Weekly View

This Week’s Double Issue: May 22-June 4

Weekly View — Thu, 21 May 2026 16:00:50 +0000

Saddle Up for Summerfest 2026 at Little Flower Church!

Weekly View — Thu, 21 May 2026 05:11:55 +0000

INDIANAPOLISL — Pull on your boots, grab your hat, and mosey on over to “Saddle Up at Summerfest!” at Little Flower Catholic Church, May 29–31. This beloved Eastside tradition promises three days packed with hometown fun, delicious food, lively entertainment, and western-style hospitality for the whole family.
Summerfest takes place at Little Flower Catholic Church, located at the corner of North Bosart and Nowland Ave. Festival hours are 5–11 p.m. Friday, 3–11 p.m. Saturday, and 11 a.m.–5 p.m. Sunday.
There’s something for every cowboy and cowgirl at this year’s celebration. Guests can try their luck in the raffle featuring a $4,000 grand prize, enjoy midway rides and games from Poor Jack Amusements, and browse a massive silent auction running all weekend long. Participants can register to bid at LFsummerfest.com or directly at https://lfway.cbo.io.
Hungry trail riders won’t leave disappointed. Festival favorites available throughout the weekend include burgers, fries, tenderloins, hot dogs, brats, Italian sausages, nachos, walking tacos, corn on the cob, pizza, elephant ears, spiral spuds, strawberries, and ice cream. The beer wagon will feature domestic and craft brews, while wine lovers can enjoy daily specials.
Saturday evening from 5–7 p.m., festival goers can hitch up inside for a hearty home-cooked dinner prepared by the Steer-In. Sunday morning will feature an indoor brunch from 10 a.m.–noon before another day of family fun begins.
Entertainment will keep the grounds lively all weekend long. Bingo returns Friday and Saturday evenings under the outdoor tent, while Monte Carlo gaming for adults ages 21 and over will take place in the gym Friday night. Live bands will provide music throughout the festival, and Sunday’s family activities will include a wild visit from Silly Safaris and their live animal show.
New this year, Little Flower will host “Mass on the Grass” on Saturday, May 30, at 5:30 p.m. on the Bosart lawn between the church and school. Festival attendees are invited to pause from the excitement and gather under the open sky to celebrate the Eucharist together.
Admission to the festival requires a $10 wristband purchase, but guests will receive $10 in spendable coupons in return. Minors must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. Additional details about admission, entertainment schedules, and festival activities can be found at LFsummerfest.com.
Since its founding in 1925, Little Flower Church has remained a cornerstone of the Eastside community. Summerfest continues that tradition by bringing neighbors, families, and friends together each year to kick off summer in unforgettable fashion.

62nd Annual Woodruff Place Flea Market June 6-7

Weekly View — Thu, 21 May 2026 05:10:51 +0000

INDIANAPOLIS — The 62nd Annual Woodruff Place Flea Market will be held Saturday, June 6 from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. and Sunday, June 7 at 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Over 200 yards of vintage, antiques, food vendors, and more will be featured. The historic neighborhood is between E. Michigan and 10th St., and East to West Woodruff Place.
The treasured tradition of Everybody Dance is set for Sunday, June 7 at 3 p.m. sharp. For just a few minutes, drop what you’re doing and boogie in the streets. Spearheaded by Tessie, who has lived in Woodruff for 50 years, this tradition marks 12 years this summer with the intention of having one moment of togetherness.

American Legion 500 Festival Memorial Service May 22

Weekly View — Thu, 21 May 2026 05:10:43 +0000

INDIANAPOLIS — To commemorate the upcoming Memorial Day weekend, the American Legion 500 Festival Memorial Service will be held on Friday, May 22, at noon at the Indiana War Memorial. The Memorial Service will honor Indiana’s fallen servicemen and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. The event is free and open to the public. The Indiana War Memorial is located at 55 E Michigan St.
Director of the Army National Guard, Lieutenant General Jonathan Stubbs will be the Keynote Speaker. Guests will include Gold Star families, the governor and mayor, offices of the Armed Services, and many more.
The Memorial Service will include the joint service color guard presentation of colors and performances by the Capital City Chorus and the Indiana National Guard’s 38th Infantry Division Band. A wreath-laying ceremony and a horse-drawn caisson will be presented by the Indiana National Guard Headquarters Ceremonial Unit. Fallen servicemen and women will also be honored with a United States Marine Corps rifle salute, playing of “Taps,” and a flyover.

