Fishers artist Abigail Staffelbach earned Best in Show and a $1,000 prize for her oil painting “Through Clouds, Blue” at the Fishers Arts Council’s seventh annual Juried Exhibit of Hamilton County Artists.

The awards were presented Sept. 11 at the Fishers Municipal Center. Jiffy Lube of Indiana returned as title sponsor of the competition.

Staffelbach also received a solo exhibit for 2027. Juror Carol Strock Wasson of Union City praised the painting’s color harmony, atmospheric depth and handling of edges.

“This is a memorable painting that will remain with me for many days to come,” Wasson said.

Five category winners each received $600:

• Best Landscape: Neal Snapp of Fishers, “The Cool Edge of Sunset.”
• Best Portrait/Figurative: Wesley Dallas Merritt, formerly of Sheridan, for his watercolor “Treasures in the Fog.”
• Best Floral/Other: Rich Ernsting, for his transparent watercolor “Tranquility.”
• Best Abstract: Valerie Bielski of Noblesville, “Sunset on Kona.”
• Best 3D: Susan Hirsch of Fishers, for her stoneware piece “Have I Done Enough?”

Craig Mullins of Indianapolis received a $250 merit award for “Fly Adrift Along the Aspens,” as did Brenda Whicker, formerly of Fishers, for “Blushing Mums.”

Fishers resident Asma Siddiqui won the Noblesville Creates People’s Choice award for the second consecutive year. Her textured acrylic and mixed media work, “Memory of a Rising Wave,” earned the most combined online and in-person votes and a $250 prize.

According to the arts council, Snapp’s painting sold before the awards evening ended, while Bielski’s work sold on the exhibit’s opening day.

The exhibit continues through Oct. 2 at the Art Gallery at City Hall and in the adjoining Fishers Art Center galleries at 1 Municipal Drive. Most of the exhibited works, including many award winners, are available for purchase, according to the council.

The arts council lists visiting hours as 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to noon Saturdays during the Fishers Farmers’ Market. Artwork also can be viewed on the Fishers Arts Council Facebook page.

The Sept. 18 edition of the Fridays with Larry podcast marks World Alzheimer’s Day with a conversation about what the disease looks like day to day — and who carries the weight of it.

World Alzheimer’s Day falls Monday, Sept. 21. Alzheimer’s is a progressive brain disease that affects memory and thinking and, eventually, the ability to manage everyday life. It is the most common form of dementia, and it is not a normal part of aging. The Alzheimer’s Association estimates 7.4 million Americans 65 and older are living with Alzheimer’s dementia this year. In Indiana, the association counts more than 121,000 people with the disease and more than 221,000 friends and family members providing unpaid care.

This week’s guest is Joe Kohler, director of operations for Griswold of North Suburban Indianapolis, which serves Fishers, Carmel, Noblesville, Westfield and neighboring communities. Kohler says dementia accounts for roughly 80% of his clients. He describes the signs that go beyond ordinary forgetfulness — a stove left on, a withdrawal from family and social events, the same question asked again and again.

Much of the conversation is about the families. Kohler says the first call usually comes from a son or daughter asking for respite — a few hours or a day of relief from what is otherwise a 24/7 job. He talks about why families wait too long to ask for help, and what private-pay home care costs when there is no long-term care insurance, generally $28 to $36 an hour depending on need.

We also discuss where treatment stands. Drugs such as Leqembi and Kisunla can slow decline in some people in the early stages, and last year the FDA cleared the first blood test to help doctors diagnose Alzheimer’s in people showing symptoms. Those are reasons for hope. More than a century after the disease was first described, there is still no cure.

The episode closes with a commentary on Canada. I spent several weeks there in the 1980s and came home with an affection for the country that has lasted. I think about Gander, Newfoundland, where residents took in thousands of stranded air passengers on Sept. 11, 2001. Twenty-five years later, amid tariffs and a hardening trade dispute, that kindness is worth remembering.

Fridays with Larry is sponsored by Citizens State Bank, with a Fishers branch inside the Thomas A. Weaver Municipal Complex.

Watch the video version here or just listen using this link.

Registration is open for HAND’s 2026 Trivia Night, the affordable housing nonprofit’s annual fundraiser, set for Thursday, Nov. 5, at the Delaware Township Community Center in Fishers.

Doors open at 6 p.m. at the center, 9094 E. 131st St., with trivia beginning at 7 p.m. The event is presented by Merchants Bank.

Indy Live Trivia will again run the competition, leading five rounds of general trivia. Organizers call it HAND’s most popular event of the year.

