WRITTEN BY CHERYL WELLS
In February 2024 we had our official opening of our Garage at 800 Event Space in Le Mars. It was wonderful and we had a packed house as people came out to see what was being built at 800 Prospect Street. It’s a funny story that started with me in 2020 and someone in Le Mars came up to me and asked me what we were building on Prospect. I didn’t know how to answer them because I didn’t know what the answer was, and I didn’t want to make Mike look bad! The person said that it looked like Noah’s Ark, and I knew that we had a lot of big sheds on the Red Shed property, but obviously this one must be much bigger.
It was a busy time for both of us because with Covid there were a lot of things going on at Wells and even though my business closed down for a bit, we started making masks for the employees at Wells because you couldn’t even buy them for a long time. I found out what was being built and Mike invited me into the process and we both began to dream about what it could be.
We began the journey that led to a car museum becoming a venue with a catering kitchen and all that was needed to be able to handle about 250 people. As we began to talk and pray about what this could be used for in our little community, we both landed in the same place. The Garage At 800 is a perfect spot for events to support non-profits, which is a perfect fit for what we have been doing through the last 40 years through Side by Side Foundation. It’s just another addition to our expanded view of our repurposed lives, now that we have sold the family business and get to be very intentional about what we do and why we do it. We of course use it for our own personal things, as well as we have about 2-3 times a year that non-profits can schedule their events with us where we encourage them to set the ticket price higher than they have because of the unique space that not just anyone can get into, and we don’t charge them for the event space. Most of them have had auctions and have been able to get sponsors to cover the food also, so it has been very profitable for them. We handle the beverages, and it is the only way that we monetize each event.
After our first full year of doing this, we have learned a few things, which is what happens naturally. Each time we took away things that we could do differently and make it better. But each one has been a success. The Le Mars Arts Center just had their second annual gala fundraiser and it was again at the Garage. Draven Haefs is the Executive Director of the Le Mars Arts Center, and he led the event on Friday, May 2nd. Draven had the idea to invite Champian Fulton to come back home to Le Mars where she lived as a young girl where her father worked at Westmar College with the Clark Terry School of Jazz Institute. Champian is a world-renowned pianist and soloist that lives in New York City and travels all over the world performing. The event was a huge success in many ways. It was a great fundraiser for the Arts Center, and everyone absolutely loved listening to Champian and her band. I found this on You Tube from Turtle Bay Records post about one of her songs “Every Now and Then” and they said that she is celebrated as one of the finest piano-playing singers in jazz today. I was able to interview her and wanted to share that with you too.
Champian is the only child of Stephen and Susan Fulton, and she shared many things with me about her formative years in Le Mars and also about her first visit back to Le Mars since 1997 when she was 12 years old. She said that being back in Le Mars for this event was very magical for her and that stepping back into the place where she really started playing piano at the age of 12 was deeply meaningful to her and what she does now. “I fondly remember Le Mars at age 8 to 12 and what happened there formed me. My time back there was like walking through old memories of riding my bike around town and just feeling so safe.” Her short time here was chronicled by a walking path doing the things that she loved to do when she lived here years ago. They lived first in a basement apartment in Cliff’s Hardware Store and then moved to a house on Greenwood Avenue, and she went to Franklin Grade School. Her father was a jazz musician and taught at Westmar College and from the time that she was very young began to play and sing. Actually, she started playing and making money doing it at age 12 and her first performance, first gig, was when she lived here. This was then what took her away from Le Mars when her parents moved to Oklahoma City and her gigs went from 1-2 times a week to 3-4 a week for many years. Her mom told her that she had to go to college, and she then moved to New York which is the home of jazz in the whole world.
In the fall of 2003, she started college at SUNY at Purchase, NY, which is just north of New York City. She finished in the fall of 2006 one year early with a degree in Jazz Piano Performance and immediately moved to Manhattan and started to work. Champian’s first recording was in 2007, and she has done one every year since then and has 19 total now. She did her first tour in Europe in 2011. Her 19th recording was released on the day that she arrived in Le Mars, and it’s titled “At Home”. How fitting, really.
Champian shared about the things that she did while in Le Mars and really felt welcomed and at home here. She walked around town doing things that were important to her with her two Japanese band members, and they loved it too. They had breakfast every morning at Lally’s, which was where she used to go with her father. She loved walking downtown from where they stayed at the old Wash House to see all the new businesses and ended up at Foster Park where she had played several times as a child. Her father told her she had to eat at Archie’s and so they went and were in the parking lot at 5PM when they opened, where she joined the long line that had started to form. The food was amazing, of course she had a steak. She had a Mother’s Day card for her mom and mailed it from the Le Mars Post Office, which was all planned ahead of time. Her band members went to the parlor, but she was doing some work during that time, and she will come back and have ice cream then! She said her accommodations were wonderful and her space at the Wash House was bigger than her apartment in New York City.
What a beautiful and enjoyable event for the Le Mars Arts Center this was, and I spoke with Draven about how it went overall. This was another time that the Le Mars community was invited into something that would be an opportunity to support the arts and experience the arts and both things happened. A huge thanks to Champian and to those that attended and gave generously both by their attendance and their giving to the auctions, both silent and live auctions went well. Thanks to Bruce Brock Auction Company and all those who donated to the auction, as well as the event sponsors.
Champian wants to regularly come back and see the community as it continues to grow and we are working on another date for next year, so stay tuned. What a beautiful person that she is, and I was so impressed by her humility and commitment to use her gifts and talents for the enjoyment of others, as well as how she honors others. Her next trip she is hoping to be able to bring her parents back home. We look forward to their return!
