Commentary by Larry Lannan
My first memories of the Fishers Freedom Festival take me back to the mid-1990s. My wife Jane and I had been living in our Sunblest subdivision home for a few years. We were the proud parents of infant baby girls.
I loved to walk the girls in a stroller around the neighborhood. It was most fun to walk the babies during the weekend of the Fishers Freedom Festival. The heart of the celebration was (and is) in Sunblest’s Holland Park.
I remember the first year walking the girls up the street to the festival on Saturday morning. Lots of people stopped me to ask about my twin daughters, Allison and Mary. Everyone along the way was in a festive mood.
The opening ceremonies featured the Town Council President Walt Kelly, music and patriotic observations. There was a small crowd on hand at the time.
Those are good memories. The festival has grown and become a much bigger event, just as Fishers has grown to be a much larger community.
The Fishers Freedom Festival is reaching a milestone in 2013. It’s 25 years old. There is a good reason to be proud of that.
Any festival of this magnitude takes lots of local support. The town council provides important financial and logistical support. Local business leaders provide needed support (I’m proud to say Current is one of those sponsors). But the most important support that has kept this festival going through the past 25 years comes from volunteers.
Festival volunteers come from all walks of life. They all have one thing in common – they love this festival and work hard year-round to make each event an outstanding one.
The festival itself is more than the parade, the craft booths, events and various commercial displays. The festival is all about Fishers.
People from outside Fishers are at the festival. But by and large, it’s a Fishers event. It’s the one time each year much of the Fishers community comes together.
My twin daughters are in college now. But the festival is still a part of our family.
One of my daughters visited a commercial tent a few years ago at the festival. She struck up a conversation with the manager of a local business. The manager suggested she come by for a job interview. My daughter was hired and continues to work at the business.
My congratulations to the Fishers Freedom Festival on its 25th anniversary. I can’t always promise you’ll get a new job like my daughter, but I do promise you will have a great time.