New businesses, galleries and anniversaries on Broadway in Downtown Fort Wayne

If you’re looking for what’s new and next in Downtown Fort Wayne, Broadway is the place to be. 

This Friday, May 2, marks the third anniversary of the Ruth Koomler Art Gallery, the first anniversaries of Gallery 02 and Kreative Framing, as well as the grand opening of the new Mae Z Husman art gallery and grand reopening of Sassy Cakes bakery – all within a few blocks of each other.

If that’s not enough, you might also check out the recently opened bar and restaurant, The Abstract, in the former Phoenix on Broadway, or the popular Good Bread for All bakery in the Canton Laundry building, which sells out of its vegan, gluten-free and Parisian-style bread and pastries many weekends.

But it’s not mere serendipity attracting artists and creatives to Broadway; instead, it’s the result of careful planning and investment by a handful of community-minded small business owners there, working overtime behind the scenes. 

They call themselves the Broadway Arts District, and they’re made up of about 16 members, though there’s not any one technical leader, according to member Ruth Koomler of the Ruth Koomler Gallery. Local artists, like Terry Ratliff, and venues, like the Brass Rail, have long made Broadway a cultural destination Downtown, but in 2022, Koomler opened the first gallery on Broadway to host regular public hours, and she helped more galleries and arts-related businesses open nearby. As they started hosting events, they decided to collaborate, cross-promote and brand themselves as a creative destination.

“We all work together really well,” says Koomler.

While Broadway’s small business owners have long hosted the biannual Art on Broadway events and the annual Broadway Street Stroll, last summer, they decided to start doing monthly First Fridays events from 5-8 p.m., too. And what they found is: When they work together and host events at the same time, the community shows up to make a night of it.

“The support we have gotten from Fort Wayne is just incredible,” Koomler says. “I think people are so happy to have these First Friday events with so many different places to visit offering food, drinks, live music and art. The energy is very good.”

This Friday, Koomler’s gallery is celebrating its anniversary by paying tribute to the value of collaboration in its one-of-a-kind exhibition, “Together Again,” where any two Fort Wayne artists can contribute a shared piece to the show.

“I’m shocked how cool some of these pieces are,” Koomler says. “We’ll have everything from painting to pottery and painted furniture.”

We spoke with a few new Broadway business owners to visit on First Fridays, too.

Good Bread for All

• Who’s behind it? Artist and baker Sarah Thompson.
• You might know: Thompson from the Forward Indiana Food Pantries, her pottery Sarahmics and her former small businesses Qué Será, Sarah Bakery and Bloomin BREWtique in Ossian. 
• How did it start? Thompson started Good Bread as a mutual aid project during the pandemic, seeking to make artisan bread more accessible. Since then, she’s grown it into a full-fledged business at local farmers markets and refined her recipes for Parisian pastries, inspired by her wife who is gluten-free and friends who are vegan. She opened her own storefront in the Canton Laundry building on March 30 at 1016 Broadway.
• How’s it going so far? Many weekends so far, Good Bread has a line out the door on Broadway, and Thompson says she’s sold out of her artisan bread loaves within the first hour. 
• Most popular menu items: Gluten-free artisan bread and cinnamon rolls.
• Thompson’s favorite menu items: “The bread is where my heart’s at, and we offer flavored loaves, like jalapeno cheddar and oatbread,” Thompson says. “We also have great sweet and savory focaccia. Another one of my favorite things right now are the curry tarts, made with fresh ginger, lime, chickpeas and an onion and pepper curry filling made with coconut milk that’s creamy, zesty and not too spicy.”
• Fun fact: Good Bread also has a barista on staff who made six in-house syrups for hot or iced espresso drinks. They have cold-bottled options, including a non-alocholic rose, too.
• Why Broadway? Thompson found the space through fellow artist Julie Wall of The HEDGE Creative House, who was looking to lease the building, and the timing was right. “Broadway feels energetic, like there’s always something happening here,” Thompson says. “I attribute that to the longtime business owners here, like Julie and Taber Olinger (of Fancy & Staple and Hopscotch House), who have been putting in time and effort for a while now. The results of their effort are paying off.”
• At First Fridays on May 2: Stop in to check out the cool, historic space, and try Thompson’s mini pizzas, made special for the event.
• Regular hours: Fridays-Sundays 9 a.m.-2 p.m. and First Fridays, 5-9 p.m.

The Abstract & The Mae Z Husman Gallery

• You might know: the building as the former Astra Lounge and Phoenix on Broadway.
• Who’s behind it now? Snider High School grad Kyle Dager and his team, including Chef Jocelyn Osteen, Bartender Eliza Dennis and Creative Director Maisie Husman.
• How did it start? Dager has a background in events management and says hosting public events is one of the main reasons he wanted to open The Abstract. “We’re going to have really good food and drinks, but our focus is going to be events, like trivia nights, live music and even a lecture series, like you might experience in New York or Chicago,” he says. “We’ll have professors who are experts in a variety of fields coming in to lecture, so you can come for an hour, grab a drink, and learn something.”
• Fun fact: Creative Director and artist Husman went to school with Dager, and they recently reconnected over a mutual appreciation for her alternative, mixed-media and abstract art. (Hence, the name The Abstract.) She’ll be curating the bar/restaurant, as well as her own gallery next door, the Mae Z Husman Gallery.
• Why Broadway? Dager says the arts and events focus of the street made him interested in the area. As an artist of about five years now, Husman says she never imagined being able to open a gallery Downtown “on Broadway near some of best artists in the city,” but the area’s growth and the efforts of other Broadway business owners have made it possible. “Fort Wayne’s art scene really is thriving and special,” she says. “It’s artists who have invested and built this Broadway Art District who have created a lot of opportunities for artists, like me.”
• On the menu: Dager describes The Abstract’s food as “upscale American” and recommends the fried avocado appetizer made with spicy aioli and pickled red onions. Chef Osteen is a recent transplant from Texas who recommends her Farmhouse Burger with purple aioli and egg, as well as her made-from-scratch desserts, like Bourbon Pecan Pie.
• To drink: Bartender Dennis recommends the Smoked Apple Reserve made with locally distilled cinnamon whiskey, apple puree, apple juice and vanilla. Dager says his team wanted to go more experiential with their cocktails, including The Phoenix, an ode to the former restaurant, which comes with a flaming sugar cube. They also offer TikTok-inspired cocktail pods served on a spoon.
• At First Fridays on May 2: check out Husman’s new art gallery, which opens for the first time 5-8 p.m.
• Regular hours: for The Abstract are Tuesdays-Thursdays and Sundays noon-midnight and Fridays-Saturdays noon-2 a.m.