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Gail Smith named Citizen of the Year
Tired at the end of an emotional evening on Saturday, Gail Smith found herself in a familiar position, recapping the day’s events with son Brian Carrington.
On this particular night, though, the Smith/Carrington clan did not find itself tearing down stages, barricades and tents, trying to return Courthouse Square to normal following another successful event.
Instead Smith, for 33 years the owner and operator of downtown Greencastle eatery Almost Home, had been named the 2022 Putnam County Citizen of the Year during the annual Putnam County Chamber Dinner.
The two were sitting at a table at the back of The Inn at DePauw social center, greeting frequent well wishers and reminiscing.
That’s when Brian, long his mom’s right hand man for big events, offered a familiar joke.
“With this award, we can just call it quits for all of this, right?” Carrington said with a smile.
The usual venue for this joke is at 2 a.m. on a Sunday following the two sultry nights of the annual Greencastle Music Fest, a brainchild of Smith’s that will return for its 13th run this August.
“The next day I usually come to my senses and decide it was a pretty good time,” Carrington said.
It’s just the kind of event that has grown Smith’s reputation grow beyond broccoli cheese soup and strawberry pizza to local leader who has helped spearhead the revitalization of downtown Greencastle over the last decade-plus.
Besides Music Fest, there’s First Friday, the planning of which is now handled by Main Street Greencastle, but not without Smith’s original leadership and ongoing participation. There is also the Sham Rock 5K, which Smith uses to raise funds for Music Fest each March.
They are events that have certainly made money for Almost Home, but also for other downtown restaurants and shops.
“I love to make people happy. I love to give back,” Smith said in accepting the award. “I love to bring people downtown because it puts money in all of our pockets.”
When this comment was greeted with laughter, Smith countered, “Well, it does.”
Completely surprised by the award, though, none of Smith’s comments came before she took a moment to object. Clearly emotional when she was called to the front of the room, Smith took a few moments to gather her thoughts.
“I don’t feel like I deserve this,” she said.
As Chamber board member Amy Trusty used descriptors like “driven, enthusiastic, creative, energetic and the life of the party,” Smith was looking around the room for someone else.
“I was thinking about someone like Jinsie (Bingham), who’s done so much,” Smith told the Banner Graphic. “Then they said ‘First Friday,’ and I started shaking.”
Trusty’s words rung true as she called Smith, “someone who has demonstrated, over a significant period of time, dedication to the community, always going above and beyond to lend a helping hand.”
Bingham, it should be noted, had been honored earlier in the evening for attending her 53rd consecutive Chamber dinner. Additionally, Bingham was named Citizen of the Year back in 1997.
Contrary to Smith’s thinking, a number of others in the room were not surprised at all, unless it was that she had not won previously. In fact, City Councilor Stacie Langdon expressed this when she congratulated Smith later in the evening.
“Long overdue,” Langdon said as she hugged Smith.
Likewise, Councilman Dave Murray had congratulated Smith earlier, noting the events of which she has been a part.
“I said, ‘Dave, I don’t really think of it that way,’” Smith said. “Then he started listing things, and I said, ‘I really do a lot of events.’”
Smith has also touched a lot of lives, giving a number of young people their start in the working world. Smith said one person who congratulated her was a former employee from more than 20 years ago. When the young woman worked for her, she was still single with no kids. Now she has children in college.
Smith has, in fact, been honored by the Chamber in the past, with Almost Home winning Business of the Year in 2015. Even recalling that evening Smith said, “That was a surprise.”
Perhaps Smith was surprised, but it seems the surprise to everyone else will be the day that she stops working to make Greencastle a better place to live and work.
Winners of Putnam County Citizen of the Year include: Hazel Day Longden, the inaugural recipient in 1982; Hubert Clodfelter, 1983; Howard Williams, 1984; Bessie Rector, 1985; Mace Aker, 1986; Bobby G. Albright, 1987; Gerald E. Warren, 1988; David Barr, 1989; Jim Harris, 1990; Dr. James Johnson, 1991; Charles Chandler, 1992; Bob Evans, 1993; Julia “Judy” Johnson, 1994; Jerald D. Calbert, 1995; Harold Spicer, 1996; Jinsie Bingham, 1997; Dave Young, 1998; Barbara Lane, 1999; Ellen Sedlack, 2000; the trio of Lynn Wilson, Denise Sigworth and Rachel Seipel in 2001; Mike Rokicki, 2002; Joy Marley, 2003; Charles Miles, 2004; Judge Sally Gray, 2005; Dr. Donald “Doc” Brattain, 2006; Charles “Chuck” Schroeder, 2007; Lynn Bohmer, 2008; Ken Heeke, 2009; Becky Brothers, 2010; Judge Diana LaViolette, 2011; Judy Miller, 2012; Dr. Perry Wainman, 2013; Emily Knuth and Suzanne Masten, 2014; Sue Murray, 2015; Eric Bernsee, 2016; Ginger Scott, 2017; Ken Eitel, 2018; Laurie Hardwick, 2019; the citizens of Putnam County, 2020; Karl Turk, 2021; Gail Smith, 2022.