Grateful for Our City

A note of gratitude for the place we’re lucky enough to call home.

OLG Writer Emily Carter shares these thoughts on behalf of the entire One Lucky Guitar team.

This time of year has a way of making us look around and reflect on the changes all around us. Maybe it’s the shorter days, the colder temperatures or the sudden presence of pumpkin spice lattes everywhere we turn.

Whatever the reason, fall invites us to notice the things about our city we usually overlook—and find quiet gratitude for the places and people who make our lives what they are.

At One Lucky Guitar, we’re grateful for our city for so many reasons. And one of the biggest reasons is that Fort Wayne is so much more than a city to us. It’s a community.

We’re especially grateful for the little corner we call home: Downtown Fort Wayne in the East Central neighborhood at 1301 Lafayette Street on the tight-knit block we affectionately call “Bricktown.”

This brick building has been home for 22 years now. Somewhere along the way, it became more than an address. It’s where ideas get made, coffee gets poured, conversations run long and partnerships are forged.

We love being downtown—the sidewalks and alleys, the murals and sculptures, the old buildings alongside the new. From the Embassy Theatre to Parkview Field, history and progress come together to shape our city’s soul.

And while we love being at the center of it all, we know that Fort Wayne is more than downtown. And northeast Indiana is more than Fort Wayne.

So, our gratitude keeps moving outward. It moves through the neighborhoods like West Central, Wells Corridor and Forest Park; into communities like Huntertown and Churubusco; and across the surrounding counties, lakes and country roads that make this region home.

We’re grateful for all of it because One Lucky Guitar is shaped by all of it.

Some of us live close enough to bike to work. Others drive across the city or commute from communities farther afield, bringing their own experiences and perspectives. Each one adds something to how we see the world—and how we approach our work.

Because there isn’t one way to experience northeast Indiana. And there isn’t one way to communicate brand soul.

Our work is shaped by people with different histories, ideas and points of view. We’re grateful for the people who dream big, care about their communities and put in the work to make them better. The people who believe in their block, their business, their school, their town, their county—and what it might become.

We’re lucky to call some of them co-workers, clients and collaborators. We’re even luckier to call them friends.

So this November, we’re giving thanks for our city and the region around it. For our downtown sidewalks and country roads. And for the many different perspectives that make One Lucky Guitar what it is.

We wouldn’t trade this place—or this group of people—for anything.

Northeast Indiana. Fort Wayne. Bricktown.

Our region. Our city. Our lucky little corner of the world.

And, as far as we’re concerned, the best place to work and call home.

Photo Credits

Header collage (left to right, top to bottom)

1. Mural: Jubbar J., via Unsplash

2. MLK Bridge: Nicholas J. Klein, via Adobe Stock

3. Lakeside Park: Nicholas J. Klein, via Adobe Stock

5. Courthouse: TopSphere Media, via Unsplash

Promenade Park: Nicholas J. Klein, via Adobe Stock