'It's in my DNA:' Indiana State Fair memories so strong you can smell the funnel cake

Indianapolis Star

3 days ago

Families, friends, horses, hogs and more will swarm the 168th annual Indiana State Fair from August 1 to 17. This year's theme, 'The Soundtrack of Summer,' inspired the IndyStar to find fair memories with music at their core, and Hoosiers delivered. From marching band competitions and belting along to "Happy Birthday" or soaking in the sounds of the fairgrounds, these are some of the memories on replay:
Douglas Fletcher, 65, still remembers the moment he saw his band ranked first going into the final round of Band Day. It was 1989, and Monroe Central High School had barely cracked the top 10 the year before. Fletcher told his students the good news.
"They turned it on even more," he said. "And, lo and behold, we won."
That victory sparked quite the legacy — the first of 13 titles under Fletcher's leadership and a core memory for students like Adrian Moulton, then a trombonist, now the school's superintendent.
Although decades have passed, Moulton, who graduated in 1991, met his wife in that band. Their son, who graduated in 2019, found a passion for marching band too. Every year, the family tries to visit the fair on Band Day.
Fletcher, now the contest coordinator, first marched in Band Day as a high school trombonist from 1973 to 1976. He spent the next three decades directing bands across Indiana, earning more Band Day titles than any other director.
"I just want to give back to the contest that had given me so much,' Fletcher said.
Before Bridget Robinson ever stepped foot on the Indiana State Fairgrounds, she was a kid at the Jackson County Fair with her sister Beverly, entering 4-H baking and crafting competitions, and soaking up the sights.
But in 1989, when Beverly was a ninth grader, the Robinson sisters got a glimpse of something bigger: The Indiana State Fair, complete with front-row seats to see boy band New Kids on the Block at the Indiana State Fair. That night, Bridget had a thought that stuck with her.
"When I got to those front-row seats at the Indiana State Fair, I thought, 'Man, how incredible would it be to work here one day?'" Bridget said.Fast forward nine years and by 1997, when Robinson was 22, she had a summer internship at the fair, promoting acts on the Main Street Stage at Indiana's county fairs, including the one in Jackson County that she and her sister had once walked to as kids.
Then one day during her internship a storm arose.
Late in the afternoon, the skies turned dark. Robinson, who was watching a performance on the Main Street Stage, approached the band and told them to wrap up. Later, the fair's late executive director, Bill Stinson, praised her quick thinking.
You handled that very professionally, he told her. You did exactly what you needed to do.
Bridget called the days she spent at the fair as an intern the best days of her life. Now planning conventions for a nonprofit in Indianapolis, she credits the fair for teaching her what she needed to know.
"It was more than just an internship, it played a pivotal role in my overall career," she said. "It's in my DNA."
In 1977, a man in a clown costume and a trumpet stepped onto the Indiana State Fairgrounds. Nearly 50 years later, he's still there - and so is the band he started.
Steve Sutherlin founded the Circle City Sidewalk Stompers Clown Band with one goal: make music fun. Today, the 24 members blend slapstick, swing and Bruno Mars while sporting polka dots and stripes.
"The costume gives you permission to be somebody else," said Bryan Sutherlin, trumpet player and Steve's son.
Stompers are teachers, police officers, and other professionals, but at the fair, they're entertainers. Bryan remembers one trombonist, a police officer by day who "came out of his shell" when in clown gear.
Steve and the band have played at the fair 44 out of the last 48 years, performing everything from Ozzy Osbourne to the Muppets. They've waved and danced with many in the crowd over the years, including Boomer, the Pacers mascot.
"We did everything from the Chicken Dance to the Wobble to dancing to Sweet Caroline," Bryan laughed. "Boomer was a good dancer, too."
The Sidewalk Stompers have played nearly everywhere in Indiana, but the fairgrounds remain a "special place," Steve said.
"We take our music seriously," Bryan said, "but we also want to be goofy, be loose, be a bit of a clown band."
The Orme's Nitro Hog BBQ is more than an award-winning food stand. It's a dream realized that was decades in the making. As a young girl, Jessica visited the fairgrounds with her best friend and dad, watching the vendors around her, thinking, "I want to do that one day."
She didn't know then she'd marry into a family with deep roots in fair concessions, of all things. Her husband's aunt and uncle have run a food stand at the fair since the 1960s. Now, their son, Orme's cousin-in-law, sets up a deep-fried treats stand just a few feet away. It's a full family affair, and Jessica plays a leading role: helping run Nitro Hog BBQ from prep to service to close.
"There's a little pressure to carry that on," she said. "But it's also a privilege."
The work is nonstop — long days, hot grills, big crowds — but Jessica said it's all worth it. Nitro Hog's barbeque won first place at the Taste of the Fair competition last year and their "Machos" are an entry this year. Still, after five days of setup and prep, the fair doesn't officially begin for Jessica each year until a familiar face shows up.
"On opening day every year, my sister will bring me balloons," she said. "That's when it really clicks that the fair has started."
