A Couple of My Favorite Things...to do in Indiana

Hi, I’m Brooke Deady, and I am a junior at Butler University in Indianapolis. I am originally from Fort Wayne, IN. I have family members who live in Carmel, Terre Haute, Warsaw, and Tipton, so I’ve definitely gotten my fair share of Indiana adventures. Living in Fort Wayne, there are plenty of things to do, from the Fort Wayne’s Children’s Zoo to Tin Caps baseball games to Komets hockey games, and while all of those activities have special places in my heart, there is one thing that trumps them all: The Indianapolis 500 here in Indianapolis.

I’ve been going to the 500 since I was about 11 or 12. My dad worked for several racing teams in the past, so I used to spend plenty of May’s at the track. I think it’s safe to say I know that place better than the back of my hand. If there is one thing I can tell anyone to do in Indiana, it’s to go to the Indy 500, at least once. The race is something completely unlike any other, and the track itself is one beautiful site to see. This past May I helped out my dad in his Turn Two suite with his tailgating business, running the Twitter account and transporting guests all over the track. This gave me the ability to see the track everyday before anyone else got there and after everyone left. All I can say about that experience is that the track is a sight to see 24/7. So if you haven’t been to the Indianapolis 500, or even the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, I suggest you go at least once in your lifetime to see the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”

Even though it’s not as prominent and well-known as the Indy 500, another favorite thing to go to around Indiana is the Tipton County Pork Festival. The festival is held during the first weekend in September every year, and it offers everything a small town festival should: rides for the kids, fried food galore, and the best pork tenderloins around from the local Elks club. The festival parade takes place on the Saturday of Pork Festival Weekend. The firetrucks, clowns, high school marching bands, and festival queens are all present, along with the Senior Citizens Prom King and Queen and the festival mascot, Pork Boy. I’ve been going to the Pork Festival since I was really little; my grandma lives in Tipton, and my mom grew up in Tipton and has been going to the festival since she was little as well. At a young age, the festival was all about winning prizes and riding rides. Now that I’m older, I look forward to the wonderful fried fair food that one is only guaranteed one season a year and FREE entertainment all day long. For a small town festival, the Pork Festival offers enough for everyone of all ages to enjoy and is the perfect way to wrap up the summer.

Both of these places/events mean a lot to me because I’ve been going since I was little. The one thing I love to do is bring friends along with me to experience them and get to know exactly why I love these things. So, if you have any experiences or events you like to go to every year or so, take a friend along and let them experience it too and get to know why you love it so much.