Sometime this fall or next winter you could start seeing big black shoes pop up around Mishawaka. It’s a nod to the city’s past, organized by a group of teens.
Mishawaka Mayor Dave Wood’s Youth Advisory Council already has spearheaded a new pocket park outside City Hall, redesigned the former Hums Park playground, and pitched in on food drives for those in need.
For their next project, they’ll pay tribute to the city’s manufacturing roots, when the Ball Band company made Red Ball Jet sneakers in a riverfront factory where the Ironworks Plaza now sits. They plan to erect large eight to 10 fiberglass sneaker statues around the city.
First they’ll need to raise at least $35,000 from the public, and if they do, the state of Indiana will match the money.
Margaret Coppens-Clark, an 18-year-old Mishawaka High School senior, is on the Executive Committee that started brainstorming project ideas in June.
Despite her youth, Coppens-Clark says history is important to her. She says her family lives in the 14th Street house that her mom, Cara, grew up in.
"Like she can remember going into the Ball Band plant and like looking for cheap shoes for her and her family to wear," Coppens-Clark said. "And I just think that's really cool how it's like history but it's also still so recent and so connected to the city."
They council and city have yet to finalize where they would place the shoes, but possible site locations would include the University Park Mall, Ironworks, City Hall, Kate's Garden, Mishawaka History Museum, Battell Center, the Toscana or Grandview areas, high Schools, libraries, Mishawaka Fieldhouse, and St. Joseph Regional Medical Center.
