Long lines, no slices: Indy Pizza Fest organizer responds to social media backlash

Indianapolis Star

2 days ago

Local pizza aficionados are getting crusty about the inaugural Indianapolis Pizza Festival, calling the Aug. 9 event a 'total waste of money,' 'highway robbery' and 'Indy's version of the Fyre Fest' on social media sites.
The weekend food fest saw more than 4,000 pie lovers flock to Monument Circle, where attendees paid upwards of $30 each for 'unlimited' pizza samples. The event spawned a wave of backlash on social media, when attendees said long lines prevented them from indulging in many (or any) slices.
Organized by Indy local and TikTok personality Tommy Barrett, the Pizza Festival featured 21 local vendors competing to be crowned the best pizza in Indiana.
Barrett defended the inaugural event to IndyStar on Aug. 11, saying that there's a natural learning curve with hosting for the first time. He said the event became too crowded too quickly, as 3,200 of the 4,000 guests entered within the first 90 minutes of the six-hour long festival.
'If everybody didn't come at the same exact time, this event would've been exactly how we kind of thought it would go,' Barrett said.
The food influencer said he plans to organize the Pizza Festival again next year, and that he's heard from numerous vendors and guests who left the festival satisfied.
'You know it's the first year of the festival,' he said. 'You get to learn a lot, and you learn a lot quickly. And then when things don't go perfect, people will complain, especially on social media.'
Barrett told IndyStar that because the event was not canceled, tickets will not be refunded. Between 15 to 20% of proceeds will go to the United Way of Central Indiana.
A Reddit thread titled 'Pizza Fest Disaster…' has garnered more than 290 comments since it was posted two days ago. One commenter, Indianapolis local Kenzie Vanderpool, told IndyStar she felt the event did not end up being worth the $35 she spent on a ticket.
The space was so limited, it was impossible for distinct lines to form, Vanderpool said. Instead, she said the crowd crammed into one long 'megaline' that made it difficult to visit many vendors. She also said she felt water wasn't accessible enough, despite the temperatures in the upper 80s and the hot pizza ovens that surrounded the crowd. She saw another attendee pass out in the heat.
Vanderpool said she's one of the 'lucky' few who got multiple samples. She tried five sample slices and left by 2:15 p.m., long before she had planned.
'My expectation was definitely to hang out all day and be able to get a piece of pizza from every place that was there,' she said. 'I brought a little notebook, I was ready to take notes, find my new favorite pizza place.'
Other online commenters said they left pizza-less after long waits for a single slice.
Vendor response was also mixed. Lemelany Murry of Xtreme Pizzaria, said she had a 'horrible' experience at Pizza Fest. Murry told IndyStar she spent $3,000 on supplies and labor for the event, but organizers didn't give her a fair shot to advertise her business.
Other vendors said they thought the event was a success. Ian Kincer, bar manager at BlackSheep Pizza in Columbus, Indiana, said the pizzeria gave out 400 pizzas. Kincer said the event helped introduce new people to the restaurant, which is opening a new location in Westfield. BlackSheep won third place overall in the festival.