Best (only) Man in Grass Creek

Over the years I have had several opportunities to travel Highway 17 between Logansport and Plymouth....probably the first was a warm spring day more than 12 years ago when I decided to take a leisurely drive back to the office on a Friday afternoon in my Mustang with the windows down and radio cranked on country. Since then I was hooked on this little section of road with its 90 degree curves, high variety of fence post corner markers and the three little towns of Grass Creek, Kewanna and Burr Oak.

Of particular fame is Grass Creek. A tiny little town of maybe 100, set along the banks of, what else, Grass Creek. Highway 17 joins up with Highway 114 at the south edge of town, creating a short east/west jog that runs through the town before 17 heads north again. At both the east and west ends of town are two 90 degree curves in the road with the first on the east end angling around a small dairy farm with cows grazing right up to the edge of the road against barbed wire on old wood fence posts. Rather a nice welcome to Grass Creek.

Beyond an old grain elevator, one church, five small commercial buildings and a beautifully restored depot at their small town park........there isn't much there. Which is why, I think, in 1999 it got the attention of film producers to create a very rurally inspired comedy called "Best Man in Grass Creek". Spout.com, calling it a zany comedy about male marital jitters, has this review: Three years after being left at the alter, Adam (John Newcombe) still cannot make it through a wedding ceremony without becoming violently ill. His friend and editor Jimmy (John Hines) makes a deal with the struggling cartoonist; he will find a buyer for Adam's comic strip if Adam acts as best man for his wedding. Reluctantly agreeing, Adam follows Jimmy and his bride-to-be (Grace Phillips) to small-town Indiana to attend his nightmare dressed in white.

The beauty of the film is that it was shot almost entirely around the Cass and Fulton County area, using restaurants and farms as settings. The movie had special premieres throughout this part of the state, including at our downtown theater in river city. It was a sold-out, black tie affair with giant search lights and red carpet on the sidewalk. A former co-worker, who was from the Grass Creek area, attended the event with us and was quick to tell us whose farm each scene was shot at. Go out and rent it....it is a great snapshot of Hoosierana.

As I once again had the opportunity to take a leisurely drive up Highway 17 yesterday, I was reminded again of the film and stopped to shoot a few pictures of my own in Grass Creek. And when I got home I told my wife that I think I wanted to move there. Architecturally speaking, the buildings aren't much, although impressively preserved inside......I was describing how we could set up house in the two-story one, use the garage next door for our car and a giant playroom for the kids and then I could open up my studio across the street in the old hardware and she could open up a diner in the building next door. Since they're all vacant, I figure the owners would sell and in this market, I could buy them at rock-bottom prices.

Then I could call myself the best man in Grass Creek......quite possibly the only man in Grass Creek. My daughter thought that I might even make mayor!