A staple on the Fort Wayne music scene is stepping down. After 46 years, Bob Roets has retired as owner of Wooden Nickel Records, making way for his son, Christopher Roets, to take over.

“After my 46th Christmas of selling vinyl, CDs, cassettes, and even 8-tracks, handing out tons of our famous Wooden Nickel tokens along with turning 65 years old last month, I have decided to hand over the pricing gun to my son Christopher, and he will become the owner of Wooden Nickel Records on January 1st,” Roets wrote in a social media post.

After working at record stores for a number of years, Roets, a 2013 recipient of the Whatzup H. Stanley Liddell Award, opened his first Wooden Nickel on July 30, 1982, on North Clinton Street. The record store grew to six locations and continue to have three in the city, including the original on North Clinton plus locations on North Anthony and West Jefferson boulevards.

“I want to personally thank all of our awesome customers going back to the early 1980s when we opened our first location on North Clinton Street and are now serving children and grandchildren of many of our early supporters,” Bob Roets said.

Local librarian receives national award

Longtime Allen County Public Library librarian, genealogist, and leader Curt Witcher has been awarded one of 10 prestigious national I Love My Librarian Awards for Outstanding Public Service. 

Honorees are librarians from academic, public, and school libraries who were nominated by patrons nationwide for their expertise, dedication, and profound impact on the people in their communities.

“This award is the epitome of recognition for librarians across the country and is only awarded to public servants who truly stand out,” said ACPL Executive Director Susan P. Baier. “It will come as no surprise to the Allen County community that our own Curt Witcher is being honored in this way. His 44 years of dedication, leadership, and kindness echo throughout the stacks of this library. I cannot imagine a more deserving recipient.”

Witcher is the ACPL’s Director of Special Collections and manager of the Genealogy Center which draws thousands of visitors each year. His decades of work in African American and Jewish genealogy, Native American research, and more have helped cultivate one of the largest genealogy collections in the country and positioned it as an international destination for researchers. 

Witcher has also supported the founding of local genealogy societies, forged partnerships with FamilySearch and the Internet Archive to make public domain portions of the center’s collection accessible online, and collaborated with college professors build a literature and genealogy course.

Enter flag design to mark county’s 200th year

Allen County is preparing for a nine-month bicentennial celebration that is set to begin April 1, the date of its founding. 

 The 200th birthday of the county will include honoring the history of the Miami Tribe, which has been consulted by Bicentennial Executive Board Member Todd Pelfrey, director of The History Center, on the bicentennial plans.

 A new Allen County flag will also be designed with a public competition. Any county resident is eligible to submit a design for consideration. A submission portal will be on the official website, allencounty.in.gov, though March 29. 

The public will be able to vote for a selection of these designs chosen by the executive board. County commissioners will vote on the top three finalists.

ACPL reading program gets $1 million grant

The Foellinger Foundation has approved a $1,065,000 grant to the Allen County Public Library  for their SPARK Summer Learning and Team Read programs over the next three years.

 SPARK Summer Learning invites Allen County residents and families to complete reading challenges and participate in activities to win prizes. Last year’s program logged nearly 8 million minutes of reading among 14,763 people.

Pride workshop details foster parenting

Fort Wayne Pride’s next monthly workshop will focus on foster parenting on Thursday, Jan. 11, from 7-8 p.m. at 527 W. Berry St. 

A free meal will be served with free street parking and free parking in the lot on the corner of Berry Street and Fairfield Avenue. 

January’s workshop is presented by SAFY with information about how to become a foster parent. They will be available for questions after the presentation.

Open auditions for Six Degrees of Separation

The Fort Wayne Civic Theatre will hold open auditions for the John Guare play Six Degrees of Separation at 6 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 7, at Arts United Center. 

Director Ranae Butler is seeking a diverse cast of actors 18 years and older for this award-winning play about a wealthy older couple who are taken in by a con artist who claims to be the son of Sidney Poitier. The play is rated R.

Rehearsals are from Feb. 12-March 14, with performances March 15-24, at the Parkview Physicians Group ArtsLab on Main Street. 

For audition information, go to fwcivic.org.

News and Venues covers Northeast Indiana’s music and arts organizations, venues, and colleges, from large to small. Send your news items to info@whatzup.com.