Region Comes Together to Celebrate the 219

Northwest Indiana celebrated the Region’s official “219 Day” holiday on Friday night at the Hammond Civic Center where hundreds of Region Rats gathered to enjoy a night honoring everything that our corner of the state represents.

Hammond Mayor Thomas M. McDermott Jr. kicked things off at City Hall at 2:19pm with the declaration proclaiming the holiday followed by an historic ‘Region Rave’ like no other from 5pm-10pm. The party featured live music and comedy, craft brews, bean bag tournament, and food from around the Region.

Click here to see all the photos from the 219 Day Festival!

“It started last year with this proclamation and it went viral!,” said Mayor McDermott, who was decked out in his Region-inspired sleeveless shirt, top hat, fake tattoos. “We said, ‘Wow! I think we’ve got something here.’ The Region’s dying for something like this. We did it last year and things went really well and we thought we’ve got to remember that next year we’re doing this again and here we are.”

“A lot of people worked very hard to get to where we are,” McDermott said. “I just want to say thank you to everyone who’s helped put this event on. It’s been a great party!”

Hammond’s Special Event Coordinator, Donna Muta, spoke where the idea for “219 Day” came from and making this extraordinary event happen.

“The idea was born by Corporate Council member Kristina Kantar,” said Muta. “Kristina’s really smart and funny so she wrote up this mock “219 Day Proclamation” and it was so funny we decided to put it online. The Mayor tweeted it from his Twitter account then a group of people who do ‘Region Rat Rants’ ran with it and it got shared and was trending. It was ridiculous! The Mayor called me as soon as I came back to Special Events in January and said, ‘We’ve got to do this 219 thing. I think people are into this and this is something we need to put together."

“We’re gonna own it, we’re going to embrace the ‘Rat’, we’re going to love the Region and we’ve got to turn the negative into a positive and celebrate the Region,” said Muta. “That’s what we’re trying to do here and we hope it takes off. We wanted to do it in the icon, the Hammond Civic Center, but we’re hoping other communities jump in. We have other Mayors with us today and a lot of people from all over the place are helping to make this great. I had a team of about 20 people and without them this would’ve never gotten done. A lot of us worked very hard and we’re proud of it. We just people to come have fun and celebrate the Region.”

Around twenty vendors packed the Civic Center as the City of Hammond encouraged Region Rats to eat, drink and be merry with beer brewed in the 219. Along with great food and drinks, the ‘219 Day’ celebration showcased Region businesses as well as the arts.

“We asked if we could be part of it and they were all for it and encouraged us to come to the event,” said Joyce Prue from White Ripple Gallery in Hammond. “We really wanted to be part of this celebration and it’s a really fun way to celebrate the Region. We’re all super talented in Hammond and I thought it would be a great way to celebrate all of our diverse talents and help support the community.”

Photos by Andrew Rowe and Christi Bushby.