This year’s theme asks teams to turn the page — literally. Participants are invited to choose a favorite children’s book or character and bring it to life through team costumes and table décor. Organizers suggest storybook classics and childhood favorites, and prizes will be awarded for the best costumes and best decorated tables.

HAND is also asking attendees to bring a new children’s book to the event. In what organizers describe as a nod to Dolly Parton and the millions of books she has helped put into children’s hands, the books collected that night will be shared with HAND’s youngest residents and with children at the O’Connor House.

“We can’t wait to see what stories fill the room,” organizers said in announcing the event.

HAND Inc. provides affordable housing and advocates for housing options across Hamilton, Boone and Tipton counties. Trivia Night has been a significant fundraiser for the organization — a previous edition of the event, also held at the Delaware Township Community Center, raised nearly $30,000 through ticket sales, table sponsorships, raffle tickets and donations.

Sponsorship opportunities are available in addition to team registration. Details on registration, team size and sponsorship levels are available from HAND.

Register using this link.

Fishers Public Health Director Monica Heltz says the newly released Fishers Community Health Assessment shows a city changing faster than many residents may realize — and that the changes are reshaping how her department spends its time and money.

The report is labeled 2025, the year most of the data was gathered, but was released this year. In a podcast conversation, Heltz said the biggest surprise was the breadth of demographic change.

“Our older adults are our most rapidly growing demographic,” she said, adding that the city has also grown more diverse by race, age and income, particularly among younger residents.

The assessment draws on roughly 1,500 survey responses, a series of focus groups and publicly available data sets. Heltz said the toughest part was drilling county-level data down to the city level to separate Fishers from Hamilton County as a whole. The department also reviewed a de-identified IU Health data set and found the public data held up well.

Three priorities emerged: mental health, aging well and healthy living.

On mental health, Heltz said residents repeatedly told the department they did not know where to begin looking for help. In response, the city has added a mental health support specialist who helps residents navigate services. The service takes no insurance and is open to anyone by appointment. The department already employs a licensed clinical social worker working alongside police and fire, along with two community health advocates.

The survey included a screening, in which roughly 3 in 10 adults screened positive for possible depressive symptoms. Heltz stressed that is a screening tool, not a diagnosis, and said depression and anxiety are both common and treatable.

Falls drive much of the city’s EMS volume, Heltz said, and the department’s fall prevention program offers in-home safety assessments and Stepping On classes. Social isolation surfaced as a concern for older adults, young adults and caregivers alike — a challenge Heltz tied partly to a fast-growing city where “almost nobody is from here.”

Other findings drew Heltz’s attention: about 96% of respondents reported health coverage, but roughly 12% said they delayed care, mostly over cost or appointment availability. Using the ALICE measure, 23% of households in the two ZIP codes studied are in poverty or earning too little to comfortably cover basic needs. Black mothers in Fishers were 2.3 times more likely than white mothers to deliver a low birth weight baby, mirroring a long-standing statewide disparity.

Heltz also discussed the swings in state public health funding, which was rolled back 73% after the Health First Indiana increase, and the loss of several federal grants.

Two more documents are coming: the Community Health Improvement Plan, due soon, and a three-year strategic plan expected by the end of the year.

This episode is sponsored by Citizens State Bank.

Listen using this link or the link below.

The Fishers Century Club has selected SERVE Village as the recipient of its quarterly crowdgiving funds, recognizing the organization’s work helping Hamilton County residents recover from recent flooding.

Members made the selection at their meeting Tuesday, Sept. 15. The session was devoted entirely to local nonprofits that stepped forward during the flood response.

SERVE Village helped coordinate that response countywide, pulling together volunteers, government agencies and nonprofit partners. The group organized cleanup and “muck-out” crews, distributed essential supplies and connected affected families with available resources. That work continues as cleanup across the county goes on.

“SERVE Village stepped up when our community needed it the most,” said Adam Kallick, founder of the Fishers Century Club. “They brought people and resources together, organized volunteers and helped families begin the difficult process of cleaning up and recovering. Our members wanted to recognize that incredible response and provide additional support for the important work that continues.”

The final donation is expected to land in the $3,000 to $4,000 range. Contributions are still coming in from members who could not attend the meeting. Once the tally is complete, the club will present SERVE Village with a check for the full amount.

“The flood didn’t create the Village, it revealed it. We are incredibly proud of what SERVE Village helped coordinate, but even more proud of the community that showed up for one another,” said Michelle Schmidt, SERVE Village’s board president. “Thank you Fishers Century Club for being part of the village, we are so grateful!”

