. An entrepreneurial culture often teaches and encourages all employees to identify opportunities to improve processes, address problems, and fix customer concerns in real time.
Changes to Overhead
Matt Maher
Let’s Talk Business Member FDIC Institution ID# 478765
With employees working productively from their homes, and consumers becoming comfortable with transacting online, certain types of small employers have already re-evaluated the need for traditional brick-and-mortar locations. Downsizing, or even foregoing office space, allows small business owners to reallocate property costs to other aspects of running a business. Service businesses such as real estate offices, insurance
agencies, accounting firms and law offices are finding that electronic communication with customers has become standard practice. While some aren’t yet willing to walk away from the idea of maintaining a physical location, many are downsizing their footprints. The next time you enter your local bank lobby, take notice of the empty office spaces originally intended for bank officers. As the speed of change continues to accelerate, successful small businesses will undoubtedly take advantage of these entrepreneurial characteristics to innovate, adapt and navigate. Traditional businesses models will be continually reevaluated, or perhaps abandoned, to reach customers in new and more efficient ways. Entrepreneurial small businesses will continue to lead in the race for innovation. HCBM
Judith Wright is an assistant clinical professor of business law and Mosaic Faculty Fellow at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business at IUPUI.
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Ethics
Cari Sheehan
Sound the Alarm! Finding Your Path to Self-contentment “BEEP. . . BEEP. . . BEEP!” This is an all too common sound of an alarm clock going off each morning. Have you ever wondered what “alarm” means and why we choose to wake up this way each morning? Alarm is defined as startled, fearful, or expecting attack. This is a terrible way to wake up each day— startled, fearful, or expecting an attack. Unfortunately, for many people, the fearful, startled state does not subside throughout the day. People are constantly living in a state of anxiety moving from one alarm to the next throughout the day whether it be pressures from home, deadlines at work, or personal goals that are unreached. All of these things can develop into stress even though we think it is just normal day-to-day life. When the stress never goes away and just mounts each day it can become chronic stress which can lead to life threatening conditions.
Never-ending Cycle Stress can be found in any person or profession, not just in the corporate world. Stress can lead to adverse health conditions such as stroke, heart-attack, high blood pressure, eating disorders and/or anxiety. Stress can grow through being overworked in a job or trying to balance competing responsibilities such as home and work. The majority of people do not finish everything on their daily to-do list each workday. Every day people feel “pinched” and “overwhelmed” because the to-dos do not get done and carry over to the next day when new items arise. People also experience work guilt if they work longer hours to get things done, thereby disrupting their work-life harmony. It is a never-ending cycle and many employers do not help combat em6
ployees’ stress because to do so might be too costly if the company has to hire additional employees to cover the workload or provide other benefits such as more paid time-off, counseling, or relaxation times. However, companies may forgo the benefits of spending the
or borrow money from the company’s petty cash. Most people forget to put the money back into petty cash and subsequently realize how easy it was to take the money. Then, the next time they need cash for something (it may not even be lunch) they might take more money and escalate to greater amounts each time. Even if the employee eventually puts the money back, it is theft of company funds.
It has been shown that people become less
Many employees will try to rationalize the behavior by stating that the company owes them for the longer hours they are working. An employer only owes an employee the paycheck they agreed upon and any other terms and conditions stated in an employment agreement, nothing else. An employee is not entitled to what they believe they should receive if they work longer hours.
ethical when they are
under stress... People
start to look for the easy route to accomplish a
task and not the most ethical route. extra money to help combat employee stress, particularly in relation to creating higher employee morale and ethics.
Rationalization So, how does stress relate to ethics? It has been shown that people become less ethical when they are under stress. Stress eats away at a person’s ethical compass. People start to look for the easy route to accomplish a task and not the most ethical route. For example, if an employee forgets their lunch, or money for lunch, instead of trying to go home to retrieve it or not eating that day, the person might steal someone else’s food from the work refrigerator
There are other rationalizations that employees use to justify unethical behavior, particularly unethical behavior brought on by stress. For instance, many employees say they “fudge” numbers to meet quotas or obtain the end of the year bonus. In addition, employees claim they are just following company orders or acting the same as everyone else in the company. All of these rationalizations are just excuses to negate any guilt of acting unethically. Stress can also lead to low employee morale and lack of trust among employees. For instance, people under stress
August • September 2022 • Hamilton County Business Magazine
tend to be more defensive, argumentative, and overly critical. Most people under stress believe they are working more than anyone else and despise other people who they believe (rationally or irrationally) are not working as hard. This attitude breeds distrust, unrest, and unhappy employees. People no longer work as a team, but are only out for themselves. This usually leads to less productivity and a poor business culture.
