I enjoy driving throughout the county when the leaves are changing.

This time of year, I like to get out of the office for a few hours and enjoy the beautiful fall colors. Last week I had the opportunity while attending meetings I had scheduled in Batesville. The leaves were gorgeous on my drive up Highway 129.

Next year is Ripley County’s Bicentennial and the committee is working on several projects to showcase what our county has to offer. I met with Amy Streator, Executive Director of the Ripley County Community Foundation to discuss a video project we are working on with the RCCF.

The Sherman

Amy and I had a chance to catch up on a few other projects as we enjoyed lunch at The Sherman. The German-influenced menu offers lunch specials and favorites like the Batesville Lunch Burger –a 1/3 lb. ground short rib burger, Schnitzel Sandwich on a pretzel bun, and a Rueben on marble rye. Owners George and Peyton Hughes have completed the renovations on the 22 hotel rooms at the inn just in time for leaf peepers and holiday activities. They opened a biergarten in September which hosts live music on the weekends. Opening weekend they were fortunate to have a group of 14 musicians from Ruderatshofen, Germany perform. They played at Cincinnati’s Octoberfest the next evening.

The biergarten featured musicians from Ruderatshofen, Germany

Later, I met the Ripley County Tourism Board of Directors at the Comfort Inn for a tour. In the last year, the new owners have totally renovated the hotel adding new premium bedding and replacing the carpet, fixtures, furnishings, and even the parking lot! The indoor pool has been resurfaced and a wall mural was painted by local artist Sara Bettis in the pool area. The board was impressed with the changes and congratulated owner Monte Patel and manager Samantha Young on an impressive remodel. Mr. Patel also shared the news that Comfort Inn would be changing to Quality Inn — the name change became official November 1^st.

One wall of the Sara Bettis mural features dolphins at play

While in Batesville, I met with Anna Ibold and Patricia Hatcher of the Batesville Chamber of Commerce to share ideas and get feedback for the Ripley County Bicentennial. Both were very helpful and willing to share knowledge and insights into past events and upcoming activities. I am looking forward to working with them on upcoming projects for the bicentennial and beyond.

I look forward to getting out and about in the next few weeks to check out more places to go and things to do in the county.

More later…

Terri