retirement activity
Beef & Boards Dinner Theatre announces its 2026 (53rd) season
Beef and Boards Dinner Theatre is offering a truly awesome season this coming year. The beloved Indianapolis Northwest side Dinner Theatre will present mystery and mayhem, felines and fairy tales, and fire and rain for its 53rd Season in 2026.
SHOW NAMES AND DATES
The Mousetrap (Jan. 6 – Feb. 15) First time at B&B’s since 1978
Pretty Woman (Feb. 19 – April 4) The Beef & Boards Stage Debut
Singin’ in The Rain (April 9 – May 23) The beloved MGM classic!
“Singin’ in the rain”
Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella (May 28 – July 12)
The Play That Goes Wrong (July 16 – Aug. 23) Beef & Boards Debut
Ring of Fire returns (Aug. 27 – Oct. 4) Johnny Cash’s iconic playlist
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s sensation, CATS (Oct. 8 – Nov. 22)
Cast of “CATS”
Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn (Nov. 27 – Dec. 31) Beef & Boards Debut
Sales for 2026 VIP Memberships are now open to the public. Individual tickets for all 2026 Season shows are on sale to the general public starting Oct. 1, 2025, and may be purchased by visiting Beef & Boards website, or calling the box office at 317.872.9664 (closed Mondays). Tickets for main stage shows range from $59.50 to $87.50, and include a dinner buffet, full fruit & salad bar, coffee, tea, and lemonade. Note: Discounts are available for groups and kids ages 3-15. Children under age 3 are not admitted to mainstage shows.
Indiana Candlelight House built in 1868 now home to ghosts
Located in Johnson County, Indiana, east of the modern I-65 interstate highway is a stately two story brick home commonly referred to by the name Candlelight House. In olden days the many windows facing the road were said to have been often lit with candles.
Photo we took from the road, work in progress on the new porch.
Working on the new portico/porch
The owners of the house are currently working on the restoration of the house. The day we drove by a new porch was being installed. This structure was surprisingly made of structural steel, not like the original wood portico that is long gone.
Unknown date, unidentified people. Photo from Franklin Daily Journal files
Since the house was built three generations of the same family have lived in the house. The only son of the third generation, named Otho Henry Pritchard, died in the house in 1995. According to many accounts Otho still walks the rooms of the house, even writing his name with his finger on windows. There have been paranormal investigations at the house.
The Artcraft Theatre, entertaining patrons since 1922
November 1922 witnessed the opening of the Artcraft Theatre in Franklin, Indiana. It was first utilized for vaudeville shows. The theater was also the first in town to show silent movies, which it did from 1922 until 1929. The orchestra pit was perfect for the musician(s) accompanying the silent movies.
The Artcraft Theatre exterior
Restored ticket booth and theater entrance/exit doors
The Artcraft operated as a venue for first-run movie showings for 78 continuous years before closing in 2000 after the development of multi screen theater complexes drastically reduced patron business.
Through the front doors, looking towards the lobby
Concession stand and exit aisle
Over the years the theater saw many changes and improvements including a 1929 sound system for “talkies”. Franklin’s first ever air- conditioning “swamp box system” was installed in 1935. The first marquee was erected in the 1940’s.
We want to come back when it is open to see the whole theater.
A local historic preservation group, Franklin Heritage, Inc. bought the theater in 2001. Restoration work began immediately to save the building from condemnation. Currently the theater regularly offers showings of classic movies. The Historic Artcraft Theatre website has information about events and shows. (It lists the times for senior citizen free movies!)
Historic hotel now a favorite local restaurant
Sunday was a great day for an unplanned day trip to Franklin, Indiana. There was perfect weather for seeing things in the area and we ended up at a local historic site and restaurant.
The popular local eatery
The entrance
The old hotel light visible
The Willard Hotel was once an active hotel and now The Willard is a very popular restaurant with both outside seating and indoor dining areas. We really enjoyed our very tasty meals. Our son had pretzel breadsticks, fries and a coke. Sher had a custom made veggie pizza and I had the fried fish platter. We both enjoyed Blue Moon on tap. Our waiter Steven took excellent care of us, making sure we had everything we needed for an enjoyable dining experience.