Every person has to decide what type of
be easy. It will be very scary. But, in the end, it may be the only thing that saves you from a life of chronic stress.
lifestyle fits them best and then find a job that will help support that lifestyle.
The Solution So how do people take control of their lives and combat stress? The first step— and it’s a big one—is to recognize there is a different way of life with less stress with some modifications and changes. However, this step takes a lot of self-examination in asking oneself what are the most important things in life and what brings self-contentment. Is it money or something else? In our fast-paced culture of climbing the corporate ladder to financial success, people tend to race past what should matter most in life: family, friends, and our own personal happiness and health. So, ask yourself, do you want to work endlessly hard and give-up personal contentment for money? Or, do you want a life with less stress and more personal contentment? The answers to these questions are different for everyone. Every person has to decide what type of lifestyle fits them best and then find a job that will help support that lifestyle. However, there will always be trade-offs and sacrifices, whether you pick the big corporate job with lots of money and stress or the lowkey job where you stay at home with more time for family and friends. During the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, many people asked themselves these exact questions and realized that working in a job that leads to stress was not worth the financial compensation. Many people transitioned to a life-
style in which self-care and personal contentment became the top priority, such as influencers, at-home business, remote work, or similar jobs. If you are contemplating a lifestyle change I would challenge you to take a few days and not set an alarm clock. Focus on your own self-contentment and what makes you the happiest and build your life around it. I promise you it will not
Cari Sheehan is Of Counsel with Barnes & Thornburg, where she sits on the firm’s Professional Responsibility Committee. She focuses her practice on legal ethics, professional accountability and loss prevention. HCBM
This article should not be construed as legal advice or legal opinion on any specific facts or circumstances. The contents are intended for general informational purposes only, and you are urged to consult your own lawyer on any specific legal questions you may have concerning your situation.
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7
Cover Story
Meet the Spokenote Fishers Company offers a video sticky note
By Ann Craig-Cinnamon Photos by Amy Unger
here’s a new form of communication created in Fishers that is so simple and has so many applications that it will have you wondering why it took so long for someone to come up with it. But no one had until John Wechsler did. He named it Spokenote. Wechsler is a serial entrepreneur and the driving force behind such successful ventures as Launch Fishers, the Indiana Internet of Things Lab (IoT) and Fishers Test Kitchen. But his new company came from a germ of an idea a friend gave him over coffee one day. The friend mentioned that he had wanted to send video to his brother who was serving overseas in the military years ago and couldn’t find a way to easily do it. He himself didn’t have the ability to envision the technology, but he thought that it would be a great idea for someone to take and run with. 8
Being a person who is known for taking ideas and running with them, Wechsler was intrigued. He thought there was probably some product or technology that already existed. He researched and couldn’t find anything even close. So, he created a prototype. It was a combination of physical and software prototype using current “off-the-shelf” technology. He showed it to his friend who gave him his blessing to develop the idea. That was April of 2021. By June Spokenote was incorporated and a little over a year later, the product has launched; a very short genesis period for something that could have huge national implications.
What is Spokenote? It’s simple, says Wechsler. “Spokenote is the sticky note for the tiktok generation”, he says continuing, “We give you the ability to add video to anything via our stickers. You simply scan the code, smile, and record your video and stick your sticker anywhere you want to share it; greet-
ing cards; sending flowers to someone. You can start thinking about all the use cases and it’s infinite,” he says. Wechsler describes Spokenote as a technology platform that gives people ways to communicate that they have never had before. “From distance messaging in a gift box to a student or soldier who is in a faraway place—we can now send a video message outside of email, text or social media platforms,” he says. There is no app, no download and no registration required. It is just a QR code on a sticker. When you scan the QR code with your device, it triggers a browser and then walks you through the steps to record. It even gives you the option to re-record if you weren’t happy with the first take. You can also upload something that is edited. It all happens on the web with a 5 minute maximum message. If you have a device that scans QR codes, you can use Spokenotes. They
August • September 2022 • Hamilton County Business Magazine
are remarkably easy to use. They cost $9.99 for a package of ten and are available both at Spokenote.com and at Amazon. But Wechsler sees them everywhere in the future.
out properly and there are now Angel Investors involved.
