When I moved to the Anderson area in December of 2011, I had one thought in mind “get through school and get the heck out”. I did not want to be in Indiana and especially did not want to be in the Anderson area. I hated the winters, hated the town but knew I was where I needed to be for some strange reason. During my 4.5 years at Anderson University I was almost trapped in this bubble of thinking the whole city of Anderson was what I saw in that small radius around campus, run down, drug infested and quickly dying. I spent all my weekends in Indianapolis (beautiful city that I love dearly) and continued to count down the days until I could get out. After 4.5 years of school I *FINALLY* moved from Anderson. I was “living in the dream” in Carmel, right by the arts district, seconds from the monon trail and I genuinely felt like I was living where everyone wanted to be.
I will always cherish my time in Carmel and the people (and dogs) I met, the memories I made, the hard lessons I learned and the convenience of everything being at my finger tips. I continuously said if I had to stay in Indiana, I was going to stay in Carmel. Wow could I have been anymore wrong. I slowly started finding my way back to Anderson on the weekends to spend time with my family and my friends, I was going out of my way to meet my family at Rivera Maya, Eva’s Pancakes and of course Gene’s Rootbeer, despite having endless dining options in Carmel. I was driving up on Thursdays for Tacos at Burro Loco and Karaoke at Kettletop Brewhouse (usually accompanied by the best nachos). I would pack Denny up in the car and take her for a walk at Falls Park in Pendleton despite living walking distance to the monon trail and a dog park. I started seeing Anderson coming back to life, and stopped seeing it in through the vision of my AU bubble. I started seeing people doing something with this city and refusing to let it die without putting up a fight. I went from being a customer at local businesses to being a friend. I discovered I started bringing my Indy friends up to Anderson because despite popular belief, it does have something to offer. I started unknowingly telling people about the restaurants, events and other things going on in Anderson.
So after 2 years in Carmel, and swearing to my family I’d move closer but never back to Anderson I found my way back and have started calling Anderson home. It isn’t glamorous like Carmel and it may not have everything at my finger tips but it has people who have your back, people who will go out of their way to help you, and people who together are brainstorming ways to make Anderson a healthy, thriving city again. Sure there is a drug problem and poverty in the city, but guess what drugs and poverty are everywhere, have you ever been to downtown Indianapolis or Arlington Ave?
I’m happy to be an Anderson resident again and I know I’ll get a lot of snide remarks for sharing this or feeling this way. But the reality is that sometimes things aren’t always what they seem, and if people don’t step up and support one another and local businesses then the fate of Anderson (or really any city) is doomed. People will go out of their way to drive down to Indianapolis to go to free concerts, breweries, distilleries and farm to table restaurants but Anderson offers all those things right here in our back yard.
So thank you to the city of Anderson and the locals who fight for this little town, and have helped Anderson find a special place in my heart. I’m happy to be here, supporting the city and the local businesses anyway I can.
I’d love to give you recommendations to some of my favorite local “Anderson” places.
Taia Jo 