Marysville alum finds success 'underground'

Walker Evans wants to take people "underground."

Evans, who grew up in Marysville, is the founder and operator of ColumbusUnderground.com an online resource focusing on news, opinions, reviews and other topics for central Ohioans.

The site is visited more than 10,000 times a day.

"It's a community-driven Web site, so anybody can get on there, set up an account and throw in their two cents," Evans said.

The site began in November 2001 as a hobby for Evans. He said it originally was a resource for people to discover what kind of shows were going on in Columbus, including where local bands and DJs were playing.  Evans said it evolved slowly over time to include more local news, restaurant reviews and other subjects.

In 2005, Evans decided to set it up as a business and began receiving advertising revenue. To make sure opinions stayed honest, Evans told his advertisers they would get honest feedback, even if that meant bad reviews.

"They seemed to love it," Evans said.

Last July, Evans turned the site into a full-time job, but still accepts freelance work, including Web design, graphic design and video editing.
Evans grew up in Marysville and was born in Terre Haute, Ind.

His father, Richard, works for NKC of America, a contracting company that installs conveyer systems in auto plants. The job caused the family to move around the country, including California and Tennessee.

When Evans was about 5, the family settled in Marysville as his father began working at Honda. He graduated from Marysville High School in 1998.

After Evans graduated, his family moved to Alabama. Evans, however, moved to Columbus to attend Ohio State University. It was there he met Anne Burkhart, who would become Anne Evans, his wife, five years later.

He dropped out of OSU because he didn't like the computer sciences program he was studying. He took a year off before discovering a multimedia program at Columbus State and received his associate's degree in interactive multimedia technology in 2003.  He started at Franklin University to pursue a digital communications degree, but left as Columbus Underground began to take off.

Evans and his wife live in the King Lincoln District, on the east side of Columbus, with their 1-year-old son, Desmond.

Evans doesn't spend all of his time in online communities; he's also focused on the real-world community around him. He has become involved in a variety of civic activities, including the North Market Development Authority Board of Trustees, where he assists with new marketing angles that use online technology to reach out to people.

He also serves on the Create Columbus Commission, which works with Mayor Michael Coleman and the Columbus Chamber of Commerce. Evans said the commission shares ideas for youth-oriented initiatives. If that wasn't enough, he works with the Columbus Metropolitan Club, which holds weekly forums to get people to discuss various issues. 

Evans encourages Columbus Underground users to move beyond the Web and into the real world. 

"It's great that it's become this really strong online community, but there are also some off-line components as well," Evans said.
Those components include a monthly happy hour, during which users meet in person and trade their real names instead of screen names.  The community also participates in volunteer events, including bicycle path cleanups and civic involvement.

"We've been encouraging people to go to city council meetings when there are issues that come up that people are really vocal about online. We're trying to push them into the traditional channels of getting out and speaking up and making a difference and getting people involved," Evans said.

He said his wife helps him with some of the site's administrative duties. "I'd like for it to become full-time for both of us," he said.

And Evans hasn't forgotten his hometown friends in Marysville.

"I find myself there a couple times a year still," he said.