What happens here in May has an opportunity to be relevant and have meaning for everyone. One of the biggest half marathon races in the entire country. It's enrich lives, create positive community impact, celebrate the Indy 500. That's what we're here to do. What's the vibe like as the last person comes across the finish line? From South Bend to Evansville and everywhere in between, this is Get In.
The show focused on the Hoosier state and the incredible stories happening here today. I'm Nate Spangle, founder of Get Indiana, and I will be your host for today's conversation. All right, folks, Mother's Day is around the corner and I'm going to help you get prepared. Ditch the Amazon or Target candle and get Mom something from Warm Glow Candle Company. They're based out of Centerville, Indiana, and they make some of the best candles I have ever smelled. They have made my house smell unreal.
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As president and CEO, he's grown the festival to 30-plus events and programs drawing over 500,000 participants and fueling Indiana's culture and economy. With a background in marketing and events, Bob keeps the festival in the fast lane making every May unforgettable. So, today we're going to be talking about a little bit of the history and where 500 Festival fits into the spectacle that is the Indy 500 in the month of May here in Indianapolis. Uh we're going to get behind the scenes details on hosting the mini marathon and just how big of an impact that makes nationally and uh internationally. And finally, we'll round out talking about the economic impact and the future of the 500 Festival. Bob, welcome to Get In.
Thank you so much. Good to be here. Man, I am excited for this one. As anyone knows, uh I know our our repeat listeners know that we love the Indy 500 around here. Uh obviously, it's a staple throughout the entire state of Indiana, specifically Indianapolis Speedway. All things Indy 500 we're about.
And I've always known of the 500 Festival. I've heard it a lot, but I've never really known what exactly is, how it got started, where it plays into this into the whole landscape. So, could you start there? Like, where did this originate from and and why does 500 Festival exist? Yeah, absolutely. And you're not alone in that.
I think a lot of people just uh what the 500 Festival does versus what the Indy 500 and Indianapolis Motor Speedway does, it's a part of the cultural fabric of Indiana. So, I don't think we take it for granted. I think we're just all in, right? So, you know, we're just excited for the lead-up to the month of May and participating in all those things that are relevant to us and it's unique that the 500 Festival actually started back in 1957. Uh so, a group of community leaders said, "Hey, we're this this race, this Indy 500 thing, is growing like crazy. We're becoming known for that, not just, you know, within the state, but nationally and now internationally.
And we want to kind of think about what is what would the focus on community be? Like, what what should we be taking advantage of as this thing is growing, you know, right in the middle, you know, of of our community? And so, there were some discussions with the Hulman George family back then and they said, "You know what? Go for it." Like, they they were all in for So, the Hulman George family said to the community leaders, "We would fully support if you want to create something that's a community-led X, right? What is that going to be?"
So, the 500 Festival is not put on nor was it started by the people within the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. That's correct. It was the community going to them saying, "Hey, could we do some things within the community? Could we look at the the impact, whether it's financially or culturally or otherwise, and how do we leverage being the home of the Indy 500?" And the Hulman George family was very into that. They said, "Absolutely.
We love that idea. Our focus is on the track. We're adding seats every year. The event's growing. We're adding different events like, you know, we're we're in fact in that in that time, a lot of the family was based in Terre Haute, so they were like, "Yeah, absolutely, you know, go for it." And so, those community leaders happened to go down to the Kentucky Derby and three of them were at the Kentucky Derby and the Kentucky Derby had a parade.
They were at that and they found some community leaders in in Louisville and they said, "What what is this?" And they said, "Oh, we started this thing this year called the Kentucky Derby Festival." And that's when sort of competitively they said, "Okay, we we got to get going." Like, you know, we we don't we don't we want to be competitive here. Well, yeah, you think 2 hours down the road or whatever, it's like this other race that's internationally known uh is also going on and like, how are you innovating to bring people to see horsepower not horses? Yeah.
So, they came back and and immediately created a nonprofit community organization called the 500 Festival. Um and both organizations have kind of grown simultaneously and interestingly do a lot of the same things and that they're the only ones in the country. So, between the Kentucky Derby, the Indy 500, they're the only two events that have been around obviously that long that are that significant for those local communities that they're that they're in every year and have these nonprofit community organizations who've been given really the license, been given the right to say, "Use the marks. You know, you go for it." Which is I mean, hard to do, right? Like, they don't just give out the Indy 500, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, IndyCar, like, they don't give those logos to anyone.
Yeah, absolutely. And I think it's a testament to how this community comes together and how they understand that event beyond the race itself. You know, what else does it mean to us? So, what did it start as? So, they come back, they start this nonprofit and like a carnival, like an actual festival? The first thing was a parade.
Okay. Yeah. So, what is now the AES 500 Festival Parade was created. Um first they had to, you know, create bylaws and and create an organization and in that, they they determined that they wanted to have 33 board directors because there's 33 drivers in the race. And in that parade, each board director would drive one of the drivers down the parade route. So, that started the tradition that everybody in the that was competing in the race would be in the in the parade uh downtown.
And and so, that would that would be a way to sort of kick off uh the weekend of the Indy 500. So, they started with a parade and then they had a governor's ball, um which is which eventually became kind of off the grid or snake pit ball or sort of a a big party the night before the the race. Um they created a mayor's breakfast, a princess program, um just a variety of events. over the course of how many years? Like, cuz I know there's uh Oh man, you have the princess pro What's it called? Is it still called that?
Yeah. The 500 Festival Princess Program. Princess Program. I know I've heard of all these events. Like, that's over the course of 5 years, 10 years, 20 years? They were pretty fast.
So, I mean, in terms of first the parade, the response was amazing. Um So, like, do people just like Huge turnout. Huge turnout. Um they even created some fun traditions where uh they wanted to make sure every year that the drivers would be in the parade and they didn't want anybody to hold out on that. And so, they even created a fund um that became kind of like the the prize lap fund, but they created a fund that and and the Hulman George family at the time were were fine with us that uh basically, if you weren't in the 500 Festival Parade, you would not get those funds. Um in fact, A.
J. Foyt told me uh the first time I met him, somebody said, "Oh, this is the festival guy." And and A. J. said, "Oh, he goes, you guys stole you guys took my money." And I was like, I have no idea what he was talking about.
And he said, "So, one year he wasn't feeling good and he did not go to the parade and so, he did not get the prize lap money." And it was probably like 300 bucks at the time. But he remembered that he didn't get his money cuz he didn't go in the parade. And then he said, "That's he and he kind of jokingly said, 'I learned my lesson. I'll never miss a parade after that.'" And he said, "But you still have my money."
Well, yeah, that's that's pretty funny. Well, and it's just like part of the spectacle, right? It's like the drivers buy into the fact that they're not bigger than the spectacle that is May in Indianapolis, right? It's like no one driver, whether A. J. Foyt or Will Power or whoever it is, like, they're in on doing this stuff.
