Annual event returns to northwest Indiana

By D. E. MESSICK

ELKHART COUNTY — Summer may be over, but Elkhart County isn’t ready to give up on the scenery just yet.

“We started three years ago in downtown Elkhart,” Sonya Nash, coordinator for the Elkhart County Visitor’s Center, said. She continued to explain that the Quilt Gardens in Elkhart County end Oct. 1, but tourists are still flocking to the area to see these treasures through bus tours much later, so the county decided to do something these fall visitors could enjoy.

Instead of having 20 small quilt gardens throughout the county, in October, they have have two fall flower carpets, filling an entire city block with 7,000 mums — one set in Elkhart and the other set in Nappanee.

The fall flower carpets were only intended to occur one year and then be done with. Instead, this is the third year of the colorful project, and as with every year, possibly the final year for display.

Themes for the two flower carpets are different. In Elkhart, the theme is trains. In Nappanee, the theme is the arts.

Three-hundred feet of lights brighten up the night in Nappanee, extenuating the artsy theme of the mum-filled garden. It is an homage to arts, with the comedy and tragedy masks, and ribbons, flowing down inside of an enchanted-looking corridor, which visitors can walk through portions of. The design comes from all of the arts in Nappanee including the theater, the festivals and, of course, Amish Acres.

Nappanee will also offer free popcorn to visitors.

Elkhart’s lighting features the headlight of a train, glaring into the night sky based on the Mohawk 3001 at the National New York Central Railroad Museum in downtown Elkhart.

The Elkhart Fall Flower Carpet also has a special offers for children and adults. A trivia game for youngsters allows them to answer a question and win a special conductor’s hat, and receive discounted entry to the museum. Participants must pick up the question at the mum garden and bring their answer to the museum to claim their prize. Once they enter their trivia question, they will also be entered for a chance to win a Lego set — Harry Potter for older kids, Thomas the Train for younger kids. On Wednesday, Oct. 8, from 5 – 8 p.m. during the Elkhart Downtown Art Walk, the train station will have free admission.

Last year’s design at the Elkhart Fall Flower Carpet was based on elements of the Lerner Theatre, and the previous year’s design featured the Ruthmere Historical Museum.

Obviously it’s not going to look exactly like a train, Craig Sears, Elkhart County Maintenance and Grounds Department, said of the Mohawk 3001 mum design. With a wooden placard featuring the title across the garden, the basic design is a silhouette of the engine in dark purple mums.

“There are different things about each garden that bring it to life,” Nash said.

While in both towns, visitors can get special discounts from a number of downtown restaurants and small businesses in celebration of fall.

Throughout the Fall Flower Carpet events, both towns will be selling the mums on pre-order for the end of the season, after they have fully bloomed. In Elkhart, proceeds of the mum sales benefit the Elkhart Memorial High School Athletic Department. In Nappanee, proceeds will benefit local charities such as the Boys and Girls Club.

The carpets will be on display now until Oct. 15. Pickup day for anyone purchasing mums is on Oct. 18. Visitors may purchase mums on pickup day as well.

Visit the Elkhart Fall Flower Carpet, based on the class train engine, the Mohawk 3001, in Elkhart Central Park, which is in the 300 block of Main Street in Elkhart in the grassy area across IUSB Elkhart, INOVA and the Lerner Theatre. If they visit the Nappanee location, guests can see the arts come alive through horticulture along the 300 block of West Market Street, the road between the Nappanee Center and Kountry Cabinets and Home Furnishings.