IMPO Funding East Side Projects

Weekly View — Thu, 21 May 2026 05:10:18 +0000

INDIANAPOLIS — The Indianapolis Metropolitan Planning Organization (IMPO) recently presented a check for $34,238,882 to the Indianapolis Department of Public Works (Indy DPW). The funds will be used to help build bridges, roundabouts, trails and other infrastructure enhancements in Indianapolis.
Nine projects submitted by Indy DPW were selected for funding. IMPO funding will cover 80% of the cost of construction, with the city providing the remaining funds, as well as the cost of design and inspection.
Altogether, the nine projects selected by the IMPO will account for $48.1 million in investment to the city’s transportation infrastructure.
Among the projects selected for funding is a rehabilitation of Emerson Avenue between 30th and 38th streets. In addition to greatly improving the pavement quality, the project will introduce a 10-foot-wide multiuse path that will accommodate walkers, runners and cyclists.
Other projects include:
• 25th St and German Church Road for replacing the existing 2-way stop intersection with a single lane roundabout.
• Bikeshare Expansion to install 16 new bikeshare stations and 117 new e-bikes.
• Brookville Road over Shadeland Avenue to extend the service life of the existing bridge structure through replacement of the deteriorating superstructure and retrofitting the substructure.
• Franklin Road and Rawles Ave/English Ave for a roundabout improvement at the intersection of Franklin Road, English Road and Rawles Road.
• Grassy Creek Greenway – 30th St to Pennsy Trail for a four-mile trail expansion connecting neighborhoods, schools, parks, and transit.
• Knozone FY2029 for air quality education and outreach initiative.
• Linden Street over Pleasant Run to restore the structural integrity and extend the service life of the existing bridge by replacing its deteriorated superstructure.
• West Street over IWC Canal to improve the bridge.

IndyPL Summer Reading Kickoffs on May 30

Weekly View — Thu, 21 May 2026 05:09:53 +0000

INDIANAPOLIS — The Indianapolis Public Library kicks off its annual Summer Reading programming, “Play Your Way,” May 30-Aug. 11. The program is for youngsters, teens, and adults.
Participants track the time spent reading, listening to audiobooks, reading aloud to someone, or having someone read to you. Sign up at any library branch or online at indypl.org/programs-events. Prizes will be awarded by time spent reading.
There will be many kickoff events at neighborhood library locations, including at Irvington, 10 S. Audubon, with El Marimbaso Family Concert Series on Saturday, May 30 from 2-3 p.m., or East 38th Street, 5420 E. 38th St. on Saturday, May 30 from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m., where there will be a Teddy Bear Concert, Face Painting, Balloon Twisting and an Improv Workshop, or at Spades Park, 1801 Nowland Ave. on Saturday, May 30 from 10:30 a.m. – noon with an all-ages family storytime at 10:30 a.m. and stick around for playtime, crafts, and balloon twisting.
Visit indypl.org for a listing of all library kickoff programming.

Applause!: May 22-June 4

Weekly View — Thu, 21 May 2026 05:09:37 +0000

• In partnership with Heartland Film, the City of Lawrence will host Films at the Fort. Bring your lawn chairs, blankets, friends, and family and enjoy movies on specific days. On Friday, May 29 Despicable Me will be showing, and on Friday, August 28, Hitch. Films will be shown at Fort Ben Cultural Campus, 8950 Otis Ave. Food Trucks Open at 6 p.m. Movies Begin at 7 p.m.
• Reserved seating for the Indianapolis 500 on May 24 will be sold out for the second consecutive year, and the local television broadcast delay will be lifted again. Watch the race on Sunday, May 24. The flag drops at 12:30 p.m.
• Kevin Murray will be guest speaker at the Tuesday, May 26 meeting of the Perry Township/Southport Historical Society. Kevin is an attorney and author of the book, The First Fighting Irish: The 35th Indiana Volunteer Infantry: Hoosier Hibernians in the War for the Union. Come join them for an interesting evening of history and conversation. This meeting was originally scheduled for January but had to be postponed due to weather. The meeting is at 7:00 p.m. in the Perry Township Education Center, 6548 Orinoco Ave. Enter through the center doors at the northwest corner of the building.
• The Martindale-Brightwood Branch library will be celebrating 125 years of serving the community from 1901 to 2026 on Saturday, May 30 from 2:00 – 4:30 p.m. at the branch, 2434 N. Sherman Dr. Staff, community historians, and past branch leadership will be on hand. There will be live music and light refreshments served. Browse through Branch memorabilia and images from Digital Indy, meet and chat with past staff from the Brightwood Library.
• IMPD East District will host Coffee with a Cop on Wednesday, May 27 from 9-10 a.m. at the Dunkin at 3810 N. Shadeland. This is a great way to meet officers and chat about law enforcement in the area.
• Earth Fest will be held at Garfield Park on Saturday, May 30 from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. The festival focuses on the celebration of nature, sustainability, conservation, and environmental awareness. There will lots of local vendors and environmental agencies on hand with information and advice. The park is located at Raymond and Shelby streets.
• The Beech Grove Concert Series kicks off on Thursday, May 28 from 6-9 p.m. with Union Suit Rally at 6 p.m. and 90 Proof at 7:30 p.m. at the Sarah T. Bolton Park, 1300 Churchman Ave. The shows are free, and everyone is welcome to bring their own seating. The concerts continue on June 11 & 25, July 9 & 23, Aug. 6 & 20.
• The Backlot venue, 5635 Bonna Ave., is hosting a Busy Sunday improvement day on Sunday, May 31 from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Volunteers are encouraged to come out and help with improvements to the venue like painting, repairing, cleaning it out and more. Visit backlot-irvington.com for an idea of what needs to be done.

