A playoff berth will be on the line Sunday when the Fishers Freight host the Orlando Pirates at the Fishers Event Center.

The equation could not be simpler: Win, and the Freight are in.

Fishers enters the regular-season finale with an 8-7 record, while Orlando is 9-6. The winner earns the final playoff spot in the Indoor Football League’s Eastern Conference. For the Freight, a victory would secure the first postseason appearance in the young franchise’s history.

Kickoff is set for 4 p.m. Sunday, July 26. The game is also Fan Appreciation Night.

It has been quite a journey to reach this moment.

The IFL announced in October 2023 that an expansion franchise owned by Jim Hallett—whose organization also owns the Indy Fuel hockey team—would begin playing at the new Fishers Event Center in 2025.

My first real introduction to the plans came the following month, when I recorded a podcast with Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness and Larry McQueary, who was then president of the Indy Fuel and the new football franchise.

I became curious about the IFL and started watching games, which were available on YouTube at the time. I quickly discovered an entertaining, fast-paced version of football that I believed local fans would embrace.

Indoor football is a different game. It is played eight-on-eight on a 50-yard field, with narrower goalposts and rules designed to encourage scoring and keep the action moving. The walls surrounding the field are part of the playing surface, placing fans close enough to hear the collisions and conversations.

The timing also fills a gap on the sports calendar. Once the NFL season ends, the IFL offers professional football from spring into summer.

When the Freight hired Dixie Wooten as their first head coach and general manager, the Hallett organization arranged for me to interview him. I learned a great deal about the league during that conversation.

Wooten brought substantial credentials to Fishers. He was named IFL Coach of the Year in 2017 and 2018 and guided the Iowa Barnstormers to the 2018 league championship. He later served as offensive coordinator for the Bay Area Panthers when they won the 2023 IFL title.

Wooten told me he had passed on other coaching opportunities for the chance to build a new franchise from the ground up in Fishers.

The inaugural season delivered the challenges one would expect from an expansion team. The Freight won their first two games, then endured nine consecutive losses. Even after being eliminated from playoff contention, however, they did not quit. Fishers won its final five games to finish the 2025 season with a 7-9 record and create genuine optimism for year two.

Wooten and his staff brought back key contributors from that late-season run and continued building around them. The 2026 season has included its share of highs and lows, but the Freight have earned the opportunity now in front of them.

They will play the most important game in franchise history Sunday—and they will play it at home.

Orlando won the teams’ first meeting this season, edging Fishers 60-57 on a touchdown as time expired. The narrow loss showed how evenly matched these teams can be, but Sunday’s rematch carries much greater stakes: The winner advances to the playoffs, while the loser’s season ends.

One of the most encouraging parts of the Freight story has been the core group of fans that has supported the team from the beginning. Team officials are projecting a crowd of approximately 4,500 for Sunday’s game, which would be the team’s largest attendance since this season’s home opener.

There are no bad seats for indoor football at the Fishers Event Center. The compact field and close proximity to the action give spectators a view and atmosphere that cannot be duplicated while watching from home.

Good seats also remain available. Fans can attend Fan Appreciation Night, support the home team and potentially witness the first playoff-clinching victory in Fishers Freight history. Tickets are available here.

I have covered the Freight since their first game at Northern Arizona in 2025. I have attended all but two of their home games and watched their road contests by video.

What I have seen is a legitimate professional football organization that has worked to establish roots in this community. The Freight do not simply play in Fishers—the city’s name is displayed across their uniforms.

This is Fishers’ team, and it is a franchise worthy of the community’s support.

If you have not attended a Freight game, Sunday would be an ideal time to experience one. Once you see indoor football in person, I suspect it will not be your last game.

Tickets for the inaugural Big Ten Volleyball Tournament at Fishers Event Center will go on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. Monday, Aug. 3.

The tournament, scheduled for Nov. 20-25, will bring the conference’s top 15 volleyball teams to Fishers for six days of postseason competition. All-session tickets will be available through FishersEventCenter.com.

