Teachers have been preparing their classrooms the past two days, and today is the day students are entering the buildings of the Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School District. This is a big day for teachers and parents. I anticipate plenty of social media posts with photos memorializing the first day of school 2024-2025.
For the public, a few important reminders. Watch for students waiting for the buses. Watch for school buses and obey the Stop sign arm when extended by a school bus driver. Observe the school zone speed limits.
Let’s wish all families with students in HSE Schools an outstanding school year!
Chroma Vibes by Tasha Beckwith, part of FLAVA FRESH 21 !
The Fishers Arts Council is set to host its first-ever Gallery Hop on Friday, August 9, from 6-8pm, as part of their regular Second Friday programming. Patrons are invited to either walk or drive the route between the two featured locations, guided by signage along the way.
The Art Gallery at City Hall, located at 1 Municipal Drive, will debut the first exhibit from Indy Latina Artists in Fishers, titled “Latina: Art & Soul”. This exhibit showcases 39 works by 10 member artists. Concurrently, the FAC Hub Gallery at the Hamilton County Community Foundation (11810 Technology Drive) will host FLAVA FRESH 21!, a contemporary fine art juried exhibition curated by D. Del Reverda-Jennings. This marks FLAVA FRESH’s return to Fishers since their last appearance in 2014.
Art enthusiasts can visit the Indy Latina Artists exhibit at City Hall and then walk across the breezeway to view “Balderdash”, artwork by Kurt Vonnegut, displayed in the Fishers Art Center gallery spaces. Both the Municipal Drive galleries and the FAC Hub Gallery will offer live music, refreshments, and opportunities to meet many of the artists. Musical acts include Scrapper & Skelton at the FAC Hub Gallery and Ezequiel Jimenez at the Art Gallery at City Hall.
Additionally, at 6:45pm, FAC board member Pat Grabill will lead a Focus on the Artist program inside the Fishers Municipal Center Theater, featuring interviews with five artist members of Indy Latina Artists. A Spanish/English interpreter will be available for these interviews.
Indy Latina Artists (ILA) was founded in 2021 by Mirvia Sol Eckert and Mary E. Mindiola to create community through art, recognize Latina contributions to the arts, and empower and promote Latina artists. “There are talented Latina artists out here in Indy, and we want to shine a light on them,” Eckert said. “Representation is absolutely key. Our Latina voices matter. I hope our audience understands that Latina artists have our own forms of expression and art styles and that we are serious in our craft.”
FLAVA FRESH is an award-winning, multi-venue, professional artist development program based in Indianapolis. Founded over 26 years ago and originally called “Celebration of Spirit”, it aims to bring awareness, appreciation, and support to visual artists through a series of professional art exhibitions open to the public. D. Del Reverda-Jennings, the program’s curator, has dedicated nearly three decades to advocating for marginalized artists and ensuring their work is publicly recognized.
Les Reinhardt, executive director of Fishers Arts Council, expressed her gratitude for the opportunity to work with Eckert and Reverda-Jennings. “Both women are leaders in championing representation, accessibility, and empowerment through the arts, and I am lucky to be able to assist them by offering welcoming spaces for their artists,” Reinhardt said.
The Gallery Hop promises a vibrant evening of art, music, and community, highlighting the diverse talents and voices of Indy Latina Artists and FLAVA FRESH.
El jaleo by Mary Mindiola, part of Latina: Art & Soul
The National Night Out is a way for local police departments to connect with the community officers serve. The Fishers Police Department held their version of that celebration Tuesday night at police headquarters and the public responded with a good crowd.
The best way to show how it all went is to provide photos I was able to take, which you will find below.
The City of Fishers has announced the headline acts for each of the two nights for the 2024 Blues Fest. The remaining acts each night will be announced at a later date.
On Saturday, August 31: Shemekia Copeland will take the stage at the Nickel Plate Amphitheater. Ms. Copeland has been a Grammy Award nominee multiple times. She hosts a daily blues radio show on SiriusXM’s Bluesville and continues to perform globally, sharing stages with legends like Bonnie Raitt and The Rolling Stones. Copeland’s latest release, “Blame It on Eve,” offers a lighter, more joyous side of her music, providing a respite from the weight of the world.
Bernard Allison is set to perform on Sunday, September 1st. He is the son of Chicago blues legend Luther Allison, and has dedicated his career to honoring his father’s musical legacy while forging his own unique path. He has grown-up immersed in blues traditions. Over the decades, Bernard has consistently included Luther’s songs in his albums and performances, ensuring the enduring presence of his father’s music. His latest release, “Luther’s Blues,” showcases 20 remastered tracks, reflecting his lifelong commitment to celebrating and reinventing Luther’s compositions for new audiences.
The 12th Annual Fishers Blues Fest is a free event. For more information, use this link.
Final steel beam is placed on the Fishers Community Center
it was a very hot, but breezy, early Tuesday afternoon as city officials gathered at the construction site of the new Fishers Community Center, near 121st Street and Hoosier Road. The final steel beam was placed on the structure and the city decided it was a moment to celebrate.
