INDIANAPOLIS — The Circle City continues to host record-breaking events as 2024 comes to a close.
On Tuesday, the Future Farmers of America 97th National FFA Convention & Expo will begin at the Indiana Convention Center.
The convention is scheduled to bring 70,000 visitors over the next four days.
“I think the City of Indianapolis does a great job with that specifically. It's a great host city,” Indiana FFA student President Ethan Wolheter said. “It's so awesome for us to be in our home state and get to say, 'Hey, this is where we're from,' and get to represent that to the nation."
The FFA, and other conventions, were looking to potentially move to larger convention centers but Indianapolis committed to providing the Indiana Convention Center's sixth expansion, according to Visit Indy Chief Marketing Officer Chris Gahl.
"Groups like National FFA were literally outgrowing Indianapolis. Not enough hotel rooms, not enough convention center space. It wasn't just National FFA. There was a growing roster of conventions that said we want to continue meeting here, yet we need more space, so we're ecstatic that we have FFA on our books into the future," Gahl said.
The FFA convention comes mere days before Taylor Swift is set to perform three sold-out shows at Lucas Oil Stadium.
"Over the last 18 months, we've been preparing for not only national FFA but also Taylor Swift and all the 200,000 plus visitors who will descend on Indianapolis," Gahl said.
Gahl said Visit Indy has prepared for both events by having two separate teams work around the clock to ensure both go off without a hitch.
"It's incumbent on the Indiana Convention Center, Lucas Oil Stadium, and our front-line tourism hospitality workforce to reset and make the city new, and make sure that everything is cleaned up and ready to welcome the world back to Indianapolis," Gahl said.
The two events add to an already record-breaking year for Indiana tourism that saw visitors for the NBA All-Star game, the solar eclipse, and various conventions.
Gahl acknowledged 2024 would be hard to top in 2025 but the city is working to continue bringing huge events to the Circle City.
"There are two reasons why people travel, business and pleasure, and both of those buckets record setting in 2024, and we're looking to build upon that as a city's non-profit tourism agency, to build upon for 2025," Gahl said.
Visit Indy is tracking over 50 Taylor Swift-themed events happening over the weekend for those with or without tickets to the Eras tour. More information on those events is available here.
