The executive director of the Indiana State Fair Commission will retire next year after nearly four decades with the organization, more than half of it leading the commission.
Cindy Hoye, who became executive director in 2004 after serving 16 years as the commission’s marketing director, will step down on March 31.
Hoye will leave as the longest tenured executive director in the commission’s history.
The Indiana State Fair Commission is conducting a search and accepting applications for Hoye’s successor. The commission said Hoye will help during the transition.
“With the state fair’s roots deeply planted in its mission, this place will always hold a special significance for me and most importantly for Hoosiers across the state,” Hoye said in a statement. “As I transition from this role, I leave with full confidence that the future is bright. The fairgrounds are in capable hands, guided by a clear and strategic roadmap for continued success.”
Hoye oversaw more than $250 million in improvements to the fairgrounds and facilities, including the $63 million renovation of what’s now called the Corteva Coliseum and construction of the $50 million Indiana Farm Bureau Fall Creek Pavilion, which is the swine barn during the fair and hosts track and field and other events during other parts of the year.
But Hoye was also at the helm during one of the fairgrounds’ biggest tragedies—the 2012 collapse of a stage in front of the Hoosier Lottery Grandstand just as a Sugarland concert was set to begin. The incident, which occurred during a storm, killed seven people and injured 58.
At the time, fair officials said Hoye had decided to evacuate the crowd of 11,000 but the storm hit before that could be done. Critics questioned whether she acted quickly enough.
Andre Lacy, then the commission’s chair, said in 2012 that Hoye had offered to resign but he asked her to stay. “Hindsight is an incredible teacher,” Hoye said then. “And that’s all we have right now.”
On Thursday, Gov. Mike Braun said Hoye’s “remarkable tenure has elevated the Indiana State Fair Commission to unprecedented growth.”
“Her unwavering commitment to the state of Indiana, to her staff and to leaving the fair and fairgrounds better than she found it, has set a standard of excellence that will continue to guide us for years to come,” he said in a statement.
The commission oversees a 250-acre year-round campus that hosts 400 events annually and reports a $330 million annual economic impact.
Hoye, an Indianapolis native, grew up 10 minutes from the fairgrounds and was a member of 4-H, a youth development program whose members exhibit animals and projects at county and state fairs. She joined the Indiana State Fair Commission as marketing director in 1988 and became executive director in 2004.
She served as chair of the board of the International Association of Fairs & Exhibitions in 2010 and was inducted into the International Association of Fairs & Expositions Hall of Fame.