Memorial Day weekend is upon us! The Indianapolis Public Library branches will be closed May 23-25, and state, federal and local government offices will be closed May 25. We ladies of the View are also taking a week off to catch our breath. The next issue will be for June 5. Thank you for reading!

Block Party at the Eiteljorg June 5

Weekly View — Thu, 21 May 2026 05:09:33 +0000

INDIANAPOLIS — Everyone is invited to an all-ages community block party at the Eiteljorg, 500 W. Washington St., from 3 to 7 p.m. Friday June 5, to enjoy live music under The Sails, a DJ spinning between sets and performances by local student groups. Play classic lawn games: Scramble Board, Connect 4, Bucket Ball, cornhole and more. The Museum Café will be open for extended hours with tasty food options, and a cash bar will be outside.
Inside the museum, join in guided gallery experiences and a public tour, and see our featured exhibitions. At 5:30 p.m., watch a screening of the short animated film Things You Know But Cannot Explain, about contemporary artist Rick Bartow (Wiyot, 1946-2016), a 2001 Eiteljorg Fellow.
Admission from 3-7 p.m. June 5 is free, or pay what you can. Stop by the Museum Store, where you can shop for something special and learn more about the Eiteljorg. The block party kicks off the museum’s Free First Friday Evenings that will continue July 3, Aug. 7 and Sept. 4.