I I hope. I think. It makes They're always in. Oh, without a doubt. You know, and it started with So, when Roger Penske bought IMS, When was that? It was the year of that we couldn't have the race.
It was his first year. So, that was what, 2019? Uh 2020 when go going into going into the pandemic. November 4th, 2019. Yeah. Yeah, so his first year was pandemic year.
So, you can imagine how frustrating and challenging cuz he'd spent so much money on the track and making things better and he wanted to showcase it to everyone. But the bottom line is, you know, Roger had been in the parade. He was aware of the parade and he knew it was a part of the tradition of the race itself. And that let me know that that's not just how he felt, but but all the drivers throughout the history and the current drivers and team owners, they all view it that way. That there were there are a few things that we do that are really just that's a part of the traditions of the race itself. Well, and and one of those traditions that came along uh maybe 20 years after it started was the mini marathon.
So, that came out in the '70s. Uh so, late 1970s. And here's the story. Uh Jim Morris was with uh Bill McGowan who was head of sort of what is now Visit Indy. They went to see Larry Bird play at Indiana State. And they went to a basketball game in Terre Haute and on the drive back, they started talking about how do we literally connect downtown to the track with an event?
And they were they they're they're not runners. They were like they're they're like, "We could do a bike race." And they went, "Well, there's the Little 5 and they'll think we're trying to, you know, we're kind of taking stealing something from IU." And then, you know, could we walk? Could we this? And then they said, "Well, what if I think running is starting to be a thing.
Maybe we could run from downtown to the track. And so this idea was born. Um the first year it was done, the 500 Festival at the time said, "We don't want to take that on." So it was actually they they they produced it on their own and created uh what is now, you know, the IU Health 500 Festival Mini Marathon. So Jim Morris and who was the other guy? Bill McGowan.
Bill McGowan. Yeah. On their own said, "We need this." They were They were Were they board members with the 500 Festival or not? Um I don't know if they had they have in in the past they were. I don't know if they were at that particular time, but we this needs to exist, so we're going to do it."
Yeah. Yeah, and so they they got with what is now the the earlier version of what is now USA Track and Field. They got together with them and they started to say, "Well, what's the distance?" because they ran from the circle and they actually finished at the Yard of Bricks at the track. So the race used to start at the circle and finish at the track at the same finish line the drivers cross and Um so anyway, they they hatched the idea. We might have been one of the first.
We're certainly in a in a small handful of one of the first to do a half marathon. And that's just cuz that's the distance they could work out. So instead of a full marathon, it was a half marathon and they called it the mini. Anyway, so they launched that. Frank Shorter, who had just coming off his second Olympic medal in the marathon, hears about it and thought it would in in to in his words he's like, "I just thought it'd be really cool to finish at the finish line of the Indy 500." And so he signed up for it.
And once he did, people found out about it in the running community in its early days then Frank Shorter was, you know, a a hero to that that whole movement. And so it went from a few hundred people to almost a thousand people in that first one really just cuz Frank Shorter said he was coming. Wait, like the first ever Indianapolis 500 Mini Marathon had a thousand people in it? Yeah, I think it was somewhere around seven or eight hundred maybe. Yeah. Holy smokes.
So So So Frank signs up. He runs my one of my favorite pictures you'll see Frank crossing the the Yard of Bricks. Chris Schenkel, the old um sports anchor, uh is there. The old-fashioned cameras are there on a tripod tripod. He's He's crossing the finish line and you see the entire front stretch behind him. There's not another runner in sight.
So there was no It was like Frank finished it in like an hour and four minutes, which to this day could could potentially win the mini. Like that's how fast he was then and it's still, you know, would be a really fast time now. Um so an hour and a four minutes, I don't know what second place was, but I'm my bet it was a half an hour behind him, but half an hour? So it's just him, you know, crossing the finish line, but that really started a tradition um that that really um the mini marathon has become and since those days it's been a very significant run in the running community and a very significant part of even launching the idea of doing a half marathon versus a full. And we're going to have to find that like iconic picture I might have one here in this this book. Oh, okay.
Uh well, I'm excited. And we're going to dive into that book a little later in the in the episode or actually we're going to dive into this whole basket. For those watching at home, there's an awesome basket here on the table that we're going to dive into. When people in Indy think of the mini marathon, it's just I won't say it's just, but it's like a huge event, but it's like you know, it's just like it's just what happens, you know, there is this mini marathon and it leads us gets us kicks off the month of May, gets us excited for the Indy 500. But I didn't realize the significance of that in running in the running community across the world, across the country. Like this is the biggest or one of the biggest half marathon races in the entire country.
It's It's one of the most significant runs really in the world in the in the scheme of of organized, you know, distance runs uh that the public can participate in. How many people participate in the Indy Mini every year? So we're we're over 20,000. So we've been in the 20 to 30,000 range, you know, for for decades now. What's the most that have ever run in a single year? it it reached almost 38,000 registrations.
38,000? Yeah. Was it just pandemonium? It was It wound up being a hot day. I wasn't here, but but the the history I know is that it was a hot day. We had more turn turn people turning out than usual.
So sometimes back in those days the mini would sell out before December. And then people would would sort of black market sell their bib numbers and their entries and stuff if they find out, you know, later in the year that they couldn't make it or they couldn't run in May. We would have a no-show rate where from registration to to people who would, you know, show up at the start line, it maybe was 80% would show up. So we had about a 20% no-show rate. But that year everybody showed up. So it was kind of like, "Uh-oh, not only did we really sell a lot of registrations, but you know, everybody showed up to run."
So there was some congestion at the start, at the finish. Um and that was I think that set us up to to where we are today, which is we don't really have a goal of being the biggest half marathon in the country. We have a goal of being one of the best half marathons in the country, which is something an accolade that we've been able to achieve. The last couple of years USA Today has named IU Health 500 Festival Mini Marathon as the best marathon in America. Um we're we're in the running right now. You can vote You can vote right now for another couple of weeks.
You can vote it cuz so is Monumental. Monumental's up for the full marathon. Are you guys up for the just marathon in general or half marathon? Half marathon and the 5K. So we've also we have a 5K now at the start of the mini and that's also been named the best in America. And and there's a secret Easter egg that if you do the 5K and you do the mini, you get a special medal, like a third medal, right?
we have we have a medal if you do the whole all the milers series. We do a three, six, and ten-mile run and February, March, and April leading up. Um Oh shoot, I already missed it. Well, the ten-miler's coming up. You can do the ten-miler. Um and then if you then do the 5K and then after you finish the 5K get back in the corrals and then do a half marathon.
Uh so we've got a mega mini, a mini maniac. We've got all these fun different challenges A mega mini, a mini maniac. That's sweet. extra medals, extra swag. Do you guys do like a um track like how many years someone has run in a row? We sure do.