Qualities for Successful Entrepreneurship
Wechsler is no stranger to rolling a company out. When asked how many “We’re at 150 use cases right now to uti- companies and ventures he has been lize. For example, a service technician involved in, he had to go to his Linked that installs your new HVAC system In page to count. For the record, it’s and he just records a video on how to more than a dozen and all but a couple replace your air filter in the new system; are still operating, including Launch or your water softener on how to adjust Fishers and the IoT Lab, which he is still the cycles when it does its regeneration; involved with but has turned the day to or closing your pool. Every year you day operation over to others. forget where this part goes, so you just “The process of Entrepreneurship is not video tape one time and put the sticker quite as clean as everyone might think. on the components out at the pool with It’s not like a shark tank experience the equipment and then you got a video where it’s crystal clear. Sometimes it’s of how to do it,” says Wechsler. all experimentation. I sometimes take One Spokenote user that he invokes is a years before I ever do anything with missionary that works in Nepal. While them and then other times move super there, he creates videos and when he quick and go,” he says adding that it’s returns he sends Spokenote messages not uncommon for him to be working to his primary donors to show the work on multiple businesses at one time. being done and to thank them. So what makes him such a successful entrepreneur? “I think the ideation part The Future is Bright of it is important. Ideas are a comGrowth has come quickly for Spokenote, modity. It’s the person that can take with inception to launch at just over a an idea and make it happen that can year, but Wechsler thinks they’ve only make a difference. I would say that I’m just begun. “I think next year you won’t just prone to action rather than talking even believe where this has gone and about it or thinking about it. I tend to be some of the product use cases and itera- one that leans in and takes action while tions of our product that we already other people just talk about it or think have ready to go are game changers about it,” says Wechsler. and that’s what I’m really looking forSurrounding yourself with the right ward to is that next level of innovation.” people is key and showing a history of They are currently in talks with greeting success is important. “I think the more card companies to include Spokenotes you do this over and over again people in cards and are in discussions with begin to believe in you and they jump major non-profit organizations and in and make this happen. So it’s almost universities to use them in fundraising. become a foregone conclusion that Additionally, Wechsler visualizes the when you start you’re going to be able to ability to buy Spokenotes in retail stores execute it,” says Wechsler who adds that in the near future. he also leans heavily on his experience starting Launch Fishers, The Indiana Launching from the IoT Lab in FishIoT Lab and Fishers Test Kitchen. “Those ers a year ago in what he refers to as experiences were not only fantastic “stealth mode”, Spokenote now has a growth opportunities for me personally team of nine plus a team of contractors and service providers. “Our growth but they have emerged as models for plans are quite ambitious and that will sustained contributions to the state’s innovation economy. Building enterprises result in a substantial team based in that not only create value for stakeholdFishers and growth in remote workers ers but give back to their home comall over,” says Wechsler. munities is a very rewarding thing and The company was funded internally to remains an aspiration for me in everybegin with but Wechsler says it’s going thing I do going forward.” HCBM to take a lot of investment to roll it
Uses are Endless
August • September 2022 • Hamilton County Business Magazine
Hamilton County Mended Hearts Chapter 350 Misson Statement: To inspire hope and improve the quality of life for heart patients and their families through ongoing peer-to-peer support, education and advocacy.
SUPPORT GROUP MEETING TIMES 3RD WEDNESDAY OF EVERY MONTH 11:30am - 2:00pm Meetings temporarily suspended due to COVID-19
RIVERVIEW HEALTH 395 Westfield Rd. Classrooms A & B Entrance 4
CALL (317) 776-7377 for additional information
Heart Disease in your family? Think you or a family member needs a heart scan or EKG? Call Riverview Health at
(317) 773-0760 Ask for Central Scheduling to set an appointment for a $49 hear t scan or a $10 EKG. w w w.mendedhearts350.org
9
Thank you to our Legacy Partners:
Upcoming EVENTS Event UPCOMING THE ANNUAL STATE OF THE CITY LUNCHEON Join us for our annual "State of the City" luncheon with Noblesville Mayor, Chris Jensen. September 28th will be a great day to reconnect with other businesses in Noblesville at the Embassy Suites Hotel & Conference Center. There’s a lot of progress to report on from over the last two years. You will not want to miss this chance to be fully updated on what is still to come!
Mayor, Chris Jensen
September 28, 2022 from 11AM – 1PM at the Embassy Suites Noblesville Wine & Wisdom | Sept, 12th at Spencer Farm Winery
Join us on September 12th for our Annual Wine & Wisdom Event. This year's event will be held at the beautiful Spencer Winery in Noblesville. Enjoy a glass of wine, appetizers, networking, and time visiting with our marketplace vendors. Come on your own or bring a group of four for our "Cheers Bundle" special pricing. You can also join us as an exhibitor in the Wine & Wisdom Marketplace. Connect with future clients, partners, and expand your brand!
