It took twenty years

David Smith selected Mr. and Mrs. Gerard Montani as the "VIP Guests of the Day" at The Inn at Amish Acres yesterday. As he was checking them in they were excited for the recognition and proceeded to tell the story of how they found Amish Acres.

Mrs. Montani mentioned that while traveling 20 years ago they found an Amish Acres brochure lying on the seat of an airplane. At that moment the both promised each other that they would one day visit this Amish Acres. So today, 20 years later they arrived with their confirmation neatly written on the back of a vintage Amish Acres brochure.

It also was their first day of their visit to the United States; the Montani's are from France. With their complementary Amish Acres Recipes cookbook in hand, they were all smiles. I remember the warm reception we received in our hotel on our last visit to Paris; and whenever I think back to Paris, it is not the Eiffel Tower or the Louve that were visible out side our hotel room window that comes to mind first, it is Jon Paul's warm welcome at the Hotel Brighton at 218, rue Rivoli. These experiences are what make tourism such a potent force in creating a world community to go along with the new world economy.

Where have all the bonnets gone?

Even with snow flying sideways on Easter, 1,300 diners still showed up for dinner. With camera in my pocket, I spent the day looking for the gala Easter parade of outfits that I remember growing up. I fondly remember my mother dressing my sister and me for Easter, with new clothes and bonnets for the ladies. My church was a pageant of other families who had done the same. We always anticipated Easter in our house with the excitement of spring. Over the three decades that I have been pouring water and coffee, bussing tables, and greeting guests, I have regretfully seen a gradual and ever increasing disappearance of this ritual rite of spring.

Families are still celebrating this most important of Christian holidays together around the table. They come in every shape and size. Grandparents, aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters, moms and dads, cousins, nieces and nephews, are mixed in a nearly unending combinations. It certainly remains a festive day and the Easter egg hunt for 500 eggs Janis hid and the carefully colored eggs on paper in the coloring contest attest to the excitement felt among the children. Sadly, my search was reduced to a single bonnet shared by sisters in matching pink dresses and it was bought in our gift shop.

Waiting

I've been waiting to hear from The Tonight Show for permission to use the recylced Headline from Amish Acres. I'm giving up and moving on. Easter seems a good time to start anew. Talk about waiting. President Bill Clinton and Chelsea are coming to northern Indiana tomorrow, Dyngus Day, to celebrate with the Democrats on the west side of South Bend and mention that their wife and mother is running for president.

Their visit reminds me of Governor Orr who came to Amish Acres in 1981 while he was campaigning, sat down in our restaurant with me for a cup of coffee and began asking what sounded like sincere questions about our business. Before I could offer up any wisdom for him to take back to Indianapolis, a aide rushed up and said he was sorry but they were in the wrong place and had to high tail it to the B&B Restaurant downtown. Governor Orr told me he was sorry he had to leave abruptly, but he would be back. He was even a Republican and I'm still waiting.

Jay Leno goes green

During the “Headlines” segment on “The Tonight with Jay Leno” on Monday, October 18, 2007 Jay Leno held up a newspaper ad for Amish Acres. He waxed on about the nostalgic nature of the historic attraction, and then found reference to Broadway Musicals which gave him his usual chuckle when he finds what he considers inconsistencies.

Friends called from across the country to tell us that Amish Acres was on “The Tonight Show.” Because we were doing our usual surfing among Leno, Letterman, and Charlie Rose, we missed the Amish Acres headline; I reran the show on the Internet at NBC.com. To my surprise the advertisement Jay referred to was from an earlier "Headline" in which he used an ad from the Chicago Tribune in 1993!

I found the letter NBC sent to us in 1993 issuing permission to use that clip in our orientation film at Amish Acres. Here is the beginning of the letter:

NBC
Law Department
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10112

July 26, 1993

Re: NBC Permission – The Tonight show With Jay Leno/July 7, 1993

Dear Ms. Harman:

You have requested permission on behalf of the Amish Acres, to use a segment from the Tonight show with Jay Leno broadcast on July 7, 1993 in which Jay Leno mentioned the Amish Acres in Nappanee, Indiana in his “Headline”piece (the “Clip”). The Clip will be used in conjunction with an in-house eight minute promotional film.

NBC hereby grants you permission to use the Clip in the manner requested subject to the following terms and conditions:

1. You agree that the clip will be used only for the above-mentioned purpose, and for no other purpose whatsoever without NBC’ prior written consent.

We have now made the same request we made in fourteen years ago. During that period The Round Barn Theatre has added another 1,500 performances of Plain and Fancy plus over 80 productions of Broadway classic musicals. Perhaps this recycled “Headline” will insure another decade or so of musical theatre at Amish Acres. Then we hope Conan pulls it out of the archives again after he is settled into Johnny’s chair.

Where are all the big men and women?

The Will Rogers Follies closes its run on The Round Barn Theatre at Amish Acres stage tomorrow. The most dramatic scene in the musical ends as Rogers says at the conclusion of the radio address he gave at the request of Herbert Hoover following the president's speech concerning the stock market crash of 1929, “Where are all the big men? We sure could use one now.”

Well we sure had a lot of big men and women around here last week. Most of them live here; many came to our aid. Following the Nappanee Tornado those who lost their homes and businesses shed few tears but rushed to help each other out of harm’s way, then rushed to assist those most in need, then rushed to begin the cleanup and rebuilding.

You couldn’t list them all. Literally hundreds of firefighters, emergency medical teams and police officers from neighboring cities, counties, and the State of Indiana, descended upon Nappanee to assist our own to protect us from harm. Then 5,000 people showed up Sunday morning to begin the cleanup.

But even leaders need a leader. Mayor Larry Thompson is our leader. He has spent a lifetime of service as a firefighter and twelve years as Nappanee’s mayor preparing for this role. It is he who made the big decisions, who anticipated what we needed next, from whom, and where. As all real leaders do he led us by example last week. He reflected the fearless determination of Nappanee to overcome this adversity and continue on our path of prosperity and turned it into action.

Now when we should be thanking him, he’s thanking us. That’s what big men do. America’s favorite son would be proud of all of us.

Tornado Photograph Album

So many people from across the country and globe have shared their concerns about the well being of Nappanee and its residents through Amish Acres website that I have published a series of photographs taken from a helicopter of the devastation caused by last week's storm, Thursday night, October 18, 2007. These photos represent the combination of residential, commercial, and manufacturing havoc imposed on a large portion of Nappanee. Nothing outside of the storm's path was outwardly changed; all of us were inwardly changed.

You may view the album at Tornado Photograph Album

Erlenbach, Switzerland

Brandi, our new group sales director, sat on this chair during a tele-conference today in my office. She asked if I wanted it moved following the meeting. I didn't. I keep it beside my desk. I bought it in Erlenbach, Switzerland, in 1977 and brought it home in my suitcase. Jacob Ammann, the founder of the Amish sect, was born in Erlenbach. It is a beautiful mountainous village with picturesque chalet architecture. The little chair factory sat right in the middle of the village. No one living there today knows any thing about Jacob Ammann, the Anabaptists, or the Amish.

By the time Amman became disenchanted with the main branch of the Swiss Brethren, he had moved into Alsace, which is now part of southeastern France. It was here that he confronted over sixty ministers and demanded they take sides. About a third followed Ammann into a splinter group that focused upon the ban, or social avoidance of excommunicated members of the church family. As a minority other distinctive outward features were added to differentiate the two groups. These features included dress, hair styles, and church service format. Most of these distinctions remain with the Amish today.

My chair reminds me daily of our mission to educate curious outsiders about Amish society so they can increase their tolerance of people around them that are different from them.