Carmel, Indiana - America's Best Kept Secret. April 17th.

175 years ago, Quakers inhabited the town of Carmel (originally named Bethleham) with the goal of establishing a bustling little town built around the fur trading industry. Today, Carmel has grown into one of the top rated communities in the United States – recently ranked as one of the best places to live in America, best cities for families, Safest Cities, Best Place to get a job, the most roundabouts in the United States….and the list goes on and on. And I won’t lie…this place was pretty spectacular.

Now, my visit to this fine city was limited to about 4 hours due to a quick in and out meeting, but the one thing that truly came through was the citizens passion and pride in their city. People truly loved living there. We actually had the chance to meet with Mayor Brainard who has been serving the community for six terms in office. He has led this community as it has grown from 25,000 to almost 90,000 residences and truly spearheaded the redevelopment of the entire community.

Our meetings were near the Carmel City Center – a mixed-use development that contained apartments, retail,

restaurants, and plenty entertainment options including the most incredible performing arts center. The Palladium Concert Hall was a beautifully designed ($120 million project) that had 1,600 seats and an impeccable design. Adjacent to the Palladium was also a 500 seat Theater and 200 seat – black box theater. Now you might think who in the world is coming to Carmel that can fill a joint like this…but these venues house over 180 events a year and bring in names like Sheryl Crow, world-renowned orchestras and traveling Broadway performances. It definitely would be worth a trip here to just experience the theatre and performance scene.

I wish I could say that I enjoyed wonderful meals like I have celebrated on other trips, but this was just a quick in and out and the Italian Sandwich I had for lunch unfortunately wasn’t anything to write home about. BUT, the one thing I did have which was worth nothing was my absolutely delicious Lift Off IPA from Daredevil Brewing which was located just down the street from the Indiana Motor Speedway where they run the Indy-500.

There is so much to see and do in this little community just 20 mins north of Indianapolis…that I hope you have the chance to experience this “best kept secret” located right in the heart of America.