With guest speaker: Marya Sherron, Contestant on CBS Survivor and Founder of KI Productions
BIRDIES & BREWS VII GOLF OUTING | Sept. 22nd at Purgatory Golf Club
Join us for day of championship golfing, championship B2B networking, ...and of course, championship craft brews! A great opportunity for a company outing and to take clients out for the day. Every 3rd hole features a different craft brewer for a tasting. Each hole showcases a different business. Don't miss the most anticipated Golf Outing of the year! Foursomes and Birdie Sponsorships are limited. Register now to secure your spot.
Advancing Noblesville Awards | November 17, 2022
The Noblesville Chamber, in partnership with the City of Noblesville, are pleased to announce the inaugural Advancing Noblesville Awards. Crafted to recognize innovation, excellence, leadership, and spirit of service in our city, these awards will be presented in a special evening ceremony in November. The easy nomination process will remain open until August 31st.
FIND EVENTS & MORE!
Noblesville Chamber of Commerce | P.O. Box 2015 | Noblesville, IN 46061 | 317.773.0086 | noblesvillechamber.com
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August • September 2022 • Hamilton County Business Magazine
Serving Northern Hamilton County Mark Your Calendar
Come tour our beautiful towns; Arcadia, Atlanta, and Cicero.
SATURDAY
CICERO CHRISTIAN
September 10, 2022 1715 Stingtown Pike Ride begins at 8:30 Cicero, IN 46034
Our second annual bike tour through Northern Hamilton County to highlight local businesses, increase awareness of this less-traveled area of central Indiana, and to support the business programs at Hamilton Heights and Sheridan High Schools. Registration for the ride will begin at 7:30 and the ride stars at 8:30. Refreshment stops along the way will feature our local businesses. Riders may chose the 28 mile or the 50 mile route.
Interested in becoming a sponsor? Email jesy.ide@nhccoc.org.
REGISTER HERE
Our Newest Member Hamilton County Tourism 317-848-3181 37 E Main St Carmel, IN 46032 VisitHamiltonCounty.com
2022 Advocate Members
Our Next Luncheon One of our most popular gatherings, the State of the Schools address, is coming in September! We are pleased to share that Dr Derek Arrowood, Superintendent, Hamilton Heights School Corporation, and Dr Dave Mundy, Superintendent, Sheridan Community Schools, will be our featured guests at this year’s address. These district leaders, along with teachers and students, will share some of the impactful lessons and experiences that are being provided to our students. This meeting will take place on September 8 at Hamilton Heights. Mark your calendar and plan to attend this special opportunity to hear insights about our school systems.
2022 Calendar Luncheons the second Thursday of every month. August 11 - 8:00 - 9:30 am Entreprenuership and the Chamber Choo Choo Cafe September 8 - 11:30 am - 1 pm State of the Schools Hamilton Heights October 13 - 11:30 am - 1 pm Service Organization Panel Beck’s Hybrids Please check the Chamber website and follow us on Facebook for the most up to date calander. nhccoc.org @NHCChamber
NORTHERN HAMILTON COUNTY
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE Communities Working Together 70 Byron Street Cicero, IN 46034 317 984 4079 August • September 2022 • Hamilton County Business Magazine
11
Upcoming Events AUGUST
SEPTEMBER
Mental Health First Aid Hamilton County Community Foundation August 16, 2022 8:00am – 4:00pm
Member Orientation COhatch Carmel September 8, 2022 8:30am – 9:30am
OWN Breakfast Series Lt. Governor Suzanne Crouch The Palladium August 24, 2022 8:30am – 10:00am Chamber Meet Up COhatch Carmel August 25, 2022 4:30pm – 6:30pm
2022 Market Guide May 2022
YP Meet Up Ovation Audio Visual September 8, 2022 4:30pm – 6:30pm Top Investor Series – Invitation Only First Internet Bank September 13, 2022 4:30pm – 6:00pm OWN Tactical Workshop Prairie View Golf Club September 14, 2022 8:30am – 9:30am
onezonechamber.c om | 317.436.4653
Don’t forget to stop by the OneZone office to pick up the latest Market Guide.
YP Leadership Luncheon Chatham Hills September 28, 2022 11:30am – 1:00pm
Welcome All of Our New Members! Click on the New Member Company Names Below and Visit their OneZone Member Directory Contact Information. A Kid Again
Dairy Dream
Moja Harmon Coaching
Adrenaline Family Adventure Park
Dora Hotel Co. - Hotel Nickel Plate
Mustard Seed of Central Indiana
Allisonville Home & Garden by Sullivan
Dove Recovery House for Women
Noblesville Army Recruiting Station
Allstate Insurance Agent - Shane Archer, FISHERS, IN
Fifth Third Bank - Westfield
Primrose School At Gray Eagle
American Family Insurance - Sarah Reitmeier Agency, Inc.
