The 42nd annual Summer Celebration hosted by Indiana Black Expo has come to a close and overall many people were satisfied.
In a Facebook poll asking people their thoughts on this year’s event, William Jackson said, “I was very impressed with this year’s expo. The creative expression and unity I witnessed was powerful beyond measure.”
At Recorder press time, official attendance numbers were not in, but based on the quality of the programming, entertainment acts that attended the event and upbeat atmosphere in the Indiana Convention Center, John Thompson, IBE board chairman, is pleased.
“I think we’ll find when the numbers come out that we met our objectives and hopefully in some cases exceeded it,” said Thompson.
An entrepreneur himself, Thompson enjoyed this year’s Black Business Conference and said he was happy with the holistic health advantages the 27th annual INShape Indiana Black and Minority Health fair gave to attendees. He also thought the Pacers Sports and Entertainment Corporate Luncheon was very successful among other events.
He went on to say that there were no unexpected surprises and felt that the 11-day event was executed smoothly. This was made possible by the hard work of the IBE staff, many of whom were new to the company, and the 900 individuals that volunteered their time.
Countless, dedicated sponsors also helped make Summer Celebration possible.
“FedEx is very proud to be a sponsor of Indiana Black Expo’s Summer Celebration,” said Paula Bosler, senior communications specialist for FedEx. “We’ve supported this event for many years. We’re firm believers in the many areas IBE supports particularly their educational and children’s programming.”
FedEx specifically sponsors the corporate luncheon and FedEx Ground sponsors the employment fair.
“We are very pleased with our involvement with Indiana Black Expo. It gets better every year and they’re great to work with,” added Gary Hentschel, president of KeyBank, Central Indiana District. “Every event I attended was well organized and attendees were engaged.”
KeyBank is the official bank of Indiana Black Expo Summer Celebration. This is the third year they have been a sponsor and this year, KeyBank increased their employee volunteerism and involvement financially.
“(Summer Celebration) is probably the largest, most significant event in Indiana. We want to support the community where we do business,” said Hentschel.
Despite sponsors and Thompson’s contentment, he, the rest of the IBE Board and IBE’s staff will continue to gather feedback with plans to use it to perfect and improve the event. Thompson said customer service and addressing patrons’ concerns, like Kristen Mercer who said she would have liked to see a more food vendors, is important to IBE.
Kelli Bain and Pamela Hardy were not impressed by this year’s event and many others didn’t even attend Summer Celebration. Others like Re’Nita O’Bannon had a blast.
“I tried to do it all. I love IBE…it’s my 41st one,” she said.
IBE knows they can’t please everyone, but Thompson maintains that no other city in the U.S. has an event like Summer Celebration. Hoosiers are fortunate to have an event of this magnitude right here in Indianapolis and ask that people continue to support Indiana Black Expo and Summer Celebration in any way they can.
“I’ve been in Indianapolis since 1984 and I’ve never missed a Summer Celebration or Circle City Classic and I travel a lot. I always made it my business to be there. As African-Americans, certainly we should not miss the entire 11 days,” said Thompson. “We have to take care of (IBE) and perpetuate it. We need to make sure Summer Celebration is around for another 42 years.”
For more information or to provide feedback, call Indiana Black Expo at (317) 925-2702 or visit indianablackexpo.com.
