Indiana State Fairgrounds working to become year-round destination
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowFor a few weeks each year, hundreds of thousands of people enjoy elephant ears, learn about livestock and view 4-H projects at the Indiana State Fair.
But the 250-acre Indiana State Fairgrounds property is becoming a year-round destination for competitions, entertainment and showcases.
That includes this weekend’s NCAA Division II Track and Field Championship at the Fall Creek Pavilion at the fairgrounds.
“We’re hosting, on average, about 400 events a year…this is a huge economic driver for the city and the state,” said Anna Whelchel, chief marketing and sales officer for the Indiana State Fairgrounds. “This fairgrounds has the equivalency of a direct economic impact of over $330 million going back into our community and our economy.”
More than 1,000 people work at the fairgrounds annually, helping to power events like the Indianapolis Home Show and Mecum Auction.
The fairgrounds are also a host for a variety of sporting events. This week, the Horizon League Basketball Championships will tip off at Corteva Coliseum.
“When our championship was looking for a new home, we actually had seven cities bid on it, and when Cindy Hoye and her team presented to our group at the time now seven years ago, they just knocked their socks off,” Julie Roe Lach, Horizon League Commissioner, said. “We’ve just continued to build on that to where it really is now our community event.”
Forty-three NCAA postseason college basketball games are happening in Indianapolis during March Madness this year, but it’s not just basketball that’s getting the spotlight.
The Big Ten Indoor Track and Field Championship kicked off March at the Fall Creek Pavilion, and this week the NCAA Division II Track and Field Championship is happening at the fairgrounds for the first time.
“Our team is bringing this track in in December, building it, hosting events for three months, and then they’re going to come in and tear it out and store it here on the campus,” Whelchel said. “We identified a need for an indoor track in this community in this region. There’s not a lot of portable, banked indoor tracks where they come in and come out; there’s actually only one other one that we know of in Albuquerque.”
Dan Gliot, senior director of marketing and communications for Indiana Sports Corp., says the city is also hosting NCAA Division II national championships in swimming and diving, as well as wrestling.
“We have this awesome opportunity to really showcase Indianapolis as not just a sports city, but just an event city in general,” Gliot said. “I can’t imagine any other city and any other state in the country who’s able to do all this all at the same time.”
Last year’s Indiana State Fair had a total attendance of 854,236 over 15 days. More than 10,000 exhibitors and youth competitors showed or displayed nearly 50,000 animal and non-animal projects.
The World Food Championships recently announced they’re returning to the fairgrounds Oct. 16-19. The 2024 competition at the Indiana Farm Bureau Fall Creek Pavilion featured more than 300 teams, 1,200 chefs and competitors from more than 35 states and 30 participating countries.