The $60 million, 105,000 square foot facility is scheduled to open in the fall of 2025. When Jake Reardon McSoley, Director of Recreation and Wellness for the city, said the project was on time and on budget, you could see a broad smile on the face of Mayor Scott Fadness.
Once opened, the Center will provide a large indoor playground, indoor track, dog park, aquatics facility with a two-story waterslide, as well as a café operated by Sahm’s Hospitality Group.
The Fishers Health Department also plans to locate their headquarters in the Community Center.
Several city officials signed the final steel beam before it was hoisted to the top of the building. The beam had an American flag attached, along with a evergreen tree. The tree is a long-standing traditional symbol in construction projects, a salute to the past.
Mayor Scott Fadness, providing remarks at the ceremony marking the final steel beam placed on the building
The Fishers Events Center has another act booked shortly after opening in November. The legendary country-rock group Alabama, along with famed performer-songwriter Lee Greenwood, are set to appear at the Center Monday, December 9.
Both Alabama and Lee Greenwood have been around popular music for a very long time. Alabama has sold 80 million albums during the band’s illustrious career. Greenwood is credited with writing songs such as ‘God Bless The USA” and “A Love Song.”
Tickets go on sale Friday, August 9, at this link.
When it was time to cut the ribbon at the Cumberland Cottages Open House, August 1st, the duty went to one of the first residents of the affordable housing project on Cumberland Road & 141st Street. HAND Incorporated, a Noblesville-based nonprofit organization, constructed the development.
That new resident cutting the ribbon was Constance Grier, a health care professional. I recorded a short conversation with Ms. Grier and you can feel her excitement about her new home.
Hamilton County Highway continues work on the 146th Street overpass at Allisonville Road and the roundabout on ground level on Allisonville Road. Officials emphasize there are no left turns at the intersection for any motorists at this time.
There is a lot of work going on with the bridge and overpass, so HAMCO Highway is asking drivers to observe the 35 MPH speed limit in that area.
Below is an update, map and photos of the construction, as provided by Hamilton County:
Fishers Town Hall completed in 1991, later to become City Hall before demolition
I moved to Fishers in May, 1991, after marrying my wife Jane. She had built a house in Sunblest. The 1990 census counted just over 7,500 people living in the Town of Fishers.
I do not pretend to be an expert on “old Fishers,” but a lot of it was still in place in 1991.
After the economic meltdown of 2008-2009, the Town of Fishers began to move forward with development plans. I retired from my civil service job in late 2011 and started writing this blog in January, 2012. I could sense then that the town council, along with a young, aggressive Town Manager named Scott Fadness, would be working to develop the town, which was seeing major population growth at that time.
The growth spurred a lot of talk among those living in Fishers for many years, before the major increase in population. They expressed their view Fishers had lost its small-town feel and it was their view this was a bad thing.
I asked Scott Fadness, once Fishers became a city and he was elected mayor, how he responded to the assertion that Fishers was losing the small-town atmosphere. His response was clear…a city is either moving forward or backward. He had, and today has, no intention of moving backward.
Scott Fadness has been aggressive in developing the City of Fishers in general, and in particular the downtown Nickel Plate District. Fishers has a population estimated to be just under 105,000 at this time. Those of us living in the 1991 version of Fishers could never have imagined that.
Nearly two years ago, the Fishers City Council approved incentives and a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) plan for land owner Mike Alboher and developer Tony Birkla. They told the Council in August of 2022 the $35 million project would be constructed just south of the Fishers Municipal Complex, across 116th Street. It would be mixed use, with commercial and residential space.
This development would feature a first for Fishers…..condominium units projected to sell for as much as $1 million. It would face the new City Hall/Arts Center and have a prime location next to the Nickel Plate Trail.
However, at the July 31st meeting of the Fishers Redevelopment Commission , the city’s Economic Development Director Megan Baumgartner told commission members the project announced in August, 2022, will not be moving forward. The city is working with land owner Mike Alboher to keep the city’s options open to develop that location. It is clearly a valuable piece of land and ripe for development similar to the mixed-use structure announced in 2022.
The city wants everyone to know that there are still efforts to put together a “transformational” mixed-use development at that location, working with land owner Alboher.
Mayor Fadness has been aggressive in promoting developments such as the one proposed on 116th Street in August of 2022. No doubt, another plan will surface in the future on the piece of land. Not every plan comes to fruition as originally announced.
Fishers is moving forward, with residential, commercial and job creating development. This is not the old Fishers. Some of the long-time residents may see this as a bad thing. However, people are voting with their actions….the population of Fishers continues to grow.
This may be the longest list of road construction activity for the 2024 summer season. Pay particular attention to the State Road 37 northbound lane restrictions coming up. Also, along 141st Street, east of State Road 37, be on the lookout for construction closures in the Prairie Lakes area
Here is the full listing, as provided by the City of Fishers:
