The “$2 Tour of the Village” returned Saturday, Aug. 24, on University Avenue between Calvert and Dill Streets.
Not only was admission free to this event but the first 100 people through the gates were given a $2 bill to spend on awesome $2 items from Village businesses (an Art Mart goodie bag or a $2 t-shirt from Screenbroidery, just to name a few).
This fifth-year event was hosted by the Riverside/Normal City Neighborhood Association (RNC), the Muncie Action Plan, and Ball State University’s Office of Community Engagement, with additional support from the Muncie Downtown Development Partnership and Ball Brothers Foundation.
“We wanted to create a fun festival for incoming freshmen and returning students to experience all that the Village has to offer,” said Heather Williams, Associate Director for Community Engagement at Ball State University and Program Manager for Building Better Neighborhoods, as well as MAP President. “We also hoped that Muncie residents would stop by and enjoy the $2 samples, vendors, music, and entertainment.”
More than 50 vendor and organization booths lined the street, and The Guardian Brewing Company had a tent in the middle of all the action selling their local brews. There were grassy areas with comfy seating and lawn games, a high striker, dunk tank shenanigans (for charity), mechanical bull riding, and a hot pepper-eating contest.
Two stages offered non-stop entertainment. On the West Stage, the area’s must-see bands performed – Free Joel and Jerry Barker. On the East Stage, performers included The Aerial Annex, University Singers, and the Shamaniacs Drum Troupe.
The first 300 attendees received $2 Tour Guides with Passports. Those with passports could have them stamped at certain Village businesses. Once the passports were filled, attendees were eligible to win lots of great prizes!
“The Village is a special place, a historic commercial corridor for the Riverside/Normal City neighborhood and a gathering space for students where a lot of memories are made off-campus,” Williams said. “We wanted to continue to build on and support the unique culture and character of the Village, and the $2 Tour was an opportunity to do just that!”
Faculty Mentor: Shantanu Suman
Faculty Mentor: Shantanu Suman
Social well-being and quality of life can be measured using indicators like income, housing, education, health, and the physical environment of an area. In this immersive learning Building Better Neighborhoods project, students evaluated the quality-of-life for residents in the Riverside-Normal City Neighborhood in Muncie. They assessed the living quality for each housing unit in the neighborhood, including the building’s health, physical environment, and its adjacency to community amenities and hazards. Features, such as driving and walking distance to nearest grocery stores, parks, and other amenities, were derived from existing GIS layers or extracted from high-resolution aerial photos in the GIS lab at Ball State University. Additionally, the students used smartphones equipped with thermal infrared cameras to collect information on structure heat loss, road conditions, and lawn health. The students integrated the collected data into a living quality geodatabase of Muncie neighborhoods for further analysis. 