Anyone still wanting to contribute can do so through the club’s online Grapevine giving platform at www.tinyurl.com/OnlineGivingFCC.

The meeting also produced a second opportunity for the nonprofits that presented. Mike Pratt, who runs Vicious Biscuit in Fishers, attended the meeting and — after hearing more about the club and the charities — offered to host dine-to-donate events benefiting the organizations that presented, including those not chosen as the quarterly winner.

The Fishers Century Club is a local crowd-giving organization that meets quarterly to hear presentations from area charities, vote on a recipient and combine individual contributions into a single larger community gift. All funds collected go directly to the selected nonprofit.

The next quarterly meeting is set for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 15, at The Club Coworking.

More information and a list of past winners is available at www.fisherscenturyclub.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/fisherscenturyclub.

Kindergarten students practiced bongo drums at the Hamilton East Public Library during a recent visit, getting a hands-on introduction to music as part of a new Hamilton Southeastern Schools program connecting art, movement and literacy.

The drumming was one part of The Arts, a Kindergarten Experience, which will reach approximately 1,100 students across HSE’s 13 elementary schools. Piloted last spring, the program is now being fully implemented as the district’s sixth guaranteed student experience.

Dr. Danielle Fetters-Thompson, HSE’s assistant superintendent of foundational learning, described the program as “a great way to introduce our students to the arts.”

She said the arts focus adds something different to the district’s guaranteed experiences, which otherwise center on STEM or social studies. It also introduces HSE’s youngest learners to creative opportunities in Fishers.

The activities connect with learning that begins before students arrive. Fetters-Thompson said the children had read a book about a little girl and drumming before taking part in the Bongo Boy drumming experience.

Their itinerary also included watercolor painting and a clay activity at the Fishers Art Center, along with another library activity connecting the experience to literacy.

The initiative brings together HSE Schools, the Fishers Art Center — a division of the Indianapolis Art Center — and Hamilton East Public Library. Every HSE kindergarten student will visit both locations during the school year, according to the district.

HSE says the program aligns with Indiana academic standards for visual arts, dance, music and English/language arts, connecting the field trip activities with classroom instruction.

“This experience reflects our belief that learning should be engaging, creative, and connected to the world beyond the classroom,” HSE Superintendent Dr. Matt Kegley said in the district’s announcement. “Thanks to our partnerships with the Fishers Arts Center and Hamilton East Public Library, our kindergarten students can explore the arts in meaningful ways.”

A planning committee helped shape the program for young learners. Its members included kindergarten teachers; art, music and physical education teachers; building principals; and leaders from the art center and library. Together, they designed activities blending visual art, movement and literacy while introducing families to community arts resources.

Michelle O’Hollaren, executive vice president of education and innovation for the Indianapolis Art Center/Fishers Art Center, said the visits may give some children their first opportunity to create in a professional arts setting.

“By giving every HSE kindergartener the opportunity to explore, make, and experience art firsthand, we are helping build creativity, confidence, and curiosity that can extend far beyond the art studio,” O’Hollaren said in the announcement.

Hamilton East Public Library Director Melissa Loiselle said the partnership with HSE and the City of Fishers fits the library’s mission of connecting the community with information and ideas. She also highlighted Ignite Studio, the makerspace at the Fishers Library.

“The Ignite Studio is an incredible makerspace at our Fishers Library that we are excited to share with our community’s youngest innovators!” Loiselle said.

The program joins HSE’s expanding collection of guaranteed experiences, designed to give every student access to hands-on learning throughout their time in the district.

Fishers has rolled out its fall calendar, and it mixes the familiar with a few firsts — including the inaugural Big Ten Women’s Volleyball Tournament at the Fishers Event Center over Thanksgiving week.

The season’s most immediate business is the end of another one. The Fishers Farmers Market, presented by IU Health, closes out its run with two final Saturdays at the Nickel Plate District Amphitheater — Club Day on Sept. 19 and a Thrift-A-Thon on Sept. 26. Both run 8 a.m. to noon with more than 100 Indiana vendors.

That same Saturday evening, Glow in the Park returns to the amphitheater from 6 to 9 p.m. Wear white. Expect DJs, foam cannons, neon splash zones, inflatable slides, black lights and lasers. Tickets are required.

October is the heavy month. Conner Prairie’s Headless Horseman runs Thursdays through Sundays, Oct. 1-25. The AgriPark Fall Festival takes over the farm Oct. 3-4 with an expanded scarecrow trail, campfires, animal encounters and food trucks. Both AgriPark Campout dates, Oct. 9-10 and Oct. 16-17, are already sold out.