We're We're down to we I think we we don't know yet for this year, but I think last year we were down to six people. Uh it must be six guys who have run every mini since 1979. No way. There's six of them that have run every the alumni club um and they're they're a part of our committee meetings and every year we're keeping up with them to to How old are they? we can We've got some in their 80s now. There's 80-year-olds that have been They're Oh my gosh.
Good for those guys. their streak, you know, that they're com we're coming up on the 50th. Or what When did it start? 70 I think it was 77 was the first and then I think 79's when the festival took it over. So it'll be it'll be the 50th in a in a year or so, but 77 to 20 Right. To 2027 will be 50 years.
That's nuts. Yeah. They There's six guys These guys got to hold on for a few more years. on. I will I will tell you I'll tell you quick story. I had one year um a guy named Gene Lausch who had been in that alumni club.
It's Valentine's Day. He took his wife downtown for uh the symphony for for Valentine's and he got hit by a car. And broke his hip, hospitalized. Obviously, you know, tragic tragic accident. Um he's trying to recover from it and his doctors were telling him, you know, that he needed to actually slow down some of his rehab and uh at his age he needed to really be be kind of careful and thoughtful about it and he said, "Well, the mini's in May and I got to keep my streak alive. Like I've I've done, you know, 40 of the I can't miss the mini."
And they were like, "We don't You can't do the mini. Like you're not going to be able to go 13 miles, you know, based on the injury." I didn't know any of this was going on, but but somebody reached out to me. Um he had been a volunteer uh track and field running coach at a small school locally and and the the principal of that school called me and said, "I don't know if you know one of your alumni runners, this guy named Gene Lausch. He's not going to be able to make it and he's really complete in a complete state of depression over it. He just he can't he can't believe, you know, he it has just totally affected everything about him and I don't know what we can do."
And I said, "Well, let me think let me get back to you." And I went went to Glenn Amos who's our race director and to our marketing team and I said, "You know, we have push rim and wheelchair and, you know, we have other participants and we have people that um and I said, 'Don't they get a time and a medal, too?'" And they said, "Yeah." So they they're they're registered as well. They get a they get a bib and a medal and a shirt and someone pushes them across the finish line. So anyway, I called him back and I said, "Hey, if somebody pushes him, he's still a finisher.
The streak stays alive cuz he's still a participant." And I said, "Maybe it'd be an opportunity for all those kids he's coached to form a team and actually push him. So the coach that's helped all these years all these young people get into running, they can actually turn out and and support him and get him across the finish line and the streak stays alive." And I said, "Just think about what that would mean to them. So not just Gene, but what would it mean to a group, you know, of young people to feel like they're they're able to accomplish this, you know, with him and for him." And so it got we kind kind of got emotional thinking about it and he said, "You know what?"
He said, "Would you Would you tell He cuz I think if I tell Gene this, he's going to say that doesn't count. It's not official. I don't want to do it." He said, "But if you explain it to him, I think maybe you can get him to do it." So I called him. I'd never met him before and I said, "Gene, here's the deal.
This this we've we're going to have a dozen people that are finishers that someone is pushing across the finish line that are that are wheelchair bound. You know, I said, "We've got people who create all kinds of interesting contraptions to like if somebody has to be in a prone state or whatever and like and I said, 'So you would you would be a finisher. You're officially registered. You have a finish time. You get the medal.' And I said, 'But think about what it would mean to those who could help you do that.'"
And do you really want to you know, keep keep that opportunity alive? going to get in front of Yeah, like this opportunity to keeping your streak alive? Yeah. So he said he said, I'm in and let's do it. And we had it was only a week from the mini. So it was like we we found somebody who had for years for a couple of years they had created a contraption if you will a wheeled kind of kind of like a a racing wheelchair almost to push for their mom who'd had a terminal cancer.
And so they had run two minis with her before she passed away and they had said we don't know what to do with this thing but if you ever have someone else that needs something like it and our registration person had remembered that and called him and they said we still have it in the garage. And so they delivered it it was all pink. Yeah, so it was it was in mom's honor like so the whole thing was all pink. So anyway, they get that together and now I'm I'm just doing you know what I do every May and a million things going on. I was walking to the start line of the mini down the sidewalk and obviously 25,000 people starting to corral up and all that. We have WTHR does the broadcast.
The the booth is set up. I think we've got Mayor Hogsett coming in to do his interview. We've got Doug Boles coming in for his and and as I'm rushing to get to that start line area I see this pink wheelchair. So I've never met Jean in person. And I look at him and he looks at me and and I said Jean and he looks at me and he says Bob. And he starts crying and I'm like I can't I'm like I can't I can't go there.
Like I you know, the reason I tell that story those there are hundreds of those stories going on every month of the May. There's stories that are out at IMS. There's stories related to the 500 but all the things whether it's the parade the mini kids day all the different things that the festival's doing. It's almost like a platform for these almost specifically Hoosier community stories to be told. I mean when you see the finish line of the mini marathon there's people getting down on their knees. There's people proposing.
I mean there's going to be four or five proposals every year that happen at the finish line. You said that's old hat by now. Yeah, what happens here in May has an opportunity to be relevant and have meaning for everyone. And you kind of pick your part. You know, like not everybody wants to you know run the mini. Not everybody wants to you know see the parade.
Maybe you know they don't they're they're maybe not as into auto racing or whatever. There's something for everyone and I think that story just to me was like that there's just there's dozens of those every year where something is playing out. Sometimes we're a part of them we know and other times we don't even know what's going on. But for me to see Jean and know that he was able to continue his streak and then to see the young people that were there to push him and trade off and like be a whole group that was going to finish together with him. I mean when we can do that that really describes what what we feel is our mission within the festival. It's very broad.
It's enrich lives, create positive community impact, celebrate the Indy 500 or in some cases leverage the value of the Indy 500 for those enrichment and and improvement goals. That's how we feel like that's what we're here to do is to create those opportunities. And you talk about like like a lot of people want to run a mini marathon run want to run and I even got it's not called a mini marathon. It's called a half marathon. But because the mini's brand is so strong in Indiana people say oh you're running a mini marathon. If you went to a running community in Oregon and you said oh I'm running a mini marathon I'm sure they would look at you and be like what the heck is this guy talking about?
They're called half marathons. So like but because your eyes are brand is so strong that's what we call it around here. And I would say it's like the perfect amount of time for a a New Year's resolution. Four months it's like the first weekend in in May usually, right? Mhm. You have four months to train and get yourself ready and and it's a lot of people hit their New Year's resolution in May at the the mini marathon which is awesome.
And it's great cuz then Monumental's in the fall. So like I I run a decent amount. So it's nice it's like you could go from one year build up do the mini build up again do the Monumental and and you've already done a marathon in a year. Uh the other piece though you talk about emotional parts of the of the mini. For anyone that hasn't run it there's a very very special mile or a special stretch down when you're inside the track. I think it's called the golden mile.