FranNet MidAmerica: Indiana
Profile by Sanford - Carmel
Apricot Lane Boutique
Garage Door Pro LLC
Relocation Strategies
Boys & Girls Club of Noblesville
Globe Asphalt Paving
Republic Airways
Carmel Cleanup Crew
Goodes Security Consulting
RevLocal
Carmel Music Academy
Great American Songbook Foundation
Shepherd Financial
Carmel Youth Assistance Program
Hamilton Heights Youth Assistance Program
Student Impact of Westfield
Centra Credit Union
Hathaway Strategies
Team Sylvester Executive Coaching
Century 21 Scheetz - Fishers
Heartland Payment Systems
Vino Mobile Bar
Cherishing Lives
Indy Boat Co.
Wasson Nursery
cibm Bank
MacArthur Bookstore
Westfield Youth Assistance Program
Crown Haven LLC
Megan Barrow - State Farm Insurance Agent
Zing! Cafe
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August • September 2022 • Hamilton County Business Magazine
REBECCA FLEETWOOD HESSION
2022
YOUNG PROFESSIONALS LEADERSHIP SUMMIT
JOSH ORENDI
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM IMMI Conference Center, Westfield, IN
Register Now: westfieldchamberindy.com
Open to Young Professionals (40 & Under) Across Hamilton County.
ADENIKE MAKINDE
Hamilton County History
A Bizarre Bicentennial
David Heighway
Celebrating the 1822 Great Squirrel Stampede n 2001, I wrote an article for the Noblesville Times about a peculiar incident in Hamilton County history. As a joke, I titled it “The Great Squirrel Stampede.” Over the next couple of decades, this story took on a life of its own. Now we are approaching the 200th anniversary of this event and there will be activities and art programs about it all over the county in September. It’s probably a good time to revisit where this came from. The story starts with a paragraph from Augustus Finch Shirts’ history of the county written in 1901: “In the year of 1826 (sic), the great emigration of squirrels occurred. The squirrels passed through this county from west to east. The number could not be estimated. The time occupied in passing was about two weeks. They destroyed all the corn in the fields they passed over. They could not be turned in their course, but went straight on in the route taken. When they came to White River they entered the water at once and swam across. Hundreds of them were shot. Others were killed with clubs and stones. It was never known from whence they came nor where they went.” While this sounds like an absurd folk tale, it was a real incident. It can be verified by other contemporary accounts, which also set the correct date as 1822. These “stampedes” occurred in other parts of the Old Northwest Territory as well. A similar event was even witnessed by John 14
James Audubon, who did a painting of the animal and declared it a new species. However, it was just the common grey squirrel. Modern biologists have determined that this mass movement was an occasional migration that would occur when there were problems with food sources. This seemed to be a unique event because white settlers had just recently arrived in the area and begun clearing the forest. Prior to that, the area was occupied by Native Americans who did not leave records of any incidents like this. The deforestation by the white settlers also had an impact on the squirrel population and is the reason why these events no longer happen. Although it’s unlikely that they will be on the endangered species list anytime soon, there are probably fewer squirrels now than there were in 1822. Environmental change is nothing new. The 1822 migration had no great social or political impact on the area and as time went along, it was relegated to passing mentions in articles and locally published books. However, things began to change after I wrote my article. As a public historian, I have found that offbeat stories catch the interest of an audience even when I’m involved in serious discussions of what has historical significance. This story really inspired some people. Several years ago, a group from the Hamilton County Leadership Academy attempted to create a “Squirrel Stampede” recognition project. Although they came up with several fun ideas, they weren’t able to get far with it. Unfortunately, among other things, August • September 2022 • Hamilton County Business Magazine
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This year’s celebration of the squirrels is planned to be fun and accessible to all people. In some ways, it’s already started. The rock band Phish performed at Ruoff Music Center in early June and the official poster featured some very eerie looking squirrels. It will be interesting to see what Again, as a historian, I often have to else people come up with. If you’re explain to people that there are few going to celebrate the history of your epic events for this area, and that area, sometimes the “squirrely” topsome of those are not what you would ics are the best ones. HCBM want to use to promote a community. Arguably, the Hamilton County event with the largest national significance was the 1925 trial of D. C. Stephenson, the Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan. While it is important, it involves a deep discussion of power David Heighway is the Hamilton and prejudice, and really isn’t suitCounty Historian. able for encouraging people to come to Hamilton County. they met resistance from some local civic leaders who regarded the story as silly and trivial, and not worth spending time or money on. Evidently, the leaders were expecting something grander, possibly involving politics or the military or sports.
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