New this year: free Movies in the Plaza at the Fishers Event Center, with “Miracle” on Oct. 3 and “Hocus Pocus” on Oct. 10, both at 7 p.m.

Hometown hockey is back Oct. 16, when the Indy Fuel open their third season at the Fishers Event Center against the Wheeling Nailers at 7:15 p.m.

Halloween lands on a Saturday. Boo Bash, presented by GBC Bank, runs 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the amphitheater, and the city’s official trick-or-treat hours are 5:30 to 8 p.m., with Fishers police patrolling neighborhoods. The Fishers Arts Council also marks Día de Muertos on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 at the Fishers Municipal Center, with a community altar, pan de muerto and live music.

November brings the city’s free Recycling Day on Nov. 7 at Billericay Park, the Veterans Day ceremony Nov. 11 at the Municipal Center theater, and the Second Friday Gallery Hop on Nov. 13.

Then comes the big one. From Nov. 20-25, the Big Ten’s top 15 women’s volleyball teams meet at the Fishers Event Center — home of the Indy Ignite — with the championship match on Thanksgiving Eve.

Registration is also open for fall break camps, Community Center programs, Art Center classes and Maker Playground workshops. A full list of dates, times and locations follows below:

Continue reading Fall in Fishers brings back the glow, adds hockey and a Big Ten first →

Indianapolis-area regular gasoline rises about 16 cents in a day while Indiana’s state gasoline tax holiday remains in effect.

Gasoline prices climbed sharply across central Indiana heading into Thursday, with AAA reporting an Indianapolis-area average of $3.907 a gallon for regular unleaded — up 16.2 cents from Wednesday and nearly 36 cents from a week earlier.

The increase comes as a shutdown at a major Illinois refinery adds pressure to a fuel market already strained by international supply disruptions. Wholesale gasoline prices in the Midwest rose again Wednesday, providing evidence of higher fuel costs moving through the distribution system.

Indiana’s gasoline tax holiday remains in place. The increase does not reflect the reinstatement of the two suspended state gasoline taxes.

For a driver buying 15 gallons, the Indianapolis-area daily increase amounts to about $2.43 more per fill-up. The increase over the past week adds about $5.38. The national average Thursday was approximately $4.44 a gallon.

The daily comparison confirms a sharp increase between Wednesday’s and Thursday’s readings. It does not establish the exact hour each station changed its signs.

The most immediate regional disruption began Sunday, September 13, when a power outage forced ExxonMobil’s Joliet refinery in Illinois to shut down. ExxonMobil told Reuters that power failed around 3:30 p.m. Central time and returned around 7 p.m. The outage activated safety flares and stopped operations.

Restoring electricity did not mean an immediate return to normal fuel production. Reuters reported Monday that units were being stabilized; industry monitor IIR Energy anticipated normal service by the end of the week. That was an expectation, not confirmation that the refinery had restarted fully.

The plant can produce approximately 11 million gallons of gasoline and diesel daily, according to ExxonMobil information cited by Reuters. A disruption there matters to the broader Midwest fuel market.

GasBuddy petroleum analyst Patrick De Haan also cited maintenance at BP’s Whiting refinery in northwest Indiana as another source of regional pressure, NBC Chicago reported Monday. The overlapping disruptions reduce the region’s flexibility in meeting fuel demand.

Wholesale data help explain why drivers saw another jump this week. DTN’s September 16 market report, carried on HF Sinclair’s customer portal, put the Midwest’s average conventional gasoline terminal price at about $3.47 a gallon, up 13.31 cents from the previous session. Terminal prices are wholesale prices, not the final amount motorists pay.

The same report showed gasoline wholesale prices rising in all five major U.S. petroleum regions even as crude oil futures declined. That distinction matters: the availability and cost of finished gasoline can move differently from the price of the crude oil used to make it.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration explains that refinery and pipeline interruptions can move gasoline prices quickly. Concern about future supplies can prompt wholesalers to bid more for available fuel. Local competition, delivery costs and suppliers also help explain why nearby stations may change prices by different amounts.

The regional problems sit on top of a broader international squeeze. In GasBuddy’s Monday assessment, De Haan pointed to U.S.-Iran tensions, new hostilities in the Red Sea and the shutdown of Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline. Attacks on Russian refineries added pressure on global refined-fuel supplies, according to the assessment reported by WBIW.

Indiana’s tax relief cushions those market pressures but does not set a ceiling on pump prices.