The gold mile. The gold mile. Yeah. Every year without fail I've ran the mini five times four times something like that. And it makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up every time that we go through it and it's this wall of I don't know the exact number but it is fallen veterans of Indiana all the way back to like World War II I think is the earliest maybe to Iraq and and people's families will go out there and stand by mom or dad's sign and it says you know their name and dates and all and it is it's emotional. I I ran one of my actually I ran my fastest ever half marathon the first time I ever ran the mini.
And the mini is not known for being a fast race because it is so packed but like throughout it I just kept getting these glimpses of like I have to keep pushing. You know, maybe at mile like five one of the the wheelchair athletes had fallen back and was there pushing because like if you don't have a specialized wheelchair it's really hard to do a race. And there was this lady and I remember seeing her and I was like if she can do this like I can keep doing this. And then I got to the gold mile and I saw this line of veterans and I was like man like I'm out here running a race and like those Hoosiers have like paid the ultimate sacrifice like and I like I it was emotional. And then you go through that mile and I came out and I remember it was like mile like eight or nine and I'm like dying. I'm like this is my first time ever running a half marathon this stinks.
And I saw a guy out in front of me running on a prosthetic leg and he had like a veteran's shirt on and I was like man if that guy can do this like he's already like like oh my gosh I have to keep going. Like I can't stop and it was just a crazy emotional experience like the wildest first race ever and I say to everyone like you need you need to run the mini every year. Like it is a piece of not even running culture just Hoosier culture. And you need to experience the gold mile and you need to like look at those names and see those families and whether it's little kids or it is it is a very very impactful stretch of that race. Yeah. So yeah, definitely it's it's not a one-time bucket list it's an annual bucket list, right?
So if you can do it every year that's great. The Miler series helps in your training process if if you need that help. So the gold mile came out of the we also produce what is now called the American Legion 500 Festival memorial service. Everything's got something everything's got some tire sort of sponsor type. The AES this that and the other thing. and yeah speaking of sponsorship be you know, we are a nonprofit.
So we raise all of the funds for all of the events that we're producing and all the programs we're producing every year. We also have a 500 Festival Foundation that's alongside of us. We're we're both you know, the festivals and Wait, there's a 500 Festival Foundation? There's a foundation that helps to support you know, specific elements of what the festival's doing. They're both nonprofits. So 500 Festival's a I mean it takes a lot of people to put on all the things.
Where where is besides putting on events you know, like paying the staff to make this organization run where is the where is like the fundraising money going towards? Yeah, obviously you've got you've got staff. You have 3,000 volunteers. You have the costs of security of setup teardown of start finish lines of bleachers for the parades of you know, just the myriad myriad And like a lot of things that people don't think about like those those bleachers don't just like get down there on the streets of Indianapolis like a day or two early like that costs money. Yeah, for what we do your your it's going to cost over $6 million every year to produce the events and programs that we produce. There's a whole another side of what we do on the programming side where we have an education program that's been around for very long time.
We just hit a milestone of half a million fourth graders have gone through the 500 Festival education program. So that's a fourth grade curriculum that we produce and provide to schools and then we do mobile trips where we actually go out to those schools around the state and then we produce 10 to 12 days of study trips at the track itself in April and May. This episode is brought to you by our friends at Roots Realty Co. The absolute best real estate team here in central Indiana. Listen, if you're looking to buy sell or invest in real estate you need people who actually care about our Indiana community. That's Tyler and Max over at Roots Realty.
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What are you training fourth graders? Like what's the curriculum? the that's the Indiana state curriculum year for fourth grade. Yeah, you do Indiana history in fourth grade. I remember that. Yeah.
it's got elements of history but it's also got math science English. We just use the the Indy 500 and the festival as kind of the creative backdrop for those those lessons. So it's actually a a fourth grade curriculum that just sort of localizes it um to to Indiana. So you talk about all sorts of Indiana history or 500 stuff? the state curriculum standards but again you're just so you might do on the math section you might talk about hey if it costs a thousand dollars to run a car around you know, the Indy 500 and tires cost 50 a piece and this costs that then how much would you need to get you know, how much would you need for the logo on the car in order to compete or I know it doesn't cost a thousand, but Yeah, I was just saying Yeah. I wish it cost Add add zeros, so I'd have I'd have a car in there every year if it was a thousand bucks.
add zeros, so. But it's a part of like using that creatively to just teach the normal curriculum standards. Well, one another way you guys fundraise that's really easy for anyone. And this is not uh we're not doing like a Oh my god, like give us all your money. Like you know, you have to sponsor the 500 Festival. One thing I do is I have the license plate on my truck.
So, I have I there's this whole uh alter ego that of the truck, we call it the rig, that we bought on Facebook Marketplace. We flipped it and we were the first truck in the infield uh from the north gate of the Indy 500. It was insanely amazing. And I was like going through and I was picking up and I what I didn't realize is all of those license plates, there's like colleges, there's this, that, and the other. But you can't just like choose the Indianapolis 500. Like I don't think there is a just an Indy 5 or an Indianapolis Motor Speedway license plate.
Correct. If you're If you're into that, it's the 500 Festival or the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum. Yes, the museum. So, it's because you have to be a 501c3 or some type of charitable organization. And I was in there picking and I was like Do I like the I'm like I like nothing wrong with the museum. The museum's a great place.
They just did a huge renovation. They're opening up. It's going to be like one of the It's going to be a staple of of Indiana culture very soon. Yeah. I wasn't on the museum side. I was like I want the mini.
And I know a little bit about the 500. I'm like the logo is kind of No offense to the museum, a little bit cooler. So, I picked the 500 Festival license plate. And I mean I I I'm assuming a portion of that goes back to you guys. Absolutely. Yeah.
Yeah, it's it's I think it's $35 every time you register. So, when you get the plate with the Annual subscription. There we go. Yeah. So, it was Yeah, I you know, it's the only license plate that has a race car on it. So, there's some there's some people that have an affinity either for the Indy 500, for the festival, or even just for racing in general and and it's I think it's a very cool looking plate.
Um so, yeah, we we um that that's a a fundraiser for us certainly, just like it is for those alumni organizations and the museum and others, but um but it is it's fun to show your sort of pride in in the month of May and in what goes on. I want to I'm going to get back just real quick to the memorial service. So, the memorial service that we produce is one of the most revered, most significant memorial services in the country. Um we will work with the Indiana National Guard and we will have a typically a ranking four-star general who is a part of the uh the cabinet, the president's cabinet. So, it's usually one of the most senior military officials in the country that comes in to be the guest speaker for that. It's a a full sort of you know, military protocol memorial service.
But prior to that, we do a Gold Star Ceremony. So, we're sort of the official ceremony for the state's Gold Star uh service. So, if we've If someone's been lost in active duty um that is a Hoosier, um we work with the governor's office where the governor is presenting that Gold Star and that flag to that family prior to our memorial service. So, we have a we have a private Gold Star Ceremony before the public memorial service. It was out of that relationship with Survivor Outreach and Gold Star families that we said what else can we do to come alongside you? And they said, "Well, actually, there's a couple of things.
