Huntingburg group turning Fourth Street into a WiFi hotspot

Two Huntingburg business owners will be making an announcement tonight at the Huntingburg Common Council meeting thanking the City of Huntingburg, the Huntingburg Foundation, the Huntingburg Chamber, and many community volunteers who came together for the completion of an innovative project in time of the Christmas Stroll. All of these individuals made it possible to turn the iconic two blocks of Huntingburg’s Fourth Street into a giant WiFi hot spot.

“These are the three busiest days of the year on Fourth Street – there is no better time to reach out to visitors.” Jeremy Damon the owner of Game Knight explained. “Thousands of people will come for the Christmas Stroll and leave talking about what kind of city it takes to turn two full blocks into a hotspot.  We are trying to make an impression.”

This isn’t a new idea, Ferdinand has provided WiFi access to its entire park system, but what has stopped the plan in Huntingburg in the past has been the high cost of installation and implementation, but a few individuals found members of Huntingburg that would come forward to make the “Huntingburg Hotspot” happen.

David Smith is the owner of The Computer Whisperer, a computer repair business. He revisited the idea with Jeremy Damon and together a plan through shared resources began to develop. Smith tapped into his network of fellow technicians to lay the groundwork and Damon developed a marketing plan to pay for the service.

Fellow business owners were contacted to build a fund to cover the cost of the infrastructure. After ensuring the service could be paid for they contacted the Chamber of Commerce to approach the city with the idea of the “Huntingburg Hotspot”. Huntingburg Chamber Executive Director Nick Stevens and Damon approached Mayor Belcher, who was initially hesitant at the proposal but warmed to it after further investigation into its potential.

“I think it is going to put us on the hotspot with the younger generation.” Mayor Belcher said. “I was hesitant but Janet (Kemp) saw the potential immediately and pushed for it. The future of this is huge and we would love to see it expand to the Teen Outback.”

A friend of Smith’s, Jim Gatwood, is a Huntingburg resident with 20 years of experience working with internet systems and manages internet servers for a software company in Bloomington. Smith consulted with him about the project and Gatwood volunteered his time to plan and install the network.

Smith donated a server for the project and a local computer programming group, Dubois County Linux Group, volunteered to assist in building the framework for the service. Linux is a leading server operating system and runs the 10 fastest supercomputers in the world.

The equipment arrived yesterday and last night the fruits of all of the efforts of these volunteers came to a preliminary fruition as the first tests began at the Computer Whisperer’s building. The WiFi will now be installed through five “nodes” located in Fourth Street businesses.

The equipment that creates these nodes adheres to the windows of the volunteer businesses and will potentially allow 50 users to log on and watch a streaming video with no lag in the signal.  Five such overlapping nodes will be created with the strongest signal being on the sidewalks and streets of the district accommodating 250 devices.

Additionally the site will be used as a platform for more projects, but initially it will serve as a way to enliven the area. Imaginative business owners are planning events around the new access point with ideas like scavenger hunts visitors can participate in during any of the many events that occur on Fourth Street. Special messages for visitors when they log onto the site to use the service could also promote other area attractions and provide information about the town.

To continue to expand the project and seek its full potential the Huntingburg Foundation awarded an initial grant of $5000 to build upon the new brand to promote the commercial, cultural, and historical significance of Huntingburg.