Gold Star Heroes

Steven R. Barnett — Thu, 21 May 2026 05:09:19 +0000

While young schoolchildren are awarded a “gold star” for their achievements, a more poignant “gold star” holds a hallowed place on banners marking the loss and sacrifice of soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen in service to our country. Since America’s entry into World War I, over 1,800 sons and daughters from Marion County/Indianapolis have been memorialized with a Gold Star on their family’s service banner.
In the early days following the declaration of war on Germany by the United States in April 1917, recruiting offices distributed “great posters to be hung from the windows of the homes” of those men who had entered service showing the American Flag and carrying the words across the bottom, “A Son of This Home is Defending This Flag For You.” The month following America’s entry into the war, Indianapolis native Captain Robert L. Queisser, who at the time was residing in Cleveland, Ohio, proposed designating the homes “from which men had gone into military service” with a flag consisting of a red border and white field, upon which “should be placed blue stars or a blue star, one star for every member of the family who is called to the colors.” The Blue Star Service Flag was approved by the War Department as a “Badge of Honor” and was soon being placed in windows and flown from businesses. Tragically, in war lives are lost and to show a family’s sacrifice the Blue Star on a service banner was replaced by a Gold Star.
According to the Indiana Gold Star Honor Roll, Corporal Ralph R. Flora, Company L, 28th Infantry, 1st Division, was the first soldier from Indianapolis to be killed in France. He died in action on March 8, 1918, in the Toul Sector. A telegram arrived at the home of Elias and Rebecca Flora, 1616 E. Washington St, informing them of their son’s death. Elias Flora said, “I have other sons who no doubt will see service soon, and I am glad that it is so” and Rebecca Flora said, “It was something to be expected…I am proud to have given a son in service of his country, and two of my other sons are expecting soon to see service against the German forces.”
Twenty-three years later, Amelia South, a widow living at 3437 Guilford Ave., became the first Indianapolis Gold Star Mother of World War II when she received a message in the early morning hours of December 10, 1941, that her son Private Elmer W. South, 13th Air Base Squadron, Army Air Force, had been killed in the defense of his country at Hickam Field during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Sadly, the war would see over one thousand Gold Stars affixed to the service banners displayed in the windows of Indianapolis homes.
A photo spread in the November 20, 1944, issue of Life Magazine, “Families Speak for Their War Dead,” featured eight Indianapolis Gold Star families from the suburb of Irvington who all expressed harsh words for the post-war reconstruction of Germany and Japan. Louis W. and Olma Buck, 52 S. Audubon Rd., lost their son, First Lieutenant Louis William Buck, Jr, 8th Field Artillery, when he was killed in France on July 22, 1944. World War I Captain John Paul Ragsdale, Sr and his wife Mary Ragsdale, 345 N. Ritter Ave., displayed two Gold Stars on their window service banner for the loss of their sons, Second Lieutenant John Paul Ragsdale, Jr, a navigator on a B-17 Flying Fortress that went down during a raid over Germany on May 21, 1943, and Sergeant Edward M. Ragsdale, a radio gunner on a B-17 Flying Fortress, who was killed on June 14, 1944, while on maneuvers near Salina, Kansas when his parachute failed to open after bailing out of his plane when it developed engine trouble. Irene Burgess, 804 N. Audubon Rd., was also a double Gold Star holder. Her husband, Lieutenant Colonel Milo David Burgess, Inspector General, 4th Armored Division, died on August 20, 1943, in his quarters at Camp Bowie, Texas, and less than two months later her son, First Lieutenant Bruce Burgess, a P-40 Warhawk pilot with the American Flying Circus, Army Air Force, was killed in action over Italy on October 14, 1943. Gold Star mother Bertha Courtney, 63 N. Irvington Ave., lost her son, Master Sergeant Harold J. Courtney, an army bombsight specialist, who was killed July 16, 1942, near Shreveport, Louisiana during a training exercise when the medium bomber he was on crashed and burned. Henry E. and Grace Morgan, 76 Whittier Pl., became Gold Star parents when their son, Private Murray Warren Morgan, Army Infantry, died on May 7, 1943, of wounds received as a result of actions in North Africa. Jeanette McPheeters, 46 S. Ritter Ave., lost her husband, Lieutenant Colonel John Williams McPheeters, 1st Armored Division, when he died on March 25, 1944, of wounds received while directing an artillery barrage on the Italian beachhead at Anzio. Frances Virt Schulz, 385 S. Audubon Rd., lost her husband, Electricians Mate 2nd class Ronald Herman Schulz, 29th Naval Construction Battalion (Seabees), died February 6, 1944, in southern England from injuries received in an accident. He also left behind a young son. Samuel and Eva Ottenbacher, 120 S. Emerson Ave., lost their son, Radioman 3rd class Samuel Ottenbacher, 23rd Patrol Squadron, United States Navy Air Corps, on the night of November 12, 1942 when he went missing after the PBY-5A Catalina on which he was a crew member crashed at sea while on routine patrol north of Oahu, Hawaii.
Another Indianapolis Gold Star was my wife’s uncle, Sergeant Donald Commodore Byers. A top turret gunner on a B-17 Flying Fortress, Sgt. Byers was on his second mission when he was killed August 24, 1944, when his plane was lost over Weimar, Germany due to fighter action.
The constellation of Marion County/Indianapolis Gold Stars sadly continued to expand with 171 casualties of the Korean War and 216 casualties of the Vietnam War. When Joseph and Catherine Frantz, 750 N. Ketcham St., in Haughville opened a telegram from the Department of Defense on the afternoon on August 14, 1950, they learned that their son, Private George Arthur Frankz, 21st Infantry Regiment, 24th Division, was missing in action on July 11, 1950. Fifteen years later, Raymond and Edythe Smith of Spencer, Indiana, formerly of 318 N. Mount St., Indianapolis, were notified of the death of their son, Marine Private First-Class Ivan Ray Smith, who died of a chest wound on May 12, 1965, that he had received the previous day from a sniper while he was on patrol near Chu Lai, Vietnam. These servicemen were the first from Indianapolis to be killed in these conflicts.
Lieutenant General Timothy J. Maude was the first Indianapolis native killed in what would become the Global War on Terror. He lost his life on September 11, 2001, when hijacked American Airline Flight 77 slammed into the Pentagon. The war would add four more Gold Stars to the Marion County/Indianapolis Banner of Honor.
In May 2021, the Indiana Gold Star Families Memorial Monument was dedicated in Indianapolis on the north end of the American Legion Mall. It “honors, recognizes, and serves Gold Star Families and the legacy of their Loved Ones who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for their service in the Armed Forces of the United States of America.”

Gail Kidwell Featured at Southside Art League

Weekly View — Thu, 21 May 2026 05:09:16 +0000

GREENWOOD: Southside Art League will be exhibiting a collection of Gail Kidwell’s original Fiber Art. Gail Kidwell was born and raised on the East side of Indianapolis and currently lives with her husband Rich in Trafalgar, Indiana. She enjoys working with the textures, variety of colors of yarn and various fibers to create her art. She creates items such as yarn windows, yarn paintings, yarn dollars, felted nature, and felted seashells.
Artwork will be displayed at SALI from June 3-27, at the Southside Art League, Inc. (SALI) Off Broadway Gallery at 299 E. Broadway Street, Greenwood. Visit the gallery during regular hours Wed. – Sat. 11 a.m. –3:00 p.m. Meet the artist Gail Kidwell at her Open House, Friday June 5, from 6-8 p.m.