One is the parade." And so, we created opportunities for those families to to participate in the parade. And then the other one was on the mini-marathon. And that they really were the the catalyst for us to create that Gold Mile on the track. The first year we did it, we actually have a booth for Gold Star families that's at at the expo before the mini for packet pickup and all that. Um and you come to the expo and there's a booth.
In the first year they did it, we had bibs that were pre-printed with the names of fallen heroes. So, you could In addition to your bib, you could actually run for a a Hoosier hero. There were parents basically working that booth. And as people came up, I think it was 3,000 bibs just went like in the in the first day of the expo. So, we we didn't have any more pre-printed bibs. And there was one of the dads who'd lost a son uh 2 years prior actually pulled up on his phone and and researched Hoosier heroes all the way back to like the Civil War.
And he was had Sharpies and he was writing names and telling people who they'd be running for. Um and so, we just continued to increase that program and then and allow them presence as well out at the track itself. And again, it just it became this moving moment, but it was really just back to us leaning into that enrich lives, positive community impact part of our mission and say, you know, how deep can we do that or how wide can we do that? And it and and it created now what is I think very unique to what was already a unique half marathon, you know, globally to partner with them and provide them another opportunity to celebrate a fallen hero. No one prepped me for that when I was out there. Like after the And you you get inside the Speedway and you're like, "Oh, this is so sick."
You know, there's like and you have some cheerleading teams in there and all this stuff. And then you get to the Gold Mile and it's like man, this is real. And it's like the opposite side of where the bricks are, right? So, it's like you kind of go through this yeah. You go through this moment of like for me it was like self-reflection and a gratitude of again, these fallen Hoosier heroes. And I was like I got to like turn three and I'm like, "Man, uh I'm I'm really lucky.
I'm really blessed." And it's like in a month I'm going to be over in here in turn three. Like, you know, drinking beer and hanging out with my buddies because of the sacrifice that all these men and women have made. It It was It was a very moving. And then you got to like sober up a little bit as you come through, get through turn four. You know, you're running on the track and then you get to the bricks and it's like, "Oh, it's it's it's fun again."
And and it's like but having that moment of let's say, you know, it's a half mile or whatever that stretch is. It's it's really good like you feel a lot of emotion throughout the uh throughout the 500, which I'm just very very grateful for. runs are are emotional, you know? They they are whether you're walking or running. It's like it's emotional for you and it's a personal thing. It's not you know, we don't have uh 20,000 people trying to win the mini.
We have 20,000 people trying to finish, right? Trying to and and challenge themselves. Um and so, when you add you know, the 50 plus forms of entertainment along the route and then you add the Gold Mile and then you got to you know, get to kiss the bricks and your your emotions are just going through a ton. And then you hit that finish line and and that's why it's such a kind of an overwhelming experience, but one that's that's very localized to us, too. What's been the newest So, so I know that at first and I kind of preface this in the in the intro, it's just like a festival hyping up the month of May. But over the years, it's expanded to 12 months of programming, right?
Like what are the other things and initiatives you guys have going on? Like you talked about the what the 610 The Miler Series. Series as well as the educational portion of it. What other stuff do you guys have going on? We've always been about trying to leverage the value of the Indy 500. Like what what else can we do?
So, I mean and I could go on about the Breakfast at the Brickyard where we've got mayors from the over you know, we have 80 mayors from all over the state of Indiana that convene for a for a program that we produce on qualifying day. Um and we've talked about you know, we've had over a million Hoosiers have run the mini at least once. I mean, those shared experiences, right? But I think the other thing we did is say we we've always been based on how to leverage the the value of the Indy 500, but now, you know, going into our 68th year um as a festival, we also have things to leverage that we've created like the mini-marathon. So, it was like, "Okay, how do we how do we take seriously even those things and what are some extensions for those?" So, I think one of our biggest growth has been in our youth health and fitness arena.
So, we have a Kids' Day on the Circle that we've had for many years that's a free event, but we've added more programming that's specific to health and fitness. Uh the Colts are there, the Pacers are there. Um a variety of activities are there. We have a Rookie Run, so smaller kids can have a mini-like experience. But now we're doing a Kids' Fit education program. So, to go alongside our fourth grade education curriculum, we now have a Kids' Fit program, which is basically saying within a school you can have the kids if you walk or run a mile a week in 13 weeks, you've done a half marathon.
So, now we'll have several thousand of those kids will come to the 5K and do their final 3. 1 miles in the 5K to complete their Kids' Fit program. That's awesome. Um so, yeah, it's it's I think that that opportunity to leverage the things that we do for again, things that are positively impacting our community, that's really where the growth has been. So, I think you'll see continue to see a lot more on youth health and fitness. Um our 500 Festival Foundation did its first ever, you know, true fundraising campaign.
Um raised over $3 million that we concluded um last year. And that funding is helping us continue to grow not just in the education space, but in the health and fitness space for kids. I love it. I think you guys are doing doing amazing work. I think that if you ask the majority of Hoosiers, they would say, "Oh, yeah, in uh Indianapolis Motor Speedway puts on all this stuff." But like knowing that it's a separate organization and the hard work that you guys put into that, I found a new a new found gratitude for for you guys and and the work that you're doing.
And it's impactful. Like I I know I'm kind of a hammering home, but like I've had a really good experience running the mini. I've had a really fun experience at the parade and all the different things uh in regards to um the work that you guys are doing. So, I appreciate it. Yeah, it's actually okay that there's just a a mashup of festival versus Indy 500 versus IMS versus IndyCar because that really was the goal all along, right? Is that the value is in the Indy 500, so how do we extend that?
There are times obviously if we're if we're raising sponsorships or we're fund you know, the mini is the largest fundraiser we have. So, most all of our events are not designed to actually, you know, make additional revenue. They're all and and most of them are free and open to the public. So, the mini-marathon has become the single largest fundraiser for all those other things that we're doing. But I think when you see how we we mesh together with the 500 with the Indy 500 itself and how we overlap, um it really it's like they deserve all the credit anyway, right? To to give that license, to give that opportunity for a board of directors and now staff and a community organization to be created and then to continue to exist and grow and have new ideas.
And they really don't shoot down uh you know, new ideas and things that we want to to do that um uh so we get to kind of autonomously go out there and think about, you know, where where can we have impact on the community? Um and they recognize obviously there's a value to that back to them. But but I think it's the entire community recognizes it. So, you know, Tony Kanaan has run multiple mini marathons and helped us promote it. Conor Daly's participated in a ton of things that we do. Doug and Beth Bowles are going to run the mini every year.
Um we usually give them the special bib number of 500. Oh. Yeah, so That's that's pretty cool. And and Doug's whole family has a history of running. I think it was his maybe it was a nephew that won the 5K a couple years ago. Not just the parade, but I think there's a lot of moments where the drivers now also have memories of of what it means to be engaged.
