Indianapolis, Indiana is the largest metropolitan city in the country not located on a major body if water. Many people find this fact interesting. Much to your surprise, I’m sure, Indianapolis is the 14th largest city in the country, and the 3rd largest in the Midwest behind Chicago and Detroit. That’s right, we’re bigger than Cleveland, OH or St. Louis, MO. Take that Arch. Just to help you understand how big we are, we’re also bigger than Boston or Seattle so next time you think so innocently that Indianapolis doesn’t have much, remember one thing. We’ve got lots and lots of people. And no place to swim.
One thing people in Indiana like to do is talk about the weather. In Indiana we have 4 true seasons: winter, spring, summer, and fall. In Indianapolis we have grey, snow winters, and gloomy, rainy springs which drag on and on and on and on and on and… Well, you get the point.
In the late spring and early summer we have “tornado season” and it is mandatory that local news channels remind us incessantly that we are to, “Stay inside and away from windows. Go to the basement or the most interior part of your house. Do not go outside to watch a tornado and do not try to chase a tornado.” Often times when the tornado sirens sound, you can go outside and see all your neighbors standing on their porches looking up into the sky. Downtown Indianapolis has never actually been hit by a tornado, though once we had some wicked straight line winds that broke some windows on some buildings.
Summers in Indianapolis are hot and humid and mostly miserable. A favorite saying of people who live in Indiana is, “It’s not the heat. It’s the humidity.” That, my friend, is complete BS, but it’s how we deal with it. Finally, from about the second week of September to the first week of October, the weather here is the most glorious of anywhere in the world. This short three weeks of truly perfect weather is part of what keeps many people living in Indianapolis.
Besides three week of glorious weather, Indianapolis also has some other kick-ass stuff going for it. For one, we are in the middle of everything and that makes it easy for us to travel about. Something that you may not know is that when you are from Indiana and you go someplace else, you will always meet another person from Indiana. It doesn’t matter if you are in Chicago or Shanghai, people from Indiana (also called Hoosiers, by the way) like to get around. It is a true fact that where ever you go, there is always someone there with a Hoosier connection.
For those who like to stick around town, Indianapolis has the most awesome cultural districts of any place I’ve ever visited. We have Fountain Square, which supports a thriving artist community and has a quaint selection of delicious eateries and pubs. We have Broad Ripple, which is mostly awesome until you turn about 27 and realize you are getting to old to frequent the bars without looking creepy. We have Mass Ave, which in my opinion is the best of the districts because its cup overfloweth with galleries, local restaurants, locally owned shops, theatres, and much more. We also have a beautiful canal and White River State Park. The canal runs through a good part of downtown. The canal is a favorite place to go for walks with the pooch or for a nice date. You can walk along the edge of the canal, or rent a boat and paddle around on the canal, or you can take a gondola ride and pay some dude to paddle you around on the canal.
In case you were wondering, the art and music scene in Indianapolis is alive and thriving. As my husband explained it, “Living in Indianapolis is like making Jello without a mold.” People of this city are always pushing the limits of art and music. On the first Friday of every month, large sections of the city are consumed by people going out to look at and buy art. Some of the best places to go see said art are along Mass Ave, in Fountain Square and at a place called the Harrison Center for the Arts.
Twice a year, the Harrison plays host to the INDIEana Handicraft Exchange, a fiercely awesome gathering of artists and crafters of handmade goods, which boasts over 100 vendors from Indiana and all across the country. Indianapolis is also the home of the Handmade Promenade which focuses on bringing local crafters together with local businesses all across the city to raise awareness for local business and local, handmade goods. In addition to these two particularly indie events, many areas in the city host art and craft fairs from spring to fall. Some of the largest include the Talbot Street Art Fair, the Penrod, and the Broad Ripple Art Fair. People of this city love to come out to support their local artists and crafters, and that is part of what we call Hoosier Hospitality. Indianapolis is one of the nicest cities there ever was, and if you ever come to visit, we’ll be here waiting and anxious to tell you all about it.