Two piece cod platter with fries, hush puppies and slaw
Custom made veggie pizza
Curved stairway leading to now closed second floor of the hotel
The brick house of the Willard was originally built in 1860 by the daughter of one of the town’s founders. Over the years the hotel saw quite a history and the legends of hauntings continue to this day.
Historic 1901 Indiana school suffers extensive damage in 2022 fire
While on a recent day trip to Parke County, Indiana to enjoy the many covered bridges we came across a sad sight. A large sign explained that we were viewing the Wabash Township Graded School that was open from 1901 until 1986 in the town of Mecca.
Front face with bell tower
Main Entrance
A devastating fire occurred in November, 2022. This fire completely destroyed the pitched roof of the 1901 main building and the flat roof of the gymnasium that was a 1923 addition. Both roofs collapsed during the fire.
View of gym addition
Gym wall, roof gone
The structure was listed on the National Register of Historic Sites. Following is from the original application for this listing: The architectural style of the 190l-l9l0 main section of the building shows Richardsonian Romanesque influence, which is evident in the bell tower, rock-faced lintels and voussiot’s, arched doorways and belfry openings…
Sign placed well before the fire
Local references report that sometime after the school closed in 1986 the structure was used as a community center. The fire damage that is visible is quite extensive. Rebuilding would be very costly, if not cost prohibitive.
John Conner founded Connersville, Indiana in 1813
John Conner founded Connersville, Indiana, when he laid out the town in March of 1813. The town was laid out next to Connor’s fur trading post on the Whitewater River. Conner was an important person in Indiana’s history, as he surveyed many towns and villages, including the layout of the then young city of Indianapolis.
Connersville has lots of history and historic sites to explore. We’ve just started our dive into Connersville!
The City of Connersville placed a memorial statue of Connor on a corner of the Fayette County Courthouse parking lot in 2017. Plaques listing Connersville’s history adorn the four sides of the statue’s large base.
Another Bison-tennial bison in Connersville Indiana
In 2016 Indiana celebrated its bicentennial of the 1816 year of statehood. One very unique way to celebrate was the distribution of at least one fiberglass bison to each of the 92 counties in the state.
“Monty” lives next to the courthouse.
In our travels over the years Sher and I have seen many of these delightful bison around Indiana. All have custom paintjobs with a variety of environments for the location of each bison. Our road trip today to Connersville lead to yet another Bison-tennial Public Art discovery.
Inside the General Store
The general store in Billie Creek Village was a treat to visit. The manager was so nice, letting us take our time looking at the interesting items, and taking pictures.
Parke County, Indiana, Covered Bridge Capital of the World
Park County Indiana is home to two Indiana State Parks and the 2,110 acre Raccoon Lake State Recreation Area. In addition Parke County is home to 31 covered bridges, more than any other county in the nation. Rockville is the county seat and also is the starting point for 5 different well marked self driving road tours to see most of the 31 bridges.
The 245′ Bridgeton Bridge and associated mill, The bridge was burned by arson in 2005, rebuilt in 2006.
These historic bridges are fairly evenly scattered over the 444 square miles of the county. Every October over two million visitors converge on Parke County for the world famed 10 day Covered Bridge Festival. People come to see the bridges and shop any of the thousands of vendors who occupy building’s or temporary tents that sprout up allover the county.
Crooks Bridge, 132′ long, built in 1856 by Henry Wolfe
Neet Bridge, 125′ long, was built in 1904 by JJ Daniels
Note the Red Arrow. This shows the easy self driving tour routes.
We took the 34 mile long Red Route starting at the Rail Road Depot in Rockville. This drive brought us up close and personal to eight old covered bridges. Some we could drive across, some were closed to traffic with a new roadway running next to the bridge.
Harry Evans Bridge, 65 ‘ long, built by JA Britton in 1908
Showing the Burr-Arch support design of the Evans bridge. This design is found in 30 of the Park County bridges including one double Burr-Arch.
Our road trip to Parke County was, in our opinion, most successful. Along with our drive along the Red Route of covered bridges, we also had some other stops that we’ll share in other articles here. Just know this: a road trip to Parke County Indiana offers country roads and viewing historic bridges, enjoyable dining and shopping opportunities. Click here for the Park County Visitor’s Center website.
Roadtirement 