MU| F e a t u r e s
places radiating out from Parkview Field,
home of the minor-league TinCaps baseball
team since 2009 and annually ranked as one
of the top venues of its kind in the nation.
Elsewhere, the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo
remains one of the nation’s best children’s
zoos, and Headwaters Park and the
Rivergreenway have made creative use of the
city’s miles of riverfront.
All of that Marioni found appealing when
she was visiting schools. But it was perhaps
a much older designation – Fort Wayne’s
nickname as the City of Churches – that
attracted her the most.
“I’m really into my faith, so that was a big
thing to me,” she says.
The zoo, and Coney Island and the Yummi
Bunny ice cream shop downtown, have
since become some of the Marionis’ favorite
hangouts. And in the summers, there’s the
Three Rivers Festival, local county fairs and
festivals, and the Fort4Fitness, for which
Marioni volunteers and her children – 4-year-
old Lelan, 6-year-old Jacob, and 8-year-old
Michael – run.
“It’s such a family-oriented city,” Marioni says.
“We especially like the summers. Any type
of festival in Fort Wayne or the surrounding
communities, we’re usually there.”
In other words, there’s a lot to do. And that’s
appealing if, like Caitlin Granfield, you come
from a smaller community.
Granfield came to Manchester’s
pharmacogenomics program from Kokomo,
about 60 miles south and west of Fort
Wayne. It’s a fraction the size of Fort Wayne
– 58,000 residents in the last census – and so
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coming to Fort Wayne was, comparatively, like
coming to the big city.
“That was just very appealing,” Granfield says.
“There’s a lot going on in the city, with just
like lots of restaurants and activities to go to.
Beautiful parks. There’s just a lot to do, so I
think no matter if you’re into going out on
the weekends ... there are lots of places to go
out and get drinks, lots of places to do that.
But also lots of places to go and just hang out
with your friends and have a good time.”
For Granfield and her friends, that means
Komets hockey games at Allen County War
Memorial Coliseum in the winter time, and
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