Jay Troyer

By the time I came back to Goshen, I was ready to be back, because I understood from friends and social media and just my own personal observation, ‘There’s something going on there.’

I was still living in Mishawaka when Ignition Music Garage opened up. My eyes grew about five times bigger reading the paper – ‘What is going on in this town?’ Very, very few towns of this size and nature have anything like Ignition Music. The quality of the entertainment, of the musicians and the singers who come in here has been phenomenal from day one. Tim and Julie are continuing to bring in a wide variety of, in many cases, world-class entertainment.

The musicians who are here in town, our native talent, are remarkable. The other end of that is, I get to walk downtown and run into some of my favorite rock stars and say hi to them and talk for a few minutes because I know them.

I have a remarkably diverse group of friends and acquaintances who I value very, very much. All different backgrounds, different ages. People work together and play together and are accepting together. I’m just so thrilled, I guess, to be a part of a community that opens up to people and welcomes people.

I’m thrilled that John Hall’s is still here. I can walk around for 45 minutes at John Hall’s. That’s what I love about Goshen: There’s someplace like that or someplace like Gutierrez where you walk in and the store could have been there 50 years ago, essentially.

There are a lot of people in Goshen who don’t think of themselves as artistic, creative or anything. But they’re allowing all of this to flourish by their support. I’m not a musician at all, but by golly I can go see my friends play. I can go see somebody from New York City playing at Ignition or down at Goshen Brewing Co. or wherever. I can support the First Fridays. If nothing else, walking into artists’ galleries and looking around and talking to them. I may or may not be able to afford anything they’re making, but it’s at least one more person in the shop. It takes everybody.