Three matches will be played in the opening round, followed by four second-round matches. The tournament will continue with the quarterfinals and semifinals before concluding with the championship match on Nov. 25. The schedule will also include one off day.

The conference is introducing the tournament as part of a revised volleyball format. The Big Ten regular season will decrease from 20 matches to 17, with teams playing a single round-robin schedule before the top 15 advance to Fishers.

Big Ten schools have combined to win 22 NCAA Division I volleyball championships, including 12 of the past 20. The conference has also led Division I in attendance every season since 2007.

Eight of the nine most-watched college volleyball matches on record have included Big Ten teams, according to the conference. Six Big Ten regular-season matches last season drew television audiences of more than 500,000.

Fishers Event Center opened in November 2024 and seats approximately 7,500 people. The venue is also home to the Indy Ignite of Major League Volleyball, the Indy Fuel of the ECHL and the Fishers Freight of the Indoor Football League.

This week’s edition of the Fridays with Larry podcast is now available, featuring a conversation with Matt Nettleton, an Indianapolis-area sales trainer and host of the Default Profitable podcast.

Nettleton has worked with hundreds of businesses since 2003, from local trades to Fortune 100 companies. His podcast — nearly 190 episodes strong, with most guests from the Indianapolis area — focuses on a subject he says too many startups ignore: actually making money. He shares why most successful owners failed at earlier ventures before finding their footing, the one question he asks anyone thinking of going into business for themselves, and the story of High School Hustle, a nonprofit helping more than 3,000 Indiana high school students launch their own small businesses.

Also in this episode, Larry looks at a New York Times opinion piece by Emi Nietfeld on why today’s graduates are losing faith in ambition, examines how corporate consolidation under Lucky Strike Entertainment (formerly Bowlero) has driven up the cost of a once-affordable night of bowling, and closes with the story of a Colorado bear that trapped itself in an SUV and honked the horn all night.

Fridays with Larry is sponsored by Citizens State Bank, Member FDIC and Equal Housing Lender.

Watch using this link, listen at this link,  or use the links below.

The Fishers Freight will play the biggest game in their two-season history Sunday when the Orlando Pirates come to the Fishers Event Center for a 4pm kickoff. The stakes could not be simpler — the winner claims the final playoff spot in the Indoor Football League’s Eastern Conference, and the loser goes home.

Coach Dixie Wooten and his team have had two bye weeks sandwiched around the July 11 win at Quad City to prepare, and the coach told fans at this week’s Coach’s Corner, recorded live at King Jugg Brewery with Freight play-by-play voice Andrew Smith, that his team is ready for the moment.

“We’ve been working hard all year for this,” Wooten said. “Now we’re playing meaningful football at the end of the season. The guys are ready, the coaching staff is ready, the fan base is ready. Everybody’s ready.”

Orlando (9-6) won the first meeting, 60-57, on May 9 in Florida, a game decided on a catch over the wall as the clock hit zero. The Freight (8-7) can even the season series Sunday, and with the strength-of-schedule tiebreaker in their favor, a win puts Fishers in the postseason.

“They got away with one against us when we went to their field,” Wooten said. “Now they come play us, and it’s going to be a different story.”

The Pirates bring one of the league’s most dangerous offenses, led by rookie quarterback Paxton DeLaurent, who has completed 71 percent of his passes, and Pooka Williams, the IFL’s leading rusher.

“A guy like him, you can’t stop him,” Wooten said of DeLaurent. “We just want to contain him, make sure we hit him a little bit, and make him see some different things.”

The Freight counter with a league-best running game behind an offensive line featuring Devon Donaldson — plucked from the very team Fishers faces Sunday — along with Winston Sharpe, Cordell Brewster and Jeremiah Rogers. A defense that struggled early in the season has held opponents mostly in the 30s since Wooten simplified the scheme and added personnel at midseason. And kicker Calum Sutherland leads a special teams unit that produced more than 20 points in the Quad City win. “In my eyes, he should be Special Teams Player of the Year,” Wooten said.

