Why I Moved Back to South Bend, and Why I'm Staying

When I was a student at Penn High School, South Bend wasn't exactly the kind of place you stayed in.

My goal growing up was to go to college, graduate, and get the heck out of Dodge. Through high school, my endgame was Southern California (pop punk kid).

Through four years at Bethel College, my plans shifted east: Chicago. Specifically, to pursue a career in music.

And that's what I did.

In the summer of 2009, I got an apartment in Wicker Park—Chicago's hipsteriest neighborhood—and set out to follow my dreams.

But then something happened that I didn't expect.

A few friends of mine back in South Bend (including my now wife) starting meeting together.

They called themeselves RPAC: the River Park Artist Community. They had a singular, if ambitious vision: to build the artistic community in South Bend.

There wasn't much of an artistic community at that time, to be sure. But there were artists. Scattered, unconnected, and starving.

If someone were to invest in the community, to create a support network, South Bend might not actually be a bad place.

And as I struggled to start a new life in Chicago—busking in subway stations in the daytime, playing open mic nights in the evening, all between trying to self record an album and book more respectable shows than open mics—my rearview mirror was firmly fixed on RPAC.

One night at a new open mic, I got to talking to the host. I mentioned I was new in town, and he asked where he was. I told him.

"My condolences. South Bend is a great town."

Something broke in me. He was absolutely right. My friends saw the potential South Bend had, and they sold me on it.

I tried to stick it out in Chicago for a bit, but life in the city had soured. I packed my things and moved back to the Bend.

For the first few years, it seemed like we were just lying to ourselves. We threw events that were poorly attended. Venues closed down. Most people were cynical about the town's potential. A few members of RPAC even moved away.

But eventually, people started to catch on. A few Facebook groups for artists sprung up. Live music become less the exception and more the rule. There were even some artist openings. Out of towners even started moving to South Bend.

And after time, the city we pictured started to come into focus.

About five years after moving back to South Bend, my band SPACESHIPS played the very first South By South Bend festival: a two day festival sourced largely from local bands. After our set, I was sitting on the Gridiron some friends listening to the Rutabega (who, fun story, I first saw open for Taking Back Sunday at Higher Grounds in 2001).

The moment froze, the way moments do sometimes. And I realized:

This is why I moved back.

That moment was the culmination of all of my hopes for South Bend's music community.

Artists supporting artists. Artists supporting the city. The city supporting artists.

And in the years since that moment, that feeling has only continued. I'm playing or hosting shows as often as I want to. My wife runs a makerspace. I'm surrounded by a beautiful community of musicians and artists.

And it's exactly what I wanted.