Rocks & Roots Creative

Fiesta in the Streets is happening downtown TODAY from 3 to 9! 🎉 It's the September edition of Huntington Main Street's Market on Main Street series, celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month with food trucks, the farmers market, music, and shopping specials at our downtown businesses. The Folklor De Mi Tierra dance group performs from 4:30 to 6:30. 💃

There's also a Shopping Passport in play today. Every $5 spent at participating businesses earns a stamp, and a full set of 6 is an entry to win the downtown prize package at the Main Street table in front of the Visitors Bureau!

For more info: https://www.facebook.com/events/1678375826871910/1678375846871908/?active_tab=about

There are 7 painted rocks hidden downtown for the event! 👀

Memorial Park 🌲

Ten hand-painted rocks are hiding somewhere in Memorial Park!

Quick facts: 48 acres, two ponds, a disc golf course, a playground, a sledding hill... and so much more. And every bit of it started as a wild grove next to a rock quarry.

Before it was Memorial Park, it was Cold Spring Grove. Families picnicked there, Fourth of July celebrations filled the grounds, and the old quarry next door filled with water. After the Great War, the city renamed it to honor Huntington County's fallen. Sunken Gardens came from that old quarry. Local clubs raised the money, brought in a Chicago landscape company, and turned it into something Huntington still loves today.

The park sits on the National Register of Historic Places. A World War II Sherman tank called it home for decades before it was moved into the new Veterans Memorial, joined by a T-33 jet.

If you're out and about today, take a walk through Memorial Park. See the gardens, visit the memorial, and keep your eyes open! 👀

Mike's Car Care Center 🔧

This hometown shop has been earning Huntington's trust since 1998! Mike's Car Care Center is family owned and operated by Mike and Sherry Keplinger, a husband and wife team who believe people come before money. That belief has kept their bays full on Etna Avenue for nearly three decades.

The shop runs on a simple motto: honesty and trust above all else. Their technicians handle everything from routine maintenance to complex diagnostics on both modern and classic vehicles. Towing is available when you're stranded, and there's a courtesy shuttle if you need a lift while yours is in the process of being worked on. They tell you what your car actually needs.

Every August, they feed the town. Their 9th annual giveback event handed out 250 free fish and tenderloin dinners, served up drive thru style by Dan's Fish Fry. In the garage and out of it, this is how Mike's does business. 🚗

💛❤️

Some things are permanent; tattoos, painted rocks and the love for Nick’s Kitchen! 🤍

This is Paul; a past employee, a current super fan of Nick’s Kitchen and the Tenderloin Biscuit! 😋

Tomorrow, the Sidewalks Become the Show 🎨

The Huntington Chalk Walk Festival takes over the Courthouse Square tomorrow, Saturday September 5, from noon to 5. What started a decade ago as a box of chalk and a simple idea from Pam Burris has grown into one of Huntington's favorite traditions. Artists register at 8 AM and work until 3, which means the whole afternoon is a front row seat to watching blank concrete turn into something worth checking out. Winners are announced at 4:30.

The day is packed well beyond the chalk. The Back Roads Band plays live, karaoke runs all afternoon, and the first ever sponsored tricycle races roll at 1 PM for the 5 and under crowd with prizes for the top three.

Kids can get faces painted, grab balloon art from the Joy Pleasers, or paint a rock with Huntington Indiana Rocks. Tina Stetzel is teaching free crochet with yarn and needles provided. Carrie Runyan is drawing caricatures. There's a photo op area, chalk mazes, breakfast and coffee from the Coffee Bean Counter, and JB's Cuisine Machine handling lunch!

Free to attend, free to create. Go see what our town can do with a box of chalk! 🚶 🚶‍♀️ 🚶‍♂️

August's Wrap-Up! 🤍

The game tables at Rotary Centennial Park have gotten a LOT of use! 🥰 I originally made the painted rock pieces for chess, checkers, and cowboy checkers, and it has been so much fun seeing people actually sit down and play with them. Some of those little pieces have definitely been well loved, and quite a few have wandered off to new homes. 😂

So now I'm thinking about making some new game sets for the Autumn season, and before I start painting a whole bunch of little rocks, I want to hear from the people who will actually be using them!

What kind of games would YOU like to see available at the tables?

♟️ Chess & Checkers (stick with the classics!)
🧠 Memory games
🔤 Word games
🎲 Something completely different?

Have an idea? Tell me in the comments! 👇

Petals & Pages Creations 🌸

Deb and Lora are the sisters behind Petals & Pages Creations, and their booth sign says exactly what they do: jewelry, book art, and gifts, all handcrafted by sisters. Nothing is mass-produced, and no two pieces are the same. Their work starts with real flowers and book pages. Jewelry and pendants sit alongside folded book art, and the range stays wide because they are always coming up with new ideas.

They also take on custom work. When Coffee Bean Counter opened The Elevated Collective Vault Finds downtown, they created a folded book piece with the shop's logo built into the pages!

You can find their work at two spots in downtown Huntington: The Elevated Collective and The Elevated Collective Vault Finds inside Coffee Bean Counter. And if you have an idea for something custom, Deb and Lora are the kind of makers who will hear you out!

How The Wildflowers Grow Learning Center 🌼

How The Wildflowers Grow Learning Center sits on seven acres in Huntington, where public school students, homeschool families, and everyone in between can learn outside among open fields, a pond, a barn full of animals, and wildflowers scattered through the gardens. Seasonal camps, field trips, and short term experiences all happen here, from mini STEM labs and wildlife observation to eco art workshops and nature engineering, and the groups stay small so every child gets real attention.

The woman behind it, Ashley Kaufman, spent more than fifteen years in schools and mental health before she opened the center. With a degree in Psychology and an MBA, she built a program rooted in everything she learned about child development along the way. That drive to serve goes back even further, to early missionary trips in the Dominican Republic where she worked in refugee camps and saw firsthand what compassion and hope could do in places that needed them most. 💙

Earlier this year, How The Wildflowers Grow received a $6,500 grant through the Kids Heart Challenge to support student and staff well being. The indoor nature themed classroom keeps things going on rainy days, and the outdoor space includes a playground, walking trail, hammock retreat, and a barn with chickens, goats, rabbits, and quail. 🌱 Ashley is also adding community photography, working with local businesses and connecting kids to the places they love. But the real goal is simpler than all of that: to give every kid a place where they can grow exactly as they are!

El Guero Mexican Restaurant 🌸

Warren doesn't get a lot of new restaurants. So when El Guero opened on North Wayne Street in 2024, it was a real addition to the town. Family owned and run, with a menu that runs deep. 🌮 Tacos, fajitas, chimichangas, enchiladas, and a full brunch on weekends with huevos rancheros and taquitos dorados.

They even put Warren right on their menu. The Warren Special. The Burrito Warren. The Quesadilla Warren. All named after the town they set up shop in. And this spring they showed up for that same town, serving food at the Taste of Warren, the Chamber of Commerce's biggest fundraiser of the year, helping raise money for downtown beautification and community events.

Check them out if you haven't. You won't be disappointed! 🌶️