Two defensive standouts joined the show as well. Defensive back Jaiden Roe, who had an interception and a team-high nine tackles in the first Orlando game, can’t wait for Sunday.

“You wouldn’t want it any other way as a football player — for it to come down to the last game with your destiny in your own hands,” Roe said. “This is what you lace your cleats up for. If we could play tomorrow, I’d want to.”

Defensive lineman Jaylin Swan, a first-team All-IFL selection last season, pointed to the value of playing at home, where the Freight faithful have been loud all year.

“Some of us have never been in the playoffs before, so having the opportunity to play in the playoffs is amazing,” Swan said. “But to have a home advantage to get in is unreal to think about.”

Wooten closed with a message for the fans: “Sunday’s going to be fun. If you have nothing to do at 4 o’clock Sunday, come to the game, because you’re going to see a great game. I promise you that.”

Fans are encouraged to come early and bring school supplies for the backpack drive benefiting kids throughout Central Indiana, beginning at 2:30. Tickets are available at this link.

A new community art display at the Hamilton East Public Library’s Fishers location is encouraging visitors to reflect on the meaning of home and learn about the need for affordable housing.

Housing Rocks, an initiative from Hamilton County Area Neighborhood Development, features rocks painted by elementary students, church groups, volunteers and community-event participants. Each artist created a design representing what home means to them.

Together, the rocks form a colorful collection of personal stories and perspectives.

Visitors can scan a QR code accompanying the display to learn more about Housing Rocks, local housing needs and HAND’s work with community partners.

The initiative comes as rising housing costs place greater pressure on Hamilton County residents. According to the 2026 United Way ALICE Report, 34,764 county households are living in poverty or below the ALICE Threshold.

ALICE stands for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed. The term describes households with working adults who earn more than the eligibility limits for many assistance programs but still struggle to pay for housing, child care, food, transportation and health care.

If those households formed a separate county, it would rank as Indiana’s 19th largest by number of households, according to HAND.

“Home means something different to every person, but everyone deserves the opportunity to have a home,” HAND Executive Director Andrea Davis said. “Housing Rocks invites people to reflect on what home means, learn more about the housing challenges many of our neighbors face, and consider how each of us can help create communities where everyone has a place to call home.”

HAND hopes to expand the initiative through partnerships with schools, churches, businesses, community organizations and volunteers. Groups interested in painting rocks, hosting the display or bringing the program to another community may contact HAND Marketing and Fundraising Manager Kerri Hubble through the organization.

Founded in 2003, HAND builds, preserves and advocates for affordable housing in Hamilton, Boone and Tipton counties. More information is available at handincorporated.org or by calling 317-674-8108.

The Fishers Board of Zoning Appeals denied a variance request Wednesday for a short-term rental home at the 13000 block of Wabash Drive, in the Harrison Green subdivision.

Board member Howard Stevenson said he believed the property owners had met the criteria the board must consider when ruling on such requests, and he moved to approve the variance. The motion died for lack of a second.

Tom Grinslade then moved to deny the variance, citing public safety, traffic conditions, the home’s location on a cul-de-sac and the potential impact on property values. Greg Lannan seconded the motion, which passed 4-1, with Stevenson casting the lone dissenting vote.

Property owner Angela Bloehs argued for the variance, telling the board she and her husband, Jared, have been responsible owners, vetting guests and maintaining the property to high standards. The couple said they were initially unaware of the city’s new requirement to register the property as a rental, but have since done so.

Allison Gustafson, whose home is adjacent to the rental, submitted written comments focused on safety concerns. Her husband, Eric, spoke at Wednesday’s public hearing, addressing the criteria the board is required by law to weigh in variance requests.

