#digin12

I'm not sure how I became the "face" of  Dig In~ A Taste of Indiana.

I'm certainly not complaining, because it is one of my pet projects, and I care deeply about its success. But I have to admit, it kind of bothers me that people perceive Dig IN as bing "my event". ( All of my PR friends are probably gasping right now, their internal voice screaming "Dude! Shut UP!") The reality is that there are several dozen folks that have taken up the cause of making Dig IN the premiere Indiana food festival that it's become. I'd like to take a minute to introduce you to a few of them now. 

Annie Schmelzer (The General)- Annie is the first person I went to with the idea of Dig IN, and she has never looked back. Make no mistake. Without Annie, there would be NO Dig In. She took the vision, and made it happen. She keeps all of us on task, and is critical to the overall Vision of Dig IN.

Thom England (The Networker)- Thom and I had the "Ah Hah!" moment simultaneously while having lunch with Alice Waters, and has been instrumental in networking the event from the inside. He knows the people that get stuff like this done. His commitment to bringing local  foods to the people of Indiana is unwavering. The contributions that Thom makes to the team are truly too diverse to list.

Eric Freeman (The Taskmaster)- Eric became Dig IN's first Executive Director in 2010, and oversee's the execution of the event and the formation of the Dig IN Foundation. It's difficult to describe exactly what Eric's "job" is because he does everything! Few people have the time management skills to get the stuff done that has to get done year in-year out. Everything guests experience on the day of the event has been touched by Eric. Sometimes I just look at what he does and shake my head. Wow.

Marcus Agresta (Master of Logistics)- Thirty plus chefs serving 5000 people food procured from around the entire state of Indiana. Marcus makes sure the chefs have what they need when they need it. Equipping thirty chefs. Think about that for a minute. (Mind Blown)

Leah Beyer (The Source)- She finds the farmers, that have the stuff the chefs want. Oh, and she pays for all of the food too. 'nuff said.

Tony Hahn (The Lawyer)- If you have to have a lawyer, you could do no better than Tony. Without Tony, there would be no Foundation. Just ask anyone that has ever applied for 501c3 status. Smart dude doing smart work. 

Volunteers (The Doers)- 270 folks + Hot August days = Eternally grateful. 

As I said, there are a lot of people at work behind bringing this event to Indy, and I have only named a few of them here. We have an advisory board of about 15 people that all contribute their time and resources to making Dig IN a reality. I can't tell you how much we value the contributions of our Board.