The annual Spark!Fishers festival is bringing back all the popular activities and adding some new ones, including the first Start the Spark! Rotary charity golf outing; a drone show and fireworks; an expanded Car and Art Show; and a new 1-mile race route to include people with mobility limitations.
Marissa Deckert is director of Fishers Parks. She said the Start the Spark! Rotary event has been an annual fundraiser for the past few years, but wasn’t part of the Spark!Fishers festival until this year.
“It’s a fun, fun event that Fishers Parks is now going to jump on and help throw a little party,” she said.
The golf outing at the Hawthorns Golf and Country Club starts at 9 a.m. June 24, the first day of the weeklong festival, and runs through 3:30 p.m. The event supports Project Hope, a collaboration between Community Health Network and the Hamilton Southeastern Education Foundation. Proceeds allow uninsured students to receive school-based mental health counseling.
Registration is required to participate. For more, visit fishersrotarygolf.perfectgolfevent.com.
CONCERTS
The City of Fishers brings in musicians every summer, with free concerts on Tuesdays at the Nickel Plate District Amphitheater. The 2024 Spark!Fishers festival will include two free concerts, with the first featuring Uptown Funk, starting at 8 p.m. June 25.
“(It) is a band that we’ve had in past years and draws a really large crowd,” Deckert said. “It’s a really fun, high-energy group. We’re going to be doing a meet and greet with them after the show on Tuesday night and then we’re going to follow that concert with a drone show.”
The city hosted its debut drone show during the 2023 Spark!Fishers festival, and Deckert said it was the first of its kind in central Indiana.
“You’ll see some fun patriotic images, as well as some notable local logos that we’re really excited to showcase,” she said of this year’s show.
The second free concert will take place on the Friday of the festival, June 28, featuring Red, a Taylor Swift tribute band.
“We had a different Taylor Swift tribute band last year and drew a huge crowd,” Deckert said, “So, we’re just adding on to that. If you can’t afford tickets or didn’t get in the lottery to go see her this fall, then this is the next best thing. We’re tapping into the Swifty spirit.”
The concert will include special photo opportunities and bracelet making, “which I learned last year is a huge part of that kind of Swifty culture,” Deckert said.
That concert also starts at 8 p.m., with fireworks following at 10 p.m.
No tickets are required for either concert. Audience members can bring lawn chairs and blankets. Food and drink trucks will be on site.
FUN RUN AND WALK
Spark!Fishers has included a 5K race for many years and that will return June 26, with the race starting at 7 p.m.
This year, though, a new 1-mile option starting at 6:15 p.m. has been added.
“That’s a walk/run for all abilities,” Deckert said. “I am incredibly excited about this. This came from a discussion during March Disability (Awareness) Month. The mayor runs the event called My Point of View Day, where we bring in business owners and city staff and those with disabilities and we just have a really good conversation about where we are and where we can go in this community. One of the things that came out of that discussion was, a resident came to me and said, ‘I used to be a runner and I suffered a stroke. I’m no longer able to run, but I’m a young father. I want to participate in these things with my kids, but I can’t do a 5K.’”
Deckert said the city worked with that resident and others to determine what a good distance would be to include people with mobility limitations.
“One of the most important things we can do is listen to our community and we value that feedback,” she said. “It gives us the ability to make these strides in the areas of accessibility with that knowledge.”
Registration information for the 1-mile and 5K is available at playfishers.com/621/SparkFishers.
CAR AND ART SHOW
Vintage cars are works of art, so the combination of classic vehicles and local artists works well. The annual Spark!Fishers Car and Art Show will be 6 to 9 p.m. June 27, the Thursday of the festival, on the grounds surrounding the brand-new Fishers Arts and Municipal Center.
Deckert said the event has grown each year and this year will include the front and back of the center — with the open breezeway allowing easy movement in between — as well as inside, where the Indianapolis Art Center will offer make-and-take activities.
The Fishers Arts Council has coordinated the art show portion of the event since 2021. FAC Executive Director Les Reinhardt said the layout for this year’s event will be different.
“In previous years, the cars have surrounded the art booths,” she said. “This year, because the building is complete, the cars are going to be down on Municipal Drive, like they usually are, down by 116th and heading up toward the building. Then, all of the art vendors are moving just north of the Municipal Center.”
The art show also will have live music and food vendors, craft booths and other activities.
STREET FESTIVAL AND PARADE
The last day of Spark!Fishers will be June 29, a Saturday. Deckert said because the drone show and fireworks are on different days this year, the street festival will run a little later in the day, from 2-9 p.m.
“It’s a long day when you have little ones, to be here early in the day in the festivities, stay for the parade and the potential to stay for fireworks — it’s kind of tough and so we decided to shorten that a little bit,” she said, adding that the weekly farmers market will not take place that day, allowing more time for festival vendors to set up. “We’ll have multiple stages with local live music and entertainment, a variety of different food and drink (vendors), we have over 40 local artists and artisans that will be participating, we have our kids area and our teen zone that is led by 317 Dance Academy” and — new this year — a roller skating rink.
Deckert said many of the kids activities do require wristbands — available through the department’s website, playfishers.com — but wristbands are free this year.
The festival will bring back the sensory tent — a quiet space for anyone overwhelmed by noise and crowds to take a break — and sensory bags for festival participants to check out. The bags contain noise-canceling headphones, weighted lap pads, communication cards and fidget tools.
The parade takes place during the street festival, kicking off at 6 p.m. and running down 116th Street to Holland Drive and ending at Holland Park.
For more, visit playfishers.com/621/SparkFishers.
Fishers Creative Council Showcase
While not an official part of the Spark!Fishers lineup, the Fishers Arts Council is hosting a special event that coincides with the June 29 street festival.
The Creative Council Showcase is 2 to 9 p.m. at the new Fishers Arts and Municipal Center at 1 Municipal Dr.
The event will feature performances from The Prism Project, Lantern Islamic Theater Company, Roots School of Theater, Ji-Eun Lee Music Academy, Fishers Community Chorus, Conner Prairie, Fishers Music & Art Academy, Hyperion Players and Back 2 Rock Fishers.
