With the 2010 Summer really here at last, Boone County starts to heat up with lots of fun things to see and do. Friday night June 25th, Zionsville hosts its annual Brick Street Gallery Walk with Main Street stores & restaurants hosting local artists who will be on hand painting and creating their latest works of art. Gallery Walk is a great time to stroll up and down Main Street, sample snacks at the various shoppes, catch dinner or drinks at one of the many local restaurants and take in great art. Admission is free. For more information - CLICK HERE

The Boone County Fourth of July celebration in Lebanon is actually a series of events, activities, dinners, a parade and fireworks stretched across a two-week period. The fun is underway in Lebanon and continues through July Fourth.  A Boone County favorite, The Flying Toasters will be in concert on June 26th preceded by the St. Joseph’s Parish chicken BBQ dinner – yum.

The annual Symphony at Sunset is set for June 27th promising a wonderful evening of music by the Indianapolis Symphony. The Carnival opens on June 29th and goes until July 4th. Don’t miss the 2pm July 4th Parade with the celebration ending with fireworks at the Lebanon Middle School. There’s a whole lot more in store for you in Lebanon – for more information, please CLICK HERE

Zionsville packs their Independence Day celebration into one fun day and one place – Lions Park – starting at 3pm on July 4th with live music, food, kids’ fun & games and a huge fireworks show at dusk; all sponsored by the Zionsville Lions Club. Come early if you want a good viewing seat as thousands gather every year for the Zionsville Lions’ huge fireworks display. For more information, please CLICK HERE

Welcome back to a Boone County restaurant! The  L. A. Cafe – located in downtown Whitestown – has opened its doors once again under new management. The Cafe will be open for lunch, dinner and Sunday brunch. To learn more, please CLICK HERE

Speaking of dining, if you’re looking for something different in Zionsville, try lunch at The Sanctuary, home of the art of world-acclaimed artist, Nancy Noel. The Sanctuary (a remodeled Victorian era church) is home to a charming bistro restaurant run by Ghyslain Maurais. Along with a unique lunch menu, you won’t be able to resist their selection that features fine French pastries and a wide assortment of Ghyslain’s gourmet chocolates. For all the delicious details, please CLICK HERE

So there you go, all kinds of great things going on in Boone County just waiting for you to discover.

A note to our readers. You’re more than welcome to email me with comments about tourism in Boone County. Suggest a restaurant, tell us about a fun trip you took, let us know about that special shop you found. Only now, please email us at info@boonecvb.com instead of leaving comments to these blog posts. We’re getting a gazillion spam comments from all manner of cyber-weirdos and are shutting down the blog comment feature. Hope to hear from you soon – via email, please.

It really wasn’t something anyone on the board of directors for the Boone County Convention & Visitors Bureau wanted to do. But then, being on a board means you make tough decisions. And it was a very tough decision to postpone this year’s Taste of Boone County event until some time in 2011.

The reason is simple – rising costs, increased expenses (especially for our local restaurants who give their food and their time at no charge to the event) and a still sagging economy make it fiscally impractical to sponsor an event of this magnitude.

If you came to the TOBC the past two years you know what a nice event it was with all kinds of great food served by our locally owned Boone County restaurants, food specialists and caterers. Add in the live jazz music and a most excellent selection of beverages and you had a perfect recipe for a nice evening out in Boone County. And if you did come, thank you for your support.

I must take some space to thank the wonderful and varied group of local restaurants, bakers, chocolatiers, caterers and gourmet foodies who participated in the TOBC – giving both their time and their great food to this event. I will miss those little BBQ sandwiches, gourmet munchies and, of course, Donaldson’s chocolates…yummm. Of course you can find these food delights most every day of the week all across Boone County served up by the nicest group of Hoosiers you’ll find anywhere in our State.

Major thanks go to Craig Anderson and the  entire Anson – a Duke Development  team. When Mayor Lewis arranged our first meeting where we asked about putting up a huge tent and filling it with hundreds of people eating and drinking in the middle of Anson on a October Saturday night, Craig said, “Great idea, let’s do it!” And the Duke cooperation and hospitality never ended. We really appreciate the generosity and look forward to working with Craig at Anson again.

To the sharp dressed men of the Lebanon Street Department who kept our TOBC sparkling clean and running right, thank you to Larry Lee and his team. No wonder they’re Indiana’s best Street Department (you can look it up). And thanks go to the Zionsville Fire Department – especially Chief Jamie VanGorder – for the no charge use of their monster generator that kept the lights sparkling and music humming along.

Many, many thanks go to the hours of work put in by the BooneCCVB board members who never figured they’d be taking tickets, directing traffic or pouring beers as part of their director’s job description. We’re a small bureau – actually there are just two of us – so the many volunteer hours put in by our directors, especially our Chairperson Paulette Dowden,  is what made the Taste of Boone County happen in the first place.

Speaking of pouring beer, Boone Beverage delivers the finest, coldest beer you’ll ever receive for a big gathering or when you’re visiting your favorite Boone County establishment. Mr. Selby really knows what he’s doing when it comes to being an outstanding distributor. Refreshingly nice product, too.

To our corporate sponsors and partners, thank you for your support. A special thanks goes to our media partners at the Lebanon Reporter and their fine family of area newspapers who publicized and advertised the Taste of Boone County across central Indiana. 

But don’t despair, we’re just postponing the Taste of Boone County. We’ve plans to truly make it bigger and better – with added attractions, surprises and stuff we can’t talk about right now. But we will let you know soon and hope you’ll join us for the 2011 Taste of Boone County. I’ll keep you posted…right here.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I find I’m very hungry and need a snack. Sure wish I had some Donaldson’s chocolates.