September 17, 2022 from 11am-2pm at The Barn on Jericho
The partners of CometoCrawford.com invite the Crawford County community to a FREE celebration on
September 17, 2022 from 11AM to 2 PM. It will be held at The Barn on Jericho, a beautiful, brand new venue
in Taswell, Crawford County. The event is being held to cheer the successful launch and subsequent
attainment of the initiative’s goals.
The celebration reflects the mindset of the organizations involved to focus on the good things going on in our
community and helping those things to grow and expand. Collectively, these organizations serve the public
and they hope to see lots of families join in celebration festivities. The partners of this project are the
Community Foundation of Crawford County (CFCC), Crawford County Economic Development (CCED),
Crawford County Tourism Commission (Tourism) and are also supported by the Crawford County Chamber of
Commerce (CCCC). The CometoCrawford.com website and accompanying Facebook page serve all Crawford
County residents. It is a one-stop website that provides easy access to contact listings, resources, events and
activities and much more for businesses, people, churches and nonprofits; and it is accompanied by a
Facebook page for promotional purposes.
Morton Dale, board president for CCED, said, “We were happy to collaborate and now to manage the Come to
Crawford project, which is loaded with a lot of contact information and resources for our community. The
site’s information is continually updated, which makes it accurate and reliable. The CCED will oversee its
continuance. The CCED is always working toward a better future for all of Crawford County, and this tool
certainly helps to accomplish that.”
There will be public announcements throughout the event. Kicking off the event at 11 AM, Sharon Wilson will
be honored posthumously. Mark Stevens, Tourism’s board president said, “Sharon was an amazing advocate
for Crawford County. We are so happy to finally be able to honor her publicly. Sharon passed away while our
community was battling COVID, and we could not honor her appropriately at that time.” Members of her
family will be on hand and a brief electronic presentation will show highlights of Sharon’s life in Crawford
County. “We all still miss her.”
“The site promotes various activities all over the county, helps businesses who need an online presence, and
encourage families to come to Crawford County to enjoy our rural way of life,” said Mark Stevens, Tourism’s
board chairman. “Well over 100,000 people travel to various parts of Crawford County each year to take
advantage of outdoor recreation, making tourism a vibrant facet of life in our community.”
Free features of this family focused event are: music played by one of Crawford’s own, DJ, Shawn Scott;
carnival-like food served and prepared from outdoor tents by the Boys and Girls Club; indoor and outdoor
family-friendly games; and community announcements. The event will climax with two half-pot raffle
drawings at 2PM.
Tickets for the $100 and $10 half-pot raffle can be purchased at the CFCC office at 4030 E Goodman Ridge
Road, Marengo, IN between 8:30 and 4:30, Mon-Fri., or at the event leading up to the drawing at 2PM, cash or
check only. Proceeds from the raffles benefit the renovation of the CFCC building, and will ultimately serve the
people of Crawford County.
For residents, the CometoCrawford website can be a source of pride in our people and what we have to offer
here, while not changing the rural nature and beautiful, geographic landscape that makes Crawford County
special.
CometoCrawford.com was funded by a grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. through the Community Foundation
of Crawford County, and required significant community input prior to its launch. Community discussion topics
and survey results included broadband (high speed internet / fiber optic cable); lack of internal
communication between organizations; inability for the general public to know how or who to contact for
their concerns; overlapping community events and activities; a central place to post/advertise community
needs, childcare deficits; transportation; addiction treatment and recovery; and small business web presence.
“Based on surveys, the input of residents, and the Crawford County Leadership Institute team, along with the
size of the grant available, the community website and calendar was selected as the project,” said Angela
Leonard CFCC board chairman. “It addresses many of the needs identified through community citizens and
area community leaders. The CFCC is proud to have served in securing this project for our community; and in
the augmentation of responses and feedback prior to implementation that made this initiative a true
community project.”
“Crawford County is scheduled to see the installation of fiber optic cable, so this project comes at the perfect
time for our community. Fiber can’t come to Crawford fast enough!” said CFCC executive director, Christine
Harbeson. “The website and calendar provided a branding opportunity for Crawford County along with the
subsequent marketing of it, and provides a one-stop-shop to access various sectors within Crawford County.
Harbeson continued, “While we are celebrating in September, we know the growth for CometoCrawford and
the community has just begun. Come celebrate with us.”
Lilly Endowment Inc. is an Indianapolis-based private philanthropic foundation created in 1937 by J.K. Lilly, Sr.
and his sons Eli and J.K. Jr. through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly and Company.
Although the gifts of stock remain a financial bedrock of the Endowment, it is a separate entity from the
company, with a distinct governing board, staff and location. In keeping with the founders’ wishes, the
Endowment supports the causes of community development, education and religion. The Endowment funds
significant programs throughout the United States, especially in the field of religion. However, it maintains a
special commitment to its founders’ hometown, Indianapolis, and home state, Indiana.