And as we have more that live in this community as well, I think that's when it's best. I think that is that is when it's a part of what I say that sort of Hoosier cultural fabric is what happens in May. Um and it doesn't it doesn't always matter who's doing what and or how it's being accomplished. But it's pretty remarkable when we've got a board of 33, a full-time staff of about 20, 12 full-time paid interns every year, uh almost 3,000 volunteers. The the support of this city is remarkable. Um the way IMPD and Department of Public Works and and IFD and Indiana National Guard and I mean so many organizations that now have a history of working together through things like what the festival has produced.
It is about as rare as you can imagine. I'm I'm I'm been on a board of the International Festival and Events Association. I have um some really good friends and peers at the Rose Bowl and Tournament of Roses, uh DC Cherry Blossom Festival, Portland Rose Festival, Memphis in May. I mean, you name it. And they're all pretty envious of what we've got going on here because they they they do great events, but they don't have that multitude of connection and fabric in the community that allows us to exist without everybody knowing exactly who is the 500 Festival and who's doing which event and how does it happen? Um it it's just something that uh we all come together for.
Well, yeah, I think one, that's a great way to spread the love to the entire community of all the the stakeholders that come in there. Throughout your time in in your work, you've actually been awarded for some of the work that you're doing specifically. If I'm if I'm not mistaken, we looked it up and and you received the Sagamore of the Wabash Award. I did. Yeah, that was pretty crazy. that for the work done within 500 Festival uh and and what you're doing?
What when did you get the Sagamore of the Wabash Award? was when uh Mike Pence was still governor at the time. Um and it was early. So it was early in me being here. And I will say I am a originally a Tar Heel. I'm kind of a Tar Hoosier now.
I mean, you know, I think it's okay to be a Hoosier, but also to keep, you know, your your roots. grew up in North Carolina. Um although maybe not coming into tournament time. Yeah, uh especially not this year. Well, and especially somehow Carolina made it in. Uh maybe I I should have, so I'm Are you are you a UNC fan?
That's where I went my yeah, that's where I went to school, so. Yeah, I'm I'm old enough that my first year at Carolina was uh Michael Jordan's last year, so. That's pretty cool. Yeah, that's either shows how old I am or how old he is. Yeah, or it is yeah, he it's him. But so you you came in and and Mike Pence awarded you with the Sagamore of the Wabash Award.
was a festival award. I was accepted immediately as the festival guy. I mean, it was crazy. I mean, you're the festival person, the festival leadership, and everybody loves the festival. And so I think I have never taken for granted that um for me to be so accepted um and so welcomed so quickly. Now, I'm sure I could have messed that up, right?
But I didn't have to earn it. It was almost already there. It was just you know, if the board selected you, we trust in their judgment. you move in from from Atlanta. From Atlanta to Indianapolis in 2015 2013, yeah. To take this over.
So you had you had no experience with Indiana before that. Not much. I I had some years at Cartoon Network where we uh had a partnership with a NASCAR team, so I'd been to the Brickyard 400, but I hadn't been to an Indy 500 even. So, how they how they allowed me in um and I had an I had a background experiences that I think that the the selection committee at that time felt would be really relevant to how they could grow the value of what this is. It's almost like they thought, "Hey, maybe there's some value to bringing somebody with an outside point of view and a different set of eyes and some different experiences that they can apply to this." But yeah, so the Sagamore of the Wabash, you know, that's a festival award.
I was just I was just the person to receive it or the name you call it. modest. You're very humble, man. Well, but it but it I mean, I was only maybe 2 years in, you know, and and it was uh And for those that don't know a a moment for me to realize like that's how all in this community is and that's how supportive it really has been for me and my family. I've got four kids who Now, they all consider themselves Hoosiers cuz they've been they've grown up here. It's been truly remarkable.
And for those that don't know, um and I don't know if I'm going to put you on the spot, but could you give a a little definition of what the Sagamore of the Wabash is? From a Native American tradition of saying you're a part of sort of the elders in the leadership and the advice and counsel that I would turn to. So that so the governor uh that had created that. So these are people that I feel are are sort of the wise council for me uh regarding the state of Indiana. So that that was kind of its origin. That's why it's called the Sagamore of the Wabash.
It was the the Wabash Native American tribe that that had that sort of concept of of uh having advice, you know, anointed advisors to the the leadership. The this term Sagamore was used by the American Indian tribes of the Northeastern United States to describe a great man among the tribe to whom a true chief would look for wisdom and advice. And it was created during the term of Governor Ralph Gates who served from 1945 to 1949. And it was in response There was like uh Kentucky was about to present some stuff. They're like, "Oh, we need to have our thing." And then they based it off of that.
That's awesome. I think it's a really it's an honor. I've talked to uh a decent amount of like movers and shakers throughout the community and it's always cool to see that that they that the state and the governor would go and and give them an award and honor them that way. Yeah. Um so super super cool. Uh we've come towards the end of the show where we have some fun segments here.
So the first one is our younger years segment. This question is brought to you by our friends at Orr Fellowship. They're a great organization here in Indiana helping develop young business leaders across the state. So Bob, what advice would you give to your 22-year-old self? Listen. I think when when you're younger, you know, I I thought I had it all, knew it all, and I was I just wanted to go make things happen and be be sort of aggressive and and um ambitious.
Oh, I've had to learn how to be better at listening. You know, and this job was a great example. When I came in, it really was I I get that there was some respect or some uh thought about what I might bring to the job, but I spent an entire year. I told every my first month of May, "I'm not doing anything cuz this is remarkable. So I'm just here uh to listen and to and the community itself wound up revealing other things that the festival could do or be better at. And then you can go to work on it.
So I I would probably add add a little bit of listening and and a little bit of calm to the uh the 20-something that was more about I I it's all me and I'm going to go get it done and make it happen. I think that's really great advice. Yeah, listening is a superpower. Uh especially as you the higher up you get into People think it's like more speaking and directing and it's actually just more listening and processing and figuring it out. And now we have some fun questions all around, you know, racing, 500, 500 Festival, all those fun things. So, uh first question, what is your favorite Indy 500 tradition?
The Rookie Dairy Lunch uh that Indiana Dairy Association puts on, the fastest rookie lunch. Are you No. Uh I'll tell you what, I'll invite you. Yeah. Okay. You have to attend that.
It's a fun tradition where all the rookies learn about the uh the history of uh milk and and when that comes into play. I think Rossi was the first rookie that actually had to put into to play what he learned through the the Rookie Dairy Lunch. But I I think for me, obviously the mini marathon. I it just starts the month. It is it is We talk about a lot of kickoffs. We even have a kickoff to May.
Uh the track does some things to kick off, but I think the mini marathon, all the emotions that we described that go into that. I I will tell you that when I'm at the the finish line of the mini, we will have more people will finish the our half marathon in under an hour and a half than almost any half marathon in the country. So competitively, we have some of the fastest runners. And it's also a flat course and you know, but we also have the most people that finish in over 3 hours. So we have this this interesting and I will tell you that the 3-hour mark for me at the finish line of the IU Health 500 Festival Mini Marathon, there's nothing like it. The the emotion that is pouring out to people who who laid everything out there to to finish.
