This is the start of Spark Fishers, with the final day containing a street fair at the Municipal Complex Saturday from 2-9pm.

As part of the street fair, the arts community in Fishers is coming together to provide an indoor opportunity for you to experience what local artists are creating, at the new City Hall/Art Center.

For more details on all the Spark Fishers activities, use this link.

The last regular job I had in radio broadcasting, and journalism, was with Network Indiana in 1983, using the name Larry Mitchell.  The same company owned WIRE, a long-successful AM country music station, and their FM station was WXTZ, a “beautiful music” operation.

The Network Indiana newsroom supplied news content to the statewide network, WIRE and WXTZ.  We anchored the newscasts for WIRE and the Network, but we only supplied news copy we had written to WXTZ.  Seems the management wanted the smooth-voiced announcers they had hired to work on the beautiful music station to read the news.

One of the WXTZ announcers was a young Dave Calabro.  I am not sure whether this was his first gig in broadcasting, but if not, it was one of his first.

You get to know a number of people in the broadcasting business when you work in it as I had for 14 years.  Let’s just say Dave was one of the nice guys and I always pulled for him to succeed in the business.

I had nothing to do with it, but Dave’s career took off.  I recall going to Richmond, Indiana on government business and watching Dave doing sports for a Dayton local TV news program.

It didn’t take long for Dave to return to Indianapolis and become a sports anchor at WTHR.  He also became part of the public address announcing team at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, something only a small number of people have ever done.  On 500 race day, and lots of other occasions at the world-famous race venue, you will hear Dave’s voice.

Just a few days ago, I learned of Dave Calabro’s retirement at the end of the calendar year.  He will continue to be the PA announcer at IMS, but his everyday job as a sports reporter will be coming to an end.

Congratulations to Dave Calabro on his retirement.  You certainly deserve this after many years of toiling in a very tough business, TV news & sports.

Another summer week is upon us and we have another road construction report for the Fishers area.  It should be mentioned that this listing includes not just Fishers city projects, but Hamilton County work and the huge INDOT I-69 & I-465 Clear Path construction.  You will also find Fishers planned sidewalk projects as part of this.

Be aware of some traffic issues in the area of downtown Fishers for the Spark Fishers Festival activities.

Below is the full report, as provided by the City of Fishers:

Continue reading Fishers-area road construction report – work week starting Monday, June 24 →

In the late 1960s, I was at a Cincinnati Reds baseball game at the old Crosley Field when Pete Rose made a fielding error.  Someone in the crowd yelled, “You Hoosier!”

That’s when I first realized the word “Hoosier” was not a compliment outside the state of Indiana.  So, are people living here proud to be Hoosier?

Skyler Braun, the man behind the local e-mail newsletter Fishers Digest, partnered with a market research company to ask people living in Fishers, are you proud to be a Hoosier?

It should not surprise you that 65% of respondents said yes, they are proud Hoosiers.  It also did not surprise me that 18% had no opinion and probably never even thought about it.

What was a bit surprising was the 17% that responded no, they are not proud to be a Hoosier.  Perhaps these are people originally from Ohio?

Skyler’s Fishers Digest is a free twice-weekly local Fishers newsletter with his own touch on local news.  You can sign-up for his newsletter at this link.

When you think about the Spark Fishers Festival, you think of 2 things you do not want…very hot temperatures or rain.  Let’s hope both stay away in 2024.

This year’s activities begin Monday, June 24 and wrap-up Saturday, June 29, with the parade and street fair.

Below you will find more details, as provided by the City of Fishers:

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No one filed to run for Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board on the last day to step forward and run.  The filing deadline was Thursday, June 20, at noon.

Here are the candidates for the HSE Board in the November general election, based on the online posting by the Hamilton County Election Office:

This will be an at-large election.  Every eligible voter residing within the HSE School District votes for one candidate in each of the township races.

I arrived at Conner Prairie at about 5:30pm for the Fishers Juneteenth celebration Wednesday.  The parking lots were already filling up.  I could tell the turnout exceeded last year.

As I left the grounds, the lady keeping track of the number of people walking through the gate had over 740 on her counter as of 6pm.  Juneteenth is becoming a popular gathering in Fishers.

The Future Black Leaders Club from Fishers High School once again was in charge of putting the Juneteenth celebration together again this year.  There were more booths and activities compared to 2023.

