The announcement was made official in early November, but there were strong indications earlier in 2017 that the Fishers Freedom Festival was not likely to continue as it had since 1989.  Here is a brief look at what happened and what may be coming this summer.

The Fishers Freedom Festival has been run by a separate nonprofit organization since its inception in 1989.  The festival always relied on local government support, in the form of both cash and in-kind (police, fire, parks, public works, etc.).  In recent years, the festival organization received roughly $85,000 a year in direct cash from the city and about $45,000 annually for in-kind support.

In a podcast interview with me recorded November 9th, City Councilman Brad DeReamer said he was the one questioning the amount of support the city was providing the nonprofit Freedom Festival group.  It was DeReamer’s idea, he told me, to form a nonprofit committee within the city council to look at all nonprofit organizations seeking city support.

The council committee considered all requests, including one from the Fishers Freedom Festival Board, and in late August announced its decision to no longer fund the Freedom Festival.

The Freedom Festival Board took a few weeks to ponder whether it could support a 2018 festival without city support.  In early November, the board announced the nonprofit would not be able to stage a 2018 festival without the city’s cash & in-kind support.

The city had said as early as late August that if the Freedom Festival organization chose not to continue, the city would pick up the slack.  That commitment was reinforced last November, but how the city would go about organizing the summer festival was still an open question.

We now know more about that.  Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness, along with Deputy Mayor Leah McGrath, decided to bring in a wide group of people for ideas on the new festival. The event has a new name – “Spark!Fishers.”

The planning for this year’s summer festival consists of seven separate committees and over 80 people.  We know a few details.  There will be a Friday night concert at the newly-remodeled Amphitheater in the Nickel Plate District featuring an act with a national reputation.  There will be a parade, fireworks and a street fair.  The celebration will happen on a Friday and Saturday, as opposed to the Saturday-Sunday festival schedule in years past.

There are four honorary co-chairs for Spark!Fishers, containing a list of the movers & shakers for the city.  They are: Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness, Conner Prairie CEO Norman Burns, HSE Schools Superintendent Allen Bourff and recently-retired HSE SPORTS Executive Director Lynda Carlino.

When I interviewed Fishers Freedom Festival Board President Don Dragoo the day after the board announced it would not stage a 2018 Freedom Festival, he wished the city well in continuing the traditions set by the Freedom Festival, but questioned whether the city would be making a good financial deal.

“I get a little confused by the fact that this is probably going to cost the city more money to continue than what they would have donated to us for putting it on with our volunteers,” Dragoo told me on November 9th.

That is something we obviously do not know at this point.  However, I am told that the seven committees of the 2018 Spark!Fishers Festival are working on commercial sponsorship and their goal is to minimize any costs to the city.  Whether that goal is achieved will not be known until we are much closer to the time of the festival itself.

I have written many times of my fondness for the Fishers Freedom Festival and its history.  I moved to Fishers with my wife Jane in 1991, so I was here for the third festival and have visited nearly every one since.  I have vivid memories of taking my young daughters (now adults) to the festival each year.  Our first home was in the  Sunblest neighborhood and the festival was a nice walk from our house.

I understand the need for preserving the past, but it is also valuable to move with the times and change things up a bit.  I am looking forward to the Spark!Fishers 2018 summer festival June 29th and 30th.  I won’t make the festivities June 29th, I will be walking one of my daughters down the aisle on her wedding day, but I just might see you Saturday, June 29th.

Let’s thank the Fishers Freedom Festival for a job well done for more than 28 years.  At the same time, let’s wish the city well with its Spark!Fishers Festival this year.