Yeah, cuz the fast people, you know, you're in that hour 30, you know, you're under 2 hours on a mini, you're like semi good runner. Under 1:30, you're a great runner. And it's like you knew you were going to finish the thing. Like you knew that was never The question in your mind was it am I going to finish or not? It's like am I going to hit my time or not? Yeah.
Am I going to get the time that I want or not? Which is like if you don't, you have to go back and then train. For the people that are finishing over 3 hours, this is like I don't know. You probably set out on this journey not knowing if you could get to the end. Yeah. So I think it's that bookend of just that emotion and seeing it play out by thousands of individuals who are having their own personal experience.
And then I think the the bookend is just just the the fanfare around the start of the 500 itself. I mean, I'm out. It's just that darn flyover that I don't know why every year it's still you you know your hair stands up. You do you're just like you have this emotional moment. Isn't it crazy that the whole world stops for like like everyone 300,000 people the music in the snake pit it all stops for 5 minutes or whatever it is for the national anthem and back home again in Indiana. That's that's the exciting part.
What's the vibe like as the last person comes across the finish line? Like how what does it look like when the last person to finish the Indy or the mini marathon? Most all of our staff is out there cheering. You know that's the person who's had the most personal accomplishment you can imagine. What they've been through and the fortitude to not go to the the back of the pack wagon, you know, to not be picked up. We have a bus that has to you know go along in the back, right?
how many people end up on the bus for any given year? I would I mean it could be a dozen. It's not it's not usually a a ton. But I mean if you physically of the pack wagon? Yeah, so you you know, if you and and I mean obviously yeah, it's So every year there are people that set out to finish the mini that that DN a few that like they they can't they can't get it done. And it might be there might be rain that year.
It might be really hot. It might be there's weather issues. There's other stuff going on. Or they're trying to fight through an injury. I mean you know, I had a board director who kept his streak of I think it was around 20 minis that he'd done in a row and he ran it with a partially torn hamstring. And I was like I don't I don't even know how you're how you're doing that.
So this last person who's like who's fighting the urge not to just like step off and but like to not get into this back of the back wagon and ride it back in. Wow. And we allow and that's the other thing you talk about um IMPD and others and and the support we get. We allow people almost as long as it's going to take. Most races will say if you're not done in 3:30 we shut the we shut the route down and move to the sidewalk kind of thing. They don't You know what I mean?
They don't they don't really whereas we're like we're going to be we're going to be here until the last person crosses. I don't know. I don't have the number of what that what that would be. I don't know if we've hit the 4-hour mark or what but it's It's it's we're we're going to be there. And the finish line's going to be there. All the volunteers with a medal you know, are going to be welcoming you at the end.
It's it's you're going to have the same full experience. And usually there's still Yeah, usually there's still a crowd there at post race party who's coming up you know, to the line and cheering all that last That's awesome. Wow, I'm going to have to check that out and like see that last cuz again you're talking about the personal accomplishment that they made. It's like if you've done a a mini marathon it's still a great accomplishment but if you've done it you know, 10 times or whatever it's like okay. Well, you you know what the finish line feels like. This person might have never experienced that before.
And the the opposite of that I will tell you is this year for for this year and next year we're working with Indiana Sports Corp and USA Track and Field our 5K is actually the national 5K championship. So you're also going to have some of the fastest 5K runners you know, in the world are going to be running this year and next year at the start of the whole of the whole thing. So you can go from like uh unbelievable speed to like And in two years ago was it the half marathon championship? We did that, yeah. Uh was that be two or three years ago? years ago we were the national half marathon.
like that started out way ahead of us and it was fast. Those people were moving. Yeah. We had we had one one woman broke the US women's record for the half marathon for that event. Dang. Yeah.
Big stuff happening. Who's your favorite driver? You we mentioned Connor. I just appreciate all the connections obviously with his family and and growing up here. Obviously I mean everybody's how can you not be a fan of TK? For my sense of humor there's no one like Hinchcliffe, you know?
I mean not competing now but still as a character and and and somebody in in the 500 history. He actually the the 100th running year he did a video series called the Quest for the Crown. You'll have to look this up. And he reveals by episode two that his quest for the crown was actually to be a 500 Festival Princess. It wasn't a quest to win the 100th running. It was a quest to be a princess.
And so he he did that really fun episode where he walked through realizing why he didn't qualify. Uh because of how remarkable and and because it's about academic achievement, civic engagement, community service and Yeah, what does it take I was going to say how many how many young women apply or get nominated for? Uh we're going to have I'll always over a couple hundred applications. We actually do in a one-day round robin style again with more volunteers coming in. We will interview all of them in one day. So they actually get an in-person interview.
They they hit three different rooms with different panels of of local leadership. We narrow that down to 66 and then we do a final round of interviews to get to the the 33 young women that are that are going to be doing hundreds of outreaches, thousands of hours of community service and outreach all over the state of Indiana. Heck yeah. Who and there's not like one specific is there like one specific winner or is it just you have a group of girls? We do something called the Queen Scholar. So it's not a pageant.
It's not it's not it hasn't been since the 50s really in in sort of the pageant mode that might have been where it create where it started. So we each princess gets a scholarship. And then the Queen Scholar gets an additional scholarship. And that's really so that they get a couple of added bonuses. So that's going to be the the Queen Scholar is going to be who's in the victory circle for the winner's moment. There was one year where I think it was Natalie Murdock I think was the Queen Scholar that year but one of them who was the driver?
Was it Will Power? Whoever won they did the milk in reverse order. And so when they went to do the milk the princess was coming in for the the the kiss on the cheek and the photo and he doused her with the entire milk bottle. Um And that made I mean that was huge viral moment because it literally just covered her from from her head and her crown all the way down her face. And and you see his wife stepping in trying to console the the the Queen And she's like oh man. So so there's you know, there's the moment victory circle.
There's the victory banquet the day after the race that they get to be a part of. So there's a little bit of added representation for the for her for the whole group of the princess program that the Queen Scholar gets to do. Accidental milk bath. Yeah, oh that's hilarious. Yeah, she's covered. Oh, we're going to have to put that in and link that.
Who was that? Was that Will? Uh Natalie Murdock and she's a So at the time she was So it goes all the way up to she's a sophomore at Purdue. So how what's the age limit for? even be a grad student. It's I mean it's I think it's kind of an an 18 plus thing.
It was Will Power. Yeah. He was so he was so apologetic. He couldn't believe it. So like the order is kiss on the cheek then milk? Yeah, that you know, there's a different dairy farmer every year that gets to be in the circle to deliver that.
That's the way the Indiana Dairy Association that the way they work. And and they're usually really excited. And so sometimes that it's supposed to be Queen Scholar then milk and quite It just got a little the milk gets in there too fast sometimes. mixed up. Awesome. This is a this has been a really really fun episode.
As we round out the first the last thing we want to do is dive into this basket. You brought some goodies along from 500 Festival. We got I mean I'm going to wear this for sure. That's that's an incredible hat. And people whoever put this together I don't know if it was you or not but they know that I like hats. So that's a good move.
We got a t-shirt, some stickers, keychain, Run Indy, oh bottle openers as well. Um notebook, all that fun stuff. What I'm most intrigued by not that all this is all great but the fastest crowd in town. Indianapolis 500 Festival history. Tell me about this book. I I would bet we're down to just a few dozen of those left.
The 50th anniversary of the 500 Festival they commissioned someone to do a book about the history of the festival. The 50th anniversary of the 500 Festival. Oh, that would have been 2007? Yeah. 1957 to 2007. They commissioned somebody that they raised funds and commissioned someone to do a book on kind of the history of the festival.
Awesome anecdotes and moments you can see who past grand marshals were. was when this is copyrighted. So maybe So that's just a that's a a fun book that it's not available for sale. It's not we don't we haven't published any since then but we we have some in our archives. And so I thought you'd appreciate seeing some of the fun history of those early parades and early princess programs and mayor's breakfast. And it even lists like when did the education program start things like that.
Um who was who was on the board? Um who was the grand marshal of the parade? It's just a fun walk through. There is a picture in there I think of Frank winning the the mini. Oh my gosh. I'm going to die like I'm going to devour this thing.
Yeah, this is this is incredible. Was I right there? What was the first year of the 500 Festival? The festival was 57. 57? Wow.
I'm really excited to dive into this. And it's not for sale. This is this is a piece of Indiana history right here. Absolutely. Uh and the knowledge that I will gain on the other side of it is going to be fun. So next time you see me out in public quiz me.
I'm going to like looking through what the chapters are. I'm I'm very very impressed. Let's see. In the beginning the directors committees and volunteers, the parade, the ball, the breakfast and the memorial service, the Queen and her court, the try anything attitude, celebrities, the pace cars, the mini marathon, the kid factor, the festival today and tomorrow in an era of change. That's awesome. Thank you so much.
That's a very thoughtful gift. Thanks for having us on. We really appreciate it. I appreciate it. Well, this is the fun part of the show where we round out and we ask every guest the same three questions all about the state of Indiana. First question, what's something the world needs to know about Indiana?
The 500 Festival. The month of May. If you if you're not from here, you're not really understanding it. It's it's the collection of what's going on. It's exciting everybody. It's just yeah, the the month of May.
That that is it's not a secret to any of us but if you're not from here you you just you it's not a spring thing. It's not a It's just a combination of of a right of passage and a and an annual moment. I mean, maybe second only to Christmas. I don't really know what else that a community could come around and feel like I can't wait for May. I'm doing I'm doing stuff in May. I'm seeing people in May.
Like this is this is when we come together. May in Indianapolis just has a specific energy and vibe to it. Like even if you just drive through the town of Speedway like May 12th, it's like getting ready for it. You can like feel the energy just like I don't know radiating. Next question, what is a hidden gem in Indiana? Bungay's Tavern.
Great answer. But there's there's there's several out there. Raising a family here as we've had our moments to be able to get out of Indy and and uncover some things. During COVID, we were actually doing multiple virtual runs cuz people couldn't run in person, but it turns out they wanted a a medal and t-shirt mailed to them and they would do their own accomplishments. We did a a Thanksgiving to Christmas challenge and we did it the distance from Turkey Run to Santa Claus. So from Turkey Run State Park to Santa Claus, Indiana.
And we had the kind of the route of the map so you could run from Turkey to Santa virtually. Run from Turkey to Santa? That's so good. Who thought of that idea? I don't know. Whoever they they need to raise.
credit for it cuz there's a lot of times I think I thought of something and someone reminds me, "No, actually that wasn't you." People remind me, "No, that wasn't you. Actually that came out of a out of a team meeting we had or cuz sometimes I embrace ideas and forget they weren't even mine. I don't remember if it was our race director, if it was our registration, marketing. We've got a great team and and we're always coming up with ideas and That is such a good idea. I'll say it's a 500 Festival Team idea.
143 miles. So you run a whole 143 miles between November and Yeah. Yeah. Or and we usually in virtual ride a bike. You can however you want to track your miles. You can walk, run, bike, canoe, paddle, wheel, whatever it is that you want to do to track some sort of fitness.
Yeah. I love it. Final question for you. You get to share the love with someone. Who is a Hoosier that we need to keep on our radar? Someone who's doing big things.
I just think of our team. Whether it's a you know, someone like a Glenn Amos who just won Race Director of the Year. He won an award through a company called Congrats, Glenn. Yeah, company called Race Roster. Lindsey Labis, our head of marketing and the work that she's doing. You know, I look at Sarah Adams and Laura Bliss who are two of our other senior operations folks.
We've got a lot of young people. We've had people that started with us as interns that are now, you know, at the VP level producing these large-scale events and programs. I think our fest So I'm just going to have to put up I maybe sound self-serving, but our festival team has some really unknowns because we we do as you said, you know, not everybody even knows is it the Indy 500? Is it the 500 Festival? But also the events we produce, we're always behind the scenes. We're not really we're we're trying to have a grand marshal or a platform for a fallen Hoosier hero or we don't put ourselves out there.
And I think that you could look at that as like, "Oh, it it's you know, in Indiana University IU Health Mini Marathon." All these things, but it's like yes, they are a sponsor, but it's also like they get to be in the limelight. Like like other people get to give the speeches or hand out the awards or do all the things and it's not you out there like your dog and pony show that you're the guy. Which I I appreciate. It's very community driven, which is awesome. Well, hey man, thank you for coming on, Bob.
It was a pleasure learning more about 500 Festival, the history that dates from 1957 all the way to yes, 68 years now. Mhm. Like this was the 68th 500 Festival, the Mini Marathon that's coming up. I mean, it's just it's the staple in Indianapolis. I think that if there any listeners out there that maybe live around the state that you haven't come down for the parade, run the Mini, or I would say been to the race, like it is a true spectacle. Everything that goes in that's involved in Indianapolis in the month of May.
So appreciate you and all the hard work you're doing and we'll see you out there at the Mini Marathon. Can't wait for it. Appreciate it. Thanks, Nate. Thank you for listening to this episode of Get In. If you like what you heard, make sure you leave us a review wherever you listen to podcasts.
This show is made possible by our friends up at Sweetwater. Whether you're looking to start a podcast or take your content to the next level, click the link in the description to see all my gear recommendations at sweetwater. com. If you want a behind-the-scenes look at everything we're doing across the state, make sure you follow me on Instagram and TikTok @NateSpangle. Thank you so much for listening and being part of what makes the Hoosier state great. We'll see you next time here on Get In.