Juneteenth marks the end of slavery in America.  June 19, 1865 was the day the final notification was provided to slaves in Galveston, Texas that the Civil War was over and all were now free.  It is a federal holiday.

In my walk around the grounds, all were having a very good time.

Below are more photos from the 2024 Fishers Juneteenth event:

Continue reading Biggest crowd yet for 2024 Fishers Juneteenth celebration →

As we grow closer to the filing deadline for Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board another candidate has thrown his hat in the ring.  Greg Lannan, a local Republican Party supporter in the past, and currently serving on the Fishers Board of Zoning Appeals, has announced he will run as an at-large candidate in Delaware Township.  He made the announcement in a Facebook post Wednesday morning.

Lannan and his wife Megan have recently become parents and “my wife and I are proud to raising our son in the community that has given us so many incredible opportunities.”  He says he is running to support students, parents and teachers.

Lannan currently works as a director of business development and marketing for a local firm.  He cites parental involvement, educational transparency, sound fiscal management and helping students excel academically as centerpieces of his campaign.

Greg Lannan was born and raised in Fishers and is a 2009 graduate of Fishers High School.

In this at-large election, voters choose from candidates running within their township, but all voters cast ballots in each township race.  The deadline to file as a school board candidate is Thursday, noon,  June 20th.

As of 11:15am June 19, here is the list of candidates officially filing for HSE School Board in this year’s election:

Delaware Township

Greg Lannan

Latrica A Schooley

Fall Creek Township

Suzanne Thomas

Terry Tolle

Wayne Township 

Sarah E. Parks-Reese

John F. Stewart

(NOTE:  Greg Lannan & I share the same last name.  We had lunch a few years ago and determined we are related as distant cousins, but did not know each other until a few years ago)  

I have never met Willie Mays, but I do have a story.

In one of the last seasons the Reds played their games at the old Crosley Field, in the late 1960s, my friend Jack Mitchell and I drove down from Indy area to see a Reds game.

There was an empty seat next to us and a very drunk teenager, I would guess about 17, sat next to us.  He insisted that he would shake Willie Mays’ hand before the night was done.  We smiled, said, yeah, right, and he left.

Two innings later, we saw someone running out on the field.  Yes, it was that same drunk teen that sat next to us.  The San Francisco Giants were in the field, and Mays was in his usual position of Center Field.

As you might imagine, Reds security was running in pursuit, but behind the teen, who got to Mays.  At first, Mays wanted nothing to do with this kid and began to walk away.  But the boy pleaded with Mays for a handshake.  Mays saw the teen was about to be arrested anyway, so Mays extended his hand, shook the hand of the clearly inebriated kid, just before security tackled him and escorted him off the field.

I felt lucky just to see Willie Mays play in person.  He was one of a kind, a tremendous baseball talent.

Willie Mays has died at the age of 93.  No other player in the history of the game could hit, field and run the bases like Mays.  He was the full package.

If there is baseball in heaven, Willie Mays is the starting Center Fielder, hands down, the best there ever was.

Over 300 people had lunch together Tuesday at the Noblesville Embassy Suites Conference Center, bringing together those involved with the Hamilton County Leadership Academy (HCLA), past and present.  Andrea Davis of HAND Inc. received the Distinguished Alumni Award.  Brenda Myers of Hamilton County Tourism was the recipient of the Honorary Alumni Award.

However, the main draw for this event was a panel of 4 Hamilton County mayors:  Scott Fadness of Fishers, Chris Jensen of Noblesville, Sue Finkam of Carmel and Scott Willis from Westfield.  Fadness joked that when he began going to events such as this, he was the young, less experienced mayor…Tuesday, he had the most experience of anyone on that panel.  Terry Anker, HCLA Dean of the 2014 class, moderated the discussion.

Much of the back-and-forth centered on economic development and the contours of rules over competition.  The Central Indiana Regional Development Authority (CIRDA) is led by Scott Fadness, and the other mayors admitted there was some suspicion Fadness would favor Fishers in any CIRDA endeavors.  Those fears are long gone.  The mayors realize Central Indiana is competing among areas around the nation and the world to land economic development projects.  Once a prospect has selected Central Indiana as a destination, then there is competition among the many communities in the area.  All the mayors want more flexibility and more funding from the state.

There was also talk about management styles, work-life balance,  along with listening to the voices of their own staff and their local communities.

If there was anything negative about the event, many told me they expected more humor, but there were a few guffaws during the panel discussion.