Speaker: Dale Petrie, Director of Operations , City of Crawfordsville
Introduce yourself (your name, where you're from, what you do)
Dale Petrie: Hi, my name is Dale Petrie. I'm originally from Indianapolis, came to Crawfordsville to attend Wabash College. I've got to know a lot of people in the community while during my four years at Wabash and decided that this would be a good place to live. So I interviewed at companies in Crawfordsville and there were a number of strong companies to choose from. Uh got a job and and stayed here for 40 years as a manufacturing manager in a small metal working fabricating plant. Um Currently, I am the Director of Operations for the city of Crawfordsville, so have a great job of working on projects that make the public site better.
What part of town do you live in and what do you love about your neighborhood?
Dale Petrie: I live on West Main Street in Crawfordsville at the very end. So I'm about a mile and a quarter from absolute downtown Crawfordsville. I love West Main, It's a classic old, small town street lined with older homes and built anywhere between the late 1800s and say 1930s, 1940s. Uh My house is at the very end of the street and was once a farmhouse as that part wasn't connected to actual Crawfordsville, been remodeled several times and once by me. So it's a, it's a great place to live. I've got a quiet quiet corner to uh, to enjoy my kids grew up there. I love being on West Main Street. I think one of the classic things about West Main is that it's lined with maple trees on both sides. Uh And especially during the fall, you have the most colorful canopy that you could imagine that you're driving through on the way home from work. So, uh I love Crawfordsville and I certainly love, we're living on West Main. And if you've seen any of the other information about Crawfordsville, you know, the West Main Street is the trick or treat capital of Crawfordsville during Halloween. And we'll have somewhere between 1000 and 2000 and maybe upwards to 3000 kids that will come down West Main Street trick or treating. We close off the street for them and everyone just has a huge party
What's a must-do event or activity that remote workers should experience in their first year?
Dale Petrie: Two of the must see, must do events that you'll want to experience when you come to Crawfordsville. One is the strawberry festival held the second weekend in June each year. It's a large downtown festival held on the grounds of the Lane Place. So it's a nice shaded area, uh, so comfortable for everybody. And um, we have about 8 or 10,000 people will come to the strawberry festival each year. Lots of free entertainment. Um, lots of good food. We have a children's area with games and we have an arts and crafts area and I call it the, the annual family reunion for the city of Crawfordsville because lots of families come back. Kids come back because they've experienced, we've been doing it for about 40 years now. And so it's just an event that everybody in town looks forward to. The second event is, is similar to the strawberry festival, but it's not quite as large a scale, but it's called the Taste of Montgomery County. That's the last weekend in August each year. It's a fundraiser for the Lew Wallace Study and Museum. Uh and again, it's a, it's an entertainment and food festival. And so the difference in that is that we have all local foods. We don't have any of the, the big trucks that come in for the strawberry festival, but we have local caterers, local restaurants. Uh they all bring their best and, and vie for some prizes as "Best of". And then we also have entertainment and it's just a great time for a community to get together in a very relaxed situation and and maybe have a beverage and and watch some entertainment for the afternoon. Those two definitely must see events when you come to Crawfordsville.