Eric Gustafson argued the short-term rental has an adverse impact on the character of the neighborhood. He acknowledged the owners have made a “genuine effort to operate the property responsibly,” but said that does not change the nature of short-term rentals. While the owners have established and enforced stringent house rules that may reduce risk, he said, rules alone cannot guarantee compliance.

The newly formed Hamilton County chapter of the Indiana Democratic African American Caucus will hold its inaugural callout meeting at 6 p.m. Monday, July 27, at the Hamilton East Public Library, 5 Municipal Drive in Fishers.

The free event will introduce residents to IDAAC Hamilton County’s mission, priorities and plans for increasing civic participation. It will also include information about volunteer and leadership opportunities, along with time for networking and community discussion.

Organizers said the chapter will work to educate, organize and empower African American Democrats while promoting inclusive leadership and participation in government and public policy.

“The formation of the Hamilton County chapter represents an exciting opportunity to amplify African American voices, build meaningful relationships and increase civic engagement throughout our county,” organizers said in a statement.

The organization is inviting longtime advocates as well as residents who are new to civic engagement. The meeting is open to community members of all backgrounds interested in public service, advocacy and local leadership.

Attendees may register through the chapter’s online RSVP page.

Northwest Bank has hired Kevin E. Dooley, Jr. as a commercial relationship manager serving commercial and industrial businesses across the Central Indiana and Indianapolis markets.

Based in Fishers, Dooley will develop and manage commercial relationships, providing customized credit solutions, deposit services and treasury management capabilities to support long-term business growth.

Dooley brings 25 years of financial services experience, with expertise in credit and financial analysis, portfolio management and risk assessment. He most recently served as vice president, commercial relationship manager at Centra Credit Union, and previously held commercial banking and advisory roles with PNC, Huntington Bank and BakerHill Solutions, where he supported clients with financial analysis, lending strategies and portfolio performance.

“Northwest Bank’s focus on building relationships and delivering tailored financial solutions aligns with how I work with clients,” Dooley said. “I look forward to partnering with businesses across Central Indiana and helping them achieve their long-term goals.”

Founded in 1896 and headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, Northwest Bank operates 152 financial centers across Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio and Indiana, including 20 Indiana branches. Its parent company, Northwest Bancshares, Inc., trades on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol NWBI.

Hamilton Southeastern Schools will kick off the 2026-27 school year with its fifth annual Before the Bell celebration Thursday, July 30, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Nickel Plate District Amphitheater, 6 Municipal Drive.

The free event, presented by Meijer, invites students, families and community members to reconnect with the district and celebrate the start of the new school year.

“Before the Bell brings together so many of the people and organizations that make HSE Schools special,” Superintendent Dr. Matt Kegley said. “It’s a chance to celebrate our students, connect with families and begin the new school year as one community.”

Student bands, choirs, cheerleaders and dance teams will perform live throughout the evening. Free, hands-on activities will include inflatables, robotics demonstrations, face painting, bubble art, an FFA petting zoo and a touch-a-bus. The Hamilton Southeastern Education Foundation will offer a photo booth for back-to-school photos.

Representatives from every HSE school will attend, along with staff from district departments including Food Services, School Safety, Transportation, Student Services and Health Services. Community partners will share information about programs and resources available to students and families.

Food trucks will be on-site for those who want to purchase dinner at the AMP.

The event is hosted by Hamilton Southeastern Schools with support from the Hamilton Southeastern Education Foundation and Fishers Parks.

Before the Bell will take place rain or shine. If inclement weather forces the event indoors, it will move to Fishers High School, 13000 Promise Road, at the same date and time.

For nearly 15 years, I have covered local news in Fishers. Even after all that time, this work can still surprise me.

It happened again on July 15.

A member of Mayor Scott Fadness’ staff contacted me to say the mayor was prepared to comment on the Save Heritage Indiana rally scheduled for August 1 in Fishers.

