Bait shop bids farewell

Barbara Hoffman plans to close her bait shop along Fall Creek Parkway after 42 years in business. She has agreed to sell the property to the Indianapolis Department of Waterworks. The shop, known as Fall Creek Bait & Tackle, will be torn down to make way for a new dam. The last day will be sometime in the middle of May. Hoffman and her husband built the store on a narrow strip of land between the creek and Fall Creek Parkway near the Indiana State Fairgrounds after the old Schofield Mill burned in 1967. Her husband died of lymphoma 22 years ago, and her son was killed in a car wreck a few weeks later. She’ll be 75 this year. Hoffman says business has always been good for the shop. “But things change,” she said. “People grow old.” She plans to retire to Brown County.