City Announces Spark!Fishers As New Fourth of July Celebration

Inaugural Celebration Kicks Off June 29-30 With 5K, Street Fair, Fireworks & More

Writer: Josh Brown

Back in November, the City of Fishers announced it would no longer be funding the Fishers Freedom Festival after 29 years of hosting the annual Fourth of July celebration. The question for most residents quickly became: What now?

This morning the city officially announced its answer — Spark!Fishers.

The new Fourth of July celebration will kick off the weekend of June 29-30 with plenty of events lined up. The celebration will rock out June 29 with a concert (artists to be determined) at the Nickel Plate Amphitheater. Saturday, June 30, will be jam-packed full of events beginning with a 5K at 8 a.m. followed by a street fair tentatively scheduled for 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. The street fair is sure to be a big hit with plenty of local artists, beer & wine, food and carnival style games and rides for the kids.

“We are celebrating and respecting the past but also having the interest and excitement around the future,” says Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness. Culinary experiences are a big deal with Fishers residents, and with this street fair we are also trying to reach for some unique culinary experiences that reflect local Fishers businesses. We will try hard to recruit those types of experiences for the fair.”

Spark!Fishers will also host a city-wide parade Saturday evening at 7 p.m. with Fishers-themed lights and floats for family and friends to enjoy. Grandstands will be added for the parade, too. The evening will conclude at 10 p.m with a fireworks show, where the community will be able to watch from the parade location.

“The committee really looked and decided that having a Friday night concert and Saturday with plenty of events makes sense,” Fadness says. “Sunday night, with having to go back to work Monday, is one of those nights that people are getting prepped for the next day. We really want to build this event around our community. Doing it on a weekend is an idea that quickly surfaced among the committee members.”

Despite June 30 being the bulk of the festivities, plenty of other events are tentatively slated for July 1-4 as well. If bad weather is headed for the city on June 30, Sunday, July 1, will likely serve as a makeup day for the parade and fireworks. Saxony may also be getting a Tuesday night concert on July 3, including its own fireworks show. The Fourth will culminate with the annual Geist Blast on the Bridge, which will be different than in past years as details of this year’s Blast continue to be discussed.

Volunteer efforts, as in previous years, will also be an integral part of making Spark!Fishers successful this summer.

I’ve been here 27 years and have seen that Fishers has amazing volunteers,” says former S.P.O.R.T.S. executive director and Spark!Fishers committee member, Lynda Carlino. “What always amazes me is our volunteers’ passion. The volunteers here are the ones that, once you give them a task, they love Fishers and want to do it and do it well.”

To put on a festival and not have the community be a part of it would be a miss,” Fadness adds. “What we really wanted to do was open up our doors and engage as many residents as we can on the planning stage, which we’ve done. We really want to make this about the community.”

For more information, be sure to watch our Facebook video of the announcement up above or find the link here. You can also visit Spark!Fishers online at sparkfishers.com for more details on the upcoming festivities and how to volunteer.

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