For September, the suspended gasoline use tax is 23.9 cents a gallon. The state’s gasoline excise tax rate is 37 cents. Together, the suspended taxes total **60.9 cents a gallon**, or approximately $9.14 on 15 gallons, assuming the full tax reduction is reflected in the retail price. The September total is about 61 cents rather than 63 cents; the use-tax rate is recalculated monthly.

There is a discrepancy in the state’s published expiration dates. Braun’s September 3 announcement described an extension through October 6. However, the signed Executive Order 26-25 states that the emergency continues **through October 5**, and the Department of Revenue says it will not collect the two taxes through that date.

The governor’s office says Braun will reevaluate whether another pause is necessary. Braun first suspended the gasoline use tax in April and added the excise tax in May.

DOR says the suspended taxes are collected at the distributor level, with savings expected to flow through to pump prices. The holiday does not eliminate every gasoline tax or fee: the federal gasoline tax remains, and DOR’s suspension notice excludes the state oil inspection fee.

Normally, the seasonal move toward cheaper winter gasoline helps ease prices. De Haan’s Monday assessment cautioned that ongoing supply disruptions could limit that relief. The timing of refinery recovery and developments in international fuel supplies remain key uncertainties.

The available evidence supports a combination of regional production problems and broader wholesale-market pressure. It does not establish how much of any individual Fishers station’s increase came from each factor, or when that station’s price will come back down.

Defenseman returns to Fishers after record-setting season

The Indy Fuel have added a rookie forward and brought back a record-setting defenseman as they build toward their 13th season at Fishers Event Center.

The ECHL club announced this week it has signed forward Conor Cole to a standard player contract for the 2026-27 season and re-signed defenseman Matt Petgrave.

Cole, 24, comes to Fishers from the University of Alaska-Anchorage, where he served as captain last season and appeared in 20 games. The St. John’s, Newfoundland, native spent four seasons with the Seawolves after two years with the Maryland Black Bears of the North American Hockey League.

The 5-foot-10 center, a left-handed shot, also played two seasons with the Toronto Patriots of the Ontario Junior Hockey League from 2018 to 2020, collecting 67 points in 92 games.

Petgrave, 34, returns after a 2025-26 season in which he rewrote part of the Fuel record book. His 48 points were the most ever by a Fuel defenseman in a single season, and his 12 goals rank second in franchise history among Indy defensemen — one shy of the single-season record.

He was also one of two Fuel players to appear in all 72 regular-season games, and he added a goal and an assist in the team’s five-game playoff series against Fort Wayne.

Before arriving in Fishers, Petgrave played for the Sheffield Steelers of Britain’s Elite Ice Hockey League, recording 51 points in 61 games. The Toronto native spent five seasons in the ECHL and the American Hockey League before heading overseas, including a stint with the Florida Everblades. He was named an ECHL All-Star in 2017-18 with the Brampton Beast after putting up 40 points in 50 games.

The 6-foot-1, 200-pound defenseman has also won an OHL championship and a U Sports University Cup.

The Fuel are the ECHL affiliate of the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks and the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs. The team returns to Fishers Event Center in October for its 13th season.

The Indy Fuel have named Christian Horn assistant coach beginning with the 2026-27 season, the team announced Wednesday.

Horn, 33, returns to the organization he briefly played for. The Plymouth, Minnesota, native appeared in five games with the Fuel during the 2019-20 season, recording a goal and an assist.

The former forward played in the ECHL from 2017 to 2021, suiting up for five teams in all. His last stop as a player was with the Utah Grizzlies from 2019 to 2021.

Horn moved behind the bench after retiring. He spent the 2022-23 season as an assistant coach with the Cardiff Devils of the Elite Ice Hockey League in Wales, where the club finished 29-14-6-5. He then returned to Utah as a Grizzlies assistant coach from 2023 to 2025.

“I am truly honored to be part of an organization such as the Indy Fuel. My time here as a player was short, but incredible,” Horn said in a statement released by the team. “To be part of an organization that prides itself on success and working with good people, it was a no brainer when the opportunity presented itself.”

Horn thanked Fuel head coach Jesse Messier and the team’s ownership, the Hallett family, adding a message to fans: “Let’s get things rolling.”

Before his ECHL career, Horn played for three teams in the Southern Professional Hockey League. He spent two seasons at St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York.

His hockey résumé began in Minnesota, where he captained the Benilde-St. Margaret’s high school team in 2012. He posted 58 points in 25 games that season and helped the school win a Minnesota state championship.

The Fuel, the ECHL affiliate of the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks, play their home games at the Fishers Event Center. The team relocated from Indianapolis to Fishers when the arena opened in 2024.