The invitation-only event, whose location has not been publicly disclosed, will focus on immigration and mass deportation. The featured speaker is Greg Bovino, a former commander-at-large of the U.S. Border Patrol. Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith is expected to appear through prerecorded remarks.

A separate event, the Hoosier Hospitality March, is planned for earlier that day at Holland Park. Its organizers describe it as a demonstration of support for immigrants and opposition to the message of the Save Heritage Indiana rally.

Mayor Fadness had generally declined to comment publicly on controversies such as this one. I had stopped asking his office for statements on these kinds of issues because I had come to expect that he would not weigh in.

That made the July 15 message unexpected.

The mayor wanted to record the interview as soon as possible. I already had events scheduled to cover later that day, so we arranged to meet on the morning of July 16.

That gave me very little time to prepare, and I knew I had a challenging assignment ahead of me. I would have an opportunity to question Mayor Fadness about issues on which he had not spoken publicly for some time. Deciding what to ask—and how to phrase those questions—mattered greatly to me.

Let’s just say it was a late night on July 15.

Whenever I have an opportunity like this, I approach it with two responsibilities in mind.

First, I must ask questions that are timely, newsworthy and important. Sometimes that means asking tough questions.

At the same time, I believe I have a responsibility to be respectful—not only to Scott Fadness as a person, but to the office of mayor. Respect does not mean avoiding difficult questions. It means asking them fairly, listening carefully to the answers and allowing readers and listeners to reach their own conclusions.

Preparing for this interview caused me to reflect on everything I have learned through many years of practicing journalism.

The mayor’s answers did not surprise me. He did not condemn the Save Heritage Indiana event. Instead, he emphasized the constitutional limits on the city’s authority, particularly when an event is held on private property, and spoke about his responsibility to protect free expression while keeping everyone safe.

He also stressed his desire to make Fishers a safe and welcoming community for all residents throughout the year—not merely in response to one controversial event.

You can listen to the full interview here.

His answers did not sit well with some listeners. Others responded more favorably. I suspect the mayor understood that would happen when he agreed to speak with me on the record.

That led me to another question: Why did Mayor Fadness choose me as the person through whom he would make his views known?

Reporters and editors with other news organizations told me the mayor did not provide them with separate comments. Instead, they were referred to my podcast as his comments of record.

I obviously cannot get inside the mayor’s head, but I can offer two possible explanations.

First, Scott Fadness has known me for more than 14 years. He has read my website, listened to my podcasts and appeared as a guest many times. He knows how I approach an interview and how I handle the answers I receive.

In other words, I am a known quantity. Had another local news organization developed the same history with him, perhaps he would have made a different choice.

Second, I believe he knows that I work hard to be fair while remaining willing to ask a difficult question when one needs to be asked. He may have preferred a genuine interview—with questions he did not control—to recording a statement by himself or being questioned by a member of his own staff.

If that is true, I consider it a sign of trust. It is also a responsibility I do not take lightly.

My larger takeaway is that people in Fishers sincerely care about this community. Those who criticized the mayor’s comments and those who supported them may strongly disagree about what he should have said. But most begin from the same basic place: They want Fishers to remain a good and safe place to live, where every resident feels that he or she belongs.

The disagreement is over how we live up to that ideal.

I will turn 75 in a few weeks. I do not know how much longer I will be able to do this work, but my health remains relatively good, and I plan to continue for as long as I can.

When I started this local news website in January 2012, I thought perhaps a few hundred people might read my stories and follow my coverage.

I was wrong.

LarryInFishers.com has already recorded more than 140,000 unique visitors in 2026. That is well above the total for all of last year, and we are only a little past the halfway point.

I mention those numbers not to boast, but to make a point.

This began as a volunteer activity—my way of giving something back to a community that has treated my family so well. I suspect there are retirees, and others with time and experience to offer, who could find their own ways to serve their communities.

Perhaps some of them could even do what I have done.

All I can say is this: You never know until you try.

God bless you all, and thank you for reading.