Some may have thought they heard The Beatles' Paul McCartney on the Hoosier stage last year, but it was Tony Kishman, who bears a striking resemblance to the British musician.
Kishman, creator of Live & Let Die: The Music of Paul McCartney, has spent nearly 47 years in McCartney's shoes.
"I think I've been Paul longer than Paul has been Paul," he laughed.
Last year, he appeared at the fair for the first time to mark the 60th anniversary of the Beatles' performing two sold-out shows at the Indiana State Fairgrounds
Despite the summer heat, Kishman said the energy never dipped. The band delivered hit after hit from "Hey Jude" and "Lady Madonna" to "Band on the Run."
The Hoosier crowd left a lasting impression on Kishman. He's played in casinos, amphitheaters, and over venues across the state, "but the fair crowd, they really get into the music."
When she's not at work , carving the next Da Vinci masterpiece, Sarah Kaufmann emerges from her cheese castle at the fair with a very specific currency: cheddar.
For nearly two decades, the Wisconsin native has been sculpting 640-pound cheddar blocks at the Indiana State Fair, transforming them into cows, jukeboxes, race cars, and children's cheesy smiles. The sculptures are whimsical and undeniably hers, and she makes use of every crumb.
The trimmings that fall away while sculpting are her bartering tool.
As she roams the fairgrounds, she carries a bag of cheddar odds and ends, ready to strike a deal. Leftover cheese for pork chops on a stick? An easy, under-the-table trade. A bag in exchange for tenderloin tips and mushrooms? Now that's a steal.
'That was my biggest score,' Kaufmann laughed. 'Those tenderloin tips are expensive.'
It wasn't your typical backyard gig, but for Kurt Streblow, who has made a name for himself DJing around Indy often at private parties, it might as well have been.
Before ever stepping behind a DJ booth, he was just a kid from Indy at the fair, riding the Ferris wheel and soaking up summer. He never imagined he would one day attend the fair as a headliner. Then in 2023, he got the offer to spin a throwback set on the fair's free stage
'This is home,' he said. 'We've always gone to the fair."
His crowd was made up of familiar faces. People from actual backyards where he's DJed. Friends from the Pacers, where he works as an in-house emcee. His fiancée, his stepson.
Now, every time he returns to the fairgrounds, he catches himself glancing at the stage, still a little amazed.
'A lot of national acts come across that stage, so I didn't think it was even something I could do,' he said. 'For them to incorporate a local, well, it was awesome.'
It wasn't your typical post-performance gift of flowers. After stepping off the Hoosier Lottery Free Stage in 2023, Samantha Fish received something that would not wilt in the August sun: a bouquet of corn dogs.
Her dad and her fiancée decided it was a good way to welcome Fish to the fair.
'They just showed up with it like it was the most natural thing in the world,' she laughed, adding that was the best corn-dog she ever ate.
Fish has performed on stages all over, but the fair marked her first time not in front of rock club regulars.
After the last guitar note faded on the outdoor stage, the band didn't scurry to pack up. Time stopped, and they became little kids again, strapping in to the loop-de-loops of the carnival rides.
"It's not every day you play a show, and then go ride the whirly-things," she said. "You got to have a little fun with it."
Especially when the encore is deep-fried and served on a stick.
When Ron Dante, lead vocalist of The Turtles, was slated to perform at the Indiana State Fair one year on August 22nd, he didn't think much of the date, although it happens to be his birthday.
Mid-show, Dante was caught off-guard when, one by one, fellow artists joined in, then the crowd followed. All together, they launched into the most harmonized rendition of 'Happy Birthday' he'd ever heard. He said he doesn't remember how old he turned that year, but that the "music keeps us young."
'It was magical,' Dante said. 'Usually you hear a birthday song at a restaurant and everyone's off-key. But this was perfect. It was one-ness with the crowd.'
The cherry on top: a towering basket of top-shelf spirits awaited him on the side of the stage, a gift from a fan he knew through Facebook. But the real gift, Dante said, was the moment itself.
'It's emblazoned in my memory,' he said. 'You don't forget something like that."
Since she was around five years old, Eden Hogsett, Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett's daughter, has been a fan of Starbucks. The pony, that is.
Hogsett and his daughter, Eden, have made it a tradition to spend opening day together. Ten years ago, she rode Starbucks for the first time there. Every time the two go back, they stop by the Coliseum to say hello to Starbucks.
"From age five to 20, my daughter and I block out a day, and it's just me and her," Hogsett said. "Every year, we pray that Starbucks is still there."
Hogsett said that each year, they spend more time at the fair. He said one year, they were exploring the fairgrounds for 10 hours.
"Even though we're both much older now, we still enjoy just quality time together," he said. "With few exceptions, no one else is invited, it's me and her."
Still, he fears time may be running out on their long-standing tradition as Eden is entering her junior year of college.
"That is not a day I look forward to, because it makes my whole summer," he said. "When she was about nine or 10, she said, 'Dad, we do the same things every year.' And, I looked at her and said